(A/N: HEEEEY! I bet you're wondering waz up (or not). Well, you see, my English teacher is awful and has made me hate not only writing but fan fiction itself. So you get a short chapter until I like it again. Enjoy!)


The Hunchback Nobody of Twilight Town

Chapter 9: Search for Xion

It was a beautiful morning in Twilight Town. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and Xemnas was exiting his carriage. Waiting for him was Axel.

"Attention!" Axel commanded the guards. To Xemnas, he said, "Good morning, sir."

The Judge moaned in response.

"Are you … feeling all right?"

"I had a … little trouble with the fireplace."

"I see." Well, he's not the only one. "Your orders, sir?"

"Find the gypsy girl."

The troops ransacked a home, eventually finding a group of gypsies hidden in a trap door. The gypsies were lined up outside, with Xemnas looking down at them.

"Ten pieces of silver for the gypsy Xion." He shoved a handful of coins out, but there were no takers. "Grrr... Guards! Lock them up!"

Xemnas' men pushed a carriage into the Seine. As it began to sink, gypsies came floating to the surface. Once again, they were lined up, with Xemnas surveying them.

"Twenty pieces of silver for the gypsy Xion!" Again, no takers. "Take them away!"

Xemnas, Axel, and their men went to a house with a large windmill. The guards had found gypsies there. The miller, a tall man with long brown hair and ocean blue eyes, was being interrogated by Xemnas.

"We found this gypsy talisman on your property. Have you been harboring gypsies?"

"Our home is always open to the weary traveler. Have mercy, my lord."

"I am placing you and your family under house arrest until I get to the bottom of this. If what you say is true, you are innocent and you have nothing to fear."

"But we are innocent. I assure you! We know nothing of these gypsies!"

Xemnas pulled their door shut, then barred it with a guard's staff. He turned to Axel.

"Burn it."

"What!"

"Until it smolders. These people are traitors and must be made examples of." He handed Axel a torch.

"With all due respect, sir, I was not trained to murder the innocent."

"But you were trained to follow orders," Xemnas shot back.

Axel took the torch, walked over to the house, then doused it in a bucket of water next to the house. He glared pointedly at Xemnas.

"Insolent coward."

Xemnas grabbed another torch and touched the flame to the windmill. The entire structure was quickly engulfed in flame. Axel crashed through the window and brought the family outside to safety.

"Thank you so much," said the miller's wife, a blue-haired woman with sky blue eyes.

As the building continued to burn, the guards grabbed Axel.

"The sentence for insubordination is death," said Xemnas. "Such a pity... you threw away a promising career."

"Consider it my highest honor, sir."

Xemnas raised a spear and was about to kill him, when Axel kicked the Judge's horse. The horse bucked, and Xemnas was thrown off. Axel escaped the guards, hopped on Xemnas' horse, and was off.

"Hit him!" Xemnas cried. "And don't hit my horse!"

As Axel rode off, he was showered with arrows. One of them went through his shoulder (and through the magic of Disney it pierced his armor), and he fell off the horse, off the bridge that he was riding over, and into the river. A volley of arrows followed him in. Xion, who had witnessed the entire spectacle in disguise, gasped.

"Don't waste your arrows," the Judge commanded. "Let the traitor rot in his watery grave! Find the girl! If you have to burn the city to the ground, so be it!"

Xion ran down the hill to the river, keeping under cover. She waded into the water, then dove under. She came back up with the unconscious Axel. She pulled him out of the water with much difficulty. I have to get some help, she thought.


(A/N: I'm going to apologize for two short chapters in a row now. I'm sowwy! Blame the English teachers, they are evil!

Cookies to those who guess who the miller and his wife are (It's pretty obvious, I think)

R+R!)