Chapter 5:

Zexion's POV

The next morning, Arina didn't look so good at all. There were thin black circles under her sore red eyes. She hung her head, letting her long hair fall over her slouched shoulders. Here eyes were also as blank as a white canvas. She also never seemed to take note of anything at all. It was like she was immersed in a sea of depression. Vexen also took note of her strange behavior. I barely knew her, but from what Vexen was muttering about, this wasn't usually like her.

A few days after Arina's nightmare, while I was reading the library when I heard footsteps. I looked up from my Lexicon and saw Arina standing in front of me. She looked a bit uncertain about something. I shut my book and looked into her lifeless green eyes.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" I asked after a moment of awkward silence.

"Ienzo, well…" She fidgeted. "There's something you should know,"

I raised an eyebrow. "What? Tell me," I told feeling a bit uneasy, I'm not the best person to talk to if you feel like you want to commit suicide.

"Well…" Arina began. "I want to tell Even something but I'm scared about what his reaction would be. Because I'm not confessing love or anything, it's bigger than that…" She looked at the ground.

"From what Xigbar teases you two about, you're really close. I kept a couple secrets myself from the other apprentices' years back. Depends what it is, is it big?" I asked her.

"You see," She gulped. "I'm-"

"Arina!" Xemnas exclaimed as he ran into the library. "Xaldin and Xigbar found someone. We don't know who he is but he's barely conscious and bleeding!" He explained quickly with tension in his voice.

Arina gasped and ran past Xemnas to tend to our new visitor's wounds. I set my book down as raced after them. In the living room, Xaldin was holding a figure that looked half-conscious. He had spiky red hair that stuck out in all directions, half-open green (Okay it was more teal-ish) eyes, and black marks under his eyes. He was dressed in a red shirt under a black sleeveless vest with red and silver belts that criss-crossed each other. He also wore black pants that were red from the knee down, along with black boots with a silver lining. His shirt was torn up and there were streams of blood running down his arms, a small cut on his forehead, and a deep gash on his side that bleed heavily.

"Ignore me! Save Roxas!" He pleated, trying to swat Xaldin away. "I'm fine, really! They're just a couple scratches, I'll live," He pushed Xaldin away and fell to his knees.

"Whoa, dude if you think you're okay then you must have lost you're mind," Xigbar commented.

"No, really!" He rambled on. "I'm f-" His eyes rolled into his head as he fell to the floor, limp and unmoving.

Arina quickly summoned an arrow and began her work. She lifted up the man and laid him on the couch. She carefully took off his bloodstained shirt and vest, reviling many cuts and gashes. She mumbled something quietly before the tip of her arrow glowed and she pressed it against the man's gruesome side wound. She narrowed her brow in concentration as the open wound closed and was replaced by a brown-red patch. She moved on to a couple more of his minor wounds as she bombarded Xaldin and Xigbar with questions.

"Did you see what he was fighting?" She wondered.

"No, we found him limping through the woods. He was rambling on about this Roxas kid and how we need to save him," Xigbar explained. "I told that he needed some medical attention but he wouldn't listen. In the end, Xaldin just threw his arm over his shoulder and carried him here," Xigbar sighed heavily. "The guy's a walking nutcase,"

Arina thought for a second. "Did you hear anything or see anything before you found him?"

"Now that you mention it, we did hear a couple explosions before we found him. He was also holding red and silver Chakrams," Xaldin answered before turning to me. "You've been awfully quiet, Zexion. Care to share your thoughts?"

I could stare at the man in awe. I knew this guy. It was the same guy that ruined XI's plan to take over the Organization, the same man that disposed of Vexen when he betrayed XI, the same guy that killed me. I would have growled at him and let him bleed to death if I was Arina. I could only stare in shock as one word formed on my lips,

"Axel…" That was the only word I said.

A couple hours after Xigbar and Xaldin rescued Axel and dressed his wounds, Xemnas called a meeting. Usually when he called a meeting, we would all gather in the library. In the back was a long table that was perfect for meetings. Xemnas got the head, like he did when we were Nobodies, and then the rest of us sat in random order. He cleared his throat and prepared to start.

"Well, we did find another one of us. Judging by what Axel was rambling about another one of us is here somewhere," Xemnas announced. "This means he must have found Roxas and someone must have kidnapped him,"

"Who's Roxas?" I wondered.

"The blonde boy," Xemnas replied, shaking his head at us.

"Be more specific, we had like five blonde dudes in the organization," Xigbar pointed out. "Wait four blonde dudes and a dudett," He corrected himself.

"We're getting off track," Xemnas told us sharply. "I may have figure who's behind all of this. As insane as it sounds, I think it may be Ansem. It only makes sense because there used to be a portal here that led to The World That Never Was and Radiant Garden was where we all experimented and those hybrid heartless are attacking both those areas,"

"With that, we know its revenge he wants," Lexaeus, thought for a second. "Most of the hybrids surround here, to corner us. If he's been planning this all these years then, ever since the day we broke away from him he's been carefully planning revenge,"

"Talk about holding a grudge," Arina mumbled under her breath.

"But why would Ansem want Roxas? He serves no purpose to him, as far as we see," Vexen brought up.

"Bait," A voice growled. We all turned and Axel leaning heavily against one of the bookshelves. His chest was covered in bandages and he was painting, must have taken a lot of energy to get up here.

"He may want us to believe that he has Roxas for no reason, but it all has to be part of something," Axel pointed out, breathlessly. "He's probably trying to lure us to him so he can dispose of you all," Axel told us before he fell to his knees, painting.

"Are you okay?" Arina panicked rushing over to him. "You shouldn't have come up here after what happened! It looks like you can barley support yourself!" She scolded.

"No, I'm fine," Axel, told her hastily. "It's just being sliced up and almost bleeding death takes a outta you," He told her as he pulled himself up using the back of an empty chair and took a seat.

"I have one question," Arina told us. "Why does Ansem want revenge on you six? You guys didn't do anything to him,"

"We did, well technically Xehanort did," I replied. "We held a rebellion against him and broke away from him. Well, Xehanort led it its basically his fault,"

"And you guys didn't do anything, but stand there like perfect little angels? You guys helped so you're going down with me!" Xemnas snapped.

"No we're not, well escape at the last minute and leave you there to die," Xaldin tried to joke.

"Xaldin, you're about as funny as a dead pigeon," Axel told him boardly.

"Enough chatting! This is serious business!" Xemnas shouted, shutting everyone up. "If he's waited ten years for this then he must have planned everything accordingly, and must have a worst case scenario back-up plan. If he's creating those heartless then he must have taken the notes from that experiment we did with heartless and used them to create them. He also seems to have add-ed Nobody-like attacks. For all we know he could be spying on us this very minute!" Xemnas explained.

"So are you guys going to Roxas back?" Axel asked Xemnas, determinedly.

"He's probably captured Roxas for bait, we can't take any chances," Xaldin replied sharply.

"WHAT!" Axel yelled. "What are guys doing? Roxas is my friend! I don't care if we need to fight through an army of d*mned heartless hybrids! I'm saving him!"

"Do you know what you're saying?" Arina yelled at him. "You said it yourself; he could be using Roxas as bait! If you go after him then you could be walking right into a trap! Plus you're in no condition to fight!"

"You've got some healing powers, right? If you can close my wounds then you must be able to heal them fully!" Axel assumed.

"I have boundaries to what I can heal! My powers only speed up the process, not complete the process!" Arina yelled at Axel once more.

"Arina is right, Axel," Xemnas told Axel solemnly. "If go after Ansem, he'll kill you without hesitation,"

Axel growled under his breath and reluctantly sat back down. It wasn't fair! He should the right to go after his friend. Silence hung over the room like an overcast on a couldy day. Arina quickly ran over what Xemnas said and she couldn't hold it in any longer.

"I've had a dream about this!" She burst out. "Ansem was telling me about a prophecy that we need to face! In my dream he said that either Even or I would get kidnapped. Then the rest of you will go after us and-" She stopped and groaned in pain.

She grabbed the sides of her head as she fell off her chair. She lay on the floor, clutching the sides of her head. She screamed in terror and pain. Her eyes were shut and her face was twisted into a painful was curled in a ball as she continued to scream out in pain and terror.

"Arina!" Vexen cried out, kneeling by her side. "Are you okay?" He asked her, his voice frantic.

Arina let out another howl of pain as Xemnas's eyes grew in shock. Arina fell over as another wave of pain washed over her. Her eyes grew wide as she spoke something. Not a hint of emotion in her voice or eyes:

"In the midst of a battle between light and dark, six heroes will arise from the abyss of darkness

Nothingness, space, wind, ice, earth, and illusion

However a seventh will arise from the darkness within a heart

Fighting their way through evil they'll concur someone from their heart's own memories

When all is lost the seventh will either watch the others perish or perish themselves

When all hope is lost only the truth shall be spoken

And a heart shall be crushed, but lighted from the spirit within…"

Arina blinked and shook her head. She slowly sat up as the rest of us, and Axel, stared at her in shock. Her dream and Xemnas's theory was true. Ansem was after us. Someone was going to die.

"Well…we're screwed," Xigbar commented, breaking the awkward silence.

Finally the hills are without eyes
They are tired of painting a dead man's face red
With their own blood

They used to love having so much to lose
Blink your eyes just once and see everything in ruins

Did you ever hear what I told you?
Did you ever read what I wrote you?
Did you ever listen to what we played?
Did you ever let in what the world said?
Did we get this far just to feel your hate?
Did we play to become only pawns in the game?
How blind can you be, don't you see?
You chose the long road but we'll be waiting

Bye bye beautiful
Bye bye beautiful

Jacob's ghost for the girl in white

Blindfold for the blinded

Dead siblings walking the dying earth

Noose around, a choking heart

Eternity torn apart so toll now the funeral bells

No need to die tell a lie!

Bye Bye Beautiful by Nightwish

Kingdom Hearts (C) Square Enix

Arina (C) Me