Out of Place

A flash of light reflected briefly from the cold metal surface of the Kingdom Key, as a brown-haired boy brought it above his head and down at the heartless that was too slow to get out of the way. A pink heart escaped the quickly vanishing body of the creature and floated up into the sky, to be united with the great moon by the name of Kingdom Hearts.

Sora knew that heartless were bad. He also knew that he had to eliminate an X number of them so that Xemnas's plan could be fulfilled. The guy wanted to help those under his command to regain their hearts, and that sounded like a good thing to do. All Sora needed to do to help was fight some heartless, and he could do that with his eyes closed.

This was the last heartless in this area, so Sora took a minute to rest, by plopping down on the ground. He was getting tired easily, since the keyblade weighed a lot. Was it always as heavy?

While he rested, Donald and Goofy stayed on guard, looking around and making sure their supplies of Potions and Ethers were in good shape.

'And what do you think you're doing, just lazing around? Those hearts aren't going to collect themselves, you know.'

Roxas shook his head. Xion was never as negligent as this Sora guy. She took Superior's orders seriously, and always did her best, even if her condition worsened at times.

How was she…now?

'Hey! It was only a second. And we have been fighting heartless for hours. Aren't you tired?' Sora yawned and stayed where he was. Idea of standing up, let alone fighting any more, didn't sound at all appealing. He was wearing the same black coat as Roxas, since those are the ones that were needed to safely go through the Dark portals, especially if one was to use them often. His shoes were black, but still as big and puffy as usual.

'No. Few hours are nothing. There are still many more hearts we need to collect, and the longer it takes, the longer members of Organization XIII stay as they are, not fully existing but not gone either. I am one of them too, you know.'

'Alright, alright! I get it' Sora quickly got up and rested the heavy keyblade on his shoulder. For a second an overwhelming feeling of sadness washed over him, but it was just as quickly gone. 'Break is over. Time to go kick some' Sora grinned widely and held up his fist.

Roxas bumped his black gloved fist into his, even though it was ridiculous and he didn't quite get it. Goofy and Donald were more excited about it and bumped their fists with Sora too. After this 'ritual' was over, all four of them continued on their quest in the world which sprouted an abundance of green vegetation and was inhabited by many bugs and loud birds.

A bright light sparkled in the distance, and Marluxia paused on the side of a road, watching it. The light was getting closer and it soon became clear that it was accompanied by a loud rumble of a powerful engine. A motorcycle.

Trees grew wider apart here, which meant that the edge of the forest of the unusual glowing trees was near. Outside of the forest it was still dark, so Marluxia couldn't see who the rider was until he was just a few dozen feet away.

The Assassin's hand twitched, about to call forth his weapon, when he saw that the owner of the bike had hair color similar to their target. But the illusion quickly vanished, since the man was much older and his eyes, although green, were more like that of a cat than a human. Besides what were the odds of Repliku coming to greet him?

The forest used to serve as a base for the silver-haired trio, but ever since AVALANCHE group discovered it the appeal of keeping that particular base quickly vanished. They preferred to keep their moves unknown to their Big Brother's accomplices; and to Shinra lapdogs as well, since those had a knack for getting into Remnant's way.

However, this was also a place where they saw the portal. It was quite possible that it would appear again. That's why Yazoo returned here for one quick check up on the place. And it seemed the trip wasn't in vain.

The guy who was standing on the otherwise quite abandoned road had the same aura as the kids that appeared here just a few days ago. He wore a dark cloak, so he could have blended in with the surroundings if he wished to remain unnoticed. Yet, he stood still while Yazoo cut the engine and brought the bike to a halt next to him. Dust, lifted by the tires, was slowly falling down behind him, catching frail light of the trees nearby.

'You aren't from here. Mind answering a few questions? The latter was a demand rather than a request. The gunslinger was ready to fight if the man refused, either way they will get the answers they seek. And no one was here to interfere this time.

Marluxia studied his opponent. It seemed that the gun strapped to his thigh was his main weapon, but as this was an unknown world, he couldn't count on it being his only weapon. And what exactly did he wish to know? The stranger could have just as easily passed by him without stopping, yet he didn't.

'I do not see why not. If you will answer mine as well' Marluxia noticed that shadows behind the trees were unusually thick. Could those be more of the beasts he ran into earlier?

'Oh…that's interesting' Yazoo looked around to see if there was anyone else here. If he missed anything, the shadow beasts that were summoned should take care of it. Yazoo wasn't taking chances. He did not wish to anger Brother further after the last mishap. 'You first'

'Did you, by any chance, hear of the three children which appeared recently? One silverhaired boy and two girls?' it was a long shot, but it was worth a try.

'Indeed I have. In this very forest is where I met them. They give of energy hat is foreign to the Planet. So do you' Yazoo nodded to himself. They were connected somehow, after all.

'Where are they now?'

'I do not know. Someone interfered and took them away the moment they arrived through a portal of sorts. Now answer me. Who are they? And where are you all coming from?'

'They are fugitives who we seek to capture. We are from another world. There are, in fact, many worlds that exist.'

'Now there is something you don't hear every day,' Yazoo smirked, playing with the idea for a bit. Mother would be pleased to hear about this. 'You have a name?'

'Marluxia. Do you know who took them?' this was turning out to be a better day than he originally thought.

'Yes, our foes. It would seem, our goals coincide'

Marluxia nodded.

'Hey! You heard the latest from the search?' The blond-haired musician ran into the main room of the Castle in The World that Never Was. Which also happened to be headquarters for Organization XIII . 'They narrowed down the world! No more working our behinds off on browsing through all of them. WOOHOO!'

How could he be so enthusiastic? Oh right. There was nothing more important to Demyx than not working. Such a healthy attitude.

'Of course, Superior had announced it at our last meeting. Axel, Larxene and Xigbar had already left to back up Marluxia. It is up to us to take care of remaining missions, while they are gone. So don't go slacking off just yet.'

'Ahh…Maaaan' Demyx sighed heavily and hang his head low. 'And hey! I wasn't…going to…!'

'Right. You only went to one world, so don't even know what you are complaining about here.' Zexion added nonchalantly.

'But I went thoroughly through it!' Demyx was getting an impression he was being picked on here.

'I am sure you did.'