Chapter 8

Wow, I kinda almost made this update on time this week. I'm almost impressed with myself. It's shorter than the last one, but that last chapter was kind of really long. Anyway, I hope that everyone has been enjoying the Olympics, I know I have! Thanks to everyone who took the time to review despite watching the events: ramen-is-my-goddess, Ivy J., Tinker16, vamprincessmiyu, Hound Keeper, Yours For all Eternity, Kireilovesherkitty, Cassie-san, yumie-darkness123, Poet Bucky, Aindel S. Druida, Bitter-Sweet Beauty x3, CheenaSantiSprinkles, Kawaii-Gaara-Chan, xBlackxAngelsx, -IvyBlonde- , NightmareFairy! I love you guys! :D

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After Axel had dropped them off at their house, Leon, Sora, and Riku had basically gone straight to bed, finding themselves exhausted after their long evening of worry. Even though the house was only without two of its members, it still seemed quiet and empty as Sora climbed into bed next to Riku. With a soft sigh, he burrowed into the other's arms, pressing close as Riku kissed the top of his head. "You shouldn't worry," Riku said. "Roxas is going to be fine, Cloud is watching over him tonight after all, along with the other doctors."

"I know." Sora whispered, his voice tickling Riku's neck a little. "It's just been a while since we haven't slept in the same house, you know? It's a little weird..."

Shifting so that he was propped up on his elbow, Riku pulled his head back to get a better look at Sora's face. The moonlight coming in from the window just barely lit the room but Riku could still see the soft pout and sad blue eyes. Frowning but not knowing what to say to be a comfort, Riku leaned down, kissing Sora gently before laying back down and tucking Sora's head underneath his chin. "Try your best to get some sleep." He murmured. "Roxas will be back in the morning."

He felt Sora nod against his chest, closing his own eyes as he felt weariness take over him. He only hoped that Sora would soon follow his example as he fell asleep.

To Riku, it felt like only a minute had passed before he suddenly felt himself snapped back into wakefulness, his heart beating rapidly in his chest as if he had just had a nightmare. Raking a hand through his silver hair, he closed his eyes to calm himself and focus. What had woken him up? There was something pricking the back of his mind, a low feeling of trepidation. Frowning, Riku reached out mentally to the energy of the house. Nothing was being disturbed. Leon was in bed, the windows were all closed. He focused in on the front door. Still locked. Everything seemed in order, but that didn't explain why he had woken up. Perhaps it truly had only been a bad dream he had awakened from.

Absently, he ran a hand down Sora's shoulder and arm, the comforting gesture doing more to calm him than his sleeping boyfriend. A flicker of a smile crossed Riku's features when the younger man murmured something unintelligible and rolled over from the touch and with a quiet sigh he slid back down to the pillows. Maybe some of Sora's concern for Roxas had affected him. Either way, it would be best to go back to sleep despite any uneasy feelings.

Closing his eyes, Riku tried to go back to sleep but it continued to evade him, that worry in the back of his mind forming into a sort of inescapable pinpoint of activity in his thoughts.

After nearly half an hour of listening to Sora's soft breathing, he sat up again, the digital clock on Sora's side of the bed declaring in blaring red numbers that it was nearly 2:30, in Riku's opinion much too late to still be up. Frustrated, he shook his head, if his mind wasn't going to allow him to rest, then he would just have to take a walk around the house, if for nothing else than to prove to himself that nothing was wrong.

Trying to move the mattress as little as possible, Riku slowly slid out of the bed, for once thankful that Sora was such a heavy sleeper. Since no one else was awake, he didn't bother to worry about being dressed properly, and slipped out of his bedroom in nothing but his sleeping pants.

His footsteps were nearly silent as he padded down the hallway, glancing at the two closed doors to the other bedrooms before slipping downstairs. The air was still and quiet, his own breathing almost seeming to echo around him as he descended the staircase. It was odd, being up this late, bringing up memories of when he used to endlessly wander the same path as a ghost. Back then, he would have never imagined that he could have could have been returned to a body. He had actually forgotten though, how nice it was just to wander in the night sometimes.

Riku stopped once, a floorboard creaking under his foot from age, and he peered down into the darkness below. Everything seemed so peaceful, but he took a small tour of the first floor to be cautious, even going so far as to check that the oven was off. One he had made sure that everything was as it should have been, Riku walked back upstairs. Once up, he peeked into the bathroom, but seeing nothing, finally returned back to his and Sora's room. Just as he was about to go inside and force himself to sleep, his sea blue eyes fell on the two closed doors in the hall. Leon was asleep in the master suite, surely if something was wrong, the police officer would have awakened by now. All that left then was Roxas's empty room.

Walking over, Riku carefully opened the door to the teen's room, not wanting to wake the others in the house from some loud creak. Inside, the room was immaculate as usual. Even the bed had been made, a habit Roxas had attributed to building when he and Sora had lived in the orphanage. Running his long fingers across Roxas's desk, Riku's silver brows furrowed. This was the last room in the house, and yet still he had seen nothing out of the ordinary. But the sense of trepidation had still not diminished. If nothing else, it had even increased. Riku closed his eyes, feeling out the energy again; what was it that was bothering him?

Reaching out for all corners of the house, Riku allowed his thoughts to bleed outside to the surrounding property, trying to feel for anything at all unusual. It was a split second later that an alarm went off in his head; out front, there was bad energy to the side of the house, the side Roxas's window faced.

Whipping around, Riku ran to the window, his eyes quickly scanning the area around the branches of trees, frowning when he didn't even see a small animal. Suddenly, a flash of something caught his attention, his eyes snapping up just as a large black bird darted out from among the branches, coming straight for the house. Riku jumped back as it hurtled toward the window, for a split second thinking it was going to hit and crash through the glass when it suddenly pulled back, wings spread and claws showing, its yellow eyes locking with his gaze before it flew off just as quickly as it had come.

Pressing a hand to his chest, Riku waited a moment then ran back to the window, not daring to open it but trying to see where the creature had escaped to, trying to kill the icy terror that had flashed through him.

That thing's gaze, it had been burning, filled with nothing but hatred. Without stopping to think on how he knew, Riku could immediately tell that that had been Maleficent's minion. And that he had just received a warning.

Running back down the stairs, Riku grabbed his long coat from where it was on the hanger and slid it on. Leon wouldn't be able to do anything, the bird had flown off, and he certainly didn't want to tell Sora until morning, it would only scare him. He would have to alert Axel to what had happened; he would know what to do, or who to talk to. But how was he supposed to get across town at this time of night?

Stopping a foot from the door, Riku slapped a hand over his face, hiding the red flush on his cheeks. He hadn't felt so stupid for a few months; they had telephones now, he was supposed to use telephones and cell phones for contacting people. Inwardly relieved that no one had caught his momentary slip, Riku walked over to the house's phone, picking it up warily. As he had expected from past experience, when he put it up to his ear, all he could hear was a hissing, static-filled noise thanks to his own supernatural presence in the house.

Eyes narrowed in irritation, Riku kept hold of the phone then marched back over to the front door, unlocking it before he slipped out onto the front porch. Closing the door behind him most of the way, he sat down on the steps, testing the phone out again. It was better now, though not perfect; there was still some hissing and crackling but at least he would hopefully be understood now. Riku felt slightly clumsy as he pressed the button for the electronic phone book, flashing through the names until he found the one labeled 'Axel.' Despite the nervousness he had while speaking on the phone, his words never came out as eloquent as he wanted, Riku pushed the button to call and held the apparatus back up to his ear, his eyes on the sky, scanning the star-filled night for any attacking ravens.

Riku was starting to lose his patience at the eighth ring when the other end of the phone came to life, though in a somewhat groggy voice. "…Hello?"

"Hello, this is Riku, Riku Miyuno. Is this Axel speaking?"

"Riku?" Riku let out a small breath of relief at the recognition in the other's voice. "I can barely understand you, what's going on? You sound like a freakin' EVP or something."

"That would be because I'm calling from the house. I apologize for calling so late but I think we might have a problem. I just saw that raven from Roxas's window."

There was a pause, some shuffling on the other end of the line, Axel's voice instantly more alert. "What? Malef-" He gasped as if someone had punched him. "Shit Dem, sorry, I forgot her name's taboo, don't have too kill me for it. But Riku, you're sure it was her raven?"

"I know it was. It seemed to have a threatening enough disposition anyway."

"This makes everything more complicated. Zexion, add the Strife house as a location." Axel's attention came back to Riku after a moment, as if a thought had just occurred to him. "Is everything okay though? Should one of us come over?"

Riku paused to pull his coat more about him to combat the chilly, autumn night air, glancing back at the house before sighing. "No, you needn't bother. It flew away right after I saw it, and as long as everyone stays in the house, I should be able to keep them safe. I just wanted to let you know, in case you know more about what is going on and thought there might be something to worry about."

"I don't know what to tell you, Riku. I you're comfortable with it, you can probably go ahead and go back to sleep. If anything happens again though, we're probably going to be up for the rest of the night here at Demyx's and I'll keep my phone on. I'll probably be calling Cloud, just to make sure everything's secure with the hospital, so don't worry about Roxas or anything. Are you sure you'll be fine though?"

"Fairly sure."

"Alright. But don't be afraid to call back, yo. Shit, I just sounded like Reno, didn't I? Man, I need some sleep. Talk to you soon, Riku. Hopefully by tomorrow we'll have more figured out. Bye!"

There was a definitive click on the other end. Raising an eyebrow, he ended the conversation on his end as well then stood up, giving the sky one more look before slipping back into the house. He locked the door, hung his coat back up on its hook, and then put the phone in its place before heading back upstairs.

Padding silently back into his and Sora's bedroom, Riku couldn't help but smile a little at the sight of Sora spread out on the bed, having rolled over to Riku's side in just the short time he had been gone. With careful movements, Riku slipped back into bed, wrapping his arms back around Sora.

Sora's nose wrinkled a little, waking up halfway. "Mn…Riku, why're you colder'n normal…?"

"I apologize, I had to go outside for a moment."

"S'too late for that, go t'sleep."

"Alright." Riku smiled softly as Sora mumbled something then rolled over so that his back was pressing against Riku's chest. Riku pulled the brown-haired boy closer, feeling as if his own body was very nearly soaking in the other's warmth. Sora was back asleep within seconds but Riku knew that he himself wasn't going to get any sleep that night. Not while Maleficent knew where they lived.

Meanwhile, halfway across town, Axel wearily threw his pone back onto his coat which was draped an armchair. "Damn, things might be escalating faster than we want. What have we got so far, Zexion?"

Zexion looked down at the map of the city that had been spread out over his coffee table, a few red dots pinpointing events already marking the twists of city streets. "So far, we know of the incident at the asylum, which took place a while ago. Now there is the orphanage and just tonight, the Strife home was visited." Picking up a marker, he added a red dot to the court the Strife's lived in, his eyebrows furrowing thoughtfully. "Look here, chronologically speaking, these events form a sort of line, with the orphanage nearly directly between both their house and the asylum."

"So she's spiraling out from one location?" Axel asked, crouching down beside Zexion.

"Could be. We need more locations though to accurately pinpoint her enough for an offensive strike." Zexion looked up, his voice quieting a little as he addressed Namine. The girl sitting across from him at the table was deep in concentration, and he wanted to respect that. "Namine, do you have anything?"

Namine kept her eyes closed, the pencil in her hand raised high above the map as she sat their waiting. "It's hard, trying to read the residues of the spirits. But, oh-!" She suddenly struck her pencil down onto the map, her eyes still closed as her hand seemed to move by a will of it's own, marking points with a jerky, randomness, images clearly flashing too quickly through her head for her to keep up as she tried to voice what she was seeing. "There was the ghost of a man here who's gone now, here, a young woman, two children—an infant." Her pencil fell from her fingers, rolling across the map as she slumped back into the couch she was sitting on, her eyes fluttering open as she gratefully accepted the glass of water Demyx pressed into her hands. "There were so many spirits that have disappeared…it's so sad."

"Perhaps, but they did leave us with a pattern to follow."

Giving his sister's shoulder a squeeze, Demyx gave her a soft smile then moved over behind Zexion, peering down at the map over the other's head. There were penciled marks all over the map, seemingly randomly placed but a grouping nonetheless. And taking into account the tree points already marked and presuming they formed a radius…"It looks like it would form a ripple or something," Demyx murmured.

"And at the center is her hideout." Zexion took the pencil up from the table and began drawing circles, in the grouping of dots. "Apparently in the center of the older section of downtown Radiant Garden."

Demyx frowned, looking down at the map with trepidation. "You mean Hollow Bastion? Where all the gangs are and stuff?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, the map isn't accurate enough. At the moment, it's still leaving six square blocks that we would have to investigate thoroughly, which could take weeks, even with Auron's help. And I don't exactly want to go wandering blind in that sort of area just for the fact that there is a good possibility of getting mugged every time you pass an alley. We need to know more information." Letting out a small growl, Zexion rubbed his eyes tiredly, his mind apparently nearly exhausted from thinking. "Alright. Leon said that he put Pete into jail. We need to get him to question Pete again, perhaps the man knows something more about where we could find her-" With a frown, he cut himself off, a hand raising to cover his nose. "Axel, what have I said about smoking in this house?"

Axel rolled his eyes, his coat on as he stuffed his lighter back in to the pocket and took a quick puff on his cigarette. "Ya, I know, I'm getting out. We seemed to have reached a good stopping point so I was just going to give Cloud a call like I told Riku I would. I'll tell him to talk to Leon in the morning about questioning Pete too."

As Axel slipped out the front door, Namine smiled a little. "I think he was just happy for an excuse to check up on Roxas. But he was right. I'm not sure if we have any more that we can do tonight. It would probably be best just to get some sleep."

Stretching up onto his feet, Demyx nodded. "Probably. I'll get out a blanket and pillow for Axel. I think he's sleeping on the couch tonight." He glanced out the window, watching as Axel spoke low on the phone, the red-head running a hand through his wild spikes almost nervously. "Hopefully tomorrow morning we'll be able to learn a little bit more."

They waited a few minutes for Axel to finish outside, Zexion busying himself with clearing off the plates from the meals and snacks they had had over the hours as Namine fixed up the couch for it to be good for sleeping. As Zexion placed the plates by the kitchen sink, he let out a quiet sigh. He was more than ready to go to bed and sleep for hours. Unfortunately he knew that wasn't going to be the case. Not only did they all have school tomorrow, but if they were able to get information from Leon, that would be all the more to try to fit into his calculations. Really, Zexion loved his job, but sometimes it took much too much time out of his schedule.

He gasped despite himself as arms suddenly wrapped around him, relaxing only when he felt Demyx lean down against the back of his neck. "Axel came back inside, Zexy. It's time to go to bed, not time to do too much thinking."

Zexion nodded, turning around and taking Demyx's hand. "You're right. We'll need our energy for tomorrow."

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Leon gripped his steering wheel a little tighter after having dropped Cloud and Roxas back off at home. It had been an interesting morning so far to see the least. Before he had left for the hospital, he had learned that apparently Riku had spotted Maleficent's raven outside their house, the silver-haired young man somewhat apologetic about not saying anything about it until breakfast. Leon supposed that was for the best though, Sora had paled enough as it was; if he had known about it so late in the night, none of them would have gotten much sleep.

And then when Leon had gone to the hospital, Cloud had alerted him to the fact that Axel had called him late and had requested that Leon talk to Pete about Maleficent's hiding spot. Well, he hadn't actually said 'Maleficent,' they had all learned that that name was not to be said now, something about it giving her more power.

Leon didn't always know exactly was going on, but he did at least know that Roxas had been looking better when he had been sitting in the back of his car. He at least he hadn't been coughing up any more blood. And he had apparently gotten some good rest at the hospital, at least according to Cloud, who was looking a little weary himself. It reminded Leon a little of when he and Cloud had just adopted the boys, organizing their schedules so that someone was always at the apartment with them when they were back from school, even if that meant that one of them was working the nightshift.

Pulling into the police station, Leon got out of his car and walked quickly into the station, passing by Cid's closed door, closed most likely so that the smoke detector couldn't sense his cigars, only to be jumped on by Yuffie. "I got your message, Leon, and pulled some quick strings! Thank me now because your man is waiting for you in Interview Room 1."

"Thanks, Yuffie. I'll treat you to lunch." Leon clapped her on the back, smiling a little as she bounced on into Cid's office. He didn't know how the young woman could be so energetic so early in the morning. Grabbing a map off of his desk and straightening his shoulders as he neared the interview rooms, Leon banged open the door, startling Pete and nearly causing the big man to drop the cup of coffee he had been nursing in his hands. The coffee was undoubtedly Yuffie's doing, the girl always was too soft with the criminals although even Leon had to admit that Pete was looking pitiable in his orange jumpsuit.

When he saw who it was coming in, Pete's eyebrows narrowed. "What's goin' on? It though you said I'd be in jail for a few months or somethin'."

"Don't worry, you're going straight back to prison once we're done here. I just wanted some more information."

"I don't know much, but I'll tell you what I can."

"I was expecting as much." Setting his map out on the table between them, Leon opened it up. "You said before that you did a lot of scouting for the woman, and dealt with drop-offs. I need to know what you know about the Hollow Bastion area."

"Hollow Bastion?" Pete frowned thoughtfully, scratching his chin for a moment before jabbing at a building block. "Well that's where I got most of my orders from. Had to go in this one abandoned building for them, found my next instructions on a table with money for whatever I did last. I also had to go here," he pointed toward another block on the map about a block away, "a few times. It was more of a factory, and I only went there at night because I think it was working during the day. I wasn't really any place where any one would visit often, probably why she picked the place."

"Did you ever talk to her personally?"

"A few times." Pete shuddered at the memory. "I never really got to see her face because she was always in shadow, but a map isn't going to help you here. She always found me wherever I was, appeared there like magic." He looked up at Leon with some concern. "Why do you want to know? You cops aren't thinking of goin' after her are you?"

"That's none of your concern. Do you have any more information about where she might frequent."

"I've got no idea. That building's the only place where I was told to go, but she might not be that far away."

"Why do you say that?"

"People have been hearing strange things in Hollow Bastion. Strange, creepy things. Even if you hadn't gotten me arrested, I'm not sure if I'd still be going back there."

"Good for you, you don't have to worry about making that decision. If you have nothing more to tell me then I'll get an officer back in here to take you back to the prison."

Pete nodded, looking almost relieved as Leon stood back up, still apparently nervous outside the safety of his cell even inside the police station. Collecting his things, Leon left the room, nodding toward the officer guarding the room to go ahead inside. Once back inside his own cubicle, Leon sighed and looked down at the map before reaching for his phone. He wasn't totally convinced but he was pretty sure but it looked like they had a good idea of where to start looking for Maleficent from what Pete had told him. If nothing else there might be some good clues of where to look next.

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