He jumped at the loud penetrating scream of pain that came down from the top of the hill.
"OUCH, BIANCA!" A girl's voice yelled.
"Well if you had moved fast enough you wouldn't have gotten hit!" A voice replied, clearly aged, extremely irritated.
"Well you should've warned me!" The other girl replied bitterly.
"If a Freeshooter raises their Sharpshooters, guess what? We're gunna shoot, so commit that to memory!" The other replied, Freeshooter, female. Bianca. His daughter. He crept up the hill and saw her fiddling with bandages gauze beside her knee she was kneeling, fixing a younger girl's wound.
"I only nicked you're arm you brat. Stop over acting." Bianca hissed. The girl's green eyes cast over Bianca's shoulders, seeing Xigbar. He faltered momentarily, turning he started to run.
"BIANCA, ORGANIZATION MEMBER!" The girl squealed. Xigbar heard an angry growl. Then the sound of a teleport, he looked around for her. He came down the hill and was met by a volley of bullets, each one barely missing. He forgot, he had his hood up. Before he could take it down, or even conjure his Sharpshooters, a bullet hit him in the shoulder, lodging in deep.
He gave out a cry and fell to his knee. The sound of a teleport and she was in front of him. A kick to the chest sent him sprawling to the ground on his back. His hood was ripped away. He heard a gasp.
"Dad?" She whimpered.
"Bianca, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? ANY OTHER DAY YOU WOULD TAKE THIS CHANCE AND LAND A BULLET IN HIS FOREHEAD!" The girl from the top of the hill yelled angrily. Bianca looked up, those fiery blue eyes shining maliciously. She sent a bullet flying at the girl. She gave a squeal and ducked, just barely getting missed. Xigbar didn't think Bianca would've cared if she got hit.
His daughter grabbed his good arm and pulled him up, slinging his arm over her shoulder.
"You sided with Xehanort, again." She hissed, clearly unhappy. Xigbar was suddenly ashamed.
"I didn't think you were alive, if I got killed I didn't expect you to live." He replied.
"What so you weren't going to come check?" She hissed and started to walk away from the hill.
"What and find my daughter's broken, mangled body? No thank you." He replied hastily.
"If you had come you would've seen I lived." She replied. Xigbar knew she had a point.
"So, now that you know I'm alive, are you going to go or stay?" She asked. Xigbar was silent.
"I knew it." She hissed. They came up to a house, their old home.
"Haven't been here in a while." He muttered. Bianca scoffed and lead him up the steps.
18 Years Ago
Braig walked up the steps. Hearing the door rip open, he was tackled in a hug, thin arms wrapping around his waist. His insane seven-year-old daughter had to stay home with a replacement babysitter over night because Braig had to work over night and her usual baby sitter was out of town.
"I missed you!" She said. Braig laughed tiredly, having not getting a wink of sleep the past night.
"Missed you too Princess. Mind letting me inside?" He asked. Bianca released him and grabbed his hand, taking escorting him inside.
The baby sitter was passed out on the couch.
"You didn't kill her did you?" He asked. Bianca giggled her little innocent giggle.
"No." She replied and went to go sit down in front of the television. Braig shook his head, not able to fight the smile pulling at his lips. He went over to the couch and nudged the baby sitter awake.
"How much do I owe you?" He asked her. Hopefully she was too groggy to check the time and think that it was still the same day she had came to babysit.
"$17.50" She told him. Yep, too groggy. Braig felt bad about gipping her and gave her thirty, told her to keep the change and sent her on her way. Maybe he'd get away with it, he most likely wouldn't; she'd probably come back in fifteen minutes demanding the rest of her money.
Braig turned from the door, seeing Bianca's guilt stare. He looked away.
"Ok, I'm going to go catch some sleep. When I wake up I'll make last night up to you, I promise. Just, don't get into anything dangerous, alright?" He told her. Bianca didn't relax her guilt stare but nodded.
"Good." Braig said and made his way to the other end of the house, collapsed on the bed and was asleep in moments.
Present Day
He sat on that bed now, Bianca was bustling around the room, and she had already instructed him to take his shirt off so she could bandage the wound.
"So who's that kid you were with?" Xigbar asked. Bianca stopped for a second to give him a sideways glance. This wasn't who he used to know. This wasn't the Bianca he raised. Of course it wasn't, she had to watch everyone around her die, while she survived and carried on.
"Some lost puppy Arataze was convinced would be vital to our operations. I think she's just a drag and dead weight to us." She said. Approaching him with a first aide kit. She sounded like Saix. Saix probably learned it from her.
"Oh." He said.
"How are Lea and Isa?" She asked. "No, how is everybody, except Xehanort. I couldn't care about him if I wanted." Bianca said bitterly. Xigbar cringed, too much like Saix.
"Everyone is doing, good I guess. We have a Keyblader now. We should be returning soon." Xigbar said.
"I guess it was that girl you were with after Jazak nearly beat you senseless?" She replied, unexpectedly ripping the bullet from his shoulder. Xigbar gave a loud cry, pressing his hand to his know bleeding shoulder. She seemed to have picked up a thing or two from Even when she was helping him in the labs. Bianca remained unaltered. Like stone.
"You've changed." He said. Bianca looked at him through her thick black lashes.
"I know. And I would give everything just to be fifteen again, so I could've stopped Xehanort before it was too late." She said. The first type of emotion he'd gotten from her since she'd seen his face. Bianca cleansed his wound and pressed a bandage to his wound, wrapping the gauze around his shoulder. She worked with a poker face that not even Luxord would've been able to break. He knew by the look in her eyes that she was in pain.
Well what do you want me to do about it Bianca?
STOP MEETING HIM THAT'S WHAT! She wore that exact same face when she screamed at him all those years ago. Though her eyes screamed in pain, pain only he could see. Pain only he could inflict, pain only he could comfort.
He was hurting her; it was him, the source of all his baby girl's pain. How could he be so blind? It was him, all him. He had started everything, everything that made her suffer. He promised he would never hurt her. At least, he promised himself, he promised himself he would be the best father possible the day they met. And he failed.
Bianca stared at her father, though he didn't physically age. He did mentally and she could see it. She knew he was completely oblivious. He was in a bout of self-hatred. Impressive, for a Nobody. She didn't want to hate him. But she almost couldn't help it. He hurt her more than her grandfather ever could have.
"Stop hating yourself. It's not getting you anywhere." She hissed at him. Braig looked at her, almost stunned.
"You can put your shirt back on, and if you're going back, than leave now. I don't want to get too attached." She said icily.
Xigbar nearly cringed at her harsh words. He looked at her the words were on the tip of his tongue.
I'm sorry. Why couldn't he say it? Bianca was leaning casually against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest and a foot pressed against the wall. Something Axel would do. Maybe there was hope; maybe his little Princess was in there somewhere. Xigbar with difficulty and a little help from Bianca got his shirt back on.
Pathetic thing. Bianca hissed mentally, she frowned at the thought. She couldn't help it. She was angry with him and they both knew it. All he had to do was apologize, and she would be happy again. But an apology from a Nobody wasn't even worth it, not without a heart to put into it.
"Bianca." He said her name he hadn't said her name, not even his pet name for her, for the entire thirty minutes that he was around.
"What…D-Father, what ever the hell I should call you." Bianca said, turning away from him to hide the tears that were gathering in her eyes.
Xigbar smiled, a bit of him, a bit him just showed through. He didn't care that what she said was probably the most disrespectful thing she'd ever said to him. It was him. The way he raised her.
"It's my fault, everything. I'm sorry, all right? I know that it may not mean a damn thing to you. But I have to say it." Xigbar said, standing up. Bianca turned around. Looking at him, her eyes wide, reminding him of when they first met, how she kept those big blue eyes wide and on him as he approached her. Wide like a baby deer's.
"That's all I wanted." A lone tear escaped, trailing down her cheek. Xigbar would've wiped it away but she slapped it away with the heel of her hand before he had the chance to even step forth.
"So, what, are you staying or leaving?" She asked him. Xigbar knew he had to leave, he knew it, so did she.
"I have to go, but I promise you, I will be back. I may even bring Ax-Lea with me, alright?" Bianca looked at him. That look was there, the same unsure look she had in her eyes when they parted for the last time. She and Braig.
When I let go, run. Don't fight, just run. I'll hold them off as long as possible. Promise. Braig had told her.
I promise, but I don't want to. She replied. He let her go. She stopped for a single second to watch her father conjure his weapons.
I'll see you at the house. He told her. Bianca nodded and ran through the hordes of Heartless.
It was a lie.