Jake Hallows: No, not wrong of you, of course. But seeing as how Kaj ended up dropping out of school and leaving home to join a gang of criminals at age, like, 15...a happy, supportive family doesn't make much sense for him. It's definitely fun to play with the differences between the universes, either really drastic differences or subtle ones (like Kaj's dad never left and Riku's did). Maybe a Riku/Kaj with a supportive dad is something that could be played with in a oneshot sometime!

Wings of Avalon: Ah, yes, the Snuggly Duckling would have been a fun location! I liked the stuff in town on the game, but I could have done with a lot less wandering through the forest, personally. Definitely better than the Frozen level, though.

coolmegan123: I'm glad you liked the chapter, and thank you for sharing specific parts that were your favorites! Yep, Belle has always been my favorite Disney princess, but Rapunzel joined her. :)

Sorry for posting this at a weird time, but I realized that I'm not going to have to time to post tomorrow. Going to an amusement park with my family!

Chapter 12

Perspective – 'M'

"Breathe in...and release."

The sensation of letting an arrow fly still sent a rush through me, even after all of this time training. However, I was pretty sure that the exhilaration of actually hitting the center of a target would be even better, if I ever got around to being able to experience that. So far, I hadn't gotten that good. If we were working with large targets, I could usually hit somewhere on it, but today Robin had set up something much smaller, and my arrow pierced the underbrush several inches to the right of it.

"Close!" He smiled, moving to fetch the arrow, as optimistic and encouraging as ever.

I huffed. "Close isn't really good enough, though, is it?"

Bending over, he snatched the arrow up out of the ground and twirled it between his fingers as he turned back to me. "Don't be so hard on yourself, M! You're doing very well for the amount of time you've been learning. I didn't become the greatest archer in all of England in just a few weeks, you know."

Shrugging, I took the arrow from him and fitted it back into the bow – a smaller version of the one he used, something that had been his when he was younger. Obviously I knew I had made progress since we had first started, and it wasn't like there was some kind of deadline for me to perfect archery. After all, even after Robin and John had made trips to all the surrounding towns, we still had no idea where I had come from. It didn't seem like I was going to be leaving Sherwood anytime soon. Still, I was getting impatient with not having much more than cracked, bleeding fingers to show for all my hard work.

I raised the bow again and took aim, following Robin's familiar breathing instructions and releasing the arrow at the same time as the air in my lungs. This time it nicked the corner of the target, not quite able to stick and flipping off to the side.

"Better! See, you'll get here. Just be patient with yourself."

Before he reached the target this time, Robin froze, his ears twitching. In the blink of an eye, he had out his own bow and arrow, and spun around to face me. "M, get back to camp! There's –"

A spear whizzed past his head and lodged itself in a tree just behind him. Suddenly our little clearing was overrun with dog-like creatures in hoods, some with spears, others with swords, and all apparently intent on killing the both of us.

Stumbling backwards, I clumsily notched another arrow into my bow while narrowly avoiding a wildly swinging sword. A second later, the same swordsman fell with one of Robin's arrows embedded in his back. I tried to do the same for the guy who was now going after Robin, but only succeeded in grazing his arm.

This is not going to work. I've never even attempted hitting a moving target before. But there was no way I was going to leave Robin to defend himself against this many enemies, besides the fact that they'd probably just kill me if I tried to run. Glancing down, I noticed the sword that had fallen into the dirt by my feet. Maybe I'd be capable of swinging a sword back and forth and at least holding them off a little.

It was heavy, but somehow felt familiar, as did the defensive stance that my body automatically dropped into. Another swordsman was coming toward me, and I leapt over the first to meet him and parry his swing. My arms and feet seemed to move of their own volition, slicing at his legs, then hopping back out of his reach before lunging forward to slam the sword into his arm. He dropped his weapon to clutch at his wound, and I turned to the next guy, immediately falling back into the same kind of dance.

In the middle of the fight, I sensed something coming toward me and spun just in time to smack a spear out of the air that had been inches from my head. Without thinking, I thrust out my left hand, and a stream of black and purple flames shot across the clearing and knocked the offender off his feet and into a tree.

I gaped down at the hand. What in the world...?

Thankfully, my previous opponent seemed to have been as taken off guard by that as I had, because he stopped trying to kill me long enough for me to get over my shock and remember that he existed. A couple more blows and he was done, leaving me to take stock of the rest of the fight. Robin was engaged with another swordsman, having abandoned his bow at some point, though not before leaving arrows in quite a few assailants. Only one other wolf-man remained standing, and he was taking aim at Robin with his spear.

I clenched my left hand into a fist. Well, why not? Might as well try it. Throwing it forward, I grinned as the flames erupted again, sending the would-be spear thrower screaming into the forest. A number of others were picking themselves up off the ground and slinking away after him, including the guy Robin had been fighting.

We both stood in place for a long moment, catching our breath and letting the adrenaline begin to fade. When I finally turned to Robin again, he had a very strange look on his face. "You, uh...that...what was that?"

Shaking my head, I flexed my hand and examined it. "I...have no idea. It just sorta...happened." I lifted the sword and waved it a little. "Kinda like this did."

"Right." He was still wearing that same expression, and for a second I wondered if he was going to reject me, to send me away to fend for myself because of whatever this strange ability was that I had. Where the thought came from, I wasn't sure, but the next instant a smile was creeping onto his face. "Well, I don't supposed I have to worry about you being able to defend yourself, after all."

I returned his smile with a smirk of my own. "No, I guess you don't."

.o.0.O.0.o.

It wasn't until weeks later that we got to test that assumption again. My archery skills had been greatly improving in the meantime, and I had taken to practicing swordsmanship and...whatever my other skills could be called, as well. Little John insisted that it was magic, Robin insisted that magic wasn't real. I wasn't sure what to think, so I stayed out of the argument for the most part.

After quite some time of me staying with them, the two men finally allowed me to start accompanying them on their 'business ventures'. That, of course, had to have an explanation to go along with it, of how they were actually living in the woods because they were outlaws, and they spent their time stealing from rich people and handing the money out to the poor. They were very keen on making sure I understood how terrible their current prince, king – whatever he was – had been, and how very oppressed the people were, as if they thought that I would disapprove of their morals. I was quick to assure them that it didn't bother me in the least. I was bored out of my mind staying at camp all the time, and eager for something to do. The fact that that something was theft was fine with me.

Despite Robin's self-professed confidence in my ability to handle myself, I was still kept out of the most dangerous parts of their missions, often relegated to lookout, or to sliding in and snatching up the gold while they did all the distracting. We turned out to be a pretty good team, though, never getting caught and only having one or two close calls. Robin and John always tried to rely on wits and acting skills first and foremost, only falling back on violence if absolutely necessary. That, unfortunately, changed the day that something new showed up in Nottingham.

One of my frequent new jobs had become taking deliveries of gold to the people who needed it. No one knew who I was, which had quickly turned from a disappointment – at least for Robin and John – to an asset. My face wasn't plastered all over every town in the form of wanted posters, unlike two certain someones I knew. So as long as I kept my hood up and my head down, I was able to slip in and out without stirring up much of a fuss.

On one particular day, however, I was unceremoniously yanked into a side street by the portly badger known as Friar Tuck. "M! I'm glad I caught you. You need to be careful, the Sheriff is in town today, making his rounds."

Glancing back down the main road, I nodded, reaching into the bag hanging at my hip for two small sacks. "Okay. Thanks, Friar. Here – for you, and for Sexton Mouse and Little Sister."

He took the sacks and clutched them gratefully to his chest. "Bless you. There's something else, though. Strange, terrible-looking creatures...they've been popping up all over town since the Sheriff got here today. No one knows what they are, or what they want."

I crinkled my brow. "Thanks for the warning. I'll pass it on."

The friar bustled off in the opposite direction, and I pursed my lips, considering the bag tha was still nearly full. Probably best if I come back another day. No need to force anyone to hide their gold from the Sheriff anymore frantically than usual, or put myself at risk of being caught. With a sigh, I turned back toward the forest.

I had only made it a few steps down the road when a group of ant-like creatures warped into existence a couple of yards in front of me. Heartless. The name came to mind unbidden, but I didn't give myself the chance to second guess it. More important than what they were called was the fact that they needed to be destroyed, and that I knew without a doubt.

Whipping out my bow and arrow, I eliminated the closest Heartless in a mere few seconds. The next arrows found their marks, as well, and the creatures basically just stood there and let me kill them. It was far easier than my faint, hazy memories were leading me to believe it should be.

Then, when I had taken out the last of them, they were replaced with much larger, much more intimidating-looking models, and the arrow that lodged into the first one's chest did little more than make it stumble. At the same time, the all-too-familiar voice of the Sheriff came floating down the street.

"Hey, you!"

Without a backwards glance I took off at a run, shoving past the Heartless, faltering only slightly when a set of razor-sharp claws caught my arm on the way by. Robin and Little John were waiting for me at the edge of the forest. If we were lucky, maybe the Sheriff would be too occupied with the Heartless to chase after me, and we could disappear back into Sherwood.

As it turned out, it wasn't the Sheriff who followed me, it was the Heartless. Little John's eyes flew open wide as he saw us coming. "What in the...?"

"Fight now, ask questions later!" I deftly caught the sword that Robin tossed to me, knowing that I still preferred it for up-close combat like this, and spun back around to face the creatures. The first arrow flew past me, and I dove into the fray. Slashing left and right, shooting magic from my hand, dodging the various attacks from the monsters. Little John had his own sword on the opposite end of the group. Arrows from Robin's bow narrowly missed me on multiple occasions, but I barely even flinched. After all, this was 'the greatest archer in all of England' – I trusted him not to hit me.

Finally, eventually, the numbers dwindled down to one last creature, which vanished into nothingness as it was hit with an arrow and a blast of magic at the same time. Panting, I took a moment to evaluate my body, then turned to do the same to the other two. Other than a few scratches here and there, everyone seemed to be okay.

Little John broke the silence that had fallen. "What were those things?"

"Heartless."

"What does that mean?"

"How do you know that?" Robin asked at the same time.

I shrugged. "I don't know, and...I don't know. The name just came to me when I saw them. Pretty sure that wasn't my first encounter. That's all I know, though."

"I've never seen anything like them before," Little John scowled, scratching the back of his head.

Robin hummed in thought. "Although you have to admit, they did fight a little like our own Lady M."

I opened my mouth to argue with him, but snapped it shut again. He did have a valid point. The Heartless were the only thing besides me that we had ever seen shooting fire and other sorts of magic. "Friar Tuck warned me about them. He said that they showed up in town about the same time the Sheriff did today."

"I wonder if they're somehow connected," Robin mused.

I wonder if we're somehow connected. Yet another mysterious clue to my past.

Little John huffed. "Well they certainly didn't seem to be up to any good. I wouldn't be surprised if ol' Bushel Britches had something to do with them."

Robin sighed and turned his attention to me. "I suppose our good friend the Sheriff and...his minions...being in town means you didn't get much distribution done." When I shook my head in reply, he nodded. "Right. Well, another day, then." Reaching out, he caught the hand of my injured arm and held it up. "Let's get back to camp and get this bandaged up."

A/N: So, maybe this chapter fulfilled a couple of the things you guys had been dreaming about? At least to some extent. :) It was fun for me to write, the first battle scene, in particular!