Well. Lulala is a busy bee. XD It's been a long while, much longer than I had hoped it would be, and it would take a very long time to explain the numerous time constraints I have been recently facing. So I will not. XD Special thank you to the specific reader that pushed me up to 200 reviews. Let's make it a higher number still, folks!

But! This is THE LONGEST Sincerely, Nobody chapter... in fact, the longest chapter I have EVER posted.

Have fun. :D

The battle was decisively finished. Korin had taken her troops and fled, though it wasn't without considerable damage. She had lost two high-ranking officers in Tomoko and Hana, as well as a good third of her numbers. When she arrived back to the Adherence's base, hidden deep under the Rising Falls, she expected to get an earful from her boss. Her failure was unexpected, and quite frankly, impossible. An army was at her command, with skilled fighters and powerful individuals backing her. How had she lost?

What was worse, she had so very nearly killed the Queen… if only she had thought to take out Hana, the nefariously plotting, filthy little traitor… The tide of the battle had changed so quickly, Korin hadn't even realized the severity of her decision to remain engaged in battle after the attempt on Yuri's life. One thing was for sure—they had a lot more power, and a lot more drive to kill than Korin had originally allotted them.

The army had returned swiftly to the base through teleportation, and Korin took care to ensure that Naminé would not be able to trace their magic and discover them. As she had expected, Korin was immediately summoned to the boss's chambers, while the rest of the Adherence licked their wounds in the great chamber which was used for the mess hall. The best healers were working on all who had fallen injured that they had managed to recover, and members were still discreetly returning to the battlefield to claim more injured survivors. Surprisingly, a large amount Korin's cold-hearted cohorts were weeping over friends that had been killed, and many were embracing sadly. She walked past the scene without any emotion cracking her tough, steeled face. Deep within the caves they had created lay the boss's chambers, and it would be a long and quiet walk.

Her feet made soft noises against the cool stone floor as she moved swiftly down the tunnel, keeping her eyes firmly fixated ahead. She stared daggers at the images that taunted her—Naminé's look of sheer triumph as Korin retreated… Riku and his friends' slaughter of so many… the rising and falling of Yuri's chest, indicating that she still lived… Hana's backstabbing betrayal…

It was too much. Her knees quivered in her strong stride, while her face minimally softened and her breathing grew nervous and quick. She hastened to pull herself together—imagine, quivering knees in the presence of her boss—knowing that no matter what she did, she was about to be ripped apart again. If she were ordinary, she might have clutched at the wall and cried until her eyes were completely dried out, her face red as summer cherries, and eyes swollen and puffy. In fact, she would have liked to. The unfortunate truth was that Korin wasn't normal, and a reaction like that would be simply unacceptable.

She had been alone with her thoughts for far too long, and the sight of the boss's door caught her off guard. Closing her eyes in a harsh manner, she inhaled sharply, and exhaled, willing her knees to be still. Dirt still coated her face, and her hair was still limp and hanging unpleasantly around her face, but there was nothing she could do. She ran her fingers through the ruined black curls, looking dejected, and when she was positive her awkward breathing and shaky knees wouldn't betray her, she rapped hesitantly on the door.

The reply she received was unexpected—the door swung open of its own accord. Taking another deep breath, she stepped through the door and crossed the threshold into an enormous office, decorated completely in black and white. Shelves all around her were piled with books, and three white tables off to her right were completely strewn with maps of Hollow Bastion, red marks and arrows coloring them, and gold stars marking areas that were already in their control glinting in the faint light emitting from a nearby fireplace.

Sure enough, the boss was perched at her enormous white desk, her hands clasped together, knuckles stretched white, and her lips pursed. One of her eyebrows was positioned in such a way that Korin could already see and sense her agitation. Her skin, paler than any Korin had seen, made her look even more dangerous than any other Adherence member. Her strangely styled, messy hair was bleached blonde on the top with a layer of black beneath, and her haunting black eyes seemed to bore into Korin's skull. She was quite thin, which gave her face almost the appearance of gauntness, but the visible shapes of muscles situated on her twiggy arms seemed to quell any doubts about her strength. They weren't enormous, but something about her was still terrifyingly intimidating. Perhaps it was her perfect posture, stiff as a board; or perhaps the way she tilted her head in a way that automatically communicated her power. She was beautiful, and it was frightening.

"Ran," Korin nodded, bowing her head in respect. "So glad to see you're well."

For a moment, the boss, 'Ran', sat without acknowledgment of Korin's greeting. Her hardened expression made Korin want to give way to her emotions again, but she could not. At last, Ran spoke. "I'm very disappointed to see that the army I trusted you with is not well." Korin flinched as her ebony eyes grew more intense in her increasing anger. "Can you tell me why that is, Korin?" she finished softly, expression still unbreakable. The softness of her voice, Korin knew, was a ruse… she was not looking forward to what it would sound like when it became worse…

Korin bowed her head again. "It seems we have both grievously underestimated the power of those who would oppose us," she carefully responded, raising her eyes to meet Ran's chilling features.

Again, for an excruciatingly long moment, Ran held her tongue, face slightly contorted in what may have been an impression of thoughtfulness. Korin knew the tension was already mounting, and one misstep would cost not only her job, but likely her life, as well. "And what of our allies?" Ran asked, voice now bordering shouting. "What of them!" Now screaming, it sounded like Ran's throat might tear.

Korin stood as steadfast as she was able, the vibrations of Ran's screams still knocking around her eardrums. "It greatly pains me to inform you that Tomoko has died, and Hana has deserted us." She braced herself as she waited for the reply.

Strangely, Ran did not seem bothered by that. She brushed her bangs from her face, and easily said, "Yes, Tomoko was quite as inept as I feared, apparently, and Hana is no loss to us. There is nothing she can reveal to them that we will not be ready for. It is not either of those losses that concern me. Would you like to know what concerns me, Korin?" She cocked an eyebrow, inviting a challenge.

Korin couldn't find her voice, and merely nodded.

"What concerns me," her voice rose, "is the loss of numbers, Korin! You stood by and permitted one third of my army to be slaughtered, and I don't think you understand exactly what that loss means to us." Slapping her palm on the desk for emphasis, the anger hovered behind her black eyes, willing to explode.

"Of course I do, and it is a terrible loss indeed," Korin said quickly, just for the sake of it. She felt no true remorse for any that had died, although Tomoko had been closest to her heart of anyone. Yes, perhaps she would miss Tomoko a bit. Maybe, she would miss her a great deal.

Disgust puckered Ran's features. "Korin, clearly you do not. You do not understand that we now are short people to cover the places we have already taken. No, I don't think you realize how crucial those numbers were to us. We will have to wait for a very long time before we try again, and I am convinced that you shall fully take the blame for that." Her tone was as unforgiving and merciless as the depths of her bitter, icy eyes.

Korin bowed her head a third time. "I humbly request your forgiveness."

"As always, you shall have it, Korin," Ran sighed in an unusual moment of near-weakness. "I do realize the delicateness of this situation, and at least one small victory has come from this—we have rid ourselves of that vermin, Zexion," she looked slightly pleased at that. "I did not expect him to be of much help, and clearly, he was not. The fact still remains, though—we must eliminate the Queen's warriors. Surely, you know that?"

Teeth gritted, Korin fiercely replied, "Nothing would please me more than to see Naminé and her friends gone."

"Good," Ran smirked in wide, Cheshire-cat manner. "I shall not forget your folly, Korin, but I must trust you—you're one of the few I feel I can, despite your mistakes. We may have failed once, but we shall not again. I am named Ran for a reason—the name means chaos—and the dingbats holed up in the castle will soon see the chaos I can cause."

Confidence to look Ran in the face again flooded through Korin, and she happily hurried across the room to join Ran at her desk, where the plotting would begin.

They all huddled around Yuri, each insane with their own worry. Loss of the Queen would be tragic indeed, and with no heir or successor named, the fight for who should inherit the crown would be an added issue, rank with turmoil, that the world could really do without at the moment. Hana was still knelt next to Yuri, head bowed as she silently brushed the injury with magical disinfectant. With an inch of movement from Yuri, her concerned friends exploded with noise, calling her name, begging her consciousness…

Ironically, Riku knelt with her head in his knees, the same way she had held his head in hers after his injury. He softly brushed his fingers in a gentle, circular motion on her pale forehead, though she was again unconscious and couldn't acknowledge the gesture. Her breathing came slow, while Naminé and Kairi both clutched her hands tightly. Sora and Roxas looked on, expressions lined with worry and anxiety. The bleeding had stopped, which had definitely reduced the hysteria, though only marginally. As Yuri began to move, silence fell.

Her eyes opened rather abruptly, and of course, her gaze immediately traveled to the form she knew to be Riku. The sight of his intense eyes brought her back to reality—all of reality. The reality of the pain in her chest, her tired, burning lungs, and her throbbing head. Softness of something stroking her forehead soothingly barely made it through all the pain. She winced as she tried taking a deeper breath, and immediately felt Riku tense up with concern. After a moment, her vision was finally clear again, and she could see that Riku was the one stroking her forehead.

"Thank you," she breathed, closing her eyes slowly. She exhaled, relishing how wonderful it felt. Staggering pain in her head was slowly subsiding, and the more time that passed, the better it felt, and the more distinct Riku's touch became. All of her friends were crowded around, and she resisted the urge to chuckle—they were all sweaty, bloody, and filthy. Certainly, she looked no better with a huge gash down her chest, but there was something hilarious about Naminé looking unclean. Sora had the beginnings of a black eye, and Riku's hair, for once, wasn't perfect—also comical.

Hana didn't waste any time making suggestions. "We should probably find the rest of your friends and have a meeting or something… I feel like there's a lot I should say." Her discomfort was tangible. The uncertain expression on her typically hard and merciless face looked out of place. Hana was always confident, and never grew nervous about anything. Then again, with skin the color of a normal human, and hair a soft brown as opposed to violent platinum, it was certainly tough to look terrifying. At least now she was much easier to behold—her black eyes were long gone, replaced by deep, captivating forest green.

Riku shrugged her off. "Let's stay with Yuri for awhile, at least! Calm down; we've already won today." He continued to comfort Yuri, taking a cool cloth that Kairi had brought and beginning to slowly clean the dirt off her face. A small smile spread across her face, soft yet pronounced. Clearly, she was glad to be at last getting cleaned up.

Hana tried a glare, but with her new looks, it didn't have even half the effect it had before. "Their retribution will come faster than you expect," she warned, crossing her arms defiantly. "We need a plan, immediately."

Naminé gave Hana a look, which she interpreted to mean, 'calm down'. Grudgingly, she obeyed, and backed off while Yuri was fussed over.

It took a bit of time, but after Yuri's consciousness was stable enough to move her, Riku gingerly lifted her, careful as could be, and carried her in the sturdy cradle of his arms all the way to a large spare bedroom near the tower that housed the five warriors, where a meeting to determine their course of action could be held.

Leon, Aerith, Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Axel, and Akiko were all present already, leaning against various portions of wall or seated on extra furniture. The large canopy bed, fitted with sheets and blankets of emerald green, was plush and inviting to Yuri's exhausted, broken body. Riku set her down with the caution he may have handled a porcelain doll with. Easily, her head sank back into the feathered pillows, and Riku seated himself next to her, placing her hand in his for support. Everyone looked a bit worse for the wear, as Yuri had noted before, but there really was no time to delay.

"Hana," Aerith nodded toward her, smiling warmly. "Welcome."

She didn't raise her eyes to meet Aerith's—they were firmly fixated on the floor, the idea that she was an outsider locked in her mind. "I'll tell you what you'd like," Hana offered quietly, wincing slightly as though the thought of revealing her former leader pained her.

Leon stood to his full height. "Hana, you saved Yuri's life. You don't owe us a thing," he assured her, sincerity irresistible.

They all looked on as Hana struggled to meet their gazes, as well as to find her words. "Um…" she began uncertainly. Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, she continued, "Well, I'd be glad to help… and do what I can…"

"We need to find out…" Yuri grimaced, placing her hand on her gauze-covered wound. The shock of hearing her weak, minute voice had left the air completely silent. Doubts as to whether anybody was breathing were quickly formed as the unnaturalness of such perfect silence begged another word from the injured Queen. "Where their power is… how they keep their power…"

"Easy!" Hana immediately responded, looking up for the first time. It seemed the tension she had felt had completely disappeared. "You guys honestly hadn't figured that out yet?"

Riku, slightly taken aback by the brightness in her skin and excitement in her eyes, blinked slowly in an attempt to clear his head. "We haven't had a lot of time to research you guys, if you haven't noticed," he replied shortly, squeezing Yuri's hand tighter as she gave him a weak, disapproving look.

Hana responded with a glare. Folding her arms and staring straight through Riku, she snapped, "Well, sorry! I thought maybe you had stumbled across it accidentally or something."

"Anyway," Naminé interrupted, holding a reprimanding hand out in Riku's direction to prevent him from replying, "continue. We'd love for you to shed some light on this whole mystery."

With one more disdainful look at Riku, Hana shook her hair from her face as if to proclaim victory, and took a deep breath. "Well, to be honest…" she bit her lip. "We maintain areas we win by using magic spheres. Typically, we plant them somewhere in the towns we have taken over, and they suck all the magic around dry, except for the deep Hollow Bastion magic that many of you can utilize."

"So the magic you were all using was stolen," Sora thought aloud, eyebrows knitted together in concern. It was obvious that the idea of being attacked with magic from his own land deeply bothered him in his severe expression. "Is that where all your power came from?"

Hana raised an eyebrow. "All of it? Originally, no, but since coming here, they rely on it very heavily. As you can probably guess, it's been useful."

Sora looked even more violated at that, and covered his mouth with his knuckles, unwilling to speak anymore. "I'm going to guess that we'll need to get rid of those before we can make any gains toward your boss, am I correct?" Naminé asked, glancing quickly toward Yuri and back again. Surely, Yuri would have to stay behind—she was in no condition to fight, not to mention putting her in that sort of danger again would be foolish indeed.

Hana fidgeted for a moment, mulling the question over. "I would say… probably," she hesitated. "I don't think… yeah… I don't think you'd have a clear shot at Ran until you do."

"Ran?" Kairi looked confused.

"Ran," Hana affirmed, nodding. "The leader of the Adherence."

"So… we have to kill her." Roxas didn't sound at all thrilled with the idea. He dropped his eyes to the ground, guilt over who he had killed that day already rearing its ugly head.

Looking pained, Hana nodded. "I'm sorry… but she really is scary."

Riku shrugged. "We do what we have to." His rampage hadn't seemed to take a toll on his conscience yet—that would come later, and he would regret his moment of strength, as he always did.

"How do we go about finding these spheres?" Naminé questioned, watching Roxas from across the room worriedly. She tried to keep her attention strictly on Hana, but she could tell he was immensely bothered.

"I was thinking about that, actually…" Hana began. "The plan, I would say, would be to split up. Like I said, their revenge will be swift—it is likely they will kill civilians as repayment for those they have lost."

"Split up?" Riku interjected. "Absurd."

"Hear me out," Hana requested, again looking resentful of Riku. If only he realized what had gone through her mind before she saved Yuri. Maybe he'd be whistling a different tune. He should be thanking her! "Groups of two will go out and defend the people at major towns. While you're keeping the people safe, find the spheres. I know for a fact that there are seven of them, one of which is on a chain around Ran's neck."

"The best idea, then," Cloud unexpectedly spoke up, "is to have some groups concentrate on defending, and others concentrate on searching."

"He means that it's not a good idea to have everyone trying to do everything at once," Tifa filled in quickly.

"Agreed," Naminé nodded. "So, heavy hitters will be focusing on defending, and the rest of us will hunt."

"We're splitting up already?" Riku questioned angrily. "Naminé, you can't be serious!"

"Riku," she said calmly, "it really is the only way. We need to get out there and protect the people before something happens to them. It's what Yuri would want."

He quickly turned to where she lay, still looking completely spent. "Trust her judgment, Riku," Yuri struggled quietly. "If… if Korin had killed… me… I'd want Naminé in charge."

Kairi, who had been silently sitting in a chair next to Sora, suddenly stood up, fists clenched. "I'll stay behind with Yuri!" she declared. "I can watch what all of you are doing with my vision, and take care of her. Someone should… I want to."

A grin spread across Naminé's face. "You're sweet, Kairi," she said, others nodding in agreement. It seemed the only person who had anything negative to say at all was Yuri.

"No," she muttered angrily. "I'm not staying behind… not… not when my people need me." She tried to sit up, but Riku was too quick—a well-placed, enormous hand on her shoulder was enough to set her back onto the pillows.

"Lay down," Riku insisted. "And you're not coming out again, not after what happened last time." His resolution was so firm that nobody dared argue.

Except Yuri. "Riku, you're not the boss of me," she said shakily, again trying to sit up and being buffered by Riku. Gathering a more firm voice, she continued, "You're not. You can't tell me what to do, I'm the Queen, if you haven't noticed."

"That's irrelevant," he pointed out coolly, keeping his hand on her shoulder to prevent her from sitting up. "You need time to heal. You received an almost fatal wound today. Give yourself at least a week to return to full health before you talk about any sort of fighting at all."

"How about," Naminé piped up, unwilling to see Riku and Yuri get into an argument, "she heals, and then joins us. We'll shuffle the groups around, she can be in a group with two others for extra protection."

"My group," Riku offered. "I'd like to have her with me."

"Fine," Yuri relented angrily, folding her arms and pouting.

"Okay," Naminé nodded, mind flying in to overdrive as she organized groups in her head. "So, Riku and Hana will go together, making up one of the searching groups."

Both Riku and Hana's mouths dropped open in surprise, and they both simultaneously began to protest.

"But—"

"Nam, you can't be—"

"I'm serious," she cut them off sternly. "Hana will be very effective with locating them, and… just think about it. You'll be a great team. Yuri can join you after she's feeling better."

Neither found arguing to be prudent, and Naminé continued, "Roxas will come with me, and we'll be another searching party."

He looked slightly happier at that, offering her a small, subtle smile. Blushing a little, she said, "Sora, you'll go with Yuffie. Kairi can join up with you guys after Yuri is better. Cloud and Tifa, you'll be together, and Leon, you can go with Aerith. Axel, that leaves you and Akiko. All of you will be mainly in charge of defending our people, though I'd like you, Akiko, to keep your eyes peeled for senses of the spheres, as well, if you can."

"I can," she replied confidently.

"We'll all be fanning out, then?" Leon asked.

"Exactly," Naminé affirmed. "I'll give you all maps—I'll need to go to the library and locate them—of the world, as well as of the specific regions I want you all in charge of."

"What about communication?" Aerith asked. "I mean…" she hesitated, trying to find the right words. "You all have your… inner communication stuff, but the rest of us don't."

"Right," Naminé said, "we do have that. I was thinking some sort of magical radio. I'll check if we have some—"

"I'm on it," Sora jumped up, and hurried from the room.

"Okay," she said, "get together with your partner and get whatever you need packed. Get cleaned up. You have half an hour."

Well. That was long. XD Next chapter, the real battle for Hollow Bastion begins.

Thanks for reading, please review!

Lulala