Disclaimer: I only own Koxra, Cyril, Rioris, Kairen, Kayla, Luna, Cria, the middle-aged man, Shrouded Forest, and the Witches of the Circle. Les Miserables belongs to Victor Hugo.


"What are you doing here, Cyril," asked a woman with light-blue hair and green eyes. She had been entering the building where the meeting took place when she saw him lighting up a pipe in the front of the building. The man with brown hair and brown eyes looked up after taking a few puffs from the pipe.

"What kind of greeting is that, Rioris? Ah, let me guess: you found something intriguing and it has interfered with your manner." Rioris smiled.

"Something like that, you could say. I thought you were going to quit." Cyril chuckled.

"It's not as if I'm smoking a cigarette. Besides, I've grown too used to it to be able to stop." Rioris rolled her eyes.

"Of course. A cigarette wouldn't be dignified enough for you. Still, would you mind putting it out?"

"I have only just started smoking it." He sighed. "Actually, I suppose I'd better since Cria won't allow it during the meeting." He did so. Rioris kissed him soon afterward. "Is that the reason you wanted me to put the pipe out?" Rioris smirked.

"That's it exactly. So, what are you doing here? This is a meeting for the Witches of the Circle."

"Am I not affiliated with the Circle," asked Cyril. "Besides, I have something to present." Rioris studied him.

"Kairen and Kayla will ignore anything that's insignificant, you know. You might have luck with Luna, though. She enjoys hearing more information about anything solely so she can absorb it. Not literally, of course, since information doesn't have a life force and she wouldn't be able to drain it if it did."

"I'm confident that this will be very significant," said Cyril. "When will the meeting begin?"

"It's set to start soon, but that will depend on if Luna can lift her nose from her book long enough to pay any actual attention," Rioris replied. Cyril crossed his arms.

"I was under the impression that Cria made a rule about that after the last time I attended a meeting and Luna was too caught up reading Les Miserables. What about that book appealed to her is beyond me."

"Yes, there is a rule now, but I wouldn't put it past Luna to hide her book under the table and read it anyway," said Rioris. "Although, Kairen could probably just encase her book in ice so she pays attention." Cyril smirked.

"Or, you could paralyze her body for the duration of the meeting." Rioris laughed.

"True, I could do that, but why deny Cria the right to blow up at her?"

"The right to blow up at whom, may I ask?" Behind them was a woman with green eyes and blonde hair.

"Luna," said Rioris. "I'd make sure she doesn't sneak a book in anyhow if I were you, Cria." Cria crossed her arms.

"Idiot girl has her nose in a book more often than she actually debates on matters concerning the Circle. I would've thought that sixteen years of life was plenty long enough to quit living in her own fantasy land all the time." Rioris sighed.

"Some kids just stay kids, I guess." Cria raised an eyebrow upon seeing Cyril.

"And what are you doing here?"

"I have something to present," he replied. "Something that I think you'll like."

"Does it have to do with those creatures called Heartless," asked Cria.

"You could say that," said Cyril. "But I suggest we wait until the meeting is underway before I disclose the rest."

"Fair enough," said Cria.


"It's 4:00 in the morning, Axel," Koxra yawned. "What's so important that it couldn't wait two more hours?"

"Well, Xemnas just said we're supposed to take a trip to your old haunting grounds and he wants us gone like five minutes ago," said Axel. Koxra raised an eyebrow.

"My old 'haunting grounds'? I'm not one of the undead." Axel face-palmed.

"It's an expression. Now, come on. The boss man said we need to move." Koxra groaned.

"Fine, I'll be out after I get dressed." She shut the door and went to her closet. "Why does he see the need to send us out this early?"

"Maybe it has to do with the Heartless population? Got me. I'm not the mind-reader here. Though, I thought you'd be used to him doing this kind of thing by now." Finding her uniform for the day, Koxra headed to the bathroom.

"Well, come to think of it, he did send me out with Luxord last week at 2:00am, so I guess four is a little bit of an improvement."

"Bet that was a problem since good old Lux didn't stagger in until around midnight. The Superior just so happened to catch him on his birthday after he'd been out drinking most of the night. I think he does that on purpose because he knows Luxord does that every year on his birthday. Was he still capable of functioning?" Koxra snorted.

"He wasn't doing much good. It was a good thing we didn't have to fight anything because I doubt he could've dodged in that condition. I eventually got fed up and splashed his face with water from a barrel I found in an alley to attempt to sober him up." Axel was out in the hallway chuckling.

"What'd he do after that?"

"Well, he turned around and glared at me. If looks could kill, I'd probably be dead. He was eventually grateful for that, but he warned me not to be loud because he felt a hangover coming."

"It's probably a good thing that you sobered him up or you would've had a problem with being sneaky." Koxra grabbed her comb.

"Yeah. Can't exactly operate using stealth if one of us stumbles around drunk. Why'd Xemnas even send him out like that if he knew he would be drunk?"

"Maybe he thought two hours would be enough to sleep it off. Xemnas assumes he slept all of those two hours, but I doubt he did. If he had, it probably wouldn't have been that hard for him to walk straight."

"He can sober up that fast?"

"I didn't say he'd be fully sober, but he'd be able to function almost normally. He might've had a headache, but he'd end up being mostly normal."

"If he could do that on two hours of sleep, I don't think I want to know what his alcohol tolerance is."

"You done in there yet?"

"Almost," Koxra replied. She sat down her comb and went to the door. "Okay, now I'm done. Are we eating breakfast first, or should we just wait till we get back?"

"I'd wait," said Axel. "No sense having Xemnas get pissed."


"Now that we're all here, let's get down to business," said Cria. "Cyril, first I'd like to know why exactly you are here." Cyril cleared his throat and stood.

"Honored ladies of the Circle, I'm pleased to announce that I have managed to create a new type of Heartless from data I have obtained from other Heartless. I took the data and modified it to create a unique breed that I have discovered how to control."

"And I assume you have an example with you," said Kairen. Cyril chuckled.

"Dear Kairen, do you honestly think I'd announce something like this without proof? Just watch." In floated a creature that looked like a huge, purple balloon. It had eight tentacles which had sharp, sword-like ends. It stopped near Cyril. "Well, what do you think of it?" Cria rubbed her chin.

"Interesting. Does this creature have a name?"

"I have decided to call them Balloons for lack of a better term." Rioris raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously?" Cyril turned to her.

"Unless you have a better idea, Balloons is what it will be. Their fighting style consists of spinning mostly, but they also wrap a victim in their tentacles." Cria thought.

"Sounds perfect. Kayla, Luna, what do you think?" The twenty-year-old with green hair and green eyes who was Kayla, thought for a minute.

"Interesting fighting style. No doubt it would be effective in eliminating victims. Well, considering that they are Heartless, they wouldn't have to eliminate anyone. Just steal the person's heart and they're done."

"Well said," said Cria. "Luna?" Kairen formed an ice ball and placed it on the head of the green-eyed brunette who was next to her, more focused on the book in her hands than the meeting. The girl screamed and shook her head, knocking the ice ball off it. It shattered upon hitting the floor.

"What was that for?" Kairen rolled her eyes.

"What do you think? You were reading during a meeting again. Cria was asking for an opinion."

"Oh," said Luna. "What was the question?" Rioris face-palmed and rolled her eyes. Cria decided to ignore the gestures.

"We were talking about the fighting style of these Balloons Cyril managed to create. What do you think of grabbing prey with tentacles and unleashing mainly spin attacks?"

"Hmm, kinda leaves them a bit limited, doesn't it," said Luna. "But, that's probably all they will need, isn't it? Plus, since they haven't been on the scene before, no one will really know anything about them."

"If you hadn't given some useful points, I'd be angrier with the fact that you were reading," said Cria. "Alright, Rioris, your report?" Rioris stood as Cyril sat down and the Balloon floated away.

"For the past couple months, I have been spying on this certain group of individuals who wear black coats. I've seen them form weapons out of thin air and fight the Heartless with them." Cria raised an eyebrow.

"It sounds as though they are some specialized group of some sort and the coats are a sort of uniform. Do they have a name of any sort?"

"I haven't heard an actual name, but the term, 'Nobody' has come from several of them on more than one occasion," said Rioris. Cyril stroked his chin.

"I believe I can offer some insight. I've heard rumors around Hollow Bastion that 'Nobody', with a capital 'n', of course, is used to refer to those without hearts." All eyes were on him. Shockingly, Luna was attentive.

"What? But I thought that when someone's heart gets stolen, that's it, they're dead or forever doomed to wander darkness, or something like that."

"That usually is the general idea," said Cyril. "However, it seems that some have found a way to still exist and hold onto their identities. Whether or not they actually do lack hearts is a matter that would require some evidence to properly evaluate." Luna blinked.

"You're not suggesting we catch some and cut them open, are you?"

"Why, that's exactly what I'm suggesting," said Cyril. "In the name of science, we must. After all, you can hardly still call them people now, can you?"

"What about draining them," asked Rioris. "They still have to have some sort of life-force, even if they don't have hearts. They also seem to have strange powers of their own. Perhaps we could absorb these powers by draining them."

"Not a bad idea," said Cria. "And I assume that you want first dibs, Rioris?" Rioris stared.

"I assumed that much would be self-explanatory."


"Hmm, you actually got us here," said Axel, stepping out of the portal. Koxra was behind him and closed it.

"And what made you expect anything less? I've been working on it for weeks, so why wouldn't I get us to our destination?" Axel chuckled.

"I'm just messing with you. But, this is the first time we've been on a mission together since you learned how to portal."

"Hmm, didn't realize that," said Koxra. "It has been a while since we were on a mission together, hasn't it?"

"Hey, you two!" The Nobodies turned and saw a middle-aged man. "You wouldn't be heading into Shrouded Forest, would you?" Axel studied him.

"Some reason we shouldn't be?"

"It's just that there have been a lot of tornados in that area recently," said the man.

"Right, we'll keep that in mind," said Axel. He started walking. "A little paranoid, huh? Just because there have been tornados, it doesn't guarantee that one will show up." He stopped when he realized the Mind Mage wasn't following him. "Come on, Koxra, this is no time to be standing around." Koxra just stood there, apparently frozen.

"Tornados? No, not here. But what if one touched down?" Axel waved his hand in front of her face.

"Hello, anyone in there? Your mind didn't somehow float out of your body, did it?" Koxra shook her head and snapped out of her thoughts.

"Huh, what were you saying?"

"Well, now that I've established there's a working mind in there, what's wrong with you," asked Axel. Koxra felt as though her stomach acid was boiling, but had been immediately frozen afterward.

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking and I kinda spaced out. Well, let's go." After she had gotten a few steps ahead of Axel, he followed.

"Something's up with her. Does she honestly think I'm that stupid? I know damn well she wasn't spacing out. Every other time she spaces out, she looks down more like she's using some kind of method to focus easier. This time, she was looking straight at me and wasn't reacting. Not to mention her eyes were huge. Well, it's not like I can read her mind if she doesn't want to say anything. Still, now's not the time to try and get it out of her."

"Axel, hello," said Koxra. Axel looked up.

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

"I was just wondering which way we're supposed to go," said Koxra. "We've reached a fork."

"Oh, uh, why don't we flip a coin," Axel suggested. Koxra stared.

"Bad idea unless you happen to have some, cuz I don't." Axel thought.

"Let's just go right, then. It's a good thing that we're just on heart collection. With luck, we won't have to fight any bosses." Koxra was trailing along behind him.

"Yeah, those fights take a while. What the hell? Why is it suddenly pitch-black?" Axel summoned a fireball into his hand.

"Got me. Maybe an eclipse? No matter what it is, though, I'm not sure how much this little fireball will help." He paused for a moment. "Do you hear a freight train?"

"Yeah," said Koxra. "But what would one of those be doing in the middle of a forest? And is it just me, or does the sky look a little…green?" Axel looked up.

"Come to think of it, it does. And, aside from that cloud being huge and dark, isn't it a little…low?"

"Axel, it's hailing. Can we just leave now?" Her voice was soft and came out sounding somewhat like a squeak, but there was no mistaking the intense fear in it. Axel rolled his eyes.

"Look, we're not leaving just because the weather's going haywire. I'm sure it'll calm down." He turned as the roar of a freight train got louder and saw the funnel touch down. "I guess we are getting out of here." He opened a portal. "Come on." Koxra didn't move. "Hey, a minute ago you were all for getting out of here. What happened?" The wind was getting stronger. "Dammit, we don't have time for this. You'll get sucked into it!" Sensing that trying to snap her out of whatever trance she was in was doing no good, Axel grabbed her and dragged her into the portal.


After roughly a half-hour of trying to bring Koxra back to reality, Axel was almost at a loss for ideas. "Hold on. I wonder if smacking her would work. Eh, it's worth a shot." He did so and she blinked.

"Oww, what the hell was that for?"

"Oh, so you were still in there," said Axel. "For a while there, I thought you might have become a Mindless." Koxra glared at him.

"That still hurt! Why'd you do it?"

"Let's see," said Axel. "We were in Forlit on a mission, remember that?" He received a blank stare. "Hey, just making sure. Anyway, some guy was saying tornados had been in the area we were heading to—"

"I remember all of that," Koxra snapped. "What I'm confused about is what happened after it started hailing."

"Jeez, you should've said something sooner instead of letting me keep going," said Axel. He was met with cerulean eyes glaring daggers at him and he chuckled. "Alright, alright, I'm done messing around. So, after you said something about the hail and I more or less said to stop making excuses, I noticed that a tornado was headed right for us, so I opened a portal. I turned around, but you weren't moving. I tried a couple times to get your attention, but you just stood there. Obviously, time was a huge factor, so I just ended up dragging you into the portal and spent like the last half-hour trying to snap you out of your trance, for lack of a better word." Koxra blinked.

"Trance?"

"Yeah," Axel replied. "It was really strange."

"Man, I can't believe I did that," said Koxra.

"Why exactly did you do that," asked Axel. Koxra sighed.

"In case it wasn't already obvious, I have a very literal paralyzing fear of tornados. Meaning that, whenever I know one's coming, I freeze up instead of running like most normal people." Axel studied her.

"That would've been nice to know before we ran into one. Like, oh, how about when that guy first mentioned them? If you'd been alone, you would've gotten sucked into it, I hope you know. How am I supposed to be prepared for something like that if you don't bother to tell me?" Koxra blinked.

"Great, he sounds mad. Sorry, I didn't think about that." Axel crossed his arms.

"Obviously. Next time, though, try thinking of it. If it's something that could cause problems later on during the mission, I need to know about it."

"Understood," said Koxra. "And, Axel?" Axel turned.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem," said Axel.


I believe I'll end it there. Seems like a good spot. So, I actually brought the Witches of the Circle in and came up with a purpose for them (though I probably won't reveal that purpose yet). And, introducing Rioris having a larger part. By the way, all the Witches of the Circle have green eyes. You know, just in case no one picked up on that.