Everything had happened so fast. No one even had time to think. Demyx spun around, and feigned a look of surprise so believable that even Zexion could not see through it.

"I-I didn't even notice!" Demyx stuttered, looking from Axel to Zexion.

Meanwhile, Axel, too, was taken completely off-guard. He had not been prepared for the sudden intrusion. (Though if he had planned further maybe he would have recalled Zexion's keen sense.) Basically, he too was just standing still, unsure of himself. He bright green eyes flashed with a deep hatred towards the Cloaked Schemer. His plan had been working, but now it was ruined.

"Maleficent, Maleficent!" Zexion shouted into the air, clearly alerting the dark witch in a way he had been told.

The only one thinking straight in the entire dungeon was Sora, who had learned to think quick on his feet in the midst of his previous struggles. (Otherwise, it would have been unlikely that he survived through them all...enemies don't give you time to get your barings before attacking.) The brunette acted quick, grabbing Axel's arm and whirled him around as to face him.

"Axel, go! Go now! Before she comes!" Sora implored of the Nobody.

"But what abou-!?" Axel was looking this way and that, but Sora forced him to stop with a shocking sterness.

"No, we won't have time to all make it out! Just go!"

In the hall Maleficent had already appeared, with a sickening smirk plastered on her pale face. She was ecstatic over the prospect of killing the traitor. She would make him suffer for what he had done. However, she only caught a quick glimpse of him.

"I promise I'll come back," Axel said and swiftly bowed his head slightly to his friends, disappearing in an oval of black.

Sora hand, which had been clasped tightly on Axel's sleeve, now grasped the air. The boy gave a small smile, glad that the pyro had made it out of a second close call alive. But they were not out of the clear just because he was gone...oh no, it was not going to be that easy.

Maleficent was fuming with darkness, eyes less than slits and lips thinned to the point of nonexistance. Her hand squeezed the wooden staff that she held onto with such a force that the thing almost snapped in two like a simple twig. Her tall frame was quaking with anger, such that both Zexion and Demyx took a couple steps back in fear, and those imprisoned waited for the worst...which was about to come.

"You imbeciles let him get away!" she roared all of a sudden at the two Organization members, raising her staff so that the cell gates swung open with a deafening crash.

She walked forward into the cell, and with this opportunity, despite any hesitations that they may have felt; Sora, Riku, and Kairi summoned their weapons and lept forward. However, with a lazy swish of her arm each of them went flying to the back wall and only stopped because of the wall, which brought them to the ground with quivering pain. Raising her staff this time, each of them were surrounded in what appeared to be a black and crimson cloud, which weakened them considerably. They remained in the back, this was apparently not the time they were going to escape.

"So you thought you'd be smart did you? Trying to escape when Demyx was on the watch? Fools...you should have realized I had a backup plan," Maleficent began, pointing backwards towards Zexion, who appeared proud of himself.

"Didn't work t-though, d-did it!? Axel's g-gone again!" Riku stuttered through a vicious snarl, neck craning from the ground to look directly at the witch.

"Silence! I will not be defied in such a manner!" She swished her left hand again, and Riku flew once again into the air, skull slamming the wall with a horrible crash. He crumpled to all-fours, unconcious.

"I intend on finding the rat now, and I believe you know his whereabouts," she hissed towards Sora and Kairi, who were struggling from the darkness to check on their silver-haired friend.

"Even if I did I wouldn't tell you!" Sora yelled in absolute loathing.

"Oh, you think I expected you to tell me easily? No, boy, I plan on loosening your tongues. Now, which of you shall it be?" Maleficent surveyed each of the weak prisoners with a twinkling eye, until finally falling upon Sora. "Yes, I did promise revenge on you..." she trailed off, grinning madly. She reached down and grabbed a hold of his spiky hair, yanking him to his feet.

He struggled, oh yes. But somehow the darkness had taken away full use of his limbs, which felt sore and strange. In another moment he was against the white wall of the hallway, as if held there by cuffs and shackles, he could not move at all. He wriggled intensely, like a fish caught on a hook, but the magic holding him in place was set. The doors of the jail cell slammed shut behind them.

"We don't want your friends to miss this, do we?" Maleficent laughed evilly, waving her staff so that the darkness left Kairi, and Riku awoke. Both of them jumped up as if electrocuted, and ran forward to the bars, looks of complete horror on their faces.

"Sora..." Riku groaned, looking into the sky-blue eyes of the frightened boy, who was now hanging limply on the wall. "Take me instead!" he shouted at the villainess. Of course he was willing to sacrifice himself for his best friend.

Maleficent looked over her shoulder at him for a moment, thinking over the offer. But, a look of interest gave way to a sly grin, and a shake of her head.

"No, I believe this is best...you, Riku, have to learn your place. By seeing your friend hurt perhaps you'll finally get the idea. Don't forget, it was you who put him here," she replied in a sickly sweet voice, working all the more to bother him.

"Riku, don't listen to her!" Sora exclaimed. He was terrified, but put on all the airs of bravery for the sake of Riku and Kairi.

"Quiet!" Maleficent silenced him, but it hardly mattered. Riku was, indeed, blaming himself for what was to come.

"So, which one of you noble children will relay the traitor's location?" she pressed.

"We don't know where he is! We really don't!" Kairi cried truthfully, quivering with fear. Her legs were shaking so badly that she was gripping tight to two bars to hold herself up. Or maybe she even believed subconciously that if she put all her weight on the door, it would swing free. Whatever the reason, it all came down to the fact that Kairi was desperately afraid for Sora.

Maleficent eyes flashed with dislike towards the girl. "That's not a good enough answer." She held up her staff and pressed just the very tip of the orb lightly against Sora's cheek.

Sora, meanwhile, attempted to turn his face away, but he could only go so far. The instant the cloudy orb made contact with his skin it felt like every nerve in his body was being torn in two. Surely she had morphed his blood so, rather, his heart was pumping acid to the very tips of his fingers as well as his brain. Clenching his jaw, each scream he just managed to catch before they released...he did not want to give Maleficent the satisfaction. Yet, the pain was getting worse, and he was only human. The scream that followed seemed to echo around the entire castle, causing Kairi to break out in sobs and Riku to shout such vulgar obsenities at the witch that it was fortunate they were drowned out by the yell.

"STOP IT! You evil hag!!" Kairi yelped. The moment she did Maleficent pulled the orb away from Sora, who gasped for breath the moment the pain stopped.

"Well, we're not all as fortunate as you, my dear," Maleficent replied to Kairi's last comment. "Does it hurt terribly to see your darling Sora hurt?" she taunted cheerfully. "Will you tell me now where the rat is hiding? That's all I need to know, and then you can have your little boyfriend back."

Kairi sobbed and shook her head, Riku put an arm around her in comfort. "She told you already! We don't know where he is!" Riku snarled in pure hatred.

"And you should know better than to lie to your superiors," Maleficent hissed, and lifted her staff against towards Sora.

"Wait!" came a shocking voice from the other end of the hallway, which caused Maleficent to pause and look in the direction of the voice.

Demyx and Zexion had remained in the hall from earlier, though considerably far away from the unfolding events. Not one had spoken out before, so their presence was all but forgotten. However, now the teenage blonde Nobody stepped forward, with a minor look of fear over his own bravery hidden not-too-well.

"Yes?" Maleficent questioned in his direction, rolling her eyes as if she knew what he had to say was stupid.

"I-I think they might be telling the truth. They don't know where Axel is," he said. His eyes darted from a broken Sora to the dark witch.

"What makes you think that?" she asked boredly.

"I didn't even have time to notice Axel was there, surely he didn't have time to tell them where he was hiding. And do you really think they wouldn't tell you if they did know? Look at the girl, she's distraught," Demyx said, and looked towards the sobbing Kairi.

Maleficent tapped her fingers on her staff, and remained silent, before giving one nod towards the boy. "I believe you may be right. In fact, I had my suspicions from the beginning that they didn't know, but this was the more fun way to find out. Don't you think?"

"Yes, definitely," came the voice of Zexion. Demyx gave an unnoticed shudder from his side.

"Well, I suppose I've had enough fun for now." Maleficent tapped her staff in the air and Sora immediately collapsed to the floor in a shivering heap. She opened the door of the cell, picked him up by the back of his shirt, and threw him inside. The door closed automatically behind him.

"Tell me if he comes back," she said, not to Demyx, but to Zexion who nodded, and disappeared in dark flames of purple and green.

o--------------------o

A/N: This chapter ended up a bit longer than I had intended, and I'm not sure if it accomplished what it was meant to accomplish, which I hope it did. Originally I intended for Kairi to be tortured, as punishment to Sora, but I realized if I did that people would think I was Kairi-bashing, because she's faced alot so far in the story. And, I really do like Kairi, and I don't support Kairi-bashing so...poor Sora! -hugs him-

Wow, there are so few chapters left to write! I'm not sure whether or not I'll take a break from writing giant, epic stories after this is complete. I do have a very interesting idea (well, I think it is) for one, but it's so deep and dark that I don't know if I'd be capable of doing the idea justice. Hm...we'll see.

Oh, and so last night I was playing KHII and I unlocked the Sephiroth boss battle (completed Space Paranoids the second time), so I was like 'how about I pay old Sephi a visit?' and I did...and I laughed almost the whole way through the fight, which only lasted about a minute, if that. I hadn't even bothered to change my Keyblade, which was the extremely weak Gullwing (I was working on leveling up), so it really was pretty amusing. And Sora was all like "-dies-". I do revere Sephiroth. It feels like just yesterday I beat him for the first time, though it was indeed a year ago. (I beat him in KH II first, then bothered with him in KH...I think he is harder in KH.)

Well, that's enough for now! Review?