Hey everyone! Here's another chapter, just for you, my favorite fans. Lol. We're making progress! And we're almost to my favorite part. What's my favorite part? What do you think, Larxene?

Larxene: I dunno… I just HATE spoilers…
Me: Lol. Me too.
Larxene: …
Me: Fine. Axel, you tell them.
Axel: Whatever. Yeah, Jo here doesn't own any of us cool people. Except Bruixe. Who is HOTT.
Bruixe: I'm going to KICK YOUR ASS.
Axel: Lol. Got it memorized?
Me: Oh, by the way, part of this chapter is in script format. Deal with it.
Kairi: Lazy bum.
Me: Hey, you're not in this story. Go away.
Kairi: (cries)

Anyway, enjoy.

Chance was a funny thing, Bruixe decided.

She'd never considered herself lucky, never understood how people like Luxord could risk anything, leave anything to chance. Bruixe didn't even like gambling on a coin flip, let alone gambling on a one-in-a-million probability.

But as the saying went, even beggers can get lucky once.

She patrolled the streets of the Dark City alone, tracing familiar alleys, skirting Heartless easily. The odds that Roxas would come here were impossible. He'd never be that stupid – or that desperate.

So when she reached the huge, dark tower, walked into the rainy plaza, she had to pinch herself.

Because there was someone there.

Someone surrounded by Neoshadow Heartless, encircled on all sides. Someone hooded and cloaked in Organization black. Someone clutching two very familiar-looking Keyblades.

"Roxas!" she shouted in disbelief.

"Bruixe, get out of here!" her friend yelled back, an edge of panic in his voice, and then the Heartless were upon him. Blade in hand, Bruixe leapt forward to help, but was thrown back by an invisible wall of force, blocking the plaza from her view.

"No!" she screamed uselessly, slamming against the barrier to no avail. She could hear muted voices, one Roxas's, the other unfamiliar. Was the barrier the stranger's work, keeping her from interfering? Or was it Roxas trying to protect her?

Excrutiating minutes passed, feeling like hours. Bruixe ran her hands desperately along the wall, searching for a crack, a break, any weakness she could use to break through.

Then the world exploded, the wall shattering like glass, a tremor shaking the ground. She fell to her knees, hands clapped over her ears, and looked up in time to see Roxas crushed in the grip of a shadowy monster, a tall figure watching impassively – and then they were gone.

After the initial shock of oh-my-god-what-just-happened wore off, she began to piece things together.

Roxas had run from the Organization and ended up in trouble with someone else. Someone outside the Organization. Someone who had fought him. Defeated him. Impossible. How could Roxas have lost?

A stray thought crossed her mind. If Roxas was captured, he was being held against his will. A far cry from desertion. Whoever this mysterious stranger was, he'd given Bruixe the excuse she needed to keep Roxas alive.

She sprinted back to the castle with all the speed she possessed.

Bruixe stopped for breath in front of the meeting room door, panting heavily. She braced her hands on her knees. Voices drifted from the room, and Bruixe's eavesdropping instinct kicked in.

Saix: …unlikely that he would have left without warning.
Xigbar: Saix is right. The little guy would've told someone. Axel at least. They're best friends.
Saix: When I tracked the Samurai-type Nobodies, I also checked on Rogues, Dancers and Assassins. Just to make sure.

Bruixe shivered. He'd named Demyx and Axel's Nobodies as well as her own.

Saix: A pair of Assassins left the castle at 1:49 last night. Five minutes later two Rogues followed. Which means… Axel and Bruixe went to the Dark City and brought guards against the Heartless.
Xigbar: …Someone's been naughty.
Saix: Indeed.
Xigbar: They wouldn't have brought guards if they had something to hide.
Saix: Perhaps they didn't know they had something to hide. Yet.

Last time I use guards against Heartless, Bruixe thought grimly.

Xemnas: You think they left the castle without knowing Roxas had gone? They left for some other reason?
Xigbar: Why would they do that?
Saix: Who knows.
Xigbar: We don't know when Roxas left. They might not have seen him.
Saix: It's too much of a coincidence. Two members out of the castle at a peculiar hour on the same night another disappears? How could they have not seen him? And if they did see him, and let him go…
Xigbar: …They're traitors, too.
Saix: They might even know where he is. They could be hiding him.
Xemnas: No. Roxas is clever enough that he wouldn't tell them. As a precaution.
Xigbar: Traitors in the Organization. Unbelievable.
Saix: Shall I question them?
Xemnas: …Not yet. Let us watch and wait a while longer.

It's now or never, Bruixe thought, and burst into the room, trying to look like she'd just sprinted down the hall. Which she had… ten minutes ago.

"I saw Roxas," she panted.

Saix and Xigbar exchanged glances; Xemnas didn't even blink. "Where? When?" he asked.

"Just now, in the Dark City. I was on patrol – I saw him – I think he was fighting someone. He… he made a wall, to keep me out. But he lost. Roxas lost," she whispered, hardly believed her own words. "And the guy who fought him took him away."

Xemnas thought for a moment, then nodded shortly. "Send me… Axel," he commanded after a brief pause. "It seems we must reevaluate the situation."

Bruixe found her friends easily and quickly caught them up to speed before Axel had to go report, including the conversation she'd overheard.

"They know," Axel breathed.

"I know," Bruixe told him.

"But they don't want us to know they know," he went on.

"I know," she said again.

Demyx raised his hand as if asking a question.

"Yes, Demyx?" Bruixe asked impatiently.

"Can there be less knowing?" he begged. "I'm confused."

Axel and Bruixe exchanged grins. "We know," they chorused.