Hello, it's Haji. DeadShut did not leave an author's note this time, so I will write one. He wrote this chapter! YAY!

To all those who hate rapists, rejoice! For Pete is doomed to meet his fate, though not in the way you would expect. DeadShut did a fantastic job with this. I'm sure he would tell you the same thing.

Enjoy.

12:00.

Lily Ion's apartment building was rather short, and good portions of its exterior were either falling apart or covered heavily in graffiti. It looked like a battlefield, and rightfully so, for today there would be much blood spilled within this structure. Roxas knew this as he ran towards the building; the feeling was much like a premonition. McLean, the person he hated more than anyone on this earth, was in possession of his girlfriend, and she was either dying or already dead…that part wasn't so much a premonition as it was a hysterical fear. Why couldn't McLean have taken Roxas's parents, who were shitty people anyways? Why did it have to be Lily, the most beautiful creature to ever walk God's green Earth, within the clutches of this homicidal suck-ass?

Shit happens. That's the way of life, so says the everyday philosopher or writer. But Roxas felt as though piles upon piles, tons upon tons, of excrement had been dumped all over his life. He honestly believed was going to die in this building, but he feared for nothing except the life of his girlfriend.

He ran inside; there was nobody in the lobby, no receptionist, no clerk, nothing. He remembered that most people had moved on to bigger and better things, whilst the Ion family remained in their cozy third-floor apartment. Gunshots would not be heard by anyone.

Roxas sprinted into the elevator, heart racing faster than ever. After he jammed the "3rd"-button, he tried to calm down. There was no way he was going to best McLean if he was panicking.

But he had to panic. McLean said he had a gun. What did Roxas have? Two "Keyblades", computer devices/batons crafted by otherworldly beings, tied to his back in a metal "X". What was he gonna do, sodomize McLean into submission?

Didn't matter. All that mattered was getting Lily out of this fucking place ASAP. He would tell her the location of the safest place in the world, Oblivion Labs, and the Organization could have a new Member XIII while his body rotted in this apartment building with a bullet in its head.

The doors to the elevator opened. In movies Roxas had seen before all of this, protagonists entering a deserted hallway where the serial killer lurked walked down it very slowly; Roxas sprinted yet again. He arrived at the Ion's apartment, and unsheathed his only weapons, his gifts from the most exciting and welcoming life he had ever been given, and kicked the door open with all his might.

A respectful person and boyfriend, Ryan Hall had never seen his girlfriend naked, and planned on doing so only until they were ready to make love. He had never in a million years expected to see her naked self tied to a chair in her own kitchen, eyes wide with terror and humiliation, puddles of substance between her legs and running down her chin, mouth taped shut. The sight made Roxas' mouth drop open into a gape; he was too shocked at this pitiful sight to feel anything, even hatred.

He ran to her, put down Oblivion, and pulled the tape off of her mouth.

"Lily," he whispered. "Oh, my God, Lily…"

In a choking voice, she said, "Ryan…he k-killed my mom…my dad…he…he…"

She screamed loudly, and the sound devastating to Roxas. He turned and saw McLean, dressed in one of Mr. Ion's many business suits, revolver in one hand and brick in the other.

"You made it," said McLean, his smile dripping with taunt. "Good. It's about time you saw the consequences of your stupid games."

"Adam…" Roxas choked through his tears. "Please. Let her go, man, this isn't right. What've you done, Adam?"

McLean shouted, "Its PETE! PETE IS MY NAME, YOU MOTHERFUCKER! Adam is dead as a doornail because he was weak, he lost to you, but PETE will beat you! PETE IS INVICIBLE!"

Roxas had no idea what the flying fuck this psychopath was talking about, but the utter shock of what was occurring still electrified his mind like a Taser. If you are reading this as a high school student, imagine it yourself: someone you know, see everyday, talk to everyday, now standing with a gun in his hand, planning to kill you and your loved ones. If the Anglo-Saxons were right, and Fate ran everything, then Fate had taken Adam McLean, chewed him up, and spit him out as the lowest of the low.

Naturally a kind boy, Roxas talked to the peer who had ruined his own stable mentality: "Listen, then, Pete. Just put down the gun, okay? We don't have to do this." But was that true? Some dark corner in Roxas' mind reminded him sadly that "Pete" McLean had already done "this". The damage was done, and there would be no cooperation.

Instead of lowering the gun, McLean raised it to Roxas' level. The young man who used to be just a cocky asshole now looked manic, demonic even. His eyes were bloodshot, skin pale, face rugged with a slight beard. Normal children grow up to be normal adults, but this normal child had grown up to be something awful. McLean was not a child anymore; Roxas realized he had to fight his adversary as an adult, no matter what the consequences were. The games of tag during recess were over.

How did this happen? He thought sorrowfully, and immediately came to his conclusion: I joined the Organization. That's how it happened.

True, but what was it that had fueled him to join? McLean. McLean and his acts against him…which now did not seem so wrong or evil, compared to this new ploy of his.

Smiling toothily, gun still raised to Roxas' head, Pete McLean said, "Move away from her."

"No," whispered Roxas.

"Move away, or she dies!" McLean screamed, gun now pointing at Lily. Lily gave a muffled yelp.

"Okay," Roxas said, hands raised. "Okay."

He walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. McLean's smile grew wider as he said, "Now, you're gonna sit there and watch me have a little fun with your bitch. If you even dare to move, I'll blow her brains out. How does that sound?"

Roxas looked helplessly at Lily, whose eyes were full of terror. McLean's, however, were full of glee.

"Excellent," said Pete. He turned to Lily. "One more go, how about? This time, I think, you should take it up the ass." He turned to Roxas, grin still on his face. "That'd be the last thing I've fucked on her entire body. Ask her yourself, shitheap, I even fucked her ears, her God damn nose. There isn't a single orifice on her body that isn't full of ol' Petey. And that's good. I want you to know, Ryan, that I am better than you in every way possible. I beat you in the essay, I beat you to your girl, and now I'm going to beat your ass to death…and once you're gone, Lily and I are going to have one fucking crazy time. Aren't we, Lil?" He giggled and caressed her with the back of his hand, and she burst into tears.

"Fuck you, you unimaginable sonofawhore," whispered Roxas through clenched teeth. He was shaking with rage, with fear, with utter hopelessness. He was only dimly aware at this time that something on his back was starting to grow hot…

McLean laughed and crooned, "Aww. Does little Ryan-Wyan love her? Did little Ryan-Wyan want his first time with her to be magical?" Another gale of laughter.

Roxas fell to his knees, tears pouring out of his eyes like rivers

I've failed her, I've failed her, I've failed her, oh Jesus, what's that hotness on my back, what the fuck, what the fuck…

It was the Keyblades. He unsheathed them from the wrappings on his back, and saw each of the blades on his weapons were glowing with a red energy as crimson as his anger. The Keyblades were now white hot, covered in auroras of steam and power. He held them in his hands, feeling suddenly powerful. Anger and grief gone, replaced with wonder, he stared up at McLean with an open mouth.

"Pete" was also taken aback.

"What is this?" he demanded, voice trembling. He raised the pistol at Roxas. "Don't come any closer!" Now he was panicking, voice cracking.

Roxas felt good. He felt like a god. He stood up and laughed, loudly, almost hysterically.

"Stand your ground!" demanded Pete McLean, voice now higher-pitched.

Roxas moved forward.

Pete fired.

Saix hurried into the kitchen, where a good majority of the Organization was bickering loudly, as if in a panic.

"The hell's going on?" he demanded loudly. "Axel, why did you call me down?"

Axel said, "Sir, Roxas is gone. He came in here to grab his Keyblades and just left. I asked him where the fuck he was going, and he said someone has his girlfriend. Sir, I think he might be in trouble. We need to help him."

Is he actually worried? Thought the second-in-command with wonder.

Zexion came forward.

"Saix, it would be most unwise to send in help for Roxas. It could be the Heartless, and we've already had enough complications with them today to pursue anymore encounters…"

Lexaeus, who Saix hadn't seen for days up until now, told his colleague, "Oh, shut it, Zexion. The Organization is a brotherhood, not your fucking fan club. I say we send help. Hell, this shouldn't even be a debate. We are sending help, Zexion." He glared at Saix. "Aren't we?"

Saix nodded immediately. He wanted nothing to happen to Roxas, who he had regarded with a certain kinship…something that surprised everyone, especially himself.

"Well?" he asked. "Who shall go?"

He looked around at all of their faces, and in many of them saw a lack of care for the boy's wellbeing. Zexion was pouting, Marluxia looked rather bored with the entire situation, Xaldin was scraping dirt from underneath his fingernails, and Demyx was again just strumming away at his guitar without a care in the world. The rest looked genuinely concerned, even Larxene, and Saix himself felt more concerned than all of them put together. Nobody spoke up.

Axel opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by another voice from behind them all, by someone who just entered the kitchen.

"I shall go."

The bullet whizzed past Roxas and hit the wall behind him. It had missed by an inch, amazingly, and this suddenly gave Roxas a boost of confidence that could never be matched. He swung the energized Keyblades in a couple of slow circles, like he had recently trained himself to do in the Grey Room. The blades made electronic swooshing-noises that could only originate from an energy that was beyond the technology of this world. As the blades swung, they left trails of smoke, and singed the carpet underneath Roxas' feet. He slowly made his way to the tiled kitchen.

Now McLean was lowering the gun. His mouth was open in a comical "O"-shape. Bound to the chair, Lily looked in utter amazement at the miraculous weapons in her boyfriend's hands.

"S-stand back!" said McLean, suddenly furious.

Now it was Roxas' turn to taunt. He spread his arms out wide, holding the Keyblades out like wings; they hit the walls of the room and burned into them. Roxas walked forward, ripping open the walls with the blades, rubble and shreds of burnt wallpaper falling around him like hellish confetti. He only released the Keyblades as soon as he was in the kitchen, where McLean was desperately trying to regain control over the situation.

"Enough of this!" shrieked "the best", and raised the gun again, this time at Lily.

Roxas rushed forward and swung Oblivion high over his head, giving a bull-like battle cry that barbarians hundreds of years ago had only successfully roared.

A flash of hot metal, and the sound of flesh thumping onto the tiled floor of the kitchen.

McLean stood in shock, looking at the piece of flesh that was once his hand in a puddle of blood on the kitchen floor, still clutching onto the revolver. McLean looked at Roxas, and ran out of the apartment.

Roxas almost let him go. Almost. It occurred to him just then, thankfully, that if McLean could somehow recover from having his hand chopped off, he would most definitely come after Lily again. And, if he were to go anywhere without a hand, he would be taken to the hospital as quick as could be, and make up some bullshit story that could put either Roxas, Lily, or both of them into trouble. No; the job needed to get done, and get done quickly. Roxas chased after his adversary, cold blood pumping through his veins.

Pete McLean ran into the elevator, more afraid than he had ever been in his entire life. The metal doors of the elevator shut, but not before McLean saw his arch-nemesis running down the hall with the tools that were used to take his hand. Thankfully, the doors shut before Ryan could get a chance to come in. McLean whimpered and sunk to the floor as the elevator went up to a random floor he had pressed once he had entered. His stump was bleeding terribly, and he wondered frightfully if he would die in this apartment building from blood loss.

What the hell had happened, anyways? Just what the flying fuck was that all about? When McLean first saw the two batons sticking out of Hall's back, he had been amused…but he had underestimated their capabilities. With tools like those, Ryan had bested him…him! Ryan had won…how could it be?

"Not for long," he vowed to himself, feeling woozy all of a sudden. "I'll just come at him again. He won the battle, but the war is far from over…"

The elevator doors opened onto the seventh floor. This floor was dark, illuminated only by dim lights. It reminded McLean of death. He shuddered and walked out slowly, clutching his battle wound tightly. If there had been a mirror in this hallway, Pete McLean would have seen how white he was. His speculation that he was dying from blood loss was correct, and if only life were fair to those who commit acts of evil as horrid as his own, he would have died quietly, silently, and peacefully on that floor.

However, he did not.

McLean had no idea where he was heading on this floor, other than safety from Ryan, thinking that he was going to survive this encounter and return to fight another day. Ryan was his rival, his archenemy, the Green Goblin to his Spider-Man, wasn't he? This would be just the first of their encounters, or so he thought…

…as he was deep in these thoughts, he took no notice the shadowy figure slowly creeping up behind him. It wasn't until a hand reached out and grabbed his shoulder did McLean scream and turn around.

When it happened, it happened fast. For a brief moment, McLean saw a man of about thirty with a white plastic tube in his hand. A second later, the condiments of the tube were thrown into his face, and McLean entered a world of pain.

White hotness was covering his face, and he fell to the floor, writhing. It felt as though something was eating away his skin, eating away his face, and all of the fight instantly drained out of him. McLean inhaled before giving the loudest scream he ever shouted in his life, a scream so loud it damaged his vocal cords and cut off halfway through, lowering down to a raspy squeal. The pain was magnificent, the worst burn a person could ever endure. He would have thrashed around, but he had no energy left.

Adam "Pete" McLean succumbed to Death as still as a fallen tree.

Roxas arrived on the seventh floor via the stairs about ten minutes after he had seen McLean go upstairs using the elevator. The darkness of the hallway unnerved him, but that caution turned into immediate shock when he found a body on the wooden floor. Adam McLean was handless and faceless; a red crater had seemed to replace his eyes, nose, and mouth. Blood was all over the floor; if this was McLean, which it was, then he had died painfully. A death nobody his age should have endured, yet nobody his age should have committed the crimes he had.

Although initially lost for words, Roxas eventually said, "How the hell…"

He looked up to see a man standing next to him, looking at McLean's body with a mixture of disgust and triumph. The man was about thirty, with long, grey hair and tan skin. His eyes had a mischievous gleam to them, a demonic Saint Nick. Although Roxas had never met the man face-to-face, he knew who this was.

"Doctor Xehanort," he croaked. "You're the founder of the Organization."

Xehanort smiled to confirm this. It was a grin that would make Wal-Mart's smiley-face-mascot burn with pure jealousy.

"You killed McLean?" Roxas inquired.

"Oh, yes," said Xehanort, smile not even slightly faltering. "He was an enemy to you, and therefore an enemy to the Organization."

"H-how did you…?"

"Chemical burn, my friend. Solid sodium hydroxide is found in lye. Solid sodium hydroxide burns flesh on contact. Getting hit with a couple pounds worth of the stuff can send any maniac to the ground. I'm sure your contribution helped finish him off, though." Xehanort indicated the stump.

"So," said the Superior. "You are Member XIII. Roxas. A pleasure to meet you."

The two shook hands. Roxas was expecting a brutal handshake, tight and strong, but Xehanort's was warm and a bit soft.

"We met at The Met, already, I think. However, we couldn't risk being seen together. What if someone you knew was there? There could have been consequences for both you and me, certainly. Unfortunately, there was someone there you knew…but here he is again."

"I honestly cannot believe it," said Roxas. "I mean it. I knew this kid, shit, I grew up with this kid. I can't believe he's dead, and I can't believe I'm partly responsible."

"He was petty and cowardly," said Xehanort, somewhat bored with his newest member's analysis of the situation. "Not much of a loss."

Yet Roxas could not take his eyes off the bloody body. He felt tears swim into his eyes. What a horrible way to die. He had never wanted this…but it had to have been done. What other choice was there? Let McLean go and wait for him to find him and put a bullet into his skull? Or, even worse, Lily's skull?

"Damn it," he choked.

Xehanort patted him on the shoulder.

"Your girlfriend," said the Superior suddenly. "She's downstairs, is she not?"

"Yes."

"We should get her out of here."

"You'd let her stay at the Labs?"

"Of course."

"Th-thank you," said Roxas, tears running down his cheeks. "Thank you so much. For everything. Your Organization is the only family I've ever had, ever dreamt of."

Xehanort replied, "No. Thank you for making the Organization complete. You're still a child, so it's natural you would mess up a recon mission…but I see in you many talents. Why else would I ask you to join? The others may be skeptical of your abilities, but I think you have capabilities that far surpass theirs."

Roxas smiled. The Superior smiled back.

"Now," said Dr. Xehanort. "Let's get you to your girlfriend."

They took the elevator down and reached the apartment, which had its door hanging by one hinge. Xehanort stopped his underling before they reached the room.

"Is she naked?"

Blushing, Roxas replied, "Err, yes."

"Then clothe her, please. If I'm to chat with her, I want her to have some sort of dignity."

"Okay."

Roxas went in, face burning with his flush. Lily was still bound to the chair, and looked at him wide-eyed when he entered the room unharmed.

"Where is he?" she whispered.

"Dead," said Roxas. "He's dead."

"Good."

He knelt down beside her and kissed her full on the lips. A huge relief had swept over him. Things had gotten bad, so bad, and he had thought his involvement in the Organization was to blame. But the Organization killed off McLean, he had won, and Lily was safe, she was safe…

Roxas unbound his girlfriend and got her some clothes. She put them on, blushing furiously, but the damage had been done.

"Now," he said. "I want you to meet someone. It's the man who finished McLean off for us, and my employer. Dr. Xehanort!"

The man came in, charming as ever, smile broad.

"Hello," said Xehanort. "Are you okay?"

"No," said Lily dully. "I want to shower."

"All in due time," said Xehanort, his smile growing wider. "You're probably confused as to why I'm here. You see, your boyfriend here has recently joined the ranks of an elite group of intellectuals called Organization XIII. I am its leader, Dr. Xehanort. I recruited Ryan here to be apart of my plans, after reading his essay on the Chaos Theory. There are eleven others besides us two, at a hideout not-too-far-away. It is safe there. You will be given a room, food, shower, and many other luxuries that come with dating a Member."

"Um. Okay," Lily whispered, still shocked. Roxas could tell she was thinking that everything was moving so quickly. He had to agree.

"However, upon joining the Organization, Ryan Hall is now 'Roxas'. We all have aliases, besides myself, since I am the Founding Father, I guess you could say. As Founding Father, I have been responsible for picking and choosing the members of my Organization. Thirteen was the maximum, and your boyfriend got the last slot because he rather impresses me. We are a family, our Organization, and we I am welcoming to extend our little gathering to you. You will not be officially apart of the Organization, no, but you may stay. Will you stay?"

"I don't…" she looked at Roxas. "Ryan?"

Roxas said quietly, "You should come. It's safe. Safest place I know. And I love it all. I want you to come."

"I…want…he killed my parents!" she shrieked. She was completely dry of tears, but she was still well and ready to wail. "My parents are dead! Sure, they sort of ignored me a lot of the time, but I still loved them and he shot them! Why?" Her voice cracked with the strain.

Roxas opened his mouth, but Xehanort raised a hand to silence him. His mouth snapped shut.

In a soothing voice, Xehanort said to Lily, "The McLean boy was psychotic, and hated your boyfriend worse than anything. In whatever way he killed your parents, I'm afraid it would not be equal to the pain and suffering he endured when he crossed the Organization's path…my path. Rest assured, Lily, if vengeance is what you seek, ease your emotions; your parents' killer is upstairs with his face burned off from dry sodium hydroxide. And he's handless. This is what happens to enemies of the Organization. With us, you will be safer than the damn President. What say you? Shall you stay?"

She sniffed. "Yes."

Roxas smiled.

"Wonderful!" exclaimed the Superior, beaming. "However, you can't be Lily Ion anymore, that part of your life is over…Hmm, perhaps Xily is good? What say you, Roxas?"

"Why not Xion?" suggested the Chaos Theorist.

"Ah! That works. Please, stand up, Xion. We should really get out of here before someone discovers poor McLean upstairs, and I think we have a nice hot shower waiting for you when we get home."

Well, there you go. Thank you, DeadShut. *claps* We hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll be writing the next chapter, but I has a lot of work to do, so it might take a few days.

Has a nice day, from the both of us. :)