Wow, what a crazy time I've had writting this chapter. I think some part of my brain doesn't want to accept that the story is almost over (one chapter to go guys! Here comes the finale!) or maybe I'm just lazy. I think both may be true. Anyways, I've said just about everything that needs to be said, so I'll see you around when the last posts arrive.

til then, enjoy the story, and review (please?) if you want to. :)

13

A Deal Means Everyone Loses

The hall Mehla wandered down was dark, a cave sparsely lit by ornate wall sconces and dim chandeliers. Her feet made no sound on the thick carpet, or maybe she could not hear her own foot falls over the rush of blood in her ears and the furious pounding of her heart. Her bangs were glued to her forhead by sweat, and the palms of her hands proved useless in wiping it away; they were just as sticky and moist.

She crossed her arms and pressed her hands in close to her sides. No one was around to see her knees shaking, but it embarrassed her all the same.

I shouldn't be here, an annoying voice reminded her. This hall is for Solhis alone. If he found me…

Every few minutes she would glance back over her shoulder, so sure that a figure would emerge out of the dark, grinning with wild fury. All she ever saw was the long, gloomy hall, no other life save for the scrawny ferns that squatted along the walls in their massive pots. Solhis had an odd taste in decorations.

Mehla shook her head and continued on. The door was just ahead, hiding in the darkest part of the hall. Beyond that was the Inner-Chamber, the enormous room where Solhis kept all of his statues and monuments: his treasures. In other words, the Inner-Chamber was where he locked away all of his "property" for safe keeping. It was the only forbidden room in the castle, but by far the largest. It was well hidden, the entrance to the hall so carefully and cleverly disguised that it had taken Mehla days to find it.

She had to admit, when it came to his possessions, Solhis knew how to keep them safe. As for everything else, the back burner was considered home, but that didn't bother Mehla too much. Solhis may be terribly strong, but his opinion was the last thing that concerned her.

The only person who really mattered to Mehla had no voice, no way to speak, no strength to fight, no will to even open his eyes. He sat under the high domed ceiling of the Inner-Chamber, lost to the world, and with no desire to return.

The frame of the door appeared a few yards away. Mehla hurried to it and grasped the handle, but there she stopped. A sound, a soft thump behind her turned her cold. She stood frozen with her fingers still wrapped around the door knob, her breath tight in her throat and her muscles taught as wire. She listened, but no more sounds came. There was only the impression of eyes in the dark, but even that was unnerving enough.

With one quick motion, Mehla ripped open the door and slipped around to the other side, a wave of relief washing over her as the door closed. She turned to face Inner-Cchamber, and once again the sheer brilliance of the decorations took her breath away.

The room was an enormous circle, with a domed ceiling so high that the top could hardly be made out. An intricate painting wrapped around the single rounded wall and depicted stormy seas, rolling clouds and other scenes of magnificent fury. Scattered around the room were a dozen massive statues, all of them stretching nearly to the celestial heights of the vaulted ceiling. One of the monuments was a tower of water spurting from a wide stone base like a geyser; another was of a tree, one greater than Mehla thought she would ever see in a real forest. Many of the others were statues of giant warriors, their eyes so blank and their faces so plain that all of them would have looked like exactly the same person, if not for their armor. The designs were apparently Solhis's original creations, and he showcased them on these monstrous mannequins.

But even though the great hall was without a doubt the most magnificent room in the castle, Mehla had not ventured here to sight see. Her focus fixated on a lone chair placed tastelessly between the feet of two of Solhis's statues. From where she stood, the chair's high stone back was to her, and she could not see who sat in it. She was not worried. She knew that there would always be an occupant for that chair, at least as long as Solhis required it.

She crossed the lavish carpet of the Inner-Chamber as silently as she had when she was sneaking down the castle corridors looking for it. Her eyes never once strayed from the stone chair, as every step closer sent a shrill of excitement from the tips of her fingers to the ends of her toes. But then, when the marble throne was no less than a yard away, she stopped.

Uncertainty threatened to turn her back, the risk of embarrassment driving its ugly head up through the surface of her thoughts. For a moment Mehla almost left the chamber to retreat back into the shadowy hall. It was that familiar, yet unknown desire that ended up drawing her around to the front of the chair, and it was pure fascination that lowered her to her knees before the foot of the throne.

"Roren."

She whispered his name even as she gazed at his motionless face with adoring eyes. He did not answer her; he did not move at all. His head lay against the uncomfortable stone headrest, his eyes closed and his breath slow and deep. His hands were bound together, palm to palm, by a web-like cloth, as were his ankles and his knees. Yet another strand of the strange material wrapped round his shoulders and his chest, pinning him to the back of his seat.

Mehla did not dare touch the bonds, knowing what searing pain they would bring to her fingers. Instead her hand reached, perhaps of its own accord, toward Roren's face. Her arm shook out of fear, the persistent voice in her mind reminding her that what she was about to do, what she had done already, would likely cost her her life if Solhis found out. She knew, only because Solhis had said it so many times, that the Inner-Chamber was absolutely forbidden, and that above all other restrictions, no one was too ever search for Roren. No one was to look upon him. And certainly, no one was to touch him.

But that knowledge did not stay Mehla's hand. The warnings, the dangers raged in her mind like a wild storm, but the moment her fingers brushed Roren's cheek, all of her thoughts calmed. She smiled and gently pushed the stray locks of hair off his forehead.

His mouth twitched and for a heart wrenching second she thought he would open his eyes. But he became still once more, and the flame of hope in Mehla's heart dimmed.

"He's only going to get worse."

Mehla caught a scream of fright behind her teeth, whipping around to see who had followed her into the chamber. She relaxed instantly when she saw that it was Liha who stood just on the other side of the stone chair, her sharp eyes staring with pointed suspicion.

"Liha," Mehla sighed, "you really scared me. I thought you were Solhis coming to turn me to dust."

The other girl laughed through her nose. "He'll destroy us both for coming here…if he finds out."

"Then don't let him find out."

Liha folded her arms across her chest and moved around to the front of the chair. She and Mehla both looked at Roren quietly, but he did not acknowledge them, only continuing his dreamless slumber despite their presence. Mehla eventually stood up and reluctantly turned away from him in order to face the other nobody.

"So you've figured me out, then?" she quizzed.

"Well, yes," Liha shrugged. "I actually followed you here because Solhis sent me to get you." Mehla's face went pale, but Liha shook her head. "Don't worry, he doesn't know what you've been doing, he's just called a meeting. We didn't know where you were, so he sent me out to find you."

Mehla set her hands on her hips. "What's the meeting for?"

The other woman raised an eyebrow as if to say, "What? You don't know?" But she merely smiled and said, "Time is getting short. Solhis is ready to end this game he's been playing with Rhen and his friends. We're all being sent out tonight."

Suddenly Mehla was tempted to sit down in Roren's chair, the wave of fear and dizziness that surged through her was so strong. She swallowed, whispering, "So soon?"

"It was going to happen sooner or later," Liha said. "Now what I want to know is, what are you planning to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh please," Liha barked, "After what you've done here, do you really expect me to explain things to you? In fact, you're the one who needs to do the explaining."

Mehla bit her lip, debating over how much she could spare to tell. It was clear that Liha was playing for something more than juicy secrets in this exchange, but the only way to figure out what she wanted would be to ask upfront.

"What do I want?" She repeated Mehla's question lightly. Then she looked at Roren and her eyes softened. "Let's start with what you want. You don't need to tell me too much; I know you only joined with Solhis to protect Roren. But in order to do that, to wake him up, you're can't let Solhis go through with his plan. But, that's all I know."

Mehla nodded. "I need to bring Rhen here. He's the only one who can bring Roren back. Solhis would never do it."

Liah frowned. "Rhen? You mean that little boy whose tagging along with Sora and the others? I thought he was just a pest, but you think he's something more?"

"He's everything. Without him, Solhis wins."

Liah's interest was already waning, so she quickly transitioned to what she really wanted to talk about; her own desires. "Listen, Mehla, let's get to the point. I want to know what you know, or at least as much as you know," she said. "I'm guessing that you have an informant of some kind, someone who tells you all about Solhis and Malhock and about Roren. We all know that overpowering Solhis is impossible, but outsmarting him is not out of the question. If I had the kind of information you do, I would at least have a viable weapon to use against him. Right now I have to follow every order he gives like a stupid dog. I can't get out from under his thumb, and after tonight, I doubt if anyone ever could."

Mehla only half-listened to Liha's rambling, her attention wandering elsewhere. She was worried about Rhen, worried about what she would be asked to do. Using him as a reason to join Solhis was a stupid idea. Why did I ever say that I wanted to hurt him?

"So what do you say?" Liha was waiting for an answer, but Mehla hadn't heard the question.

"What?"

"I'm trying to make you a deal here," she said, a trace or annoyance behind her words. "If you take me to your informant, or at least tell me everything you know, then I'll do something for you in exchange. Basically, I'm asking you to name your price."

Mehla took a moment to think about this. Of all the other members of Solhis's ramshackle team, Liha was certainly the best choice for an ally. Drhi and Malhock were both far too volatile to be trusted, and they were just as stupid and self-interested as Solhis. But even so, Mehla wasn't sure if it was a good idea to introduce Liha to Halvi, no matter how good of an ally she made. Halvi was by all counts completely helpless; she didn't know how to fight, and her power to read hearts didn't do her any good when it came to nobodies.

But then again, there was Rhen to think about. He was no push over; at least as long as he had his wits about him, but he was the one threatened by Solhis the most. Mehla knew that whatever Solhis wanted them to do tonight likely involved Rhen in some way, hurting him, capturing him, maybe even killing him. In any case, she couldn't let any of those things happen, not if she wanted to revive Roren.

That was one thing she was sure of. She wanted Roren to wake up, even though she did not completely understand why her desire was so intense. Nobodies weren't supposed to be able to feel any emotions; they couldn't hate or fear, or love, but Mehla could not deny that when it came to the shackled soldier, she did feel something.

Whatever I do, Roren has to come first, and that means that Rhen has to get to him.

So she asked Liha for one thing only, hoping that she could trust the clever nobody to keep her word. "All I want you to do is help me keep Rhen safe," Mehla said. "No matter what Solhis tells you to do, promise me that you won't hurt him too badly."

"That's all you want?" Liha seemed surprised. "What's so important about that kid anyway?"

More than you know now. "You'll find out, just promise me. That's my only condition."

Liah studied the other woman for a moment, then she slowly extended her hand. "Deal."

The sword and shield strapped to Rhen's arm were making his shoulder throb. Their weight seemed to increase the more he wore them, but he figured that this was only because he was getting tired, not because the tools had some curse on them. Every once in a while Rhen would remind himself that he wasn't feeling any pain at all, that it was all just a memory coming back to life in his mind. That would help for a while, but fighting back the wearisome ache took some fragment of concentration, and for that reason Rhen would revert to coping with the pain as he trod along the endless road.

No matter how much he tried to chase the thoughts away, the feelings of exhaustion and dread were stuck into his mind like fangs in his flesh. Those emotions, those sensations never faded, never lessened and soon Rhen gave up on fighting them.

As for any other kind of fighting, he didn't worry about that either. When he held the short ivory sword his body took on a new awareness. He could wield the sword and shield like he had been using them his whole life, even though he had never seen such weapons before. He lifted his arm and touched the hilt of the blade that was currently sheathed in the inner concave of his shield, knowing that it was not his own skill that guided them in battle. Roren was the one who had endured the training, he was the one who had practiced for countless hours to develop that ease and confidence that Rhen now owned.

Don't worry. He promised, I'll give all that back too.

He sighed, and looked up into the sky, admiring the way that the purple sunset spread through the blue. At least Solhis had some taste; the world he had imagined into existence sure was beautiful.

Solhis, now there was a real problem. Rhen could now easily recall all the years he had spent struggling against that ambitious man. Only in a mind like Roren's could two different entities live so realistically, so dramatically. It seemed a little strange to him now, even though the notion of two personalities fighting over the future of their host had never struck him as odd before. There were so many complications, like Roren's needs, his grief, or his position in the military, to think about back then.

The fighting still went on, but at least now Rhen didn't have to worry about so many issues. There were truths that he had held to when he battled Solhis before, and those were all he cared about now.

One thing he was certain of was he had bond with Roren. If he cleared away everything but his strongest attachments, Rhen would find that the young soldier was the only person he really cared about. Halvi, was important, and Sora, Kari and Riku were his friends, but as far as Rhen was concerned Roren was more vital than a heartbeat. The day that Rhen had become aware of his host personality was the same day that he had taken up the task of protecting him, and he had never stopped since then.

He could not fail after all this time. He would not turn back, even if it meant his own destruction. Rhen had been willing to do anything before, and nothing had changed. Roren still needed him, and Rhen still wanted to help.

Knowing that, his other belief had shown itself right away: rescuing Roren was the only goal, and at this point nothing would stop him from getting to it.

Nothing except for the significant obstacle that had been bothering Rhen and the others for the last three days; they had no idea where Roren was and no idea where they were either.

Sora had been leading them down a dirt road for quite some time, but no matter how far they walked the scenery hardly changed. Sometimes there would be a forest on their side, at times a crystal blue lake would appear, or maybe some rolling hills, but that was all. Food was slowly disappearing with each day, and so was the moral of the party.

Eventually Rhen started wishing that Solhis would show up again, just so he could give them directions. But it was a silly thought, of course. More than likely Solhis planned to let Rhen wander forever, never to find Roren, and never to know if he still lived.

With his next sigh, Rhen drew the attention of the only female member of the team. Kari looked back at him and seeing the way his head drooped, she moved to walk next to him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he lied. "Just tired, I guess."

Kari nodded. She looked tired too. "Are you worried that we might be going the wrong way?"

Yes. Rhen thought, but he decided not to say it. Instead he pointed out the dwindling food supply, and Kari agreed that it was a problem. But at the same time, she saw through his weak cover up, and pinpointed his true worries.

"We know that we can't search under every rock and root in this world for Roren," she said. "We'll have to turn back by tomorrow, but if we don't find him this time, we just have to try again later."

Rhen looked at Sora and Riku walking a few yards ahead. He knew that Sora wanted to save Roren just as badly as he did, but unfortunately the keyblade master didn't have years to spend looking for him. He would have to give up sometime, no matter how painful it was to accept.

"You guys can turn back whenever you want," Rhen murmured. "But I'm gonna keep going. I don't need to eat, or sleep. I can search every inch of Solhis's world, even if you can't."

Kari walked for a while in silence, but then her hand reached out and clasped Rhen's. "We could've gone back anytime, but we haven't yet for a reason. We want to help Roren, but we want to help you too. You and Roren are both our friends, and the sooner you understand that, the easier this will be."

"There's no way this could ever be easy," Rhen replied sadly. Kari responded by gently squeezing his hand, then letting him go and moving back up toward Sora and Riku.

That night Rhen took the first watch again. Even when his shift ended he still sat up, letting the others sleep because he wanted to, and because he didn't feel like talking to anyone anymore. He didn't care if he never spoke again.

Unfortunately, the sound of approaching feet instantly put Rhen on edge, and he called out into the dark, "Hello? Who's there?"

"Just a friend," came the answer.

As he watched, a tall woman strode out of the darkness and into the dimming light of the camp fire. She looked familiar, and after a moment Rhen realized where he had seen her before. She was the woman that had tracked him down when he still lived on his own in the forest, the one who had smacked him so hard on the head that he had blacked out.

He rose to his feet and reached for his shield and sword.

"Hold on," the woman held up her hands. "I don't want any trouble. Do you remember me?"

"Why do you think I want my weapon?"

She smiled weakly. "Okay, okay. Our first meeting was a little rough, I'll admit that much. But you can trust me. I'm a friend of Halvi."

Rhen narrowed his eyes. "I hear that Malhock calls himself a friend of Halvi's too. Like that makes me trust you at all." He slipped his arm into the strap inside the shield, and grabbed the handle of the short sword.

The woman dropped her arms and shook her head. "I guess you're right. There's no way this could be easy, huh?"

Rhen tried not to let his surprise show on his face, but the moment he felt cold steel against his neck he gave up on hiding the emotion. Someone stood just behind him, pressing a knife into his skin with one hand and pinching his side with the other. For once, the steel actually hurt, and the pain from the pinching hand was harder to ignore than he thought it would be.

"Don't try anything funny, Kiddo," another woman's voice hissed in his ear. The hand pinching his side squeezed harder when he tried to turn his face to see her, so he stayed put.

The first woman approached, walking right over the coals from the dying fire. "My name's Mehla," she said. "And behind you is my friend Liha. We already know your name, Rhen, so there's no need to say it."

Rhen returned Mehla's introduction with a cold stare. She went on as if she couldn't see the distrust behind his eyes. "Now don't go and get yourself all angry at us. We're here to help you. You want to find Roren, don't you?"

At first, Rhen wouldn't give an answer, but the knife dug deeper into his neck, and the pinch became more like a vice on his side, so he gave in and said, "Yes, I do."

"Alright then, we'll take you to him."

A frown passed over Rhen's face. "Really? You've got to be kidding, do you think I'm that dumb?"

"No, This is what we came here for," Mehla said, smiling earnestly. "But we have to go now. The other two are coming, and you shouldn't be around when they get here."

"What about my friends?"

Liha was the one who spoke this time. "Leave them be. Drhi and Malhock are after you. They'll probably figure out what we've done and go back to the palace."

"I don't know if they're that smart," Mehla snorted.

"Who's not smart?"

A child-like voice snapped through the air like a whip, and both of the girls flinched. Just behind them Malhock and Drhi rode in on two enormous, black wolf-heartless. Their approach had been so quiet and so stealthy that even Liha had not seen them.

"Oh look!" Malhock called. "They've caught him already! Excellent!"

Drhi sneered. "Sheesh, he sure is ugly. How can you stand to touch him, Liha?"

The black-haired woman cut her eyes at the boy. "Shut up, you little toad."

"Gosh, I'm guessing you're not one big happy family?" Rhen muttered.

Dhri shot him a scorching look. "What did you say? Go ahead and cut his throat Liha, if it won't kill him, but maybe it'll shut him up."

"Drhi, no one wants to hear you flap your tongue," Malhock snapped. "The ladies have done most of the work for us, so let's just kill the stupid little trouble maker and be done with it."

"Wait a minute!" Rhen shouted. "You said that you would take me to Roren!"

"Quiet!" Mehla hissed.

Rhen didn't want to be quiet, he wanted to get the heck out of there, and if he couldn't do that, then at least he should try to get free from the knife. He pushed and kicked against his captor, but Liha held firm, her arm now hugging his whole chest and making it hard to get away.

Suddenly the coals in the fire pit burst into life again with an explosion so fierce that both of the girls and Rhen were knocked to the ground. The flames scared the heartless away from the pit despite their rider's attempts to lead them or stop them from running away.

The heat from the massive fire blasted Rhen's face, but then it cooled all at once. Rhen looked up through the smoke and saw Sora standing between him and the flames, his hand offered out to help the other boy up. Rhen took it and was pulled to his feet.

"Thanks," he grunted, hefting his shield up and drawing his sword.

Sora nodded once. "Come on! Kari's destracting them, let's get out of here!"

The two ran for what they thought was the opposite direction of the nobodies, but because of the billowing smoke it was easy to get lost. Soon Rhen and Sora were standing back to back, spinning in a slow, confused circle.

"RIKU! KARI!" Sora called. "Where are you?"

Something that sounded like an answer came from off to their right. "This way!" Sora shouted and took off. Rhen hurried to follow him.

Eventually the smoke thinned, but by that time Sora was coughing more than he was breathing. Rhen gave the boy his shoulder and rushed him toward cleaner air, but their progress was slow as the keyblade master stumbled and tripped while they ran.

In a moment the two were alone, with nothing around them but the silhouette of the forest trees in the dark. Sora's breaths were ragged, and he hung off Rhen's shoulder as limply as a stuffed doll. Rhen whipped his head around, but all he could see from the direction he and Sora had come was grey smoke and the red glow of the fire.

Though he couldn't see, Rhen could hear what was going on just fine. There were shouts, growls ,clangs and the occasional snap of lightning coming from around the fire, so he knew that there was some kind of fight happening.

"RIKU, KARI!" Rhen hollered, but there was no answer save for a single, strained grunt.

"They're in trouble," Sora wheezed.

Rhen searched for his remaining friends, but found nothing. "I'll go get them. You wait here."

Sora stood up straighter and insisted that he was alright. He still coughed every few seconds, but he had taken his weight off of Rhen's shoulder.

Rhen was about to protest, when a booming roar echoed out from close to the fire. A new wave of thick smoke rolled toward them and in an instant the two boys were swimming in blackness like the night, except that now there was no air to breathe at all. This didn't bother Rhen, he knew that he didn't really need to breathe, but Sora did.

He held the boy up and once again tried to find suitable air, only this time there didn't seem to be any. Sora was fading quickly, and Rhen started carrying him on his back, even though the weight was normally more than he could bear.

He had no idea where he was running, or if he was headed to safety. He just guessed that he would find the edge of the smoke if he went far enough, and hoped that Sora would still be hanging on by the time he found the way out. Soon Rhen was running all out, as fast as he could when he smacked into what felt like a wall, but was far too furry to really be one.

Rhen knew what it was, but admitting that he had run right into a heartless when he needed to be searching for clear air would only have crushed his determination. He picked up his feet and sprinted around the monster, only to come face to face with another. All around a huge pack of heartless were closing in, and no matter where Rhen turned he only saw more of the horrible creatures.

Sora was probably out cold by now, though Rhen didn't think to check. He honestly didn't want to know. He moved in slow circles, looking for some exit, but there were half a dozen heartless on every side. There was no way out. He was trapped. Sora was going to choke to death and there was nothing he could do.

"WAIT!!! NO, DON'T! STOP!!!!"

The cry was more like a desperate scream, and a second after it came a flash of lightning lit up the smoke clogged sky, a bright blue streak that sliced the darkness like a knife.

The smoke whirled away as if a small hurricane had touched down to blow it into the sky. Rhen shut his eyes as the whirlwind blew around him, but a few seconds later it ended. Now when he looked around he could actually see, or at least see as much as he could at night.

Sora! He ignored the looming circle of heartless and lowering the boy from his shoulder franticly checked for his pulse. He found it, though it was so weak that it could stop in the blink of an eye.

"Don't check out now," Rhen pleaded. "Come on, wake up! Don't you want to find Roren? Wake up, please, please, please!"

"What's that mean…" Sora's voice was a whisper, but it sounded more like a song to Rhen. "Of course…I want to find…Roren. Why would you…ask that?"

Rhen would have hugged the other boy if he hadn't been so weak. Sora groaned, and clenching his teeth he pushed himself up onto his elbows. He caught his breath when he saw the ring of heartless, which set him off on a fit of coughing.

When he could finally speak again, Sora said, "Where did they all come from?"

"I don't know," Rhen shook his head. "And I don't know where Riku and Kari are ether."

From behind them the haggard voice of Malhock called out. They turned and saw the nobody crouching atop one of the heartless, his clothing scorched and torn. He looked absolutely ragged. Beside him stood Liha; she looked a little less torn up, but still on edge. There was no sign of Mehla.

"Rhen," Malhock breathed. "There you are."

Rhen glared back, his face full of imitated fury. "Get out of here, Malhock! I'll fight you all off 'til my last breath if I have to, and you know I'll do some damage along the way—"

"Stop…"the nobody waved his hand weakly. "Just…stop. We're done fighting. Just call off that crazy monster you've got back there, please."

"What monster?"

Malhock opened his mouth to answer, but suddenly his eyes went wide with fear. He stared like a frightened rabbit at the heartless on the other side of the ring, and Rhen curiously followed his gaze. He saw Riku and Kari standing on the branches of the trees above the creatures, Riku with his dark blade in his hand, still shimmering with bright sparks. Though he was relieved to see his friends, Rhen didn't understand what had scared Malhock so badly.

"Stay over there!" Malhock commanded. His voice cracked, and Riku grinned at him.

"You're scared of Riku?" Rhen wondered. "But he's not a monster…"

Sora turned his face away from his tall friend, his eyes watering from the smoke. "It's the darkness. He said he wouldn't use it anymore…but…" his eyes closed and he lay back on the ground, too exhausted to hold himself up anymore.

Rhen grabbed his shoulder, concern melting the lines of rage on his face. "Sora, hang in there. I'll get you water okay? Just breathe, this air's clear, so go ahead and breathe, okay?"

"Hey Rhen," Malhock growled. Rhen slowly looked up at him, his hand still clasping Sora's arm. "I think we need to make a deal. 'Cus at this rate we've all got something to lose, you know what I mean?"

"No, I don't."

Malhock nodded, some of his normal smugness pulling at his features. "You're friend needs help, too much of Drhi's smoke will kill anybody, I'll tell ya. But there aren't any towns or villages in this world. The only place you're gonna find the help you need is at the castle."

Rhen licked his lips. They tasted like soot. "So what?"

"So…Maybe I'll let you go there. You'll never find it on your own, but Liha can show you the way."

Rhen wasn't sure where the nobody was going with this, so he asked for more of an explanation. Malhock shrugged. "I was supposed to kill you, but instead I've lost Drhi and Mehla to that maniac over there, and I don't plan on risking my neck any more. But if Solhis finds out that I failed, well, that's just as bad. I'm dead either way."

"So here's my proposal. See if you like it; I tell Liha here to take your friend to get some help at the castle. She's real trustworthy, but even if you don't like her I afraid you haven't got much of a choice if you want pretty boy to keep breathing."

"No!" Rhen barked. "I can't trust any of you. We can help Sora just fine without you butting in, so get lost before Riku decides that he wants to go a second round!"

"Listed kid," Malhock was getting annoyed, and as he took a step forward the heartless he rode on moved up too. Rhen didn't flinch away from the monster's huge fangs, though the creature did make him nervous. "Your friend there has been poisoned, get it? If you want him to live, you're gonna have to trust us!"

Rhen jerked his head back and forth. "No way!"

"Then maybe you would trust Halvi more?" Liha cut in. Rhen glanced at her suspiciously, wondering how in the world the sneering nobody knew about his friend.

"Halvi?"

The woman nodded, strands of black hair waving in front of her face. "You can trust Sora's life to her, can't you? Malhock has authority to tell the heartless where to go, and if he rides one of the wolves, Sora can be at Halvi's cabin in a few hours. It'll be tight, but he'll probably make it. If you're unsure, you can send one of your friends along with him, just to be sure that he arrives in one piece."

Rhen looked down at Sora. The boy's face was sickly pale, but he watched Rhen through half-open eyes. "I…I don't know…" Rhen whispered.

Determined, Liha decided to sweeten her offer even more. "What if I promised to take your other friend to Roren? What would you say then?"

Of course you had to throw that in. Rhen felt like screaming, but he kept his lips pressed close together until he calmed down enough to speak. "You made me that exact same promise, and then you tried to kill me."

"Well," Liha shrugged. "You'll just have to take that risk won't you? If you send Riku with me, you can bet that no one will challenge him after what he's just done. So what's your answer? Does that sound good?"

Rhen's hands were cold, and he didn't bother to tell himself that he wasn't supposed to feel it if they were warm or not. He gazed at Sora, only because he didn't want to look at anyone else. He was afraid to see how Riku and Kari would react to his decision, so he kept his head down so that they could not see his face. Would they be angry, or just stunned? Maybe they wouldn't care at all, and that's what bothered Rhen most.

It doesn't matter, he scolded himself. I decided already that I would be doing this alone. I can't expect anything from them now, after all I've said.

He took a deep breath, even though he didn't really need it. "Alright, so what do you want from me?"

Malhock answered, "We don't want anything from you. What we want is you."

Makes sense. "Okay."

To Rhen's great relief, his friends did try to argue against him, but even so he ignored their protests. He reminded Riku and Kari that both Sora and Roren's lives were at stake now.

"I'll do my best to finish this," he told them, "but you two have to make sure that everyone gets home safely."

While Malhock and Liha descended from the heartless beast, Rhen asked Kari to take Sora to Halvi's cabin and gave her directions on how to get there. He then turned to Riku and told him to take Roren to the little house in the woods too, once he was found.

"You can't go with them, Rhen," Riku said, his eyes locked on the other boy's face. "You know what they'll do. They already said that they were sent here to kill you."

"I don't really see another way around this," Rhen sighed. "I'm not giving up yet, you know. I'm dead set on doing something with my life besides hiding in the bushes."

Riku didn't acknowledge this attempt at humor, and his gaze only grew sadder. He stood aside while Malhock tied Rhen's hands with rope, and he continued to stare as the bonds were tightened.

"Alright then," Malhock said, patting Rhen's shoulder and grinning. "Let's get going. Solhis may be a little kinder to me if I bring you for him to beat on in my place."

Rhen kept his eyes ahead, finding it surprisingly easy to be calm despite his situation. He felt a tug on his elbow as he was pulled away, and he thought to wave to his friends before he lost sight of them.

"So long," he murmured. Tell Halvi I'm sorry.

Rhen watched Kari and Riku for as long as he could, but soon enough they were blocked by the bodies of dozens of heartless. Rhen couldn't help feeling a pang of sadness as he turned away. Some part of him already knew that he would never see his friends again.