Edit: Noticed a couple of minor mistakes, fixed them. Carry on. :)

Hah? Whats this? An update? Already?

You guys better be thankful. I sacrificed sleep for this.

'...on...'

'...n...'

'...ion...'

'...Xion...'

'XION!'

She woke with a start, panting as if she had been running a marathon. Panicked questions immediately began to form in her head. 'Where am I? What happened? Where is...?'

'Stop,' the rational part of her mind thought. 'Focus Xion. Remember what you've been taught.'

Taking deep breaths to steady her breathing and calm her erratic pulse, Xion slowly sat up from where she had been lying. Looking around with a sharp eye, she noticed almost instantly that she was in some sort of room. It was almost perfectly squared, or at least it was to her. There was no closet, no furniture, and no lights, save for the fake skylight in the ceiling. The only other thing that was truly noticeable in the room was the door; what looked to be a high calibre, expensive, made-out-of-rare-wood door. One that its owner wouldn't be too happy about were it to be damaged.

She felt like punching a hole through it.

Because in that time that it took her to analyze the area around her, she had already remembered what had happened prior to the event of her waking up to this cell-like room. She had been kidnapped. Forced into a coma by magic, she had been powerless to stop herself from being taken in the first place. And judging by the fact that she had been laying on a cold hard floor for the last several hours, Roxas had been just as successful.

At least she knew he was still alive, though. Xion knew that Vanitas couldn't have carried her and fought Roxas at the same time, and he was alive when she was knocked unconscious. That left her with a small amount of relief, knowing that he was fine for now and capable of taking care of himself.

That brought up the next issue- herself.

Knowing Vanitas, he had used some form of teleportation to escape without leaving a trail for Roxas to follow. Meaning that as hard as he may try, he couldn't rescue her.

Meaning she would have to get out of here on her own.

But how? That door looked pretty solid; if she tried to break it open the only thing she would most likely gain from it was a bruised shoulder. Not to mention the attention of every man, angel, or other hellish creature that may walk the halls outside of her cell. And because there were no windows, there was no way of telling what was on the other side of those walls. The worst-case scenario in that situation being her cell on the outside of the building facing open air, storeys above solid ground. And though she could summon her wings at any point, she hadn't actually flown with them yet. That option was too risky.

No sooner than the thought of escaping via portal had entered her mind, her head snapped towards the door. She didn't need to hear to know something was coming; she could feel it. Strong, dark energy was moving through the halls towards her cell. The energy signature was obvious- it belonged to Vanitas.

Soon after, she heard him stop in front of the door. After a small pause she heard a loud click and the door swung open. Like she previously thought Vanitas stood in the door, wearing a tight fitting dark grey shirt, and a pair of black geans. Disgusted by his presence, she started to back up towards the opposite wall.

"Well good morning poppet," He drawled with a very insincere smile. Stepping inside he closed the door behind him, effectively cutting off her retreat. "How'd you sleep? Hard night wasn't it?" he laughed at his own crude joke.

"What do you want with me?" she spat, her back now touching the wall. "Why am I here?"

His fake expression faded to annoyance at her comment and he crossed his arms. "I thought I made it clear on the bridge what we want with you. Are you that ignorant?"

"Of course not. And if you think I've changed my mind about what you said, think again. Only a fool desperate for power would join monsters like you!" Xion snarled, making it clear to him which side she was on.

Vanitas' eyes narrowed as he thought for several seconds, after which he frowned. "Teh... fine. If that's how you want to play then so be it." Uncrossing his arms he began to take slow steps, sauntering over to where she was pressed against the wall.

Xion wondered why she had even bothered to converse with him in the first place.

Suddenly too close to him for comfort, she pressed herself even harder against the wall almost in the hope that it would cave in and she could escape. Cold fear coursed through her as Vanitas straddled her waist and pinned both of her arms to the wall. She tried to struggle against his iron grip, but her arms felt like lead. He breathed lightly in her face, that nasty smirk once again making a home in his features.

"I'm going to give you one more chance, Xion," he murmured quietly into her ear, almost seductively. She tried not to cringe in revulsion. "Join us. I'll make sure you have whatever you want if you do. I would make you ruler over our legion beside me. You could live like a queen Xion, and never have to listen to another order or complete another mission ever again. So I ask you for the final time. Will you join the ranks of your own kind? Or will you refuse?"

She sat in silence for a moment before sinking into a bout of quiet laughter. Vanitas froze as a smirk not unlike his own stared back at him.

"You really are pathetic aren't you?" she said in a sickly sweet voice. "Relying on persuasion to get whatever you want. No wonder you've gotten so high up in command. Anyone you couldn't convince to take the fall for you was destroyed. I'm right aren't I, you goddamn backstabber."

"You," he growled, baring his pointed fangs as he put a hand on her throat. Xion let her left arm drop slowly to the ground. "Get...Get out of my head wench!"

Xion smiled lazily. "Why should I? You have so many interesting memories up there to look at that I can't help but be intrigued by them. I can see everything... all of your faults, failures... places where you couldn't measure up..."

"Shut up." Vanitas growled louder, the grip on her throat slowly tightening.

"Oh, and it appears you were lonely as a child... such a shame. I can see wasted potential on a dark soul such as yours."

"Shut up!"

Xion paused to take in Vanitas' enraged expression. He looked like he was just about ready to murder her.

Her sickening smile faded as she continued quietly. "But at the same time, I can see potential that has not been wasted as well. True, you have been through many hardships and have been affected as such, but it has also made you stronger. You have power greater than even you realize, just waiting to be released." Xion paused to let her words sink in. "As do I." She finished confidently.

Vanitas gave her a questioning look, trying to discern if she was lying or not. He didn't trust her enough to let her go just yet. "What makes me think that I'm going to believe you now? I should kill you for treating me with such disrespect! How do I know you're not just going to run back to muttface when I have my back turned?"

Letting her actions speak for themselves she pressed her lips against his, pulling him into a deep kiss. Slowly Vanitas released his grip on her other arm, and she moved them to hold the sides of his face. After several minutes she stopped, her arms lowering to the floor and breathing heavily. He just sat there shocked at the unexpected turn of events.

"That's how." She whispered, and gave him another peck on his left cheek.

With another smirk he stood up and took a step back, holding out his hand to her. "Does this mean you've had a 'change of heart'?"

"Yes," Xion smiled and took his hand. "I guess I have."

"Good," He said, helping her up off the floor. "Now let's go get you some fresh clothes and some breakfast. You must be hungry after all that's happened."

"Very. You wouldn't believe the slop they serve at the organization. Let's go get some real food!"

"HA, sure thing Xion!" He smiled as they exited to room and began to walk down the hall.

'Congratulations Xion. Welcome to the Angels. Welcome to the legion!'

-Till November-

"Roxas. Hey, Roxas. Wake up."

I groaned and rolled over onto my stomach. "Hah? ...Whuttimezit?" I slurred, absently wiping drool from the side of my mouth.

"Get up Roxas, come on!"

Sensing the slight tone of urgency in her voice, I stretched and glanced over at the clock on the wall. It wasn't long before I felt my face twist into a scowl.

"Lydia?"

"Yeah?"

"Any particular reason why we're awake at two o'clock in the morning?"

"We're going out."

I flipped onto my back and rubbed my face in an attempt to get myself further away from the realm of sleep. "And where exactly are we going this early?"

Turning to face her I could now see that she was fully dressed with her arms crossed. I could tell by the state of her eyes that she hadn't gotten a single minute of sleep.

"The woods. I need to clear my head, and I sometimes find that sleeping in wolf form helps with stress."

And damn, were we ever under a lot of stress. I had to agree with the idea though, and so far we hadn't had the opportunity to go 'camping' as Lydia put it. I could use the experience.

Once again, Lydia chose that moment to read me like a book. Grabbing a pair of track pants and a hoodie for me she tossed them onto the bed. "Get dressed. You can grab a bite to eat if you want, but we leave in ten minutes." Leaving me to my own devices, she went back into her room and closed the door.

With a large yawn I rose from the bed and walked over to the bathroom, grabbing the clothes as I did so. Once inside I quickly got dressed, brushed my teeth, and ran a brush through my unruly blonde spikes out of habit. I also stole a quick glance at the cut on my left shoulder- a wound I had acquired during the fight with Vanitas two days earlier. Normally I wouldn't have worried about a wound much at all, but this one was different.

It wasn't healing.

Me being a lycan should have nullified that, considering minor wounds usually healed in under an hour now. This one looked the same as it did forty eight hours ago after I had cleaned and dressed it; an angry red colour with yellow pus building up between the layers of separated skin.

It wasn't even that deep of a cut either; less than half an inch deep, and an inch in length. Well okay, maybe it was at bit bigger than what people define as small but for me, this was nothing. Still, this whole thing had me confused. And slightly afraid actually, for two reasons. For one, I could just barely pick up the faint scent of darkness coming from the wound. Because her nose was slightly weaker than mine, I knew Lydia couldn't pick it up. I was grateful for that- if she found out things would be blown out of proportion and the last thing she needed right now was another problem. And second, I swear its getting bigger. Its growing slowly, very slowly, but I do notice a slight difference. And that's definitely not normal.

Putting thoughts of it out of my head for now I left the bathroom, and made my way over to the kitchen counter. Grabbing a pear, I hoisted myself up to sit on the counter while I devoured the fruit in record time.

With only the core left of the fruit, I slid off the counter and threw the remains in the trash. On cue, Lydia exited her room and locked the door behind her.

"You ready? We're going to take a corridor." She said quietly.

"Aye, capt'n," I joked with a nod.

Rolling her eyes, she opened up a corridor with a quick snap of her fingers. Without another word, we both entered and left the apartment behind.

Less than a minute later we were both standing just inside the forest on the other side of the fence. I glanced around, confused. Lydia was already walking into the woods towards the clearing.

"Come on kid," she called back to me. "Let's just enjoy the quiet for now. I'll even let you sleep in."

An unusual offering, but then again I wasn't complaining. Catching up to her I murmured quietly, "So what are we really out here for?"

She chuckled quietly, responding in the same hushed tone. "There's more to life then action and violence all the time Roxas. Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses. You know; enjoy life for what it gives you. Not what you get out of it."

I glanced over at her with a frown. "Life gives you rosebushes?"

She put a hand to her forehead and sighed. "No Roxas. God, sometimes you can be so dense."

'Well maybe I would understand if you actually explained what you meant!' I thought. Maybe changing the subject would be a good idea right about now.

Looking up, I spotted a couple stars peeking through the forest's canopy. "So we're out here for a bit of quiet. I get that."

"Yep." She said, making a popping sound at the end of the 'p'. I waited several seconds for her to say more, but she remained silent.

"Ow," I muttered quietly as a large pinecone dropped from the tree above and hit my shoulder, ironically the one that was injured. "That hurt!"

Lydia glanced backwards and gave me a look that clearly said, 'dude, it was a fucking pinecone. Man up.' "Well excuse me princess..." I frowned back, and she let out a warning growl.

I resisted the urge to twitch. I don't know what it was, but I guess my exhaustion must be getting to me. I just couldn't... stop... talking!

I didn't even have the chance to say anything else though, because as soon as I opened my mouth she fixed me with a glare.

"Roxas? Do me a favor please."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"Pfft. You can't tell me to sh-" Lydia suddenly slapped a hand over my mouth and motioned for silence. I nodded and she removed her hand. Something was up.

With a quick point to her head, we lowered our mental barriers between ourselves. It was only now that I was picking up on muted footfalls from behind me. Someone was following us.

'How far back do you think he is?' she said to me mentally. If we had to formulate a plan to escape, then we wouldn't want whoever was following us to know about it.

'I'd guess around fifteen feet south east of here. You think we can shake him if we run?'

'No, our human forms are too slow. And we can't risk changing in front of him either; it could just be a civilian that somehow got into the woods.'

'If he's a civilian then how does he know our position and why is he following us?'

'Good point.'

Because yes, whoever was following us was getting closer. The footsteps were getting louder. By now he was less than ten feet away.

'Screw it,' I thought to her angrily. 'This guy is between me and my sleep. If he has business with us he can take it up with me.'

"We know you're there!" I shouted into the underbrush. "Don't try to hide!"

"Who's hiding?" Came the voice from our mysterious pursuer as he stepped out into the moonlight. We both stiffened as his organization coat came into view. And once again, that damn darkness was preventing me from identifying him again.

I didn't even bother to give him time to explain himself. In a bright flash of light I summoned my keyblade and leapt toward him. I was done with the organization, and all the bullshit that went with it.

"Hey, stop! I'm on your side!"

In a momentary lapse of concentration I stopped. "On our side? What do you- who are you?"

"It really shouldn't have been that hard to figure out XIII," He quipped, and pulled back his hood.

Figures. I should have clued in the second I saw his scrawny build.

Taking a second to pull his long teal bangs out of his face, Zexion looked up at both of us with a serious gaze.

"You can call me Ienzo now. I've come to join you."

Yup, thats me! Throwing you guys a proverbial curveball in the form of a plot twist. I'm sneaky like that.

So here's another update, several weeks ahead of usual. The reason? I wanted to get another chapter in before I get swamped by homework again.

Also, had anyone seen the trailer for Cernobyl Diaries yet? Just saw it for the first time yesterday and I was surprised to hear that Jesse McCatrney was starring in it. Huh. I never thought 'd see him of all people in a horror movie.

Anyway have to get back to work now (No, really I do. I'm in the middle of class), so I'm gonna stop bugging you guys. I hope to hear from you soon, and hopefully have a chapter for you guys when all this is over.