Dawn and Darkness

by RyoSinna

How long has it been? Where am I? Thoughts like those flow through Lira's mind as she wanders aimlessly, desperately trying to find her home and her memories. Will she manage to recover her memories at all?

The rage, envy, and evil in those's hearts can soon devour their souls and turn them into creatures that seek and devour hearts. They scence the darkness in those hearts. That's how they get attracted. The creatures work for the stronger group. They can change sides easily. Heartless, creatures that devour hearts.
With every Heartless that is born, there is also another creature created. They may look human, but they don't have hearts. People say that they aren't really people, but part of a person; sort of like a second side. These strange monsters only work for one group. That group is unknown for a while. Nobodys, people that aren't counted as humans.
Walking in a place black as the greatest darkness is, I looked around to see if something can be of assistance.
Where am I?
The ground I walked on began to shine. I shielded my eyes. Hundreds of birds flew up from the dark ground and away into the black abyss. Uncovering my eyes, I saw nothing but a stained glass floor. The color of it illuminated the area around my a bit. Then, three rays of light landed infront of me. suspended in front of me was a strange bag.
What's this for?
Carefully and cautiously, I took the bag from it's place and the ray of light vanished.
Power. Accuracy. Judgement. Skill. Abilities you need on your jouney in the future. What is in your future is decided on what paths you choose.
A pit of darkness appeared under my feet. Threads of the black darkness began to incase my body. I squirmed around with fear of dieing. The dark pulled me deeper and deeper into it.
Don't be afraid. The strength of you heart and will power will guide you out of the black abyss.
The pit had pulled me in completely.

You're the choosen one. The keyblade wielder.
You can't save her.
Kairi!
Sora.
Where's Riku?
Kingdom Hearts will be opened. We will become somebodies.
Traitor! We trusted you.
I woke up quickly. My vision was a giant blur. I couldn't see a thing. How long was I knocked out? I knew I was doing something one moment, but the next, I blank and had those thoughts in my mind; fuzzy or blank images also joined with those words. What is Kairi and Riku? Sora seemed familiar, but it was also blank. My vision then started to come back to me slowly.
"Garwsh, are you alright?" a dog like person asked.
"You've got to be more careful, Goofy," a strange duck person asked.
"Well, sorry," Goofy said, "She looked like one of them creatures!"
"All you alright?" a boy asked.
"What's it look like?" I asked a bit rudely as I tried to get up, "I think I was ambushed by something. And I can't see well at the moment! Where am I again?"
I was a bit blank at the moment. I can be forgetful, but this was really ridiculous. I smacked my head and my vision came back quicker. When I could see, I got a better look at the boy, the duck, and the dog.
"Well sorry!" the boy replied, "My friend, Goofy, accidentally hit you. And you're in Twilight Town near a train station."
"Strange," I said outloud thinking about that dark abyss, "I thought I was somewhere else."
"Well, you aren't," the duck said.
"Okay then!" I said spinning around on my foot
"By the way, I'm Sora," the boy said with a smile, "That's Donald-" He pointed to the white duck in a blue sailor's shirt and hat, "And that's Goofy." Then he pointed at the black dog in a green turtle neck and orange pants.
"Pleased," I said, "I'm, uh, I don't really know."
"You don't remember your own name?" Sora asked, "Was Goofy's hit that bad?"
"No, I don't think it's that," I said shaking my head furiously, "I lost my memory some time ago. I think that's why I'm in Twilight Town. No clue how I got here though."
"Gawrsh," Goofy sighed, "Since you need help with your memory, maybe you can travel with us."
"No way!" Donald shouted.
"Come on, Donald," Sora begged, "She lost her memory and can't even remember who she is. We help people too, you know" Sora put on a convincing smile.
"Ah phewy," Donald groaned.
Goofy and Sora cheered.
"Looks like we also have to come up with a name for ya," Goofy said to me.
"Uh, let me think of a name," I said.
I thought about it for a minute. The voices and blury images began to play in my head again.
You there. Hault!
Quick, this way.
I saved you because you might help later on.
Choose which side you're on, Lira.
I opened my eyes quickly. Why were these images popping in my mind anyways?
"Hey guys, you should try Lira," I suggested.
"Okay, Lira it is," Sora agreed.
I smiled. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I walked into a station near by. Inside the station, there was a blue train car waiting on the tracks. I sighed and looked back. I didn't knwo how I got into Twilight Town, but hopefully I'll find out when I travel with this group.
"Sora! Donald! Goofy!" a boy shouted as he ran over towards us.
A girl followed and so did another boy.
"Hey, guys! What's up?" Sora asked.
"We wanted to say good-bye to you guys," the girl said.
"Who's this girl?" the boy who called to up asked.
"I'm Lira," I said, "Or so I think."
"I'm Hayner," the boy said.
"I'm Pence," the other boy said.
"I'm Olette," the girl smiled.
"What do you mean by 'or so you think?" Pence asked.
"She lost her memory," Goofy said.
"Well, I hope you get your memory back," Olette commented happily.
"I hope so, too," I replied doubtfully.
"Hey, Lira!" Donald said, "If you're going to travel with us, you have to smile."
"Huh?"
"Smile," Sora said as he put on a ridiculous grin.
I couldn't help but laugh. We said our last farewells and walked into the strange blue train. I wanted to know more about Twilight Town, but looks like I can't until we come back.

We were on the train for what seemed like an eternity. It was only a half an hour though. That train car felt like an interrogation room to me.
"So Lira, what do you do for fun? Goofy asked.
"I like to read, work with computers, and explore," I replied dully.
"What world are you from?" Donald asked.
"Not a clue. I just know it was big."
"You know what," Sora said, "You do seem really familiar. Are you sure we haven't met?"
I remembered something about job. He boss told me never to say if we met a person or not. He didn't want me to get into trouble.
"Yes," I said, "I'm sure we haven't met."
"Okay, it just seems like we've seen you before," Sora said.
I thought about that too. I couldn't point it out though. I looked out the window and saw the scenery change before my eyes. I closed my eyes after a few minutes and took a nap. The voices sounded familiar in the dream I had. The images were also clearer.

I ran down a path in a city like area. I gassped for air when I stopped and hid in a dark alley. I jumped into an old box.
"This way!" I heard a young man say, "We can't let her get away!"
He and some creatures ran down the alley. I looked out of a hole in the side of the box and saw a man in a black and had a blonde mullet. I saw him turn down the alley. I quickly got out of the box and ran in the other direction. I came towards a giant skyscraper. I kept running, not knowing where I would end up. I then ran into someone. I fell to the ground and so did the person.
"Sorry," I said.
I looked up from the ground and saw a man. He had spikey red hair and green eyes. The thing I was worried about what the black cloak he wore. I gasped at the sight of the cloak. Quickly, I got up and ran past him.
"Hey! Wait," he called.
I ignored him and ran down another alley. A wall of fire appeared in front of me so I couldn't proceed. I stopped and tried to turn around. The red haired man was blocking the way.
"I told you to wait," he said with a smirk.
"Get away from me!" I shouted as I pulled out my sword.
"Calm down, Lira," Axel said, "Just come with me, and you don't have to worry." He extended out his hand.

I woke up when I heard Sora, Donald, and Goofy calling my name. I grabbed my head in pain.
"Gawrsh, are you alright, Lira?" Goofy asked.
"I've never been better," I replied.
That probably wasn't the greatest choice of words. The three boys started to panic and tried to make me laugh again. We then came up to a tower. It was really peaceful and quiet. Like some where I could stay at. I shook my head as I stood up.
"This is our stop," I said blankly as I walked out of the train.
The others looked at each other and followed. The tower may have looked quiet, but there was someone at the door. No one I've ever seen before.

We walked up to the tower's entrance and I got a better look at the stranger. He was big, three times my size! He also looked like a cat in my view.
"What's goin' on?" Donald asked.
The stranger chuckled. "I sent some of my lackeys inside to see if the master of this here tower's is as big and as tough as they say," he replied.
I shook my head and looked around. I completely ignored this conversation and jumped into some bushes. I closed my eyes and immediately took a nap.

"Why would I trust the likes of you?" I asked coldly.
"Because you got on the Organization's bad side. They'll destroy you if you don't leave," Axel said when he out his hand down, "I want to save you because you might help me later on."
"What will I help you with?" I asked, "If you want help, consult the Organization. I'm just a simple nobody! I don't obey the Organization."
"Oh, really?" he asked, "Sit down, Lira."
I sat down. Then I got up and growled.
"Good girl. Now come here, Lira. I'm your friend, so I won't hurt you."
I looked at him with narrow eyes. "Why do you want me to follow you?"
"You know everything about us Nobodies and the Organization. I can't let you go about telling everybody you see."
"So you want to erase my memory?"
"That, but you'll get it back soon!"
"Not a chance!"
"It's either that, or you'll fade into the darkess forever!"

"Lira!" Goofy called.
"Where are you?" Sora asked.
"Lira!" Donald shouted.
I moaned and opened my eyes. I yawned. Telling that Sora, Goofy, and Donald are yelling, that means I should have woken up. I stood up from the bushes.
"What's all the screaming?" I shouted.
The three boys jumped up in fright.
"Don't scare up like that!" Donald scolded.
"We were worried about you," Sora said.
"Sorry," I mumbled, "Just tired as usual. That fat dude rambles on too much."
"We have to head into the to protect Master Yen Sid," Goofy said, "he might be turned into a Heartless!"
"Can't I stay out here?" I asked.
The three looked at each other.
"How do you know we can trust you?" Sora asked.
I summoned my sword into my hand.
"Just because I lost my memory, that doesn't mean I don't know how to fight."
They looked at each other once more and nodded.
"Okay, you just stay out of trouble," Goofy said.
Donald darted into the tower. Goofy followed. Sora gave me a wave and ran after the two. I sighed and sat on the ground.
"Well, if it isn't my old friend," I heard a voice say after the tower entrace was completely shut.

When I heard that voice, a shiver went down my spine. I got up and got into a fighting position.
"Who's there?" I demmanded.
A black portal appeared ten feet away from me. Out of it came a man with a black cloak. The hood was covering his face. The dark portal disappeared when he came out of it.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"You still don't remember your old friend?" the stranger asked, "Maybe a year wasn't long enough. Do you remember your memory being erased?"
I thought about those dreams or flashbacks I had. My eyes widened at the stranger.
"Axel?" I asked.
"So you do remember," he said as he removed his hood to expose his face and hair, "Great to still see you're okay."
"What do you want?" I asked rudely.
"You haven't changed much," Axel commented, "The Organization is willing to let you join since they think your whole memory has been wiped out. It'll be like old times."
"Old times?" I asked.
"Looks like some of your memory isn't back."
I looked at the tower entrance. "What about Sora, Donald, and Goofy? They promised me-"
"Don't kid around!" Axel chuckled, "I can take you to your home easily. I do live there, you know. And if they find out what you are, you'll get a one-way ticket to the darkness."
I looked down at the ground.
"I don't know what to trust!" I shouted as I threw my sword on the ground, "Trust the people who wanted to kill me or the people tht might kill me?"
"I won't let the Organization kill you," Axel said, "I told you that I'd save you because you can help me later on."
"Why would you need me? I'm practically worthless to everyone. With Sora and the others, I hid in the bushes while they fought. Also with your group, I didn't help out at all. Instead, I was running for my existance!"
I collasped on the ground. Axel sighed and walked over to me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me up to my feet.
"I remember something you always used to tell me," Axel said, "You said to let got of the past and move on. Why don't you do that?"
I looked at Axel and tugged my arm away.
"I'll just come and look around," I said through gritted teeth.
I hated it when people used my words against me. Axel opened a portal and walked in. I followed him, but stopped at a familiar voice.
"Lira!" Sora shouted.
I turned around and looked at him. He was dressed differently from before and he had his weapon out.
I smiled at him.
"See you soon, Sora. I'm going home." Those were the final words I said to him before I went through the black portal.

I walked out of the black portal. I showed up in a dark alley. It was from the dream I had. I walked over to a box on top of a platform. I looked into it and took out somethings from it. It was an old cloth, a black sword, and a bag.
Where have I seen this bag before?
"W-where are we?" I asked as I tied the cloth to my arm and put the sword in its sheath.
"We're in the World that Never was," Axel replied, "Home of the Nobodies."
"Nobodies," I repeated as I put the bag over my shoulder, "What are those exactally?"
"Make it short," Axel replied, "Nobodies don't exsist. We don't have hearts. We can't feel; it just seems like it."
My view looked down to the floor. Nobodies don't have heart? They aren't real? I remembered something a friend of mine told me when I wasn't in the organization. "A hearts beats in your chest depending on your breathing." I thought about it and places my hand on my chest. No beating. I hand dropped to my side.
"No heart," I said.
"That's right," Axel said, "Let's go, and don't get lost. This place is huge." He walked off.
I put the sword into a part of my belt and followed him. I looked at the sites of the buildings. I then saw a large skyscraper from my dream. The vision of me running into Axel could be visible through my eyes. I fixed my gaze back to the ground.
We then came up to a pathway that lead to a giant castle. When I looked up, I was amazed. Axel walked onto the pathway and I followed closely behind him. We walked into the castle. At times, we got stopped by some other Nobodies, but Axel managed to get them away. We then walked up a stairways, but I stopped and looked out past the rail.
This place, I remember it. Twilight's view, or something.
I looked over to ask Axel something, but he was gone.
"Oh, crap," I said to myself as I looked around frantically, "I shouldn't have looked at the view."
Then all of the sudden, five white Nobodies surrounded me. I began to panic. I took out the sword from my belt and got into fighter stance. I summoned my other sword to my hand, so now I was ready to take on anything. Within about seven minutes, the Nobodies were defeated. I ran up the stairs to the next room.
I walked into another place that I seemed to remember. The Hall of the Empty Melodies or something like that. I walked down to the other side, but before I could take three steps, I was stopped. A hooded figure appeared two yards away from me.
"Look what we have here" the person said, "If it isn't that girl who tired to run away from the Organization."
I got my swords ready.
"Looks like Lira found out about her powers. I bet you're just as strong that the Keyblade wielder," the man laughed as he removed his hood.
He had black hair tied back, and an eye patch covering his right eye. He also had scars on his face. I looked at him for a moment then I thrusted my sword at him hoping to pin him to a wall or the floor. He disappeared then reappeared behind me. I swung my sword around trying to get him away, but the man just grabbed my hand and made me drop my weapon.
"That's a bit rude, Lira," he said.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Hm, maybe Axel was telling the truth."
I pulled my arm back and fell to the ground. I rubbed my head because I hit it on the ground.
"Still clumsy since last time I saw you."
"Are you a pirate or something?" I asked rudely.
"As if. I feel so unloved."
As if? That phrase...
"Xigbar," I said.
"So you do remember," he asked.
I got up, and stared at him.
"What are you trying to do?" I asked.
"The leader told me to test to see if you could really join the Organization," Xigbar replied, "I'm just doing it because I have to."
I rolled my eyes. "I have to find Axel. I was suppose to follow him, but I got lost."
"That give me a chance to test you," he replied.
Xigbar disappeared then reappeared next to my katana. He picked it up.
"Hey! That was mine!" I shouted.
"Test is easy," he said, "Try to get back your sword. Defeat me or try to get it."
"But you can't fight with a sword in your hand. My sword won't obey you."
Xigbar smirked and threw my sword up. I had such great speed that it got stuck in the ceiling above.
"Hey! That blade could break!" I shouted.
He ignored me and summoned his weapon. There were two guns that looked strange to me.
"Begin!" he shouted as he shot at me.
I quickly avoided them and looked for my other sword. The black sword was in the middle of it all. As Xigbar shot at me, I dodged them and tried to get my sword on the ground. Seeing scrambling towards my sword, he shot at it to move it out of my reach. He then shot at my hand. Old one shot hit it perfectly.
"Ow!" I moaned as I brought my hand back.
I grabbed the black sword and rolled back. I growled at my hand for being out there. I had to think of something as a diversion something to keep Xigbar occupied as I tried to get my sword in the ceiling.
The bag will help you on your journey. It contains the wanted abilities and items.
THE BAG! I thought as I dug through my bag.
"Don't loose your guard," I heard Xigbar said along with the sound of bullets going by me.
I rolled out of the way and took out something from my bag. It was another sword! Just what I wanted. It was a fiery red color and it was easy to see. I closed the bag and got into a fighter stance. I charged head on towards him. Xigbar fired more bullets at me, but I deflected everyone of them.
"Take this!" I shouted as I thrusted the black sword at him. It got his cloak and pinned him to the wall. I jumped off of it lepted up towards my katana in the ceiling.
"Almost there!" I shouted to myself.
I managed to grab the handle and hung onto it. I had a couplem of bullet shots hit my back, but I didn't mind the pain. With all of my strength, I pulled the katana from the ceiling. I fell down towards the ground with the sword. I fell to the ground first and the sword was a inch away from my body. It had pierced the ground. I let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank god," I shouted.
"Congratulations," Xigbar said as he pulled my sword out of his cloak, "You seemed to have the brains."
"What's that suppose to mean?!" I asked.
"Nothing," Xigbar said as he tossed me my sword, "Get going. You want to find Axel, right?"
I nodded. Xigbar smirked and disappeared in a dark portal. I picked up my swords and ran out of the Hall of Empty Melodies.

I paced down the Naught's Skyway quickly to avoid anymore Nobodies. I didn't want to fight them, or have another test. I looked past the railing. I began to dose off. I shook my head then walked into the next room. I came onto a balcony view. I looked over the side.
"Wasn't I just in the Hall of Empty Melodies?" I asked myself. I let out a loud sigh, "I wonder where Axel is."
I yawned and walked over to a wall. I leaned against it on my back and closed my eyes. I slid down onto the ground and fell asleep.

"So what if I do? I don't care!" I shouted.
"Someone might," Axel said.
The fire wall disappeared.
"Yeah, right," I yawned, "I'm just a Nobody. I can't be real no matter what. If I was someone, I'd have a great life. Nobodies are hated by the world. I would be happy if I died right here!"
"Then let's make you and me happy," a voice said behind me.
I rolled my eyes and turned around. A man came out of a black portal. He had sort of blue hair, yellowish eyes, and an X scar on his face. He also had a black cloak similar to Axel.
"What do you want?" I asked rudely.
"Just trying to complete a task for the Superior," the man replied.
"Lira! Let's go, now," Axel told me.
"Not a chance!" I shouted, "I don't want to go with you."
"Perhaps I could be a more trusting person?" the man asked.
"Don't believe Saix, Lira," Axel said.
"I don't know who to trust here," I groaned.
"You should think quickly then," Saix said.
He snapped his fingers and a bunch of white Nobodies surrounded me. I summoned my swords into my hands and started to fight them off. I fought them for ten minutes, and they were still more coming!
"Lira! If you want to get away from those Nobodies, it's best to come here now!" Axel shouted.
I groaned, "You win!"
I fought my way over to Axel. He opened a portal and I ran in. He followed.

I moved around in my sleep and groaned. I rubbed the back of my head. I opened my eyes and saw a man with a blonde mullet and blue eyes. He wore a black cloak just like the last few people I've met. He was inches from my face.
"GAH!" I yelped.
"AH!" he shouted as he fell back.
I got to my feet, and took out my sword. I pointed to sword at the stranger.
"Who the heck are you?!" I yelled, "And why is my hair shorter that usual?!"
"Take it easy!" the man said, "I don't want to die!"
"Then tell me who you are!" I shouted.
"Will you put down the sword if I tell you?"
"Maybe."
"My name is Demyx. You're Lira, right?"
"Yeah, and you know me, how?" I asked as I lowered my sword.
"You don't remember me?" Demyx asked, "That's mean. Don't you have a heart?"
"Nope!" I said.
"Right," he said as he got up, "Think harder, Lira."
I thought for a moment. That person with the mullet from that flashback! I think that was Demyx, but why should I trust him for trying to capture me?
"You're that idiot who tried to capture me, right?" I asked.
"Huh? No," Demyx said, "I think that was Xigbar. I was somewhere in the castle."
I thought about it for a minute.
"Yeah, you may be right," I finally said with a nod, "Any other time I might remember?"
"Hm, oh, remember when we tried to find something to blackmail Saix?"
I shook my head.
"What did happen to your memory?" Demyx asked as he observed me.
I slapped Demyx. "Must have gotten erased when I was fighting off some Nobodies. Those things are annoying."
"Are you insulting yourself?" Demyx asked as he rubbed his face.
"Fine, those annoying white Nobodies. Um, hm, Ducks? No. Desk? Wait no, Dusks!"
"Oh, okay," Demyx said, "You sleep a lot for a Nobody."
"No I don't!"
"How many naps did you take today?"
My eye twitched as I thought. "Four. That's not a lot!"
"And the day before?"
"Seven."
"And before that?"
"Okay! That's a lot. An hour for each of my naps, so what?"
"I made my point," Demyx said in triumph.
"You making a point?" I asked, "Amazing!"
Demyx rolled his eyes.
"That's enough, Demyx," a familiar voice said, "Stop talking."
"But, Saix," Demyx whined.
"No buts," Saix said as he walked out of a black portal.
I raised an eyebrow when he flipped his hair when he came out. I shook my head with a slight smile. Demyx groaned and waved goodbye to me before he opened a portal. He walked into it leave Saix and I in the hall.
I turned to Saix.
"What do you want this time?" I asked, "Trying to make me happy again? Well I don't need it."
"No," Saix said, "Unfortunatly, the Superior thinks you may help out the Organization. Half of the members are eliminated, but we aren't considering you a member."
"Then what? Tell me that, girly man," I said with a smile.
"You're simply a spy," he replied, "You know the Keyblade wielder since you were suppose to travel with him."
"Why would I trust you?" I asked rudely.
"If we succeed with out plan, we will become someone."
My eyes widened. That's not possible!
"When could that happen?" I asked.
"The Keyblade wielder can release the hearts within a Heartless. If we can collect enough, we can open it."
I opened my mouth for a moment. "You're crazy. I know a Nobody can't be a somebody."
"You don't have to believe me. Just talk to the Superior yourself."
"That psyco-path? What's his name?" I thought with a smirk, "I think it was Xem, no, Man-."
"Watch your tongue," Saix scolded, "Say things about the Superior or any other member, and you'll be good as dead."
Saix walked through the black portal he appeared from. I smiled and walked into the next area.

I walked through a hall and appeared in a strange area. It reminded me of a graveyard. I shivered as I looked at some of the plates on the floor.
"The Key of Destiny. The Savage Nymph. The Graceful Assassin," I read aloud.
Half of the plates were red and the others were blue. I thought I knew what the blue ones ment, but I started to feel sorry for the other member, even though I don't really remember them. I looked ahead and saw another passage leading out of the area. I looked at the plates once more and ran through the passage.

"Man, oh, man, Lira," Axel groaned as he wandered around the castle, "How much trouble can you be? Where could she have gone?"
"She's most likely heading to the Superior," Saix said as he walked out of a portal.
"You? What do you want, Saix?" Axel asked rudely.
"I'm just trying to direct you to the girl, yet you get mad about it," he replied, "I had an encounter with her not too long ago."
Axel rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."
Axel walked past Saix and went about the castle again.

I walked up a stairways towards the top of the white castle. In the sky was a heart-shaped object. I looked amazing. I stepped on the top of the steps and saw a strange man with grey hair and tan skin looking up at the heart-shaped object. He also had black cloak.
JUST MY LUCK! I thought as I was about to go back down.
"Ah, Lira," the man said in a blank, monotoned voice, "How kind of you to come by."
Dang it, I thought.
I walked back up the steps and showed myself.
"You came all this way, yet you still seem unharmed," the man said.
"Can it, you crazy person!" I shouted as I pulled out my black sword, "Who are you? And why did you send Xigbar to test me?"
"Such an angry tone for someone who doesn't know anger," the man said, "I am Xemnas, and Xigbar only wanted to test you to see if you were strong enough to serve the Organzation."
"I don't serve anyone," I growled.
I thrusted my sword at Xemnas with a majority of my strength. He simply dodged it and it zoomed right past him. The black sword was summoned to my sheath.
"You have such rage, Lira," Xemnas said, "Do you remember who's Nobody you are?"
I thought for a moments. N-something? No. I heard of a Z and two A's. A-Z-N-A? Oh, Azan!
"A girl Azan, right?" I asked.
"Correct," Xemnas nodded, "What about you true name?"
"Lira," I said without hesitation.
"No, that is not what your true name is. Think about it some more, Lira."
"If my name isn't Lira, then why do people call me that?"
"It was a name you used to hide your real name as a spy for us. You helped us by spying on the Keyblade wielder, and also releasing captive hearts with your swords. Your swords have the same power to release hearts much like the Keyblade's."
I looked at Xemnas with confusion. "Why would I help you anyways?"
"You are a Nobody like me. We're hated by the world. If you try to go back to your friend, you'll only be destroyed and will fade back into the darkness."
"But you tried to destroy me!"
"But that was merely in the past. We need to focus on the future."
I looked at Xemnas with narrow eyes. His face had a blank expression on it. I then looked at the ground and thought for a moment. He was right. It was like the things I said, I might be destroyed by Sora and the others, and I'll fade into the darkness forever.
"Fine," I said after some thought, "I'll help this Organization out."

After having that chat with Xemnas, I spent another few month training with my sword and some abilities I needed to learn. Demyx and Saix have been the ones training with me, so I got a great training in my point of view. This seemed to be going well until somethings happened.

First, Axel left the castle and I haven't seen him around anymore. He was helping me recover my memory, but now I'm on my own with it.

Second thing that happened was that Demyx disappeared. When I went to the location when Demyx and I usually trained, Saix was there. He finally told me the news. I was really sad. He was way better at teaching than Saix...

There was also another member that disappeared. I never did meet him, so I didn't really care to tell you the truth.

The final thing that happened was something I didn't want to believe, but I had to.

I walked out of the castle for a while to avoid Saix and his lectures. I strolled down the alleys and back to the box when I had found that bag and the sword. Amazing there was something in it almost everyday. This time it was a small bag. I reached into the giant box and took the bag.

"Come on," I heard a familiar voice say.

I flinched and reluctantly jumped into the box. I poked a hole out of the side and looked out of it. A boy with spikey brown hair and black, red, and yellow clothes came into sight.

"Sora?" I whispered.

"Wha?" Sora asked as he looked around.

I covered my mouth. Sora looked over to the box I was in. I flinched. He walked over and looked into the box. Nothing was in there.

A portal opened and I ran out of it. I appeared to be at the top of the castle.

"Yes?" Xemnas asked when he was looking at the heart shaped figure in the sky.

"Xemnas, sir," I stated, "Sora and his companions are in our world, sir. Do the others know?"

"Indeed. They knew the Keyblade wielder was traveling here," Xemnas replied.

I nodded. "What do you want me to do Xemnas?"

"Do what you please for now," Xemnas said.

Those are some easy orders, I thought.

I nodded and walked off. I entered the Proof of Exisitance. Staring at the plate on the floor, I sat down. I counted the number of blue colored plates. Seeing that only five of the thriteen members are still around, it made me sad. I looked down at the floor. I spent the next few minutes sitting there. Then, I got up and walked into the Hall of Empty Melodies. When I entered the balcony, I saw two people fighting off little black creatures I knew as Heartless. I stood back, just watching the fight. After finally getting tired of watching, I stabbed my katana into the wall. I used it to get myself up onto the ceiling for a better look. A tan man with silver hair like Xemnas's watched me then continued to fight the Heartless. I looked down and saw Sora, Donald, and Goofy fighting Xigbar. Xigbar then fell to his knees. I watched as Xigbar faded and disappeared. I shook my head and looked at the two people a bit more. One was a girl about my age. He had long red hair, a pink dress, and purple shoes. The person was a man that looked a lot like the Superior.

"Sora!" the girl called.

Sora looked up. "Kairi!" he said as he ran out of the area.

I jumped down from the ceiling and landed feet first on the balcony. I took my katana from the wall. The two people looked at me.

"Hello," I said casually.

"Hi?" the girl asked in a confused tone.

"I'm just watching," I said with a wave as I headed towards the Proof of Exisitance.

"Who are you?" the man asked.

I looked back. "Someone you wouldn't want to know. You might destroy me if I told you."

"What do you mean?" the girl, Kairi, asked.

"I am a Nobody," I said with a frown.

"A Nobody?" the man asked as he summoned his weapon again.

"A misunderstood one." I tossed my sword in front of the man. "Don't tell your other friend I came around. I'll let this one surprise him.'"

I turned back and walked into the next area.

I stood in the Proof of Existence for a while thinking of what to do next. I basically just ditched my katana, so Sora knows I'm here. I can't let him find me though. Who knows what might happen? I closed my eyes tight to prevent my eyes from letting out tears. I couldn't understand how I can cry even though I'm a Nobody.

I then heard footsteps comming towards the area I was in. I quickly stabbed my sword into the wall and got myself to the ceiling, taking the weapon with me. I looked down and saw Sora and his friends walking in. I waited for a few moment before they went to another area. Cautiously, I crawled back down and walked towards the top of the castle. When I was heading towards there, I spotted a mysterious man in red and a mousy person. The taller man was tampering with a strange device that was aimed at the heart-shaped object in the sky. I stood back and observed. The mousy person looked at me. I could have sworn he was a mouse...

"Hiya!" he greeted, "Who are you?"

I kept my mouth shut. The man in red looked over to me.

"I'm no one," I said, "I think your companions, Sora, Donald, and Goofy, are comming this way. They have to fight some people first."

"Gosh, thanks for the news," the mousy person said.

I bowed down and ran the rest of the way to the top of the castle. When I got there, I say Xemnas still looking at the object in the sky.

Does he do that 24/7? I thought.

"Uh, Xemnas, sir," I studdered.

"Yes, Lira?" he replied.

"There are two strangers I encounted on my way here," I started, "One was a person that looked a lot like a mouse, and a man in red. Also, Sora and his group are fighting Luxord, maybe Saix right now."

"Thank you for the news. By the way, do you remember who you are?"

I looked at the ground and thought really hard.

"I am Zanax, spy for Organization XIII," I replied.

"Excellent, your memory must be fully restored."

I bowed down and walked back down to the Proof of Existence. Before I could get there, I saw the two people I saw before, Sora and his friends, and Xemnas. I watched from a distance, but I was to far to hear anything. I then there was a explosion of light. I covered my eyes and waited for it to pass. When it did, the red cloaked man was gone, and so was Xemnas. Xemnas must had escaped. Also, the man traveling with Sora was gone, but was replaced by a boy with a black blindfold over his eyes. Not realizing it, I stepped out of my hiding spot and watched. From what I heard, the boy with the blindfold was Riku. The others I knew.

Sora's lucky to have friends, I thought as a slight smile came upon my face.

Riku removed his blindfold and the black cloak to show his original look. Sora and his friends turned to me.

"You?" Riku asked.

"Hey," I replied blankly.

"Lira?" Sora asked stepping forward.

"I'm not Lira," I replied looking down at the ground, "Never was, never will."

"Why did you run off like that?" Sora asked.

I looked up with a slight smile. "I don't want you to know. Maybe if you try a different method of asking, I might tell you."

I took out my two swords and got them ready. "Fight me if you dare, Sora."

Sora looked at my strangely. I smirked and charged towards him. Riku summoned his weapon and tried to stop me. I slid under him to continue my way towards Sora.

Sora summoned his keyblade and blocked my attack. I used my sword's sheath to trip him. He fell back and I stepped on his chest.

"Sora!" Sora's other friends said. I just smirked.

Riku tried to strike me from behind, but I used my sword and pinned him to a wall. Then I turned my attention to Sora.

"What are you doing?" Sora demanded.

"This is my true nature, Sora," I said, "Do you remember those last words I said to you before I disappeared?"

"Yeah," he said in quick thought, "You said, 'See you soon, Sora.' That's all I heard."

"Wow, you remember some of it," I clapped, "Now why do you think I'm here?"

"Because you were captured by the Organization," Sora answered.

I chuckled, "Wrong. You should have listened to that last part. I said I was going home. This is my home, Sora."

"But that means- You're part of the Organization?!"

"So so, I'm a Nobody, I'll say that, but I'm just a simple spy. I never did know I was one until I met my friend Axel at that tower. Too bad I mentioned this." I bit my finger thinking about what might happen.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sora asked.

"I didn't know, stupid. I did tell Riku and Kairi, but they didn't know my name."

I stepped off of Sora's chest, took my katana, and jumped back. I summoned all my swords to their sheaths.

"If you aren't going to be willing to fight me, you won't be able to stop Organization XIII," I said, "See ya around."

I walked past Sora and towards the Proof of Existence.

"Hold it!" Donald shouted as he charged towards me.

When he was close enough, I took his arm and swung him into Goofy. I continued on my way.

I entered the area and observed the plates. Only one of them was still blue. I sat down in front of it.

"The Key of Destiny," I said, "You're one lucky person, dude."

I just sat there for another ten minutes. I just thought. Nothing in particular, just random thoughts.

I wasn't too sure if I was Zanax. If I was, how come I use the name Lira? Axel told me what I needed to know, but I don't believe him. Beliefs are lies.

Suddenly, a black portal appeared in front of me. Xemnas must want to see me. I got up and walked into the portal. I appeared at the top of the castle once more.

"Yes?" I asked rudely.

"I need you to do something for me. Before the Keyblade masters show up here, you must fight them and test their skill," Xemnas said as he turned to me. His face was completely blank.

"Why me, though?" I asked, "You want me to die like the others?"

"I know you will survive," he replied, "Now go complete your task."

I bowed down reluctantly and walked off.

Maybe this is where I can test my skills, I thought, I'll see what I can do, and possibly have a bit of fun. Maybe I can just fight him alone, or with his friends? Meh, his friends will be to troublesome.

I got too lost in thought and didn't realized that I walked into the Proof of Existance. Sora and his friends were there, but I didn't pay attention to them either.

"Yeah," I said aloud, "I'll do that."

"Do what?" I heard Kairi ask.

I jumped in fright and turned around.

Oh man. What did I say? I thought, So much for the art of surprise...

"Um, yeah," I said rubbing the back of my head.

I warped away quickly and appeared behind Sora and Riku. I tried and succeeded in opening two portals. I then shoved Riku and Sora in them.

"Sora! Riku!" the remaining three shouted.

The portals closed quickly before they could go in after them.

I bowed down. "I'm greatly sorry." I then disappeared into a portal I created.

Sora and Riku wandered around a dark area. There was no light, no nothing. Only the two of them.

"What is this place?" Sora asked.

"You can say it's my area," I said as I walked out of a portal.

Sora and Riku summoned their weapons at the sight of my swords.

"Lira, why are you doing this?!" Sora shouted.

"I'm a Nobody. I don't fit into this world!" I threw my sword at sword, "At least try to fight!"

Sora ducked before my sword could hit him, and it was summoned back to my hand. I put my two swords away and a different sword was summoned to my hand. It was a bright yellow and it shined even in the darkness.

"Take this!" I said as I slashed the air.

It sent out an electric wave towards Riku and Sora, but they blocked it just in time. I rolled my eyes and the electric sword vanished. The two boys talked to each other for a moment, but I ignored that and took out my black sword.

"Take this!" I heard Riku shouted.

I looked up and saw his Keyblade coming down. I blocked the attack.

"I remember you," he said quietly. Just quiet enough so Sora didn't hear.

"Well I don't remember you," I said as I pushed him back.

I then attempted to strike at his waist, but he blocked that.

"You remember Castle Oblivion?" he asked me.

"What of it?" I asked. I just barely remembered that place.

"So you were there," he said, "Why were you there anyways?"

"I was a spy for the upper and lower levels of that castle. All members of Organization XIII." I clenched my free hand into a fist and punched Riku away.

He slid back and then stood up properly.

"Since when?" he asked.

I glared at him. "I've always had been, Riku. Or so I think."

I warped behind the silver haired boy. "You seem strangely familiar though."

I used my foot and pushed him down onto the ground. I put my sword into his shirt and pinned him to the ground.

"Riku!" Sora shouted as he ran over.

I took out my sword and pointed it at Sora's neck. He stopped shortly after seeing my katana.

"You still not going to strike me?" I asked, "That's pathetic. And to think you were able to save your friends. YOU AREN'T EVEN WILLING TO DO THINGS THAT MIGHT HELP YOU!"

Sora took his keyblade and hit my sword out of my hand. I grabbed my wrist and jumped back.

"That's the spirit," I said as I took out my red sword.

Sora charged at me again. I knocked his keyblade out of his hand and quickly used a sheath to trip him over. I stepped on his chest like before.

"Sora!" Riku shouted as he tried to get my sword out from his shirt.

I smirked. "This is where I finish you off," I said to Sora.

I raised my sword and just when I was, I froze. My eyes widened and I stepped back. My eyes were wide as if I've seen a ghost. A memory? This was a major deja vu experiance for me. I dropped my sword and fell to my knees. I grabbed my head with my hands.

"No," I said, "No, no, no!"

Images were racing through my mind. I've don't think I've seen them before, but they were there. Sora got up and kneeled next to me.

"Lira, are you alright?" he asked.

"No, I'm not," I said.

"Huh?" he asked.

"I'M NOT OKAY!" I shouted, "I'm not. I'm a liar, and I'm scum."

Tears began to run down my face. Sora put his hand on my shoulder.

"You're not," he said.

"Yes I am. I lied plenty of times, and I'm lying even to myself."

"It's alright. It's in the past."

"A very haunting past."

Sora stood up and pulled me up to my feet.

"It'll be alright," he said, "Don't worry."

"You sure?" I asked wiping my eyes.

"Postive," he said, "You need to smile."

"Smile for what?" I asked, "I thought about it, and I never had truly smiled."

"What about a happy memory?" Sora asked taking the black sword from Riku's shirt.

"Boy, is that going to be hard," I said.

Closing my eyes, I thought for a moment. I couldn't find any thoughts that were happy, but then there was a thought that made a smiles spread across my face.

"See?" Sora said, "Was that a true smile?"
"Sora, I need to speak with you," Riku said dragging Sora a bit farther from me.
I shook my head and kept thinking about those memories.
"What are you doing?" Riku whispered to Sora.
"I was talking to my friend," Sora replied with a whisper.
"She's a Nobody!" Riku said, "She helps the Organization, and she can't be trusted."
"She's my friend," Sora said, "Trust me, Riku. I'll bet she'll help us defeat Xemnas."
Riku thought for a moment. "I'll think about it. You stay here."
The silver haired boy walked towards me.
"Hey," he greeted.
"Hey," I said blankly. My smile was gone.
"Now much did you hear?" Riku asked.
I took out the ear phone from my ear. "All of it. I can't be trusted huh?" I looked up, "All of it's back now. I'm not all evil, am I? I used to help other besides the Organization. Like you and Sora in Castle Oblivion, right?"
"Right," he replied, "So you do remember."
"I was a spy for both sides: good and evil," I started, "I was constantly hired by Organization XIII, so people thought I was truely evil. When I first met King Mickey before this Heartless thing started, he hired me a lot, so I'm not evil."
"I see. You're just misunderstood?"
"I guess so. I may be a Nobody, but I'm not like the others. I rather live life as I can instead of going through this trouble." I checked my swords to make sure they're in their sheaths. "If you guys want to get rid of me, let me at least open a portal for you so you guys can leave."
I opens up a black portal slowly and closed my eyes.
"Get rid of you?" Riku asked loudly, "How about if you help us defeat Xemnas?"
I opened my eyes and looked at him funny. "De wha?"
Sora walked over.
"Will you?" Sora asked me.
"I can't go against my boss!" I shouted. I turned around and folded my arms.
Sora and Riku looked at each other.
"I still need to finish my task from Xemnas and destroy you two," I said as I turned around.
The boys summoned their weapons as I summoned a silver sword that Xemnas had given to me.
"With this," I said, "I'm going to SAY I QUIT!"
They looked at each other in confusion.
"You hear that Xemnas? I QUIT!" I smirked at Sora and Riku, "I'm not under your command anymore. I have a free will, and I'm going to choose a path on my own."
"See, Riku? She's not evil," Sora whispered.
"I guess you're right," he replied.
I put my sword away and walked towards the portal.
"Let's go before I leave you here," I said.
Riku and Sora ran after me.

We walked out of the Proof of Existence. I was calm and casual as if nothing happened, but as soon as I stepped out of the portal, I was tackled by Donald.
"HEY!" I shouted when he hit me in the head with his staff.
"Donald," Sora said trying to pull him off of me, "She's with us now."
"How do you know?" he asked hitting me in the head once more.
"How about this?" I asked calmly, "I QUIT! I DO NOT WORK FOR XEMNAS ANYMORE!"
Donald jumped back and I jumped up onto my two feet. I dusted myself off.
"Alright, so you guys have the will to face anything?" I asked.
"Of course," Donald shouted.
"Good. You need it in order to fight Xemnas," I said, "Onward."
I walked off and the other followed.
"Are you sure you can trust her?" Kairi whispered to Sora.
"I think so," he replied, "She is good inside."
"I hope you're right, Sora," Kairi replied.
"Of course he's right!" King Mickey said, "Lira's not an evil person."
I walked into an area with no pathway, but there were platforms. I took a step off the platform we were on and saw a part of a path visible. We walked to the other platforms while fighting off some Nobodies.
Sora walked right next to me. "So what did you think about to make you smile?"
"I thought about my friends. They ment everything to me," I said with a slight smile, "I remember how I was always beaten up, but my friends were always around to make me better. I miss them..."
"What happened to them?" he asked.
"They escaped when the Organization found out about something. I don't know what, but I know it was something big."
"Oh, okay."
"I remember I was part of it, but I had my memory erased."
"Wow. Your past must have been interesting."
"No, not really. I practically got into a fight everyday! It's not that fun. So did you manage to defeat Saix?"
"You bet we did!"
"Too bad I couldn't join you. He was a total a-"
"Sora! Riku!" Kairi shouted.
We turned around and saw an army of Heartless coming out of large holes in the wall behind us. Some of them fell down and were now crawling after us on the platforms and pathways.
"There's gonna be no end to this!" Riku shouted.
"Together we can stop them," Sora said.
Riku smirked.
"I don't know about this..." I said as I shook my head.
All of the sudden, there was a woman and a man appeared in front of us. I recognize the man because he was the one that was rambling at the tower in Twilight Town. His name was Pete, I think. The woman in a black cloak-like dress seemed really familiar to me.
"Be gone from here!" the woman ordered, "Leave these creatures to us!"
"But there's no way we can take 'em all," the man said.
"I will be sending them after Xemnas," she said, "Or, perhaps, you would like to fight them youself?"
Pete thought for a moment. "Frankly my dear, I'd rather run!"
"Off with you then," she said rudely.
Pete stepped back a bit then turned to King Mickey.
"Well," Pete said, "If it ain't the boat-boy King."
"Time to weigh anchor, Captain Pete," King Mickey said calmly.
"What? Like 'abandon ship?' " he asked, "I don't think so!"
"Sora, 'Your Majesty' ", the woman said, "Do not forget- When I destroy them all, this castle shall be mine!"
"Now lookie here," Pete told the King, "Oppotunities like this don't come along everyday, ya know." He ran next to the lady. "Bring 'em on!"
The two people then ran off to fight the Heartless.
"We better hurry!" the King said.
"But..." Sora said.
"They're doing what their heart command," he said, "We can't interfere."
The King turned around and walked off. The rest of us followed.
"Who was that lady?" I asked.
"That was Maleficent," Sora said, "She's not a person you would want to hang around with."
"So she's bad?" I asked.
"Yup," the King said, "She was the one who controlled the Heartless."
I nodded. We continued out way to the top of the castle.

After the usual walking and stopping to fight, we managed to reach the top. We walked up the stairs to see Xemnas looking at the giant heart in the sky as usual.
"Oh, my Kingdom Hearts. Ruined," he said in his blank voice, "Now, I'll have to start all over again."
"Boy, that's going to take a long time," I chuckled.
"Warriors of the Keyblade!" Xemnas said as he turned around, "Go forth, and bring me more hearts."
"No!" the three Keybladers shouted.
I looked at the Keyblades and drew out my sword. They looked at me, but I just shrugged.
"I see," Xemnas said, "Zanax, why do you side with them? They want to rid the worlds of Nobodies like you and me, and Heartless."
"I side with them because they're people I can trust," I replied, "You got rid of my closest friends, and you got rid of someone dear to my friend before. I can't trust you."
"Deizens of Light, answer this," he said after a pause, "Why do you hate the darkness?"
"Aw," the King said as he lowered his weapon a bit, "We don't hate it. It's just kinda scary. The worlds are made up of light AND darkness. You can't have one without the other, 'cause darkness makes up half of everything. Sorta makes you wonder why we're scared of the dark..."
"It's because of who's lurking inside it," Riku added.
"Then allow me another question," Xemnas said.
"Man, you must like asking things!" I shouted.
He ignored me. "You accept darkness, yet you choose to live in light. So why is it you loathe us that teeter on the edge of nothing? We who were turned away by light and dark-never given a choice?"
"That's simple," Riku answered, "It's because you mess up our worlds."
"Correction!" I interupted, "He did." I pointed to Xemnas.
"Sh!" Sora scolded.
I shrugged, "Habbit..."
"That may be," Xemnas said, "However, what other choice might we have had?"
"Just give it a rest!" Sora demanded, "You're Nobodies. You don't even exsist! You aren't sad about anything!"
That, that small quote, hurt me deeply. I may be a Nobody, but that hurt even if Sora directed that comment to Xemnas. My head dropped, and so did my weapon in my hand.
"Lira?" Sora asked.
"That was cold," I said sadly, "If that's how you feel about a Nobody, then maybe I should have stuck around with Organization XIII."
"But-!" Sora said.
"CAN IT, YOU LOSER!" I shouted as I turned towards him. Tears were pouring out of my eyes. "I may not feel it, but I can seem like it, can't I?"
I wiped my eyes as I disappeared in a black portal. I wanted to go far away, but I could only appear in an old warehouse in the city. I looked at an old stairway leading down. I walked down the old stairs carefully, each step bringing back a wave of memories. I stepped off the last step. I was in a room with a large TV, a green couch, a table with three boxes on it, and a stereo on the wall. The walls were a red color, and the floor was concrete that was cleaner than the one upstairs.
I walked over to the boxes and looked inside of them. One box contained a multitude of CDs and wires, meanwhile the other two contained sheets and clothes. I took out an old, red, santa hat from a clothes box and smiled. That brought back a memory of a close friend of mine. I took out a CD from the first box and looked at the writing on it.
"Commiting to memory," I read aloud with a chuckle, "To Lira or anyone else who finds this."
I looked around and walked over to the TV. I found a DVD player on top of the TV. I set up the disk and sat down on the green couch in front of the TV screen.

"Hello? HELLO! HELLO!" a boy's voice shouted happily. I couldn't see his face because the camera was so shakey.
SMACK!
The camera was set on a table and in view appeared a young girl with purple hair and purple eyes. She wore a pink shirt, blue jeans, and a pink pair of glasses.
"Hi there!" she greeted, "Sorry about that. Chase wanted to say hi to you after so long. It's been two years, you know."
"Two years?" I asked.
"Yup! Two years!" she said as though she heard me, "If you don't remember me, I'm Caz. The little genius inventor. I'm 13 years old now, and so I'm not so little."
"Caz? But it looks like you haven't changed," I said remembering a little girl who always wore purple.
Again, she practically read my mind.
"Well, Lira, a stupid experiment I testest backfired, and now I age slower than usual."
I raised and eyebrow.
"Anyways," a boy said as he shoved Caz out of the way.
The boy had a brown hair with a hint of silver in it and a blindfold covering his eyes. He wore a black Organzation XIII cloak, and he has a blank face.
"It's me, Louis," he said, "Two years ago, I was 15, and you were 14, but besides that. Whatever you do, you have to stay with Sora."
I looked at the TV with confusion. Louis began to laugh.
"I knew you would make that face," he said, "Remember, I'm psychic."
"Interesting," I said with a nod.
"You have to stay with Sora and his friends. If you do, you can help them get rid of Xemnas and that will be a chance to find us all."
"We'll be friends again!" Caz shouted.
"Right," Louis said, "From what I think I saw, we were in our orignial worlds, but there was two people in the world you're currently in."
"Who? That's the question," I muttered.
"You'll find them first then go back to Sora and Riku, underst-," Louis explained.
"I've think she's got it," a girl said as she pushed Louis away.
This girl I remembered well. She had long silver hair and blue eyes. The girl wore a black My Chemical Romance band shirt, and a pair of black skater pants, and a black beanie on her head.
"Guess who?" she asked.
"Toni?" I smiled.
"Right-o correct-o," Toni grinned, "If you are watching thing, Lira, I'm glad you're alright. Hopefully you don't have any other scars?"
I shook my head. It was strange because it seemed I was talking to the TV.
"Great to hear," she said, "We don't have a map on where to go to find everyone, so I'm sorry for that."
"It'll be an adventure!" Caz shouted.
"Yeah, Lira, an adventure!" I heard Chase echo.
"SHUT UP!" Louis shouted.
I chuckled.
"See you around," Toni said before I turned off the TV.
I looked up. "So they are still around."
"Yup! Aren't you glad?" a voice said from behind me.

I whirled around quickly. No one was there. I shrugged and turned back around. Standing before me was a girl with dark purple hair. She dressed in a black shirt and white pants. Her purple eyes were staring at me blankly. I raised an eyebrow.

"Remember me, Lira?" the girl asked.

I remained quiet. She shook her head.

"That's pathetic. You can't even remember the person who had to save you over five times?"

"Zelin?" I asked after thinking for a minute.

"Bingo. At least you remember me. Do you remember the others? That's my question."

iThe others,/i I thought, iThere was Ren, Louis, Caz, Ian, Toni, Chase, Jason, and, of course, Zelin. There was also those other people: Myron, Tai Lee, Amelia, Spade, Keyon & Victor, and.../i

"Me," I said as memories came into my mind.

"What about the first five?" Zelin asked raising an eyebrow.

I thought a bit more and answered Layla, Peter, Shawn, Todd, and myself.

Zelin simply said that was great to know. She dug around through the box of clothes and pulled out something. She threw it at me. I looked at it to see it was an old Organzation cloak.

"How'd you get these?" I asked, "And why do we need them?"

"Louis left his behind, and one of them I never use. We want to avoid as much trouble as possible, so the chance of running into Nobodies will be slim."

We put on the cloaks and got ready. I put the hood over my head and we left the warehouse. We had to fight off the Heartless, but since Zelin still had some control over the Dusks, it made the path more smooth. We walked into the Hall of Empty Melodies after fighting off the Heartless. Something was out of the ordinary. Before us we saw a keyblade, but it wasn't just laying on the ground. It was impaled into something.

"Sora!" I shouted as I ran over to the Keyblade that was stuck inside him.
"Lira! Stop!" Zelin called after me.
I fell to my knees right next to him. "Sora. I'm so sorry I didn't get here sooner!"
"LIRA! STEP AWAY FROM HIM!" Zelin commanded.
I ignored her and just look at Sora in horror.
"Lira..." he said in a weak voice.
I looked at him with teary eyes.
"You're so pathetic," he cackled.
My eyes widened and I began to cough. Blood came out with it. I looked down to see what happened. My katana was jabbed into my stomach. I began to shake as I turned around. A boy with spikey black and white hair looked down at me with his piercing black eyes and an evil smirk. He was the one that had impaled my sword into me.
"Todd," I whispered.
"Great to meet you again, Lira," he cackled.
"When did you-?"
"I was here the whole time, hiding from Xemnas," the boy explained, "While you managed to keep your life, the others were either turned into Dusks or killed right before you. And guess who's fault it was?"
"Mine?" I asked weakly.
"You were blamed for it all, but that wasn't who. It was me, stupid. I ratted you guys out to Xemnas both times."
My eyes widened. He was the one that got my old friends killed and put my other friends in jeopardy? I growled and looked over to Zelin. She had been knocked out and was now guarded by three Nobodies.
I asked him what his intentions were to rat us out. He simply said that he wanted me dead. Todd was extremely loyal to Xemnas, so he did that when he was given the order to find out more about the first rebellion.
"And now I can finally kill you," Todd smirked as he summoned his sword. It was a dark black and it looked stained of blood.
Todd brought the sword over my head. "FADE INTO OBLIVION!"

"WAIT!" I shouted.

He didn't dare to stop. Todd swung the sword down at a fast speed. I closed my eyes to get my death over with.
CLANG!
A heard the sound of metal hit each other. I opened my eyes to see the famous hero, Sora, standing before me. The hero saved an enemy? I pulled out the sword from my stomach.
"Curaga!" I heard Donald shout.
Some strange magic began to fill me up. I felt full of energy and the gash in my stomach felt better. I got up to my feet as Sora pushed Todd back away from us. Riku was running over quickly with the knocked-out Zelin after defeating the Nobody guards.
"Are you alright, Lira?" Sora asked.
I looked at him in a strange way and flicked him on the forehead. He's alive! I hugged him quickly. You are alive I had said to him.
"But if you're Sora," I gulped, "then who's-"

My eyes widened. The so called 'Sora' that was impaled with his own keyblade was fading away.
"What?" I asked in shock, "An illusion?!"
"That's right," Todd cackled, "You were always this predictable, Lira."
I was speechless. The fake Sora started fading away.
On the ground was now my old friend, Spade.
Now, reader, if you're really curious who Spade is, I can explain it really quickly. Spade was a girl disguised herself as a boy. She was always very supportive, but she was also very negative & misunderstood. She couldn't really tell good from bad or traps from offers. That's when I introduced myself to her. Although I was quite misunderstood myself, she looked up to me like a guide. She was like my sister, but after I disappeared for about two years, this is what has happened. She's dead.
"You know this guy?" Riku asked.
"Yeah," I nodded tears almost dripping from my eyes as I pried my gaze from my dead friend, "He's the one that tried to kill me and my missing friends in the past."
I stepped foreward with my swords ready.
"Stay back guys," I ordered wiping my eyes.
I held my sword up. My eyes turned very serious. "Todd, for those who you lied to and killed, I'll bring you down!"
I charged towards my foe. I swung my swords at him trying to make a hit, but he just continued to block my attacks.
"Is that all you've got?" Todd asked with an evil grin that could even scare away the darkest of creatures.
"Not at all!" I said as though I was making a joke.
I swung my leg back and kicked him hard in the shin. He lowered his guard instantly. I then swung my sword right as his chest; he moved back so my sword's blade onto ripped his jacket.
"Wow this is intense!" I heard Sora exclaim like this was an action movie.
"Just hope that your friend Lira and her friend make it out alive," Riku said.
"That was rather cheap," Todd smirked when I adverted my attention to him, "You wanna play cheap games? Fine by me!"
Todd disappeared quickly. I looked around anxiously. Where is he now?!
"Lira!" a voice shouted.
I turned back around and saw Todd with Zelin. "A hostage? How low of scum can you get, Todd?!"
Todd held his sword closer to Zelin's pale white skin. "You wanted to play cheap, so I did. Now, do you want to risk her life? Or do you want to trade your life for hers?"
I stared at Zelin and Todd. Zelin didn't look the greatest. She was awake, but she was glaring at Todd with rage. My grip on my sword loosened. I was about to give in until...
"LIRA! GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS AND FREAKIN' KILL HIM RIGHT NOW!!!" Zelin shouted.
"Shut up, you idiot!" Todd snarled, "What's your choice, Lira?"
"Kill him right now! I'll be fine, just kill him!" Zelin ordered, "You want to avenge your friends right? WELL, THEN A FEW SACRIFICES MUST BE MADE, LIRA!!"
I looked at Zelin in sadness. iDid she really want Todd to die that much? Was I going to have to kill her to?/i
"Do it! I'm going to die anyways! I know Todd's going to kill everyone here once your dead!"
"Shut up, you whore!" Todd shouted as he put the blade right on Zelin's neck.
"Lira! Do it for your friends. Avenge their disappearances. AVENGE SPADE!!!"
I grasped my swords and nodded. I charged at Todd at an incredible rate.
"What?" Todd shouted.
"Freaking get out of my life!" I demanded.
I thrusted my swords into his and Zelin's body. Todd was surpised that he was just stabbed in the heart area, but to do that to Zelin as well?
I was surprised myself!
"How dare you!" Todd shrieked as he let of of Zelin and fell to the ground, "How could you!"
"I did dare to kill you, and I could do it," I replied, a disgusted glare made two holes in Todd's face as he started to fade.
He just smirked. "Well then, I'll see you in oblivion when you die in the worst way yet!"
With that last remark, he faded away into the dark depths of oblivion, where all the bad Nobodies go when they die.
I turned to my friend Zelin, who was also fading away, but not as much as Todd was. I knelt before her. Just looking at her made tears well up in my eyes when I saw my sword impaled into her. The only thing I could say was 'Why do this?'
"Sorry, Lira," Zelin sighed, "I saved your life, and you saved mine now."
"How?! I killed you basicly!" I sobbed.
"You saved me from being a hostage, and you saved me from being trapped here for the next eternity. I wasn't trapped in the Space Paranoid for nothing, you know," Zelin chuckled weakly, "I would have been thrown into a jail cell, or Xemnas would have tracked me down and killed me in a grusome way."
I looked at her with wide, teary, eyes.
"Now don't go all soft now. You still have Xemnas to worry about," Zelin sighed, "Don't worry... Just defeat Xemnas for me and call it good... okay? I'll be with my old friends...Ian..."
I wiped my eyes. "Ian? What happened to him?"
"He was sentenced to be tortured by all 13... He did it to protect you after you were in Castle Oblivion... and to protect Sora and I when we traveled together... Sora doesn't know that we did because I wiped out that part of his memory. Don't tell him, okay?"
I nodded. Ian did that for me and Zelin? He was usually the silent and uncaring type from what I remember, but to be tortured?
"So, he's dead? Was Louis around?"I questioned.
"He was... The boy, Roxas... He left and Louis was called back for a bit. He fled later. Louis didn't kill Ian though. Ian... He killed himself."
I nodded in sadness. Poor Ian...
"You really want to know about your others friends... huh?" Zelin asked.
I stared at her. Her face was really pale, and her eyes were both full of rage and full of sorrow. I then nodded slowly.
"Ren... Louis... Chase... They're okay," she said with a slight smile, "So are Amelia, Keyon, and Myron..."
"Just Keyon?" I asked, a bit worried, "Don't tell me-"
"Victor was thought that he commited suicide, but he didn't. He... was controlled..."
I looked at her in shock. What did she mean by that?
"That girl, Tai... she manipulated him... She's still alive..."
"Why would she do such a thing?"
"She... was consumed by darkness. She was never a Nobody to start with, but she's probably now... a Heartless more rather..."
"And you didn't say Toni. What happened to her?"
"I don't know... she ran off... with some basketcase..." she chuckled slightly, "But she's okay... She sends letters..."
I nodded as though I truly did understand. I didn't however.
"Now go... See you around...Lira."
Zelin closed her eyes slowly and faded into the darkness. I looked at the ground and cried some more. "This was all because of me."
"What do you mean?" Sora asked as he ran over.
"It's my fault Ian died, it's my fault Zelin & Spade are now dead, and it's my fault for getting my friends into danger!" I screamed.
Sora put his hand on my shoulder. "It's okay. Just calm down."
I glared at him and pointed my blood covered sword at his neck. My hand was shaking. "I can't just calm down. My friends, one of my only reasons to live, are all over the place and I don't know where the hell to start!" Tears filled up my eyes. Why am I crying so much?

"Just want to be with my friends!"

Just then, someone grabbed my hand and forced me to drop my weapon. I looked up and stared at Riku, who was glaring at me.
"Look, Lira," Riku said in a stern tone, "Just because you're pissed off at the world right now, that doesn't give you the right to let your anger out on us. I saw your friend Ian when I got into the castle at the begining. He wanted to die. They were treating him horribly. Zelin, she died because she had no one left, and she was going to die anyways! When you killed her, she saved you!"
"That girl who was used for that illusion," Sora added, "She didn't die without a reason. She was misunderstood, but she traveled with Donald, Goofy, and I for a while. She disappeared after she helped us seal the door to darkness. She's a hero! And what if your other friends are out there? You're just going to leave them? That wouldn't be something you would do, Lira. You're better than that."
I just looked at Sora and Riku as I wiped away the tears with my glove.
"You must have been a great person if you have so many friends," Sora continued, "Don't disappoint them if they are alive."
I nodded. "My friends were like my life. You should know, Sora. Basically all your adventure were because of your friends. To protect them and keep them safe. That's sort of how my life is."
Sora nodded. "I hope you find your friends, Lira."
"I will. I know I will." I flashed a smile and started walking on.
Maybe... Just maybe... I can be positive for once. I will find my friends.
"LIRA!!!" Donald and Goofy shrieked as they got hit out of the area.
I turned around, and quickly ducked when I saw Sora try to attack me with his keyblade. Riku suddenly lunged at he as well, and I blocked both Sora's and Riku's attack.
"What are you guys doing?!" I shouted.
Sora swung his keyblade so hard that part of my sword chipped.
"Oh crap!" I shouted as Riku's attack shattered my sword blade.
Suddenly, I heard some laughing. I looked up to see a girl perched up on a ledge. Her black hair was flipped out, her pitch black eyes were glaring at me, and her pale white skin has a few splatters of crimson blood.

"Wh-who are you?" I asked loudly.
"I'm just an outcast and your worst nightmare," she replied, her smirk turning into a malevolent smile.
"What are you doing to Sora and Riku?!" I demanded.
"Nothing at all. They just turned against you, Lira."
"What?" I was confused about this.
"That's right," she replied, appearing behind Sora and Riku, "These two finally got fed with you."
"You're a liar," I stated, "And who are you?"
I tried to pull out my other sword, but Riku grabbed my arm and stopped me from moving for my swords.
"I'm not lying at all, Lira," the girl replied, "I'm telling you the truth and nothing but the truth. And do you want to know some more of the truth?"
I wanted to just say no, but I was dieing to know what was going on.
She stood only a foot away from my face. "You're going to die right here along with your friends."

I felt a strong force in my chest area, and suddenly my torso went numb. I coughed up so much blood right onto the girl. Did she just use her bare hand and impale me all the way through?!
"I'm so sorry that it comes to this, Lira. If you stood loyal to Todd and Tai Lee in the past, you wouldn't suffer this kind of fate."
"I don't know... who the hell you are," I started as I used the back of head to knock Riku back, "But... I would never... has stayed loyal to... two lying fiends!"
The girl glared at me with her eyes. "Then you'll die right here!"

She jumped back and summoned two fan blades into her hands. I took out my swords and got into ready stance. She just stood there however. Why wasn't she making a move? I then charged towards the mysterious girl. When I attempted to strike her, she just blocked my attack with ease. My sword suddenly shattered and I was worried.
"Those swords won't work, Lira," she smirked.

She grabbed the blade of the other sword and threw me right over the edge of the platform. I grabbed onto the edge for dear life. I didn't dare to look down because it seemed almost bottomless.
"There's no place for you in the worlds," the girl said, "Give up and fade into oblivion!"
"LIRA!!" Sora and Riku shouted.
"So, they snapped out of it. No matter." The girl stepped on my hands with her black high heeled boots. I held back a shriek of pain. I couldn't hold on forever! "Hold it right there, boys." The girl continued. "If you take another step closer, your friend will drop down to her death."
Ow god, my fingers! I thought as I looked at Sora and Riku, who looked angry and confused at the same time.
"Say goodbye, Lira," the girl smirked.

She then stepped off my fingers. My fingers were so much pain I couldn't hold on anymore, so my fingers slipped off the ledge, and I fell down, down, down.
"LIRA!!!" Sora shouted as he tried reaching for me over the ledge.
All I heard after that event was the evil cackling of that mysterious girl, and the shouting of a familiar voice.

"Lira?! Lira!!" Sora and the other called.

Sora turned swiftly around and glared at the mysterious girl before drawing his Keyblade.
"Oh my. Is that girl's fall my fault?" the girl asked, looking innocent, "Why, I'm so sorry, Mr. Keyblade Master."

"Who are you?" Sora demanded, "Why did you just kill Lira?!"

"She's not even a human being, and we Nobodies don't die. We simply fade into Oblivion. In fact, I thought Nobodies don't even bleed. Strangely, they do. Apparently, that means we're getting closer to becoming whole again."

Sora charged towards the girl and attempted to strike her. With one finger, she blocked the keyblade with ease.

"Do you want to know why I let her plumet to her death, Sora?" The girl smiled with malious.

"I want to know who you are!" Sora growled.
"My, I did forget an introduction." The girl flicked her fingers and send Sora flying back with his weapon. Her smile turned into a look that made a demon look like an angel. The girl flicked her wrists and two fairly large, hand-held fans appeared. "My name is Phexst. I am The Elusive Masquerade, I have many faces of evil and good hidden behind the mask I wear to hide them, and I will be the last thing you'll ever see!"
Phexst opened her fans; the fan's blades shining from the blood that appeared on the tips. She lunged towards towards Sora, knocked his back onto the ground with a ferocious amount of strength, and raised her fanblade up.
"Say good bye, Sora. Your friends will be following you shortly."
Suddenly, something came whirling past and went right into her wrist, forcing her to drop her fan to see what damage had been done. Sora sprang up and stuck Phexst with his keyblade so she fell over the side of the platform. Sora looked at the object in Phexst's wrist. An arrow?

"Thank god be got here in time," a girl sighed in relief.

"Sora, are you alright, man?" a guy's voice asked.
"Wait what? Sora?! OI SORA!!! Hi!!" the girl greeted loudly.
Sora looked up onto the upper platform. He saw a girl standing on the railing; her red and black hair was put into a pony tail, and a large scar was visible on her face. With her was a boy slouching over the railing with a bow in hand. His eyes were covered with white bandages, and he wore a faded and torn Organization cloak.

"Good idea to bring you along, huh, Louis? You how to summon almost every weapon in the whole wide world, yeah?" the girl rambled, "You can summon swords and bows and arrows and daggers and clubs and-and...."

"Enough talking, Ren," Louis scolded, "Go down and assist."

"Alrighty!" Ren chimed as she jumped down right next to Sora, "Long time to see Sora!!"

Sora just looked at Ren in an odd way. "Who are you?

"Aw, you don't remember?! I lived on Destiny Island for, like, ever! Well, that was until, like, one year before you went on your journey? Don't you remember? I was in Cas-"
Riku walked up and quickly covered Ren's mouth and whispered quietly to her. "He doesn't know, Ren."

"Seriously, Riku?! How can he not know?! He experienced ev-"

Riku covered Ren's mouth so she wouldn't shout again. "Namine erased his memory."

"Ooh! I get 'cha," Ren nodded. She shoved Riku out of the way and rested her elbow on Sora's shoulder, "Anyways, remember me from Destiny Island? We went to school together. You, Kairi, and Riku always hung out and I was usually the one who'd fight with you out of boredom when no one else wanted to spar with you? Occasionally we would just chill out and have random oodles of random fun."

Sora thought for a moment, but then looked at Ren in a startled way. "You're that girl who tried drowning me before! And then you saved me after some other kid tried drowning me!"

"Um, that's one thing to remember about me, yeah?" Ren smiled.
"And that time at the school dance, you and I were running around and caused a small fight, you were being the DJ also-and you did a great job by the way."
"Thanks! I got some tips from my friend, T-"
"STOP TALKING, REN!!!" Louis shouted from the top, "Phexst's already recovered!!!"

"Huh?" Ren turned around and looked at Phexst, who was just about to strike her. Ren quickly summoned her broadswords and blocked one attack with one sword and the second attack with her other sword. "Oh crap! This is were I appreciate these broadswords, huh?" Ren kicked her leg back, accidently kicking Riku where no man wants to be kicked and swung it forward, kicking Phexst over the edge of the platform again and letting Riku fall over in pain. "Take that!"

"Why you brat-!" Phexst growled as she came up from over the edge. She then came face to face with the blade of a sword that Louis was holding.
"Don't move. Your last breath depends on it," he ordered coldly.

"Whoaly shiznit!" Ren exclaimed, "How'd you get there so fast?!"

Phexst just smirked. "Wow. The same weapon ablility as me. How interesting. The ex-organization member came back to this world? Why deal with this crap and come back here when Xemnas wants your head?"
Louis kept quiet.
"Oh, Sora," Phexst said with a sly smirk, "This boy here is a member of Organization XIII."
"I'm not anymore," Louis stated.
"He's the old number 13. Before Roxas left," Phexst put herself onto the platform completely, "He loves to kill. And if you don't hurry it up, he'll kill me, kill you and Riku, then go off to kill your lovely girlfriend, Kairi."
Sora just stared at Louis and then Phexst. His grip tightened on his keyblade and he charged at Louis.
"Crap," Louis groaned as he quickly turned around and blocked Sora's attack.
Phexst cackled, "See you soon, Louis." She then disappeared in a portal of darkness.
"No!" Louis growled, "Sora! You idiot!" He shoved Sora back and his sword disappeared. "I would NEVER kill anyone. Only Phexst, but she's a villian."
"But-!" Sora was frustrated and confused. "But Kairi-!"
"Quit worrying about her!" Ren said, her voice filled with reassurance, "We have Amelia and Myron with Kairi so she's safe." Ren paused. "But those two always get into fights... I'll tell 'ya. Fire and Ice are elements that DO NOT mix."
Sora looked a bit worried and was just about to spring to Kairi's rescue, but Louis just told him to stay and disappeared.
"Wait!" Sora called trying to run into the portal. Ren just grabbed his arm just before the portal closed.
"He's just checkin' up on those two. Myron would never let a lady like Kairi get hurt, so don't worry. Maybe he'll let Amelia get hurt, but she'd let him get hurt too for revenge and all..." She smiled. "He'll be back, Sora. Don't worry a-"
Just then, a portal opened up and a person stepped out darkness. Their long Organiztion cloak drapped onto the ground, and their face was concealed by their hood. They carried someone in their arms as they silently took a few steps forward, trying not the step on their over-sized coat.
"Is that-?" Ren started.
"Lira!!" Sora and Riku exclaimed.
The person was startled by their shouting and tried stepping back, only to trip over themself and land right on their behind and accidently letting Lira's head slam down onto the ground. Ren smacked her forhead and Sora and Riku just stared at the person.
"Oh god! I'm so sorry!" the stranger said, the voice shouting a bit high pitched yet masculine, a male's voice, "I didn't mean to! It was the cloak! And crap! That makes her lose even more memory! It's going to take forever to restore! Oh god! Why did I do such a stu-"
"Relax," Ren said calmly.
The boy looked up from Lira and saw that Ren was only a foot away and grinning like an idiot. The strange boy flinched and jumped up, tripping over his cloak again and falling back over. He hit his head right onto the ground, and his hood slid off.
Ren giggled and helped the boy up. "You alright?
He looked up at Ren, his magenta colored eyes looked a bit sad and surprised, and his violet hair, long and thick, was tied back. He blinked a few times then began bowing down once, twice, thrice, and so on.
"Thank you so much for helping me! I'm such an idiot so I'm really sorry for hitting your friend's head on the ground and all. I didn't mean to! It's just that I'm so clumsy, and I'm the smallest member, and that I-" Ren held a finger up and the boy stopped with a nervous chuckled. "Right... Sorry."
"Quit saying that. You saved our friend!" Ren smiled, "I should be thanking you and apologizing for the trouble."
The boy looked a bit surprised and nodded. "You're welcome."
"Name?"
"Oh! Uh, my name is Tainx..."
"Ren. So, Tainx, what's the damage?" she asked, looking at Lira quickly.
He thought for a moment. "Well, um, she lost her memory. Completely..."
"Say what?!" Sora and Ren shouted.
"She was like this when I met her!" Sora shouted.
"First time or s-" Riku quickly covered Ren's mouth. "Oh, right." She laughed but then shut up.
"How can we restore them?" Riku questioned, "The only person who has the kind of ablilty is-uh... you know."
She thought but then nodded giving Riku a thumbs up.
"Well, she's not the only person," Tainx replied sheepishly, "I do know some ways to restore memory, but it'll take awhile. Maybe a few months or so?"
"Sounds fair," she nodded, "Don't tell anyone you know of this, okie dokie?"
Tainx blinked and nodded reluctantly. "Artichokie?"
Ren clapped. "I love when people reply like that!"
After a few more minutes of talking, Tainx disappeared in a portal quickly just in case anyone else found out he was there.
"So guys," Ren said, "We need to catch up later, but for now, you two need to run off because you have Kairi stand around all alone now."
"Yo! Ren!" a girl's voice shouted loudly, "Grab Lira and get your sorry butt up here! We gotta go!"
The three looked up and saw a girl with long red hair, dim green eyes, and some pretty odd clothing standing on the top rail of the balcony.
The boy standing next to her had white hair and light purple eyes. He pushed up his glasses. "We don't want to encounter Phexst again. She could be anywhere."
Ren nodded. "And you two ditched Kairi! Louis went looking for you!"
"So what? He'll find out where we are as always," the girl said easily.
"You always say that, Amelia! Yet you're always wrong!" Ren grabbed Lira and put her on her back before going around to get to the top balcony. "Seriously, you and Myron are THE WORST then it comes to things like this!"
Ren's ranting went on but faded out when she walked out of the Hall of Empty Melodies. Her voice echoed back up when she came to the balcony. "And there's always something you two have to disagree on! Sure, you two are fire and ice but that doesn't give you the right to be so immature!"
Amelia, getting fed up with Ren's ranting, opened a portal and shoved her in. "Sora, Riku! Go save your girlfriend and kick Xemnas's ass for me!" She walked into the portal and Myron relucantly followed after.
Sora and Riku looked at each other then sprinted to where Kairi was and to where they had to finish their final struggle.