A/N: Oh man, it's been a long time. Why the long break? Partially because I had writer's block for this story and partially because I was working on a story on FictionPress. Yeah, I know. Not good. Anyway, after wondering where to take it from Chapter 2, it suddenly hit me after replaying KH2. This chapter may not be good but I hope it's decent. Also, does anyone else find Proud Mode hard? I know it's suppose to be hard but I can't beat Xaldin yet and I'm on level 38!

CHAPTER 3

:The Morning of the Experiment:

Alana was back in the room, lying down on the bed again. She was lost in her thoughts and her confusion. What could they be planning to do to her for the experiment? Make her run laps? Make incisions in her body? Study her in her natural habitat? They could probably torture her to see how much she could take.

Alana rolled over and faced the wall. She needed to survive two more days before she could regain her strength back and fight her way out. During that time, she needed to formulate a plan of some sort. One that was foolproof. But what could work?

In the middle of her thinking process, the door opened and Alana rolled over to see who it was. Axel stood in the doorway, holding a tray of food. He walked in and closed the door with his foot. "I brought you something to eat."

She watched as he placed the tray on the bed and sat at the edge. Alana studied him. He didn't move much as he stared at the clean floor. For once, he looked cute and attractive. His emerald eyes already had her captivated but he had no idea. He didn't know how they could mesmerize her yet.

Finally, Axel glanced at her and saw that the food had not been touched. "Aren't you going to eat?"

Alana broke out of her trance and finally glanced at the food."I'm not really hungry."

"I'm not giving you a choice."

Alana looked at the food. It was spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread on the side. There was also a glass of chocolate milk on the tray. Her slate eyes passed over everything of the tray, trying to find the slightest thing wrong with it.

Axel could see how skeptical she was about the food. So he picked up the fork, took a meatball and ate it. He could see the stunned expression on her face. Axel swallowed. "See? There's nothing wrong with it."

Her eyes glanced at the fork. "I can't use that fork."

"Why not?"

"You just used it."

"So?"

"It's just disgusting to share a fork."

Axel laughed and stabbed another meatball. He held it out in front of her face. "Say 'ah'."

"I told you I'm not using that fork."

"And I'm telling you that I don't care. Now eat."

"I'm not going to eat it," she muttered.

He shook his head and placed the fork back into the plate. Then he pushed the tray so nothing could be between them. Swiftly, he tackled her on the bed and sat on top of her legs. Axel reached for the fork again with the meatball still on it and shoved it in front of her face. "Say 'ah'."

Alana looked down at the meatball and then back at Axel. "I'm allergic to it."

Axel blinked in disbelief before he removed the meatball from the fork and gathered some spaghetti. "How about this?"

" . . . I'm allergic to that as well." Her slate eyes focused on the spaghetti as she wondered if it was poisoned or not. She was more concerned with what was in it.

Suddenly a portal opened up and Demyx came walking out. He looked at Axel. "So did she eat it yet?"

Axel looked back at the blonde, still sitting on top of Alana's legs. "Nope. She's not listening to me. Why don't you try?"

Demyx put his hands up in a no-offense way. "I'm the wrong guy for that job. She definitely wouldn't listen to me. How about . . ." He tapped his foot, his hand on his chin while he thought. At one point during his thinking process, he shook his head and said to himself, "Definitely not her." Alana wondered who he was talking about but didn't bother asking. She was ready for the next person they would bring in.

Finally, Demyx snapped his fingers. "I got it. How about Roxas?"

Axel shook his head. "He's too nice. He'd rather let her die of starvation instead of forcing her to eat."

Demyx sighed. "You're not making this easy. We could call in Saix."

Axel threw the spaghetti-covered fork onto the plate and got off the girl. His green eyes gave her a contemplating stare. Saix could instill fear into her and he might be able to get her to eat. However, Axel wasn't on speaking terms with the guy. He hated him. But what other choice was there? He wasn't going to ask Marluxia and chances were that Larxene would just blow the whole thing out of proportion. "Go ahead. Get him."

"I'm glad my opinion matters to someone," Demyx said as he went through the portal. Ten seconds later, Demyx walked out of the portal, this time with a guy behind him.

Axel raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you were getting Saix."

"Well, when I went to go find him, I didn't see him but Xaldin was there. So I brought him with me instead."

Axel sighed, scratching the back of his head. "At least he's better than Saix."

Alana studied the new guy. He had been the one with the six lances. His hair was black and was done in cornroes. They were divided in half–the top part was brought up into a ponytail and the rest was loose. Along with those cornroes, he had sideburns and blue eyes.

Xaldin folded his arms. "What is it?"

"Okay," Demyx said, taking out a notebook. He began to flip through it. "Just hold on. I took some notes on this. Ah, here it is. It basically says that . . . 'Alana is resisting all efforts to consume the meal prepared for her.' Right. That's why I brought you here."

"I see." He walked over to Alana, his blue eyes on her. "Did you try force?"

"Um," Demyx started, "We haven't thought about it yet."

"You're getting as soft as Roxas."

Alana stared as the three cloaked men. She was a bit worried about the new one. She had never talked to him before and didn't know what he was capable of. She began thinking about complying with them. Her slate eyes stared at the plate of food.

Axel walked over to her. "You know, I would really hate using Xaldin as a second option. So I'll give you one more chance to feed yourself. What do you say?"

Alana glared at Axel before staring at the fork. The same fork he had used and his spit was probably still on. She reached for it reluctantly, the spaghetti still on it. Then she shoved it into her mouth. Argh, she had let it get too cold.

"Hey, what do you know," Demyx said, "She ate it."

"Good girl," Axel congratulated, patting Alana on the back. "I feel like we've accomplished something today."

"This was a waste of my time." Xaldin opened a portal and left the room.

Demyx walked toward the hole of darkness. "Bye Alana."

Soon, it was only Axel and Alana left in the room. The portal was still opened, waiting for the third person. However, Axel wasn't ready to leave yet. He still had something to say to the girl.

Alana picked up a cold meatball with the fork and ate it solemnly. "Aren't you going, too?" She asked after she had swallowed.

Axel shook his head. "I still have to tell you something."

Alana put the fork down. "What is it?"

"Things changed. It turns out the day after tomorrow will be when you'll meet with Vexen. I'll give you some advice: do everything that you're told to do. That way, the experiment won't be as intense. Got it memorized?"

Alana sighed. "Yeah. I'll remember that."

Her eyes opened in the dark. It was the morning of the experiment. Hopefully, no one was up yet. Alana held her hand out in front and her midnight blue staff appeared in it. She grinned. Her abilities were now at one hundred percent and it couldn't be any better than that.

She slowly got up from her bed and opened the door. Then Alana cautiously peered into the hallway. She didn't see anyone.

Happy that there was no one to stop her, she left the room and started down the hallway as quietly as she could. Alana had no idea where she was or how to get out but she made up her mind. She would just have to find one. She turned the corner and nearly bumped into Axel. Alana stopped moving for a second before she dashed down the hallway.

"Hey," she heard Axel yelled from behind her, "Come back here!"

So much for remaining unseen.

Alana turned into another corridor. She halted when she saw Demyx at the end of the hallway, holding his sitar.

Demyx sighed. "Oh, why are you running away? Look what you've gotten us into . . ." He strummed the guitar and his expression changed into a more serious one. "Dance water, dance!" Ten water creatures appeared around him.

Can I handle them? She asked herself. Her grip tightened on the staff. Of course I can. She ran down the hallway and attacked the nearest one. She destroyed it with so much ease.

Demyx pointed the sitar in her direction and strummed it again. This time orbs of water blasted in her direction.

They hit her and she felt more pain than she usually would have. She flew back onto the floor. Suddenly she was helped up. Alana saw that it was Axel.

"You just had to try escaping, didn't you?"

Alana gritted her teeth and kicked him in the stomach with her right leg.

Axel laughed and stuck his arms away from his body. "That didn't even hurt!" His weapons appeared, a chakram in each hand. Fire encircled them both and he began swinging them before attacking her.

Alana flew back onto the floor again. What's wrong with me now? I should be fine. My strength should be back.

"You know, I don't see why you're fighting. Surely you must have realized that you're not feeling at one hundred percent. Why don't you stop this little game of yours and we'll let you off the hook?"

Alana forced her aching body to sit up and glared at Axel. She had noticed that Demyx had managed to move in closer as well. Now she heard footsteps coming from down the hallway.

She saw it was Marluxia and someone that she didn't know. The new person had long blue hair and golden eyes. The top of his hair came up in tufts. He had an X-shaped scar, the center of it was between his eyes.

Vines sprouted from the ceiling and came down. They wrapped around her arms and pulled her up into standing position. More came from the ground and wrapped around her legs. Soon she couldn't move.

"Idiot,"Axel muttered, his emerald eyes on her. That one word was filled with some much anger and resentment that it made Alana feel bad.

Demyx looked at the restrained Alana and then at the blue-haired man walking toward them. He walked up to him, hoping that he could calm him down a bit. "Hi, Saix, how have you been? It's been . . ." Saix walked passed him and Demyx sighed. "I guess I'll shut up now."

Saix walked up to Alana. He noticed that she had a defiant look in her eyes, despite that she was beaten, despite that she was caught. For some reason, that angered him. "Xaldin mentioned her to me," he explained to the others. His claymore appeared in his hand. "Apparently she has forgotten her place and needs to be reminded."

A/N: And that's it. I don't know when the next update will be but hopefully soon. I know I'm paying more attention to Demyx and Axel than others members but the other characters are more difficult to characterize properly. Till later.