AN: DBH is finished - my beta reader and I are both swamped so rest assured it WILL continue, we just are both so busy I don't want to drag her through more work when she needs to focus on classes. KH is a passion project to destress from all of my classes and life.

I made it to the bailey with little trouble. The walls were shadowed in purple and the little cut-out window in the wall that faced the remains of the Hollow Bastion was warmed a tangerine hue. A light wind carrying the scent of chilled soil wreathed around us. By all accounts it should've been a lovely evening.

But Merlin had given me until the sun had set. This was all but a ticking clock.

Leon was pointing at the graveyard of Radiant Garden. Sora, Donald and Goofy all stared in stunned silence at the hulking remains of our home.

I took my place beside Sora as Leon said, "We want to restore Hollow Bastion to what it used to be. Who knows - maybe even something better. There's still a lot to do but," he broke off for a split second when I joined them. "But I'm sure we can handle everything. Except...for that…"

Leon gestured below at the blue stone path leading up to the castle grounds. Smack dab in the middle of the road two of those frightening Heartless stretched their tentacle-like limbs and swayed like tipsy dancers across the pathway.

I said, "Sora, can you really do something about them?" Cid was so focused on protecting the town that he'd never come up with a plan for if and when we managed to pave the way to the castle. That was the most disheartening part. If he didn't believe it was possible then the members of the HBRC stood no chance.

The sun dipped halfway beneath the horizon, staining the sky orange. Sora observed the creepy waltz of the Heartless, the sunlight shining like garnets along their pale white bodies. Then his blue gaze slid to mine."We'll handle them," he declared. His voice rang confidently throughout the bailey and filled me with a calm unlike anything I'd ever known. All at once I understood how everyone could rely on a boy who was so young. I met Leon's approving glance over Sora's spiky hair and relaxed.

"Well, that's good to hear," my friend told Sora.

"Very," I agreed. With a wistful sigh I looked back out at the castle. The sunset was beautiful. Even if it was partially hidden by the graveyard of my home. "Sora, I have a favor to ask of you."

"What's up?" Sora asked me.

"When I was just a kid, I was separated from my parents. I have no idea if they're even alive anymore. And I heard you've travelled across many worlds." I felt Leon's stare on me as I fought to keep my voice as neutral as possible. He knew how much this meant to me. But even admitting it was like opening an old wound. One that cut deeper than a sword through a Heartless.

Sora's eyes rounded. "Oh, okay. What do they look like? If we see them we'll let you know right away, right guys?"

Donald and Goofy agreed - well that's what I thought Donald's shriek was.

"What do they look like?"

"I...I'm not sure, really. It's been so long I can't even remember what they looked like," I explained.

Sora cupped his chin in one hand. "If we find anyone who looks like you we can ask them. Or maybe we could look into any rumors about people having escaped Hollow Bastion...or something?" the boy turned to his friends as if pleading for guidance. No doubt Leon had filled him in on the attack on the castle.

"Don't trouble yourself. Just...if you come come across anything I'd appreciate it."

Sora's sunny disposition folded into a thoughtful study. If he was out travelling worlds with his friends then what of his parents? Before I could ask he said, "Okay, leave it to us!" His smile was dazzling.

"Thank you, really." Relief spread through me. Even if Sora never saw a sign of them I'd taken a step forward. Merlin might discourage me from pursuing answers but I needed them as much as I needed my friends. The people who'd stuck with me when I was up in the wee hours, screeching my head off as phantoms lunged for me in my dreams. Merlin had once been kind to me, but then one night, after a visit to Yen Sid's, he'd started to treat me...differently. Always on edge.

Leon reached over and ruffled my hair like he'd done when were kids. I'd hated it back then but now that we were older it was like a balm on my frazzled nerves.

"So, Sora - do you know what's going on then?" Leon asked.

Immediately the boy's gaze hardened. "There's this guy - Pete, who's been going around plotting with the Heartless. But he's not smart enough to tie his own shoes. The ones we need to worry about are the Nobodies."

There was that word again. "Nobodies?" I repeated but Goofy cut in before Sora could explain.

"And those Organization XIII guys in charge, too!"

"Wait," I appealed to Leon. " I thought our biggest problem were the Heartless?"

Sora grimaced. "Not exactly. The Organization -

A silvery voice resplendent with power boomed throughout the bailey. "You called?" It swept a chill up my spine at the same time that it tempted me into obedience.

Sora and his friends whirled around, checking the area frantically. They raced deeper through the bailey and out through a different exit; Goofy held a shield in front of him and Donald raised a staff into the air.

Leon stepped in front of me protectively.

I placed a hand on his arm. "We need to help Sora."

For a moment he hesitated. "If he finds out that you-

"I never said I was going to jump into the fray. But I'll defend us if need be."

"Guys protect the girls."

With a huff I stepped in front of him. "Why did I ever have a crush on you?" I voiced aloud my disappointment and Leon barked out a surprised 'what?' at that. "I expect a thorough explanation about all these Nobodies and everything else you've neglected to tell me, by the way."

My friend stepped up beside me and levelled his weapon before him.

The voice spoke again, a touch of amusement seeping into its rich baritones as Sora continued to fruitlessly search for its owner. "You're doing well." My toes curled in their boots at their dulcet tones. Was this a normal reaction to one who was obviously the enemy?

"Who's that?" Sora demanded. His Keyblade materialized in his hand in a flash of light.

"This calls for a celebration…" My flesh reacted as if someone had skimmed the palm of their hand over me. Yet, it was pleasant. Soothing. Inviting even.

Sora's head turned as something we couldn't see from our position caught his attention. I tensed. And then two of those horrifying snow-white Heartless slithered into the bailey. Sora chased after them, raising his Keyblade high.

The gates leading into the town slid shut as the Heartless triggered the defense system; Merlin was going to be furious at the situation I'd put myself in.

"Watch out!" Leon yelled and I barely had time to throw myself out of the way as three more launched toward us. I landed hard on my side. Leon jumped in front of me, brandishing his sword.

To my right, Sora faced off the first two Heartless with Donald and Goofy. They worked together as if they'd been doing so for years.

One of the Heartless slipped past Leon and swung an arm at me. I ducked, rolled over and caught its leg with a sweep of mine. It lost its balance only for a moment before it fell forward, slipped into the ground and reappeared in front of Donald's staff. The duck let out a victorious sound as a hail of ice struck it point blank in the face.

"Stay close to me," Leon said.

Why was I forbidden from fighting? I wanted to scream in sheer frustration from it all.

Then the Claymores activated. It was like a dance. The Heartless slunk in and out of the discs of light, twirling around Leon and the trio. Donald's magic reigned lose and set them on fire.

One of the Heartless was knocked flying my way. With a gasp, I shoved it and sent it tumbling into Leon's path. It's body felt like smooth, cold plastic. Leon's sword made quick work of it.

"Is that all of them?" Sora raised his voice as the last of the Heartless faded into oblivion. I straightened.

Only for Leon to shove me down as something came shooting out of the air at me. This cloaked Heartless wielded its own sword. And there were multiples of them. Shoving off of the ground I positioned myself so that I was back-to-back with Leon. If I left the bailey something worse might attack me. Sticking close to Leon was my best option. It would only distract him if I got caught up in something else.

One of the Heartless threw itself at him, sending him stumbling back into me with a grunt. I fought to hold my ground and then I glimpsed another Heartless coming for me. He said, "Damnit, how many of them are there?"

"Behind you!" I warned him. I only had time to raise both of my arms in front of my face and brace for the sensation of the Heartless' blade slicing through my flesh. In a flash, two things happened at once: a searing line of heat ripped down my arm and a blinding spark of ice hurtled past me and collided with the Heartless. It flew back a few feet and flopped to the ground; Sora slammed his Keyblade down onto it. The body disappeared into nothing.

Leon grabbed my shoulders and spun me around. My heart hammered in my chest at the realization that I'd almost been skewered then and there. "Are you alright?" He was frantic. Completely unlike the usual stoic man I'd known. "Dammit. If you were allowed to fight you'd never have been in this -" he caught himself but not before the words bubbled from his lips. The scar slashing down his face became a wavy line as his face crumpled with emotion. "I'm going to talk to Merlin again. This isn't right."

I raised my arms and caught sight of a red line skating down my skin. "I'm fine, just startled. And it's not like Merlin will suddenly let me. You've seen how he gets whenever I ask." I tried to reassure him. But I couldn't stop myself from trembling. It wasn't simply from the fact that I'd almost been killed. It was because the ones we'd been forced to fight were the white Heartless. Something about the way they moved terrified me. It was almost instinctual how fast my body reacted to them. And that fear had only locked me in place this time. "I'm fine, really." I said again, as if to convince myself.

Leon didn't look convinced at all. "I don't know why he forbade you from fighting but it's only placing you in danger. If you fought with us, we'd be able to clear out so many of them in town. Everyone can see it. You were trained just like us. I don't understand it."

I was honestly a little surprised. For the longest time I'd thought that everyone had known the reason and had been sworn to secrecy. Now I could see it was an awkward situation for all of us. It didn't make sense at all.

Sora rushed past us and back out through the other end of the bailey. The voice appraisingly said, "The Keyblade. A truly marvelous weapon. Were it only in more...capable hands."

The voice smoothed into a ripple of laughter. And then several more joined in until it was a symphony of waves threatening to drown us all.

"Show yourselves!" Sora demanded.

They did so. First one sole figure appeared clad in a black cloak. Their hood swaddled their face in shadows. Raising their arms as if to embrace the sky, five more figures emerged from cocoons of black pulsing energy behind them. They stood atop a high ledge and stared down at us all from the shadows of their hoods.

"Is that?" I was so stunned I couldn't finish my sentence.

Leon's eyes narrowed at the sight of them.

"Organization XIII!" Goofy exclaimed, answering my question.

Sora made a fist. "Good, now we can settle this."

Where were the other members? "Leon, do you think the Claymores would attack them?"

"I don't know. They're designed specifically to exterminate the Heartless but these guys don't look like good news," he murmured. Adjusting his grip on the pommel of his sword he followed my gaze and said, "Wait, shouldn't there be more of them?"

"That's what I was about to ask you. We should guard the gate." Right as I moved toward it, the cloaked person at the forefront of the group spoke and my friend stopped me.

"What a shame." He was clearly their leader by the way he presented himself. "And here I thought we could be friends." His comrades laughed jeeringly as they all disappeared into their cocoons of shadows. The echoes of their voices rang throughout the bailey like a haunting choir.

Donald jumped up and said something that I guessed meant 'stop' and took off to the right. Leon and I raced to the exit and watched as duck nearly slammed into one of the cocoons, which had sprung up in his path. The cocoon vanished as a cloaked figure took its place. Donald took one look at them, then back up at the place where they'd all been gathered and, perturbed, raised his staff threateningly at the figure.

"Oppsy-daisy," the figure said mockingly. He had an accent I'd never heard before, one that lent him a carefree image. As if he weren't seconds away from a powerful, seething duck-mage from blasting a smattering of ice shards at his face.

Sora said, "Move!"

As if he were chastising a petulant child, the Organization member spoke deliberately slow and gesticulated grandly. "Now do you think that's polite, shutting me down like that?"

Sora was understandably annoyed. He slashed a hand through the air. "I said get out of the way!"

"As if!" the man taunted him. "You can talk all you want but that won't change a thing."

Donald jumped back in line with Sora and for the first time since I'd met him, I finally was able to understand his garbled words. "Then we're gonna make you move." He was pretty gutsy. After seeing his skills at work, I was inclined to believe he had what it took to back up his words.

"See, that would work - if I was just any old dude." A gulf of silence stretched between them and the man's next words took on a more menacing tone. "'Cept I'm not. I'm with the Organization. Nothing 'any-old' about me."

"Careful," Leon murmured. Who he meant that for I didn't know, though it was likely directed at all of us. That strange feeling danced over my skin again, raising gooseflesh in its wake.

Sora continued to brazenly talk back to the Organization member, gripping his Keyblade with both hands. Leon circled around him for back up, leaving me staring in utter shock and horror at the lick of violet energy pulsing around my forearms. They were shackles cuffing around my wrists, languidly tasting my flesh. There was no pain. Only a gentle, tugging sensation. As if it were sapping all of my reserves from my body.

With a gasp I brushed frantically at the shackles. They only climbed higher along my arms. No! Leave me alone. Just like that, they vanished.

Shaken to the core, I looked over at Leon as if begging for some kind of explanation for what had happened. But he was busy judging their situation. I was seeing things. I'd almost been killed today, of course my fears were messing with me.

The Organization member's hooded face looked right in my direction. With a snort of laughter, he said, "Oh dear. What have we here?"

Leon tensed at that and slid in front of me.

Sora said, "Tough talk for someone who stood on the sidelines while all of his Nobody flunkies did all the fighting."

"I think you got the wrong impression. Why don't I remind you just how tough the crowd you're dealing with really is?"

"Get ready," I said to Leon.

Sora braced himself.

The Organization member flung his head back and roared with laughter. "That's right! He used to give me that same look." He seemed thrilled by Sora's reaction. With a jab of a finger my way, he pointed down at his wrist and said, "Oh how interesting you all are." Planting his hands on his hips, the embers of darkness spread high above him and formed a cocoon. Right before he vanished in its shell he said, "Be a good boy now!"

With a battle cry, Donald threw himself after the man. The cocoon closed tight and disappeared and Donald landed hard on the stone ground where it'd been seconds prior.

"That was weird," Sora said. "Who gave him the same look?"

Goofy tried to reassure Sora by saying that the guy was only trying to confuse him. But as they were mulling over the events, Leon's eyes rounded and he reached out and grasped my arm in his hand. A skate of violet shadows shimmered around my wrist. "What...is this?" he breathed and I tore out of his grip.

Clutching my wrist to my chest I shuddered. It felt wrong, like I shouldn't let anyone see this. But it was too late. "I don't know. I thought I was seeing things."

He frowned at that and fell silent. Then he ran a hand down his face. "We're not going to tell Merlin."

"Why not? He needs to know."

"Maybe you're right. But don't you think this might have something to do with why he doesn't want you fighting?"

I shook my head adamantly. "This is the first time something like this has ever happened before."

His shoulders sagged. "That guy could've been trying to psyche us out. It looks just like that thing he vanished into."

The flames of violet sputtered into nothing and then my arm was free from its prison again. Leon was right. They did look the same. "Yeah, that's probably it."

But if that were true, why bother scaring someone who was without a weapon? Someone who wasn't a threat at all? Had it just been for fun and games? His entire disposition seemed to suggest as much, but he'd specifically pointed at me - he'd been surprised at seeing them on my wrists. Was it all just a joke? An act?

Or...was something really wrong with me?

Far away, tucked safely in the Corridor of Darkness, a man with fiery hair raised like a lion's mane stopped dead in his tracks. The darkness at his booted feet trembled and the stagnant air flickered with warning.

A warning he otherwise would've taken heed of. But no longer was the light the hunter. The man's eyes narrowed and he looked around, searching through the dark for the origin of the source. A tugging sensation threading from the center of his torso pulled him to the left and he rolled his shoulders back as the location of his prey slowly revealed itself.

Bingo.

Sora was in that direction. Somewhere down this path, the light awaited him.

"Roxas, I'll set you free," he said aloud to the darkness.

The man set forth at a brisk pace, his strides measured like that of a soldier's. He'd told himself he'd set his friend free no matter the cost. If he had to force Sora into a Heartless to do it then so be it. But if he failed to get Sora soon he'd have to take more drastic measures. He'd need to - he was no longer the only hunter.

He had to make his time count.

Sora held one person more dear to him than anyone in the world. She was a last resort. The man almost regretted his decision because he knew the pain of losing someone you cared for so deeply it hurt -

Ah, but he didn't have a heart. So then what was this burning heat searing through him? Propelling him to do what he knew was wrong?

He never wanted to lose this semblance of feeling again. So he had to find Roxas.

Reviews are always appreciated. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!