Alright, a new story. It's Kingdom Hearts, by the way. :3 Expect to meet some new Nobodies of mine. Please note that the continuality of it will not be like the games, and Sora is fighting other enemies in Castle Oblivion. Like, oh, I don't know, a new group of Nobodies.

Traitors Among Us: Chapter 1

Demyx, the Melodious Nocturne of Organization XIII, hurried into Where Nothing Gathers for the meeting he so happened to be late to. It was no surprise that the boy was late, considering the fact it would happen very regularly, and not just for meetings. Although it wouldn't change the fact that his superior members, who happened to be most of the Nobodies there, wouldn't be particularly happy with him having been late to the meeting. He had only intended to practice his sitar for about an hour, but the time had gotten away from him. Then again, it was easy to lose track of time in The World That Never Was, considering there was no sun.

After a while of running, he quickly made it into the meeting room and opened a Corridor Of Darkness to his seat.

"I see you have finally decided to join us, Number IX", the Superior, Xemnas, spoke in is slow monotone.

"S-sorry, Superior..." Demyx felt like shrinking back into his seat, but he just sat still and watched as everyone stopped staring at him for his lateness.

"Alright, what's this whole thing about", asked Axel. "I was catching some z's when this thing was called."

"It has come to my attention that our efforts to complete Kingdom Hearts is not progressing as I had hoped", said Xemnas. "Things are going too slow, and missions are not getting done quickly enough."

"Superior, what do you mean", a young blackette girl asked, sitting in the lowest seat in the room. She was the fourteenth member of the organization, Xion. "Aren't Roxas and I collecting enough hearts?"

"You are filling your quota during each individual mission, yes", said Xemnas. "However, your missions to gather hearts are far and few in between because of all that we must do to attain Kingdom Hearts, and all the worlds we are traveling to."

"What do you mean 'we'? You and Saix aren't going on any missions at all", the pinkette man called out. "It seems to me all you do is order us around." Marluxia scowled at the Superior.

"Number VII and I are busy enough taking care of the paperwork and organizing reports", said Xemnas.

"So what are you saying", asked Xaldin. "Do we need to recruit new members for the Organization?"

"Yes, so that our plans can go quicker than they are", said the blunette man, Saix. "That is where we need some of you to go out and find more Nobodies to join our ranks."

"More members", Larxene almost groaned. "Meaning more kids? I-" She shut up as Marluxia sent her a discreet glare.

"Who're you planning to send", asked the Freeshooter, Xigbar. He looked at Xemnas with his one good eye.

"You will all keep an eye out for other Nobodies that have not joins us, and some will be set specifically to find new recruits", said Xemnas.

A short woman with long brown hair and natural highlights of red and blond pulled up into a bun passed a stick of sea-salt ice-cream to her blond friend, who was slightly taller than her but also younger. "Here, you go, Yuki", she said. "My favorite, sea-salt ice-cream. In the world I lived in before, I always ate it when I had the chance. I'm sure you'll like it, too."

Yuki smiled and took the ice-cream as they sat down on a bench in the sandlot of Twilight Town. "Thanks, Cari-chan."

"You don't have to add chan to my name", said Cari, sitting beside her. "I told you, Cari's already my nickname."

"Then what's your full name", asked Yuki.

Cari sighed and started on her ice-cream, watching as Yuki started hers and gave a happy expression. "Fine, it's Carolyn."

Yuki nodded. "Got it. Why does everyone call you Cari, then?"

Cari shrugged. "I don't really remember, actually."

She sighed inwardly in annoyance at herself for her memory being so fuzzy and incomplete. There were large chunks of it still missing, as much as she'd tried to remember them all. Ever since that experience with those Shadow heartless in Radiant Garden a few months back while she was headed home, she hadn't felt the same in the first place. The creatures had just shown up and attacked her out of the blue, and for no reason at all. Although she'd felt one of them ripping through her chest before she'd passed out.

Yuki had been in a similar situation years before that, just after she'd turned eleven years old and was living with her older and younger brother. She'd grown up in a world called Valley Grove, and the things had attacked her home as she was getting there with her younger brother. Although sadly, the three of them were split up after the incident. After that, like Cari, she had just woken up in Twilight Town the next thing she knew. And during the time between then and before meeting Cari, she had learned better what had happened to her.

It seemed that both girls had lost their hearts, along with Yuki's brothers, to the heartless that had attacked. And now they were shell-like beings that were unable to truly feel emotions called Nobodies. They had been initially each insulted at first, until things had been properly explained to them. If they could have felt honestly sad by the news, the would have. But without true emotions, they only had ghosts of emotions and their memories to go on.

The girls had met when Yuki found her laying in the forest between the town square and the old mansion. Yuki had gently woken her up and asked who she was before realizing the older girl was a Nobody like herself. As it was, Cari hardly even remembered her own name, which gave the hint that she had just lost her heart. For a while, she hardly remembered much, and Yuki remained patient with her until she remembered more and more about herself and her old life. They had then quickly become friends and spent their time together, often traveling through the Corridors Of Darkness to other worlds and exploring. Although neither ever found their own worlds.

"Think we'll ever find our families", Cari asked, quickly changing the topic.

Yuki only shrugged. "Maybe", she said. "Myde-kun and Kira are probably Nobodies, too, though. They might not even still remember me."

Cari sighed. "My dad disappeared a long time ago, and I don't know what happened to him. I don't even know what happened to my mom, if she was attacked or not."

"Well, whatever happens is what's meant to happen", said Yuki.

Roxas paused as he saw Cari and Yuki sitting together, chatting, in Twilight Town. Thankfully, they seemed not to have noticed him, otherwise he might be in some trouble with Saix and Xemnas for being seen. Although if he was, it might not have mattered so much because they seemed different from the other people in that world. They seemed rather like the other members of the Organization, in fact, and it made him wonder if they were also Nobodies.

Of course, he needed to finish his mission of collecting hearts first, before he could do anything about them. And that was provided he could find them after he was done with what he was sent to do. Otherwise he'd just have to return to the castle without meeting them. And then he would just hope that Saix and Xemnas wouldn't be angry that he didn't do anything. He'd have to do his best to explain his way out of the entire thing. And that was sometimes easier said than done.

As he went about his mission, he continued to think about the two girls and what he might say to them. He had never really talked to any girls besides Xion, and he tended to avoid contact with Larxene considering her temper. So he really didn't know what to expect from the two he'd seen or what to even say to them when he did talk to them. He thought about what could happen and decided it would have been best if he'd gotten some advice from Axel before now. But it was too little, too late if he met them that day.

Once he finished his mission, he headed back to the sandlot to see if he could find the girls, but they were gone. He sighed and turned around to open a Corridor Of Darkness, but got something of a shock when Yuki appeared right behind him. He let out a small shriek of surprise and fell back on his rear end and stared up at her.

"Hey, you ok", she asked.

"Huh? O-oh... Yeah." Roxas stood back up and brushed himself off. "H-hi..."

Yuki smiled cheerfully at him. "I'm Yuki. What's your name?"

"Roxas..."

"Nice to meet you, Roxy", said Yuki.

"It's Roxas..." The blond boy watched her cautiously.

Cari walked over to the two kids and smiled. "You'll have to excuse my friend, here. She likes to give out nicknames to people. I'm Cari."

Roxas nodded slowly. "Nice to meet you... Um... I... I-I better... I'd better get going... I've got... stuff to do." He turned and hurried away from the girls, blushing awkwardly, until he was far away from them and opened a Corridor Of Darkness back to the castle.

Cari and Yuki watched in curiosity as they barely got a glance of Roxas opening a Corridor Of Darkness.

"That was... odd", said Cari.

Roxas sighed as he returned to the Grey Area to see Saix waiting for him. He braced himself for what could happen and walked over to report to the second in command. "I'm done my mission", he said.

Saix looked down at him. "And did you see any new Nobodies while you were out?"

After a nervous shuffling of his feet, Roxas responded. "I think the two girls were Nobodies, but I'm not sure. One had long brown hair pulled into a bun and wore glasses. And the other had long blond hair pulled back into pigtails and had a blue jacket on."

"Did you do anything", asked Saix.

Roxas paused. "Well, I finished my mission first, and then I went looking for them. We met, and they said their names, though. One said her name was Yuki, and the other said Cari. But I turned and ran off because I didn't know what to do."

Saix watched Roxas carefully for a few minutes before nodding. "I'll be sure to inform Xemnas. And as you are still a new member, I don't expect you to know what to do about new Nobodies you find. Now get moving." He watched as Roxas nodded and hurried out of the Grey Area. "Cari, huh...? Interesting."

"So were they cute", asked Axel.

Roxas blushed and glared at the porcupine-haired Nobody. "What's that have to do with anything?!"

Axel shrugged and watched as Roxas lay down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. "I might like one of them. What are their names?"

"Yuki and Cari", said Roxas. "And they don't look old enough for you."

"Cari, huh?" Axel gave Roxas an odd look. "What did she look like?"

"Maybe fifteen", Roxas sighed. "Brown hair pulled up in a bun and pink glasses. Her eyes were blue-grey. She wasn't that tall, either."

"Sounds kind of familiar, actually", Axel said unconsciously.

Roxas shrugged. "Well, anyway, I made a fool of myself in front of her", he sighed. "Yuki, too."

"Well, I guess you can't do anything about it right now", said Axel. "So what about Yuki?"

"Long blond hair pulled back into pigtails and clear blue eyes. Really clear", said Roxas. "She had a blue jacket on, too, as warm as it was. They both had headphones on, too, like they were listening to music."

Axel nodded. "Well, who knows? They might be older than they look. They sure sound cute, anyway."

"That would be your wish", said Roxas. "But I don't think they're as old as you are."

Axel frowned. "If you want to talk about old, talk about Vexen or Xigbar."

Roxas laughed. "Not what I meant."

"Think we'll see that cute boy again", asked Cari. "Roxas, I think his name is."

Yuki watched the sunset from the top of the clock tower. "Who knows. I think he's a Nobody, like us."

"Yeah, does seem at least different from everyone else", said Cari. "I wonder why he ran off, though."

"Maybe he got nervous", said Yuki. "Maybe he's not that great with girls. He did seem a little uncomfortable, anyway."

Cari nodded. "Yeah, probably. He seems like a nice kid, though."

A few days later, Roxas and Axel sat on top of the clock tower watching the sunset after their missions. Xion had been too busy to join them, otherwise she'd be there. Roxas looked at Axel as they ate their sea-salt ice-cream. He seemed to be thinking a lot lately ever since he mentioned the one girl, Cari. Obviously, there must have been a girl by that name from his past, but he just wasn't saying anything about her. Maybe she'd been an old girlfriend or something, as far as Roxas could figure. Whoever she was to him, though, he seemed to have some connection to her.

"Are you sure you're ok", asked Roxas.

Axel blinked and looked at his little buddy. "What would make you think I'm not?"

Roxas paused. "You just look so... distant. You thinking about that Cari?"

Axel sighed and finished his ice-cream, looking back out at the sunset. "I... I knew a girl named Cari. She was one of my best friends", he said. "Always about nine years younger than me, but she looked younger than she was. She had sparkly blue eyes and light brown hair the last I knew, and glasses. But that was... five years ago? Yeah, I guess so." He sighed again. "She liked to tease me and our other friend some, but we looked after her like a little sister."

"Who was your other friend", asked Roxas.

Axel looked at Roxas' ice-cream and smiled. "Hey, you want some more ice-cream? I can go get us some more."

"You didn't answer my question", said Roxas, frowning.

"Right", Axel sighed, frowning again and looking back out to the sunset. "It was us, and Saix. Obviously, though, things changed over time."

"Think the Cari I met is the same one you and Saix were friends with", asked Roxas.

Axel paused. "Could be." He stood up and stretched. "Guess we should get back to the castle now before they start worrying."

Roxas nodded and stood as well.

Marluxia opened a Corridor Of Darkness a few days later to head out on his mission in Twilight Town to track the two Nobodies Roxas had found. But before he entered it, he was stopped by Larxene. He watched as she glanced around, all to find they were thankfully alone. He guessed that she wanted to talk to him about their plan that they'd try to implement later on.

"Is something wrong", he asked.

Larxene frowned at him. "You think those two girls are going to help us any", she asked. "Otherwise it's just two more to have to deal with."

After a sigh, Marluxia responded. "We'll just have to wait and see, now, won't we? Don't worry. If they do get in our way, we will deal with them accordingly. Now I need to get going before we're found by anyone else."

Larxene watched as Marluxia walked through the corridor. "If you say so... I still don't like this whole thing..." She scoffed and turned to head back to her room to read her magazines.

Cari watched as Yuki scampered around in her cat form, a blond ball of fur. It was a special power of shape-shifting she had that she hadn't had before she lost her heart, and she found that she loved it. Although she wasn't the only one with a special power from being a Nobody. Cari had her own unique ability, and could control any metal that she came across, which even included mercury. And they were both quite proficient enough with their abilities to fight off any small heartless they came across. They didn't really want to end up dying a second time, after all.

But she frowned as Yuki abruptly stopped and scampered back to her, with her fur bristling. "Something wrong?"

Yuki transformed back to her normal form, still looking bothered. "Something feels wrong here."

Cari stood and carefully looked around the area, before a loud crash was heard elsewhere. Without even thinking, she grabbed the nail-file from her hair and hurried off in the direction of the noise, with Yuki following quickly behind her. When they found their way to the train station, they saw Marluxia fighting a giant heartless. And he didn't look like he was doing that great, either, at the moment. Yuki looked like she had half a mind to help the man, but Cari stopped her before she could do something brash and get herself hurt. Both girls may have been proficient in magic, but they were still no match for the large heartless like what Marluxia was fighting.

Yuki turned back to Cari. "He's wearing what Roxy was wearing. Think they know each other?"

Cari just watched for a few seconds as Marluxia used his power over flowers to help him fight. "Maybe. But if we go help him... We might end up badly hurt or worse."

"Hmm..." Yuki could sense the graveness in Cari's tone, and looked back at Marluxia. "Maybe we should at least heal him, though."

"No", said Cari. She pointed to the heartless, that was losing to him. "He'll be just fine."

Marluxia took in a deep breath and aimed a final attack on the Darkside with his scythe, finally destroying it. He watched it turn into a large puff of black smoke and sighed in relief, wiping the sweat from his forehead before casting a Cure spell to heal himself. "Now, to find those girls..."

Cari and Yuki exchanged nervous glances before turning and running from the area.

Roxas and Axel sat down on the clock tower with their ice-cream and began to eat it, having finished their missions. Again, Xion had been busy and couldn't join them after hers. But Axel didn't seem to mind that much, since it meant only Roxas might pester him about his friendship with Cari and Saix. And Roxas didn't seem to really be interested in asking about the girls today, anyway. He seemed to be thinking about things, himself.

"Think Marluxia's going to find them", asked Axel. He looked down at Roxas, who just shrugged absentmindedly. "Hey, something wrong?"

"I... don't know", said Roxas.

"Are you worried about the two girls?"

"Maybe... But I thought we couldn't feel anything", said Roxas.

Axel shrugged. "Maybe it's memories."

"But I don't remember anything", said Roxas.

They sat in silence for a while, slowly working on their ice-cream, until they heard some yelling coming from below them.

Cari growled as she dodged one of Marluxia's attacks.

"You two will be coming with me", he said. "Conscious, or not."

"And what if we beat you, instead?" Yuki kicked him in the back, forcing him to stumble before recoiling against her. She quickly dodged the attack, even more grateful she remembered the rhythmic gymnastics lessons her somebody took.

Marluxia lunged at her and slashed his scythe to graze her arms. "That won't happen. I'm stronger than the two of you combined!"

"I wouldn't get so cocky", Cari said before calling out yet another magic attack. She hadn't actually even used her power over metal yet.

Marluxia dodged the attack and went after her again, knocking Cari back against the building. "Now, come peacefully." He quickly dispatched Yuki as she tried to attack him again.

Cari coughed and stood back up. "I don't think so. I don't even know a damn thing about this Organization XIII. Why should I even trust you?" She grabbed a lead pipe nearby her as Marluxia went to attack, and quickly formed the metal into a katana-blade to block the attack. She smiled as he was caught off-guard for a split second. "I control metal", she said. "And I like blades. Especially katana."

Yuki quickly jumped up behind him, having quickly gotten back up, and kicked him away from Cari. She landed nimbly back on the ground and transformed into a kangaroo and quickly began a barrage of kangaroo kicks. Along with beating Marluxia down, she knocked his scythe out of his hands and out of his reach.

"See, don't take us lightly", said Cari. She watched Marluxia get back up and go after his scythe. But she reached it first and kicked him in the face before he could get it. "We may be girls, but we're not girls you should mess with.

Marluxia muttered a Cure spell and stood back up. "Alright, I got that now." He brushed the dirt off himself and glared at the girls. "But we are not done. Not by a long shot." He lunged at Cari and Yuki and kicked them back to retrieve his scythe and began an even faster barrage of attacks.

Cari and Yuki barely dodged some of his latest attacks and quickly found themselves on the defensive. Yuki sent Cari a glance as they dodged, and Cari knew what she was asking about. She carefully and discreetly as possible pulled out a small vial she'd snitched from a laboratory in another world. A vial that contained a very dangerous liquid. A liquid that was also a metal, mercury. She didn't care to use it, but sometimes, like in this instance, she had to use it.

To Be Continued

And the end of chapter one. :D This is actually better than the original way they get recruited.