A/N: I don't own anything of Kingdom Hearts, only this story and Hailey, Marina and aunt Veronica. And mind you that this is my first story, so please don't bite my head off. :) Don't know how you would be able to do that though, but still. XD Anyways, I'm rambling too much. So on with the story. Enjoy reading! :)

EDIT 08/28/2011: Just a fair warning. This is, in my eyes, a terrible story, but since it's my first story, I won't delete it. Don't say I didn't warn you if you decide to read along anyway...

Prologue

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" Hailey cursed under her breath, as she looked at the rather deep gash in her arm.

Well, it looked deep and it was bleeding a lot, but perhaps it wasn't that bad.

IF she was going to die of these bleeding wounds, she would make sure to kill that man until he died from it! First the bleeding, thanks to Mr. Flamesilocks's chakrams, and now a burnt skin, too? It looked bad, but at least she could still feel the pain (well, she wasn't going to say 'hurray' at that, because it really hurt), which meant that at least her nerves weren't damaged and burned to the bone.

All of this had happened out of nowhere. At first, everything had been okay, but then: BOOM! Everything had changed, with a single 'SNAP' of the fingers, as some people put it. Before Hailey could even blink and say "procrastination," they had been surrounded by everlasting chaos.

Things had gotten more and more serious - and dangerous! - as the seconds passed. Hailey was fully aware of that, but there wasn't much she could do now. Moreover, she was sure that the whole town had been heard the sounds of the battle that had taken place here. No wonder everyone thought this mansion was haunted. At least that kept most people away from this place, so their headquarters could stay a secret.

Everything had been all Axel's fault, of course. He had been playing for some kind of a baby-sitter for Xion and Roxas for quite a while now and now that they were both gone, he had become completely insane - as in: even more insane than normally -, demanding them to give Roxas and Xion back. He even somehow had managed to get inside of this mansion. But then again, that was no surprise, because he could make Dark Corridors anywhere he wanted. Maybe DiZ should make a machine that can prevent that, for the next time. That is, if there would be any next time. Axel had already left again, thanks to Hailey, who had, miraculously enough, been able to stop him from taking Roxas with him by fighting with him and distracting him (and look at the result). That had given her uncle and the other Ansem some time to move Roxas away to another, safer secret chamber. They all knew that Axel would come back soon again, though. And to add insult to injury, Xemnas was still after Hailey and her uncle, Ansem the Wise, better known as DiZ.

Hailey and DiZ weren't the only ones here in this gigantic and slightly creepy mansion, though. Naminé - a sweet, somewhat pale and innocent-looking "witch" with bright blue eyes and light blond hair. She wore a white dress and sandals and pretty much resembled the picture that Hailey had of an angel - and another guy - call it coincidence or not - who's name also was Ansem were staying with them in the mansion in Twilight Town, too.

However, the man was a real mystery. He was quiet, sarcastic, calm, collected, and kinda cool, too. It was almost scary that he didn't show any emotions such as anger and sadness, especially because they all knew that he wasn't a Nobody. He always wore a black cloak to protect himself from the darkness that he tended to wield sometimes. Strangely enough, he had the same face as Xehanort, or Xemnas, or whatever the heck the jerk's name was lately. It had been quite a shock for Hailey when he had shown her his face.

"Hailey, you've got to get out of this place! This isn't a joke! I'll never forgive myself if anything happens to you here. You know what Xemnas is up to, right?" DiZ spoke sternly, handing her a high-potion that he had gotten from under his crimson red cape.

Who knew what kind of secrets he kept down there...

Hailey rolled her dark eyes at her uncle's comment. Grown-ups were so worried all the time. It wasn't healthy anymore.

"Of course I do. It's kinda hard to forget that, you know, but it's not like I can't handle him. Besides, I'm not alone in this. Ansem is with me almost all the time. Why can't he become my baby-sit...eh, I mean my bodyguard, or something, if that pleases you more?" Hailey asked, defiantly, opening the bottle with the green liquid in it.

She brushed her long black hair out of her face and put the rim of the bottle against her lips. Oh, how she hated the smell and bitter taste of it...

DiZ sighed wearily, as if he was trying to explain something quite obvious to a four year-old child who didn't seem to get anything of his babbling. Hailey was four times older, but she still didn't get why he had to make everything so difficult. Fleeing from here wouldn't help anything. She was sure that they all knew it, because this mansion was the safest place for her to stay at the moment. Xemnas was after her and it was very likely that he also wanted to kill her. He would chase her over the whole multiverse if he had to, she didn't have any doubts about that. Nothing was going to stop the evil mastermind, so why not face him now?

She was ready for whatever it was he had in mind.

"Hailey, even with a guardian like Ansem, it will still be dangerous here for you. Or have you already forgotten what he has done so far to many people you know?" her uncle reminded her.

"No," she replied through clenched teeth, not wanting to think about that one event that had occured not too long ago.

That event had changed her life drastically. If that had never had happened, she wouldn't have been here right now. But alas, it had happened, and now she had to face the consequences, whether she wanted to or not.

Hailey looked up to the other Ansem this time, desperately begging for some support from his side. Well, she couldn't really see his eyes, for his face was always hidden, but she thought that she saw two glistening orbs which could be his eyes. Now that she thought about it, what was it with these guys and always hiding their faces? Her uncle also hid his face with a bordeau-red piece of cloth, which was wrapped up all over his face, making him look like an evil, dead vampire-zombie...or zombie-vampire. Really, was there any difference? Such a pity that it also hid his long, blond hair, which was something she liked so much about him, mainly because it reminded her of her father. The only thing she could see from her uncle now, were his brown-orange-colored eyes.

"I'm afraid that your uncle is right. We don't want you to get hurt. We know you can defense yourself fairly well, but even you have to admit that it's still a wonder that you're alive after everything that's happened so far. From now on, you shouldn't take any risks," the other Ansem spoke with his characteristic deep voice that always sent up chills down on Hailey's spine.

She tried to hide that fact and just hoped she wouldn't fail miserably in doing so, as she gave him a fierce look. "Gee, thanks a bunch for choosing my side, as always. It's good to know I can always count on you. And I seriously don't get why people have to remind me of that every friggin' time," she grumbled, surly.

"You're welcome. You asked for it," was the simple answer.

Hailey rolled her dark eyes once again. It had become quite a habit for her eversince she had met this overly sarcastic man.

"Then I'm afraid I don't really have a choice, huh?" she inquired, softly, averting her gaze from the man.

"I'm afraid you don't, my child. But look at it from the bright side: you'll see your favorite aunt again," her uncle said, desperately trying to cheer her up.

Hailey this time chose to snort instead of rolling her eyes. "Uncle DiZ, she's my only aunt, remember?"

"And Destiny Islands is a beautiful and peaceful place. The weather's always great and the people who live there...they are all nice, too. I'm sure you will like it there," Ansem added, as if she hadn't said anything.

Hailey sighed deeply and nodded, feeling that she had lost this argument.

"Don't worry about how you'll reach that place. Ansem will teleport you to Veronica's house when you've fallen asleep, so you won't notice anything from the trip."

Once again, Hailey nodded briefly. "Okay."

"I wrote a letter for your aunt. Do you mind if I give it to you, so you can hand it over to her for me?" DiZ asked.

At this, Hailey had to smile. Her uncle could be so sweet sometimes.

"No, go ahead. I'm sure aunt Veronica will be pleased to read it."

With that, he turned around in one, quick move and walked out of the computer room, the place where he hung out the most. Hailey figured that he really must miss his wife a lot, for it had almost been a year since they had seen each other for the last time. Another thing that was Xemnas's fault, the bastard.

Ansem and Hailey were the only one left in the room now. The only sound they heard was the soft buzzing that all the computers were making.

"So..." he started, not really knowing how to continue.

"So... Is there any chance we'll meet again?" Hailey asked out of the blue.

She could've slapped herself for that action. Honestly, where had that come from?

She felt how the man's gaze rested on her for a short moment, as if he was wondering if he should be honest with her, before he replied with, "I don't think so, but... Who knows? Maybe we'll meet again indeed."

"Then I can't wait for that moment to happen."

Once again, she had said something before she'd been able to stop herself.

But the following words didn't make her regret it at all. "...Neither do I."

Hailey smiled. The guy sure wasn't much of a talker, but when he said something, he always knew how to make her laugh and/or how to make her feel better. That was one of the many things she liked about him, even if he looked like her worst enemy. This was yet another proof that one shouldn't judge a book on its cover.

A/N: Thanks for reading, and not shooting me (yet)! Hope you've enjoyed it. ^_^ You know, the very first time I saw Riku in KHII, refering to himself as "Ansem" I thought he and DiZ were the bad guys. I had no idea how wrong I was about that. XD I know it's kinda strange to write the prologue so late. I hadn't intended to write one at first, but I felt like writing it. And as you may or may not know, the next chapters will be longer, so don't worry about the shortness of the chapters. ;) And I'm sorry if it's all a bit vague, but as you will read the other chapters, you'll get to know more and more about the situation. This was just to make all the new readers more curious, so did it work? :P Reviews are highly appreciated! :)