Previously on t h e l i f e l e s s l e e c h:

"If your image is important now, then why don't you show me your face?"

"You must have some sort of trouble remembering things."

"Well you know what. I don't care who you are, just tell me where I'm at, how to get out and meet with Era and Lucas again."

"That's impractical."

"And why is that…?!"

"Because you're in another world."

xxx

"I keep getting calls asking me if you left the kids alone yesterday during childcare. AND both Lucas and Natasha's parents are asking me if I think they ran away from town, seeing this is no coincidence. You all never snuck out before!"

"I don't see how you would know."

"Are you insinuating something, Era? I swear, I'm about to hurt someone - you've never disappointed me so much in my life!"

"You think YOU'VE been disappointed?! You have no idea how many times -of all of the countless tragedies that's happened in my life- they've all been your fault-"

"Era, I don't know what the fuck is going on right now. But, we're going to track you down right now."

xxx

"There is something I think you're ready to know. Unless you want to look for millenniums through this house, you won't be able to find who you're looking for here."

"Ansem's not here?!"

"You poor girl…apparently, you've got no one else to turn to. Don't you think you should just leave this place?"

"…I have to wait for Natasha and Lucas. Who knows where they are - besides you? And I don't want my mom to find me here."

"I don't mean the city. I meant this world. Your friends aren't here. Perhaps you can look for them elsewhere besides this place."

xxx

"I can see your past, and your future. Neither of them are pretty to look forward to. You're only left with no choice."

"What choice is that?"

"The reason the Heartless are following you. They're offering to return you to your friends, a better family, and your real love, but it is a big sacrifice. The crevice along the station you all left from. There is nothing but darkness there. A home to Heartless if nowhere else. All you need to do is give them what they came here for."

"What did they come here for besides me?"

"You'll find out soon enough...so you are one of them."

"Excuse me...but...who are you?"

"I...am Xemnas. I've come to find out whom you really are. Now I know."

Natasha felt as though she went through the route a dozen times. She wished the guy she met earlier was back, to tell her where she REALLY was. Who would believe they were suddenly in another world? Someone that probably needed mental help. She sighed as she decided to take a break from all of the walking and sunk down against the wall to the floor. She felt like she was in a dungeon maze or something similar to it. All the doors seemed locked and there was no easy way out. That's when Natasha thought twice about that, and decided that she would have to search in places she normally wouldn't look for a hidden door or something of the like. She arched her head back weakly to look at the ceiling. Nothing but a hanging unlit chandelier. In fact, there were a couple of them that she had passed by, and wondered if she should think deep and decide whether they had anything to do with getting herself free. But she didn't want to think too hard and make herself look stupid, and decided to just look around the place some more, retracing her steps. She's never really been in a dungeon before, or found out how to get out; but in her younger years of playing video games, some of them involved dungeons, labyrinths, prison breaks, and anything of the sort, and she'd have to think of a strategy to get out; so being in here probably wouldn't be any different…hopefully.

Chandeliers were out of the question then, so Natasha looked everywhere else but the ceiling. Her hairs seemed to stick to her forehead, since she was trickling with sweat from searching for so long. The day couldn't have gotten any worse, and she wondered if she would ever get back home. If she had the chance go back in time to have never started to plan to find Ansem, she would have taken it. The entire mess they were in was because of the plan they made to try and find him. If she got out of this place and back home safely, she would swear to never make a mistake like that again. As for Era and Lucas, she couldn't get to them, but there was no way she was as far as another world from them. It couldn't have been like -

It almost felt as if something was ripping her back in half. Natasha screamed as she felt an excruciating pain go through her back, mainly from her cuts. The pain had came out of nowhere and had knocked all other thoughts out of her mind so it was the only thing she could think about.

"Does it hurt, Natasha?"

The voice wasn't a stranger. The man she talked to earlier seemed to be right there behind her, as if he was planning to help her under one condition. She could barely make out the words without screaming.

"What...do YOU want?" She gritted out.

"To explain what's happening this very moment. After all, it is an oblivious side effect to the nasty wound you have."

Tears were about to form in her eyes now. "Side effects?"

"An injury from a Heartless can have fatal aftermaths, but if you're lucky and act now, you won't have to deal with this."

At this point, Natasha would do anything to get rid of the sudden pain, since every second that past it would increase sharply. "What?"

"The pain is only a test on what you do, fail it, and you'll lose your heart."

Natasha turned around to look at the man, and to her surprise his hood was off. His face was completely shown in front of her. His skin was a dark tan color, nearly brown, but depends on how you would elaborate color hues. His eyes were a very sharp gold and his hair was silver, with two of his bangs were pulled back with the rest. Natasha had just realized it had all fit in with his dark tone of a voice, and for the first time, she seemed to have paid attention to something else other than her back pain. Unfortunately, the distraction made her unaware of what was currently happening to her. She turned around to where her body was positioned, and it felt like something was sliding down her cheek. Rubbing her finger against it, she at first thought they were tears -coming from all of the pain she felt - but she was very much wrong. A bitter smell filled her nostrils as she looked at a few streaks of blood on her fingers. She was bleeding from the eyes, and acknowledging it only made her terribly woozy.

"I don't...feel so good...-" She said. As much as she felt like she got the whole sentence out, she felt cut off by something at the end. Then she blacked out.

But it didn't entirely feel like it. She knew she was still alive, but something was very wrong. It was as if she was falling into an abyss. Nothing but darkness and emptiness surrounded her as she fell into a void. As the seconds turned to minutes, she felt as if she was starting to forget bits of info about herself, and everyone else.

You seem confused, dear. . .

I don't understand what just happened. One moment I felt pain, than the next, I pass out and I don't know where I am.

You are in an abyss. The Heartless genes have reached your system and taken over.

Taken over? What do you mean? Am I ever going to wake up?!

As yourself, no.

What do you mean by, as myself?

If you do wake up, it will not be you in the human shell that will be walking around. When you're run by Heartless blood, you're a totally different person. You could have another identity, another life, and another friend that can actually look after you.

What other friend? What happened to my old one?

I'll leave that for you to find out in the future. Can't really say 'on your own', now can I? Not after what's happening to you now.

"What...happened?" Lucas asked himself. He was lying down on what felt like a tile floor, but when he opened his eyes, he noticed he was outside, lying on bricks, and the scenery looked dark. He too realized that he had a massive headache, probably a migraine, which had triggered once he attempted to raise his head. Feeling around his hair, he felt a burning lump on his scalp, which had sent a pang of pain through his head when he tried to force it down. Still lying down, he waiting until the pain in his head died down a little bit, which took longer than he hoped, then managed to make himself sit up. He thought at first that he was outside the giant house, but when he looked around, he knew he was in a totally different place. He didn't even think he was home anymore. Holding his head as he rose up to his feet, he noticed he was standing next to a water fountain. The statue was a figure that he didn't recognize, but it was spewing something that wasn't water. It was green, and smelled vile. This didn't seem like an ordinary town, or wherever he was. He then realized that Natasha or Era wasn't anywhere to be seen. And he remembered how his cell phone got crushed during the Heartless encounter a moment ago, so there was no way he could get in contact with them. But someone had to help him out, or at least have a phone he could borrow. But in a town like this, he was a little bit doubtful of how the people would act, so he would have to find something to use on his own.

He looked over where there was a partly opened metal gate, and ahead was what seemed like a shelter of some sort. Managing to keep his footing and balance, he walked through the gate to get a closer look. The hut was guided by a very long staircase, leading to an unusually small door and a ringer. Nobody seemed to be around guarding it. Stepping on the same few steps a couple of times to make sure they were stable, he then began his climb up. If it weren't for the staircase, he'd actually be taller than the cottage. Kneeling down to get leveled, the ringer was tied loosely to a string, rocking back and forth wherever the wind blew it gently. Lucas pulled the string and then let it go, and the ringer made an usual cry noise. Lucas waited for something decent to happen, but nothing seemed to be commencing. After a few seconds of waiting, he began to look around to see of anything changed. Then he noticed that something DID happen when he pulled the ringer. Something or someone was dreadfully walking around the fountain where he woke up, mainly around where he stood to be exact, and looked like it was trying to track something out. Then it turned around, and Lucas realized it was a person, but his image remained unclear. It was a hooded figure in a black coat, and Lucas could only make out part of his face as he stared back at him from afar. Silver bangs and sharp gold eyes.

The next thing he knew, the man vanished, and since there was no point in staying in the area anymore, Lucas quickly went down the stairs to try and see if the man moved to a different spot. A broken piece of one of the stairs unfortunately had tripped him on the way down, and he cried out as he fell down on the harsh ground. It wasn't that much of the soft landing, and he ended up having to rub his head back in order again. He ached a little as he rolled on to his side, rubbing some woodchips off of his arm and sleeve.

"If you're not careful, you may never see your friends again." Said an unexpected voice. Lucas immediately looked up, startled to see the coated man standing right above him. He immediately rolled on his back, looking straight up at him.

"Who're you?!"

"Someone that can help you." Was all the man said in reply at first. "If you agree to do what I'm about to tell you to do."

"I don't even know who you are..." Lucas replied. He managed to get himself up halfway, but the hooded man leaned down and grabbed him roughly by the arm and yanked him up on his feet. His arm was still tense from the fall off the stairs, so it hurt even worse when the man yanked him up. Rubbing his arm a little he glanced over at the hooded figure. "Thanks, I guess."

Lucas could then see a little bit more of the man's face from where he stood. His face was a dark brown or a very dark tan and his hair was a silver color. His sharp gold eyes stared right through Lucas as if he owed him something.

"Let me just say, that you're no longer at home."

"So where am I?" Lucas asked anxiously.

"In another world." The man replied darkly. Lucas could only glance around, wondering if anyone was listening in on their conversation.

"You're kidding, right? Are you joking me?!"

From the silence that had filled the air, Lucas had a feeling that the stranger wasn't trying to be crazy.

"Oh my god...how do I get back home."

"You can't. Unless your friend finds you and takes you there."

"Look, I don't even know where they are. Are they here too?"

"All three of you are in three different spots in the universe. If you find each other successfully, you can return home. If not, you'll be stuck here, and possibly become prey to the Heartless."

Lucas was still trying to put the facts all together. "How do you know all this?"

"I know all that there is to know."

"Tell me. Who are you? What's your name?"

A few seconds past by, but then the man did what Lucas didn't expect him to do. He reached up to his head, and then pulled his hood down to reveal his face.

"Its Ansem."

Lucas was about to reply as if he were a regular person, but then he realized that the man standing in front of him was the man they've been looking for the past few hours. The man that could help them find out how to get rid of the Heartless back at home.

"You're Ansem...you can help us, can't you?!"

"Help you? With what? May I ask?"

"We have an infestation of Heartless back at home. We've read all about your reports, and we figured that you can help us get rid of them. Also, we were kind of hoping you knew a way to help our other friend get out of her coma."

"...The girl's in a coma? What a disaster." Ansem replied. He turned around, examining the scenery of whatever world they're in. Lucas nodded in agreement, hoping he understood the situation of what was happening back at home. "And it almost as though your town has no hope left."

Lucas blinked. "What do you mean?"

"It means..." Ansem started off. Just as he slowly turned around to face Lucas again, Lucas suddenly felt like there was a very discomforting pressure building up inside of him. Next thing he knew, it had burst, sending his entire body into an excruciating pain. He felt like he was dying as Ansem stared right through him with his sharp eyes, which seemed like they were glowing now. "...that your town, nor you or your friends, will see the light of day again."

Ansem continued to stare at Lucas until he passed out, using his own dark aura to choke the light out of him, and force him to lose his heart. The fool actually believed he was the real Ansem, as well as his friend. And now there was only one person left to take care of.

Era was shaking not from the cold, but from deep anxiety as she landed onto cold stone ground from the vortex. Pushing herself up, she looked to her side, and realized that she was right next to the train station that she and her friends had left from earlier to begin there search. The building was completely dark with only the light from the tall lampposts shining to show its structure. As much as the cold was the least of Era's worries, it was giving her a little bit of a hard time breathing. Slowly, she turned her head towards the front, and she spotted the dark crevice a couple of meters away from her. Since it was dark out, it looked even more menacing that it did before; but Era was still determined to do whatever she was assigned to do.

The moment she managed to get on her feet and start walking, she felt like she was getting colder from each step she took. Other thoughts also invaded her mind as she walked towards the crevice, like how would other's lives be impacted if she suddenly disappeared. Would her parent's life physically be easier? Would her past friends even know about what would happen? Not only that, but she knew that there were things in life that she hasn't done yet, and this decision would effect everything and everyone.

She stopped walking once she was at the edge of the crevice. Looking down, there was nothing but darkness, but she could sense something was living down there, no , a lot of things were down deep inside the crevice. It was as if the moment she looked down the long hole, time had stopped. She no longer shivered, and it was quiet enough to hear herself breathing. A sound that echoed the same way as she teleported at the spot was heard close behind her let her know that Xemnas was behind her again.

"They're waiting for you."

"What exactly do they want from me?"

"Your heart and nothing more."

"And if I agree to do this, they will leave our town alone, and everything will be the way it was supposed to be before they came here."

Xemnas's eyes seemed to sparkle as a bit of moonlight reflected on them. "Indeed." Era glanced over at him for a moment, seeing that his face was expressionless. Of course it would be, nobody would smile in a situation like this until the aftermath. She then glanced back down, counting down towards the moment she would make her decision. Xemnas apparently had more to say to encourage her, however. "If you accept, everything will be the way its supposed to be, and your fate will reset itself so your life will be more to your liking."

Era felt a lump in her throat. Despite what he said seemed encouraging, she was still a little afraid of what would happen afterwards. But apparently, this would set the time back.

"You will..." Xemnas started. "...Be able to smile more than you ever did."

Era sunk her head and closed her eyes. As Xemnas's explanation buzzed through her mind, she began to calm down little by little, eventually feeling overconfident of what would occur. Opening her eyes, just to close them once more, she nodded towards Xemnas as she turned her back,

and then fell backwards into the crevice.

The moment Era fell into the darkness, Rexa felt as if she just been hit in the face. However, when she woke up herself, she was in the darkness too. Nobody was around. At least, nobody was until a minute passed, and a light flashed all around her, and it seemed like she was suddenly standing in outer space. Though everything stood still, as if time stopped once more. The stars weren't revolving around each other, nor did they sparkle brighter from a different angle. As she literally stood in place, waiting for something to happen, a silhouette began to walk towards her from way afar, boots seeming to clank and echo from stepping on nothing, and once person walked out of the shadows, Rexa saw the familiar face.

"Marluxia?" Rexa asked surprisingly. She was even startled when he stepped suddenly in front of her when he was far away from her a second ago.

"Did you enjoy seeing your previous life?" He said, with an apathetic face.

"I have...so many questions...where am I now?"

"Why, you're still in Castle Oblivion. You were asleep the whole time."

"Asleep? Wha-" Rexa could only say that much before a more strong flash had surrounded her, forcing her to put her arm in front of her face to block the worst of it, but then the light seemed to overtake everything, and was blinded.

"Rexa." Marluxia's voice said distantly, yet she still wasn't able to open her eyes.

"Where are you?" Rexa replied, but it wasn't an echo anymore. It almost felt like she was talking to herself.

"Open your eyes."

As much as Rexa was afraid to, she slowly opened her eyes. She was in the same white room she was in before her flashback began. She was lying on a bed on top of the sheets and covers, seeming to be hugging herself as if she was making sure she was Rexa and not Era at the moment. Nobody seemed to be around. Except for Marluxia, who stood in front of her and placed a gloved hand on her forehead. It was very cold against her forehead, so she guessed that she seemed to be heated up during her sleep.

"How could he?" Rexa asked weakly. She didn't expect it to be the first thing she would say, but it just slipped out.

"I suppose that you mean..." Marluxia started, but Rexa cut in.

"Xemnas. He tricked me-...Era-into killing herself so that everything would return to normal."

"It looks like we have a lot of talking to do." Marluxia said as if a very long discussion was about to come up. He lifted his hand off of her forehead and held it in front of her distantly, offering to help her up. Politely, Rexa took his hand and he pulled her up to a sitting position. "Let me first say, that the person Era spoke to wasn't Xemnas. You were speaking all that time to an imposter."

"You mean that Era was speaking to an imposter. I'm just nothing."

Marluxia had stopped talking for a moment after she last spoke, so there must have been some truth in what she said. He closed his eyes as if in deep thought while he talked. "The man Era spoke to...was Xehanort's Heartless."

"He became a Heartless? And it lied to me?!" Rexa replied. "That means...he must have lied to Natasha and Lucas as well." She felt her grimace go down to a frown. "So the town isn't restored to the way it was. Renee isn't out of her coma. I don't think..."

She didn't even realize, but Rexa had gotten up to go across the room towards another wall, looking like she was staring at it but was focusing on something else. Placing her hand on her chest, she still felt no heartbeat. So she had no heart, all because Era gave it up. She might as well have been dead. A cold trickle of sweat had rolled down Rexa's cheek, forcing another one of her hairs to stick to her face. Aggravatingly, she wiped it off, and still couldn't believe what she had gone through. She wished that she could see her friends' faces again. She wanted to see her town again, but back to the way it was, and not invaded by ruthless Heartless.

Little did she notice that Marluxia was coming walking towards her from behind. Since her mind was on other things, she couldn't hear the boot clanks approaching her. She instantly knew that Marluxia was with her again when she felt two hands pressed against her shoulders. He was a little bit taller than her, yet she could feel a little glide of warm breath hit her neck.

"Rexa, as much as you may feel like you're nothing, you'll learn overtime that you have abilities that you could never have as a person with a heart." The hands had slid down to her forearms. "That's how Nobodies develop. They start out as a person, who loses their heart for whatever cause, and is reborn as an entity of massive power."

Turning herself around to face Marluxia, she saw a little smile forming on his lips. "Do I even have any? I don't feel any different than a normal human being except that I...have no heart."

"Just like the rest of us have done, you will discover your inner strength eventually." Rexa felt a little faint as he continued to talk, probably still waking up from her long past-vision. "You will feel like you were born again...Rexa."

"...Whatever." She could only reply. They were still staring at each other until multiple shadow vortexes popped out on numerous spots of the room behind them. When each of the portals faded, one of the many Organization members fro the Castle were visible. Each one either looked focused or just waiting to see what would happen next. Marluxia had tapped Rexa on the back to motion her forward towards the middle of the room, where the others stood. Crossing her arms against her chest, she casually began to walk forward; with a blank expression on her face, yet she felt like she was just about to start a meeting of some sort.

"Well, I finally woke up from looking at my past life." Rexa started. "I saw some things that I was glad to know about, and I saw some things I really wished I never saw."

"You could say that we could relate." Axel replied, a sly look on his face.

"I almost accused our leader of tricking my other self into killing herself. But apparently, all this time it was an imposter. I fell for it, and now I'm just no one to be. Yet I still am."

Marluxia then had stepped forward. "But Rexa has agreed to continue her life here, and discover what new secrets she hasn't yet learned about herself. As we go on with our plan, we will also help our new member out until she is fully capable of working independently. Understood?"

Rexa waited for an answer, but then realized that Marluxia had mentioned something that she hasn't heard of yet. "What plan?"

Marluxia chuckled just for a second before speaking again. "Any of you care to explain?"

All was silent for a moment, despite that everyone looked like they wanted to speak up to answer her question. Axel was the first to step up and speak first.

"Organization XIII has a mission. Collect the most hearts so that we may one day we could no longer just be empty shells. As much as we appreciate the abilities we have now, we also want to be real people again. To have hearts. If there's anything we want, it's that."

Then she heard Zexion's voice. "There is a boy, who holds the key to our existence, that we need in order to restore Kingdom Hearts the way we desire it to be. He was meant to destroy the Heartless, and for every heartless destroyed, a heart joins within Kingdom Hearts. Its our only hope for becoming whole."

"His name is Sora." Vexen cut in. "He's not much of an impression to me, but he still is useful to us, which is why we must get a hold of him and his...'keyblade'. He's known as the keyblade master."

Something inside of Rexa fluttered when the word 'keyblade' was heard. She didn't know why, but mentally, the keyblade sounded very important, enough to somehow cause a reaction within her.

"How do...we get to him?" Rexa asked curiously.

She heard Larxene do her usual scoff. "While you were in your flashback coma, we managed to trick him and his comrades to going to this castle. They're on there way here as we speak."

She glanced over at the door, one where a person would usually exit or come in through, suddenly feeling uneasy. She had just became a Nobody, and yet the others new more about this 'Sora' than she did. Who knew how powerful he was, or how long it took for him to get this far. As if Marluxia could sense her uneasiness, he laid a hand on her shoulder to speak to her.

"No need to worry, Rexa. He's a long way off from here, so we have all the time right now to prepare and teach you how to be a full-fledged Nobody before you meet him in person."

The mood had changed a bit a little bit after what he just said. She felt as if she was being appreciated, and loved like she was part of a family of people that couldn't normally fit into the world. Whether she had a heart or not, she still felt welcome.

"Now Rexa, come." Marluxia offered her his hand. "Its time for you to prepare before the arrival of the Keyblade Master."

~End of Part 1~