Ok people, I'm so sorry I keep updating so late. But now that I finally finished my finals yesterday I'll have much more time to write more and faster at a time and even update quicker.

This chapter turned out a lot longer than the others, I had been trying to keep it consistent but I guess not this time.

Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Occupations And Stories

"'Good friends'?" Sora spat, the words to him were like poison on his tongue. "All this and you think we'll be 'good friends'? You'll be lucky to even be considered an acquaintance if you don't give me some real answers!"

The man known as Xemnas' eyebrows shot up in amusement. "Answers? Very well, what do you want to know?"

Sora raised a brow. "You promise the truth? No riddles or lies?" He asked cautiously, suddenly the Kayblade that was in his hand vanished and gasped, eyes widened. Xemnas smirked.

"Cross my heart and hope to die." He said cockily, making and X-shaped gesture with his hand over his chest where his heart would be. Sora regained his composure and shot a quick glare at the man.

"Alright, fine," Sora folded his arms, careful of the still bleeding gash Larxene left. "First, what were my parents doing that could possibly warrant orders to kill them?" Sora meant to sound angry and determined, but instead his voice came out shaky and like a panicked scream.

Xemnas sighed. "Someone requested- or rather demanded- Vanitas to make a new weapon. One unlike any the world has ever seen."

"What do you mean? What does it do?" Sora asked. Xemnas' face grew grave.

"One capable of wiping out an entire country in one night."

Silence spread throughout the room like someone hit the mute button on every person there. Sora's jaw dropped; his eyes widened in shock and his legs suddenly went limp and he slid to floor. This couldn't be right, his father would never even think of making something like that for someone.

"... And my mother? Why did she have to die too?" Sora's voice cracked, his question nearly inaudible.

"Aerith was also ordered to assist with the weapon, only she was made to create a cloaking device so we would never be able to find it. Unfortunately, your father finished the weapon. Although your mother never completed the cloaking device." Xemnas said, he looked off distantly as if expecting the walls to change color or something.

"Then you've destroyed the weapon! You found it in my father's company didn't you? It's already gone up in smoke with the rest of the building and everyone in it anyway." Sora frowned, making a waving hand gesture as if showing everything in the now leveled building that he saw hours before.

"When our men arrived at the scene the weapon and unfinished cloaking device were both gone. We know who has taken it and maybe even where he is at the moment." Though despite what he says, Xemnas looks doubtful.

"Then go kill him instead! If you know so much then go after him! My parents were innocent in all this! They had no idea all this would happen-"

"Oh but Sora, they did. They knew exactly what they were doing, they gave in to threats and did exactly what they were told. When the order to kill them was issued, that maid you call a friend begged us to hold off for as long as we could so they could still be around for your last birthday they could spend with you. They knew what would happen, and what would become of them," Xemnas leaned back in his chair, looking smug. "You should think twice before shutting your only friend away Sora, think of what they had to go through themselves."

Sora stared down at the ground in shock. "They knew... And Aqua... tried to protect me?" he muttered to himself. He looked up at Xemnas. "But, when all is said and done, why didn't you kill me too? Why haven't you gone after the real monster behind this?"

"Well that's where you come in. You see, we're only able to track his whereabouts to narrow it down to within a hundred-mile radius of where he might be. Other than that he is basically untouchable, taunting us with other people he's dragged down with him and some petty crimes that he committed just to prove we couldn't find him." Xemnas' hands gripped the arms of his seat tightly, a light cracking noise echoed throughout the room from the chair creaking in protest.

"And this all has to do with me because...?"

"Because with the right skills- meaning the Keyblade- you can track him down to the very last foot of distance between you." Xemnas grinned evilly, releasing his grip on his now damaged chair.

"And how do I do that?" Sora asked, all this Keyblade really seemed like was a giant house key to beat up sorry old muggers on the street. What else could it possibly do?

"The Keyblade is a weapon of light- from the heart. Meaning that with enough practice, you could track someone down with those senses. No one's heart is exactly the same, in a way we're like snowflakes- similar at first glance, but completely different when you get closer- all hearts have different auras if you will. The Keyblade can sense those differences and pick out the right person in an instant." Xemnas finished, leaning his cheek on his right palm.

Sora thought for a moment. "The man who threatened my parents to make the weapon, what's his name?" He asked, looking back up at Xemnas.

"Sephiroth."

Sora stumbled slightly. "S-Sephiroth? As in Sephiroth Crighton? He's one of the most powerful men in the world!"

Xemnas nodded gravely. "And that's exactly why he is so hard to track down. He's everywhere and nowhere at the same time. He only lets people find him when it benefits him in some way, other than that- he's invisible."

"Then how am I supposed to track him down when no one else has ever been able to? Surely my Keyblade's tracking signals can't stretch over countries or anything wider than a town." Sora pointed out.

"While that may be true, but he may not be so hard to track now. Coming out to your father to make the weapon himself was the first step, normally he sends one of his men to do the threatening for him. And then last night when we went to retrieve the unfinished product before him and it was already gone as well. One of our scouts picked up this daily paper and had it transferred here. Look."

Xemnas threw a newspaper down on the floor in front of Sora, the front page had the headlines "TYCOON SPOTTED IN TWILIGHT TOWN" with a picture of a man that could be no older than Sora's father was. Only this man had incredibly long silver hair that flowed down even past his hips, long silvery bangs parted down the middle on either side of his face, making his bright green eyes seem to shimmer even brighter. He only seemed intimidating until you saw the sinister grin spreading across his face that seemed to nearly spilt his cheeks in half which only confirmed any suspicions- there was no doubt in Sora's mind that this man was one of those take-over-the-world-or-destroy-it types.

Xemnas continued. "He's getting bold. Which means he's getting closer to whatever he's hoping to accomplish."

Sora gulped, staring at the picture with horror and anger. Horror for whatever this monster plans to do with this weapon. Anger toward him for being responsible for his parents' being targets in an assassination with a job well done to those involved in it.

"So Sora, will you join us?" Xemnas stared at the brunette in expectation.

Sora looked down to his opened palms as if expecting all the answers to magically appear on top of the gloves his mother had given him. On one end- if he stayed here, he could train in the uses of the Keyblade and avenge his parents' deaths. But on the other- he'd have to do whatever these people ordered him to, and become a killer in their stead.

Sora looked up at Xemnas, a look of determination burning brightly in his eyes.

"I'll do it. I'll join you, but don't think it's because I want to be friends with you killers. I'm only in it to avenge my parents."

Xemnas grinned almost evilly. "A wise choice Sora. Now, it won't be easy, you'll have to go through quite a bit of training, plus you'll have to follow orders, complete any and all assignments we give you, and of course, you'll be issued a partner."

"Partner?" The word sounded nearly foreign as it rolled off Sora's tongue. After realizing he'd been lied to for so long by his own family and Aqua, he didn't think he'd again have to trust someone with his life so soon already.

The sound of the large doors behind the brunette opening snapped him out of his thoughts, seeing it was that girl Kairi that had brought him here in the first place. She walked past Sora as if he weren't even there.

"You called me, sir?" Her monotone echoed off the walls.

"Yes Kairi, you remember Sora Hikari, yes?" Xemnas gestured toward the brunette and Sora and Kairi shot each other a glare. "Good, now you two are from this day forth, partners."

"What?" The two teens exclaimed simultaneously. Xemnas' smirk somehow grew wider.

"There's no way you can partner me up with a weakling like him!" Kairi exclaimed, earning another glare from Sora.

"Watch it ginger! I'm no weakling!" He growled, yanking at Kairi's arm rather violently. She whirled on him and threw her arm back for a powerful punch to the face.

But before her fist could make contact, Xemnas interrupted. "You need a new partner Kairi. Remember what happened to your last one?"

Kairi froze in place, her once furiously red face had visibly paled to one of fear or possibly shock.

The redhead wordlessly backed away from Sora- who cautiously stood normally again- and stood to face Xemnas with her head downcast.

"Do you understand, Kairi?" Xemnas' eyes seemed to see right through Kairi down to her very soul. The look in his eyes made a chill go down Sora's spine.

"Yes sir." Kairi muttered, though somehow Xemnas still managed to hear her.

"Good. Now Sora, training begins first thing tomorrow morning," Sora nodded wordlessly. "Kairi will escort you to the infirmary for that cut and then to your quarters. You are both dismissed."

The two teens turned and shut the doors behind them as they left. Kairi started walking in some random direction, assuming she was leading Sora to the infirmary, he followed after her. He clutched the injury on his arm every now and then when he felt a sharp pain.

Sora picked up his pace up a bit to be next to Kairi as she strode silently. "Um, Kairi...," She glanced at him to show she was listening. "I'm sorry about before, the insult earlier and yelling at Selphie I mean."

Kairi shook her head and stopped walking. "We were both angry before. If we don't want to get in trouble with Xemnas we have to cooperate. It's that simple. And Selph said she was fine with it."

"Where is she anyway? She said she'd be by the door but I didn't see her." Sora was glad that for once there wasn't an unbearable silence or death glares and insults between he and Kairi. Despite what she had done, she seems like a good person outside the killer part.

"I found her on the way there and told her I'd handle you for her. She went back to her room already," Kairi stated, continuing before Sora could respond. "We're here."

Sora looked around the hallway they were in and at the door before him. At this rate what with this underground mass of hallways like a maze he'd have to find himself a map or something.

The door looked fairly simple compared to the other more intricately decorated doors Sora had seen so far, it seemed to be a manually operated sliding door with a small square window at eye level with a small rectangular depression where a door knob would be to get a grip on the door to slide it aside. Like everything else in this utopia- it was painted a layer of eggshell white over the wood that made up the door itself with a plague on the wall next to it that said "INFIRMARY" carved into it.

Kairi slid open the door for Sora and gestured for him to go inside. Sora raised a brow in slight confusion.

"Why are you suddenly so reversely chivalrous to me? And aren't you coming?" He asked with a frown.

Kairi shook her head. "Well sorry I'm not in the mood to be a dick to you at the moment. And I'm just going to wait outside, doctor's offices make my head spin," She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall with one leg crossed over the other. "Don't get your boxers in a bunch, Spiky. I'll be right outside when you come back."

Sora muttered some curse words under his breath at his new nickname and nodded and walked inside; shutting the door behind him.

The room itself looked like your standard infirmary; couple small rooms along a yet another hallway, in the main room there were maybe 3 standard hospital beds with curtains dividing them, other than a blue desk in the middle of the wall directly across from the door, everything was either white or cream colored or even such a light yellow it nearly looked white from a distance.

The walls were littered with various medicine cabinets and different anatomy pictures. The paint on the walls seemed freshly applied; they must repaint the walls in this place fairly often.

Sora looked around; the place seemed pretty much empty. "Hello? Is anyone here?" He called out.

"Who's there?" A feminine voice replied. A head of black hair popped out from one of the rooms in the hallway.

The girl before him- who was most likely the doctor or nurse here- seemed to be an adult. She had long flowing black hair that halted midway down her back, she also had lightish brown highlights on either side of her bangs that shaped her face. She had dark brown- or possibly even black- eyes and she had a kind smile as well.

She wore a V-shaped tank top- or rather half shirt- that stopped into a buttoned blue shirt. She also wore black shorts with a thin white line going down the front of each leg and also had small black boots. Over her shirt was what seemed to be almost like a sleeveless blue sweater- judging by the fabric- that was buttoned once over her chest and flowed down to her ankles. Over it all she had the standard white coat that doctors always wear.

"Are you a patient? I've never see you around before." She smiled at Sora who turned slightly and her smile vanished at the sight of the gash on Sora's arm. "Oh my."

The woman had Sora sitting on a cot in seconds and was already disinfecting the wound. "What in the world happened here?" She asked, though it seemed mostly like she was talking to herself.

Sora cleared his throat uncertainly. "Right, I was with your leader and this girl named Larxene came at me when I got angry and, well... you know the rest. I'm new here, my name's Sora. Sora Hikari."

The woman paused and looked up at him with a troubled frown. "I see, so you're Vanitas' son. My name is Rinoa Heartilly. It's nice to meet you." She smiled warmly at the brunette once again.

"It's nice to meet you too... You knew my father?" Sora asked, wincing every time Rinoa went to sew in more parts of the stitches she was now applying to the injury.

"And your mother as well. They both used to work with us actually."

Sora's breath hitched and it felt as if he had been slapped in the face. "Were... Were they killers too? Like the other people here?"

Rinoa shook her head, pausing n her stitching so as not to make a mistake. "No, your mother worked here with me in the medical wing. However your father was famous around here, he was one of Xemnas' favorite little pawns," She chuckled to herself and returned to stitching Sora's arm. "Your parents left us after they got married and your mother became pregnant with you. Naturally we had to lose all contact when they did." She finished and cut the thread. "All finished."

Sora examined the cleaned and stitched wound on his arm and flinched at the sight of it, stitches always disturbed him because it made him feel like those scary ragdoll things or Frankenstein from old horror movies or something.

"Thanks," He said absent mindedly. Rinoa cocked her head at him. "Are you okay?" She asked.

Sora shook his head. "I guess, but, I mean, was there anything my parents didn't hide from me?" He sighed in frustration and ran a hand through his chocolate locks. Rinoa lay a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Your parents only did that to protect you. They knew that if they told you about their past lives here then it would be putting you in danger." She said reassuringly.

"I guess that makes sense," Sora looked over at Rinoa for a moment. From a distance she merely looked like a kind and caring doctor, but up close she was not only that but strikingly beautiful. If she were maybe a few years younger he might've even asked her out on the spot; but that'd be weird anyhow.

Rinoa stood up, offering her hand to the brunette who took it gratefully and stood as well.

Sora looked down and shuffled his feet. "Guess I should get going. Kairi's probably getting impatient." He sighed.

Rinoa raised a brow. "Kairi? Is she the one who brought you here as well?" Sora nodded. "She's also the one who killed my father so... Great way to make new friends, huh? Xemnas even made us partners." He muttered. Rinoa frowned.

"It'll be alright, Sora. Don't forget she was only doing her job, your family fell into a bad crowd and didn't fight back, something was bound to happen sooner or later." Rinoa's attempt at reason seemed both understandable and irrelevant at the same time.

"Right." Sora sighed. he turned toward the door and Rinoa lay her hand on his shoulder again.

"Anytime you want to talk about anything, just stop by, okay? I'll always be here. And if you ever want to learn more about your parents, just ask."

Sora stared at the doctor for a moment. A smile finally spread across his face. "Thanks, Rinoa. I'll be sure to come back again, hopefully not just for more bandaging."

Rinoa giggled slightly. "Right. And come back to get the stitches removed later on as well. Bye Sora."

Sora waved and finally opened the door to find Kairi still waiting there for him like she'd said she would. It was actually a bit surprising. He slid the door shut and the redhead looked up at him.

"Done?" Sora nodded. Kairi stood from her position on the wall. "Good. It's this way to your room. Come on." She started walking with Sora tailing behind her.

As they walked Kairi looked over her shoulder at Sora who just seemed to be absentmindedly following her while being too deep in thought to notice which way they were going. Kairi sighed.

"Hey," Sora jolted in surprise for a moment and looked at the redhead. "If you want to know how to get to your room in the future- pay attention. What's eating you now?" Kairi finished as she planted one hand on her hip impatiently.

Sora opened his mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out. He looked around the hallway and scratched his head nervously and Kairi sighed again.

"Fine. If you don't want to say anything than I'll gladly leave it at that." Kairi turned to start walking again.

"What happened to your old partner?"

The redhead froze in her tracks, eyes widened. She didn't even bother to look at Sora's curious face.

"Why do you want to know?" She asked softly, hoping it'd keep him from realizing her voice was shaky. It worked.

"Well Xemnas said something back there about your old partner and I was curious. Did they quit too like my parents, did they switch to get another partner or something?" Sora asked innocently. He noticed Kairi seemed frozen and he frowned. "Kairi, are you okay?" He went to lay a hand on her should but she flinched away; her stone faced expression returned before the brunette could even notice.

"My past partners don't concern you," She started walking again and Sora followed- afraid to press on the matter. "We're almost to your room now."

A few minutes passed before Kairi pointed at a black door with a small nameplate above the doorknob. The writing was in fancy black lettering and read out as Kairi.

"This one is my room, and yours," Kairi dragged out as they kept walking and about six doors farther down she stopped at another black door. "Is right here. Here's your name plate, it sticks automatically. Get some rest for tomorrow, when you wake up later Selphie will show you around some more and you'll be escorted back here where you'll be gathered by me tomorrow for training." She finished, handing Sora the small name plate with his name engraved on it also in the same black writing.

The brunette bent over and stuck the small plate above his doorknob like Kairi's was and stood up. "Okay then, thanks Kairi-" He stopped as he turned to see said redhead had already retreated to her own room. Sora heard her door shut and he sighed.

"Right. Goodnight." He muttered to himself, opening the door to his room and shutting it behind him.

The room was simple, yet, in a way, classy. The walls were painted a light beige, in the far back corner there was full-sized bed with sleek cobalt sheets and white pillows and a black frame. Naturally since the place was underground there were no windows. Against the wall across from the bed was a modern glass desk- although knowing these people, it was probably bulletproof glass for all Sora knew- with a black office chair in front of it. There was even a small laptop with a cordless mouse on the desk. Next to the bed was also a small black nightstand with a little lamp on top while there also another lamp on the desk as well, there was also a tall black dresser in the corner opposite of the bed.

There was also a small hallway next to the door that seemed to lead to a small bathroom with a blue walls and even a shower inside. Across from that was what looked like a closet.

Sora walked farther inside and took off his shoes to find the carpeting beneath him to be freshly new, it was still soft and unstained. There was a change of clothes lying on his bed as well- finding it to be a white T-shirt and navy blue sweat pants. Sora quickly changed while still being careful of the clothes his mother and Aqua had given him as well and folded them and set them aside in the dresser.

Sora was exhausted; today has certainly been the most memorable 18th birthday most- if not all- people never get to say they even came close to experiencing, but he still couldn't bring himself to get under the comfortable-looking covers of his new bed so he sat in the office chair instead.

A small white box on the desk caught Sora's attention; whatever was inside was wrapped in thick white wrapping paper with a rough string tying it all together. The brunette reached for the package and untied the string to unleash whatever surprise awaited him. Sora's breath hitched.

It was the journal his father had left for him as a birthday present. Small areas around it were singed from when his home had been burned to the ground. How did this even get here...

Aqua. That had to be it. Sora sighed, now he really had to apologize to the blue-haired ex-maid.

The brunette flipped through the pages to make sure it wasn't too badly damaged; luckily the burns weren't too serious so it was still usable. Even the words Sora's father had written before were still legible- much to the brunette's relief.

A few minutes passed as Sora had started a new entry about what else had happened since his last one yesterday morning.

July 18, 2012

Hello again, so a lot of things have happened in just a mere 24 hours. It's ridiculous, tragic, scary, bewildering- basically whatever you want it to be. In just one day, everything's changed. My parents and home are both gone. And now I have to work with the very people who basically made it happen! Mom, Dad, I'm going to miss you. I wish you were both still here and I wasn't in this mess to begin with. Apparently I have something these people want, I'm what they call a Keybearer; meaning I get to wave around a giant key all day long and do who-knows-what.

If only I could've helped my parents; maybe have even kept this all from happening. If only I could've at least gotten to spend some quality time with them before they passed...Some 18th birthday this turned out to be.

I'm going to miss you both. I'll get back at the monster who caused this. I hope- no- I know I'm doing the right thing. I have to be.

Sora sighed heavily and finally set down his pencil and yawned. He stood to go to bed when something caught his eye- there was something else hidden in that discarded wrapping paper.

The brunette picked the object up carefully, whatever it was also wrapped up as well; except this was wrapped in red paper and was much smaller than the journal. Sora unwrapped part of it to find that it had been layered at least three times in the paper. "Ugh, Seriously? It's like these people are trying to piss me off." Sora sighed, finding a small card hidden under the second layer of paper.

To: Sora Hikari

From: Kairi

Happy birthday brat.

Sora raised a brow at this and simply threw his head back in laughter. Not only had the girl that seemed to always want to rip his head off give him a present; but she didn't even write her own last name and left a birthday message that suited her perfectly.

Sora's laughs died down when he realized that people were probably still sleeping around him right now. He set the card on the table and finally unwrapped the last layer of paper and his eyes widened at what was inside.

A silver crown necklace gleamed in the dim light coming from the desk lamp. The crown itself was as smooth as a newly crafted sword. The chain was just as shiny as the crown as well. Sora's growing smile shone in the crown charm perfectly.

Sora carefully set the necklace on the nightstand next to his bed and sighed somewhat happily. He turned off his lamp and climbed into bed and under his surprisingly comfy covers, letting the soft fabrics envelop him and slowly sleep started to consume him as his eyelids grew heavy.

"Thank you, Kairi."

And there you have it.

I hope you enjoyed and I thank you for being so patient with me.

Please review and I hope I'll see you again come the next chapter.