Banshee: Hello everyone, and welcome to the first chapter of the new and improved "Life with Organization XIII!" In the time I spent on hiatus, I decided that I wasn't satisfied with the original version and am currently giving it a complete overhaul. Some things will stay the same, while other things will change; naturally. I will write and update as often as I can. Check my profile for any updates, and the Axel/Nikki genderbend story poll is still going, so feel free to cast your vote. Okay, enough talk. Go ahead and enjoy the chapter! :)

Chapter One: The Castle in the Sky

Recap:

"You said you saw a boy on the island?" Sora inquired curiously.

"Yeah." Nikki confirmed. "I thought I was alone, but I looked and there he was, sitting on the palm tree. I don't think he noticed me, though. He was just staring off into space."

"What did he look like?" Asked Kairi.

"He was young, I know that. He didn't look any older than you guys. He had blue eyes, short blonde hair, and he was wearing some weird black coat."

At the words "black coat," their faces suddenly turned serious as they exchanged worried looks with one another. Neither one of them said a word, as if they were communicating telepathically. Nikki didn't undestand why they were responding this way.

"Is something wrong?" Nikki asked slowly, eyeing them warily.

Her question seemed to snap them out of it, for they were looking at her again.

"Oh, it's nothing," Kairi said reassuringly, forcing a smile as she waved it off. "You don't need to worry about it."

"But just to be safe, you need to stay away from him," Riku said very sternly, arms crossed.

"But why?" Nikki asked defiantly. "I've seen him, and he looks harmless. He's just a kid."

"Doesn't matter." Said Riku unwaveringly. "He may be harmless, but the crowd he hangs around with isn't. You're better off just staying away."

"Riku's right." Sora agreed. "You should listen to him. Not that we don't think you can take care of yourself or anything," He added quickly after seeing her glare, "but those weirdos in the coats aren't people to be messed with. They're just bad news."

"Please don't take this the wrong way, Nikki." Kairi chimed in, her face and voice much softer than Riku's. "We just want you to be safe."

Not only was Nikki offended, but she was hurt. It's not like she didn't know about their past adventures. When the three of them mysteriously vanished a year ago, she pressed them for answers as soon as they got back and got enough information out of them to fill a book. She knew that Sora was a Keyblade wielder, and Riku as well, and that they battled creatures called Heartless and Nobodies in their quest to rescue Kairi and return home. However, that was as much as they would tell her. They didn't elaborate on what Heartless and Nobodies were, how they came to possess their strange key-shaped weapons, and they wouldn't explain anything about their main enemies; some guy called 'Ansem' and 'Organization XIII.'

She couldn't believe it! Not only were they not telling her anything, but they were treating her like a little kid. What did they think, that she was a helpless little five-year-old? "Stay away from him," they said. "We just want you to be safe," they said. They were friends, but suddenly she felt as if they didn't have any faith in her to be able to handle herself or even trust her with knowing the full story. Hearing them say all that just made her want to talk to the boy even more.

"Gee." Nikki spat bitterly, moving to stand. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys."

And with that, she got up from the table and stormed away, all relief she had felt earlier being replaced by irritation. As she walked away, she could hear the trio whispering to each other anxiously, but ignored it and went to join Harriet, who was enjoying a book under the tree. Sitting with her knees up to her chest, crossed arms rested upon said knees, she glared at the trio, only stopping and looking the other way when they looked her way. They eventually left, casting her apologetic looks as they did so.

...

Just as Nikki opened her eyes to check her phone for the time, she saw a swirling dark void appear by the big palm tree. Stuffing her phone back into her pocket, Nikki got up and moved closer, and saw a small figure emerge from the strange black mass. The figure removed their hood, and though their back was to her, Nikki recognized them as the boy that had been coming there for days.

This was it. Now was her chance to finally talk to him.

"Hey!" She called out.

At her voice, the boy flinched and turned around to face her, his blue eyes were wide with shock, and it was obvious he wasn't expecting her to even be there, let alone start talking to him. An internal conflict was evident on his face, as if he was debating with himself on what he should do.

"It's okay," She reassured, stopping halfway across the bridge. "I just want to talk to you."

But the boy didn't seem keen to talk to her; in fact, he was backing away, keeping his mouth shut. A black void appeared behind him, but he kept his eye on her, backing into the void.

"Hey! Wait a minute! Where are you going?"

He ignored her, turning on his heel and running straight into the void, disappearing into its swirling, inky blackness.

"Wait!"

Despite every instinct telling her to stay away from it, Nikki ran towards the black mass just as it began to close. Managing to make it inside before it closed, Nikki immediately found herself surrounded by darkness. It was dark and cold, and she had no way of knowing which direction she ought to go. No matter where she looked, black was all she saw until she found a glimmer of hope; what looked like an exit in the distance. She ran towards it, hoping that it was a way out of this endless sea of black, and hoping even more that this exit would take her back to the island. When she finally reached the opening, what she found on the other side was shocking.

When the darkness faded, Nikki found herself, not on the island, but in the middle of a large city. Despite the lights in the windows, and the lit street lights, there wasn't a single person on the streets, making the city look empty. Instead of a bright blue sky and a shining sun, a deep blue-black sky, completely devoid of stars hung over her head. In the middle if the sky was a gigantic, heart-shaped moon, which she found very strange. The boy was nowhere to be found.

But the boy was the least of her worries now.

"Where am I? What is this place?"

Nikki hadn't moved since she came out of that void.

"I can't believe I did that..." She grumbled, referring to her reckless act of running into the portal. In retrospect, running into a portal, without knowing how you're even going to get out or where you'll end up if you do, is very, very stupid.

As she sat there alone, she suddenly felt an eerie chill crawl up her spine, and when she looked around it seemed like the shadows around her were moving. Pairs of bright yellow, pupil-less eyes suddenly appeared in the darkness, popping up one after another until the darkness was full of them. The owners of these soulless eyes moved out into the street, enabling her to get a good look at them.

Aside from their yellow eyes, these creatures were completely black, with bodies barely resembling a human, and twisted antennae topped their round, spherical heads. Crouched low on the ground, they seemed to be quivering with anticipation at the sight of her, as if they couldn't wait to attack, their three-clawed hands twitching. While many crept out of the shadows, many more were sprouting out of the street.

"What are these things?"

"Hey.. Don't you come near me!" She warned as the shadows started moving towards her. "Stay back! I'm warning you!"

The creatures ignored her and continued to approach her, when one of the jumped forward, and she had to dive sideways to avoid its claws.

"No! Get away from me!"

Not knowing what the creatures were or how to fight them, Nikki came up with another option; turn tail and run. With the shadows pursuing her, she ran as fast as she could down the city's maze-like streets. Reaching an intersection, Nikki saw more shadows appearing out of the ground. With every other road blocked, Nikki ran down the only street not crawling with shadows. Climbing stairs and ramps, she went higher and higher until she found herself on top of a roof. Ahead of her was a giant castle, floating in the sky above the city.

"A castle?"

Hearing a noise, Nikki looked behind her and saw the shadows rounding the corner and closing in on her. As one of them lunged at her, there was a flash of silver as another creature smashed into the shadow, knocking it to the ground. The sudden movement startled her, making her fall backward. Instead of falling off the building like she thought, Nikki found herself hitting a hard surface; a bridge that seemed to lead into the castle. Without looking back, Nikki got on her feet and ran inside the castle, only stopping when she could no longer see the outside.

Now sure that she was safe, for the moment, she stopped to catch her breath. Leaning forward with her back hunched and her hands on her knees to support herself, she drew in long, shaky breaths as she tried to calm her racing heart and the burning in her lungs. Once she caught her breath, which took a few minutes, she took in her surroundings.

The castle was much larger on the inside; only because it was mostly empty space. The walls were dull and gray, and the entire room gave off a cold, empty and foreboding vibe.

"What kind of person would live in a place like this?"

If this were any other situation, Nikki would get out of there as soon as possible. But there was no way she was going back outside and risk running into those monsters again.

Her only choice was to keep moving forward.

In the castle's library, a steely-haired young man was prowling through the archive section when he suddenly froze in his tracks.

A new presence had appeared in the castle. He could sense it.

There was darkness in their heart, that much was certain. But, then again, every heart possesses darkness; the amount and strength of it just varies from person to person. The amount of darkness he sensed in this one was a little less than average; definitely not a threat. He also picked up on their emotions, confusion and fear being the most prominent - along with annoyance. Also, there was a hint of something sweet... what was it? Vanilla?

"It seems we have a visitor."

"This way... No, that way... Wait, maybe it's this way."

Nikki continued to wander blindly through the castle's hallways, finding them more like a maze than the streets in the city below. She didn't know how long she had been there, and honestly it felt like hours, but she knew one thing for sure; she was going to have a hell of a time getting out of there.

"HOW BIG IS THIS STUPID CASTLE?!" Nikki screamed at the top of her lungs, the sounds echoing off the walls.

"I'll die of old age before I find a way out of this place.."

The brunette heard the sound of footsteps and froze. They were too heavy to be hers, and from the sound of it there was only one other person wandering those hallways besides her.

"Hello?" She called into the seemingly-endless hallway. "Is anybody there?"

No answer; nothing but her own voice echoing off the walls.

"Maybe I'm just hearing things.." She muttered to herself.

Just then, she saw a cloaked figure walk around the corner. The figure was obviously male, since she couldn't see any evidence that proved otherwise. The way he was walking suggested that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings; it looked more like he was dancing. The one thing that stood out the most to Nikki was his outfit; a black cloak with somewhat form-fitting sleeves with black gloves and boots. His face wasn't visible, hidden under the coat's hood. It was the same outfit as the one worn by the boy she saw at Destiny Island. Maybe they knew each other.

"Um.. Hello?" She called to the figure. When he didn't respond, she stomped her foot and shouted "HEY!"

The figure stopped and reached under the hood of his coat, pulling out, what looked like, an earphone for an iPod. He looked around, and froze when he saw Nikki.

"Uh. Hi there." She said, waving awkwardly. "Can you help me? I'm a little lost."

At first, the figure didn't respond, as if he was analyzing the situation and weighing his options. After about a minute, something inside him snapped and he panicked, turning around and running away. Nikki managed to catch a frightened "Uuuwwaaahhh!" as he ran.

"Hey!" Nikki yelled after him. "Come back!"

She ran after the figure, trying to catch him before he rounded the corner. But he was faster than her, and was gone before she could grab him. The male was running like the devil was on his heels, his arms flailing around frantically as he rounded the corner. She followed him, but skidded to a stop when there was no sign of the figure in the massive corridor.

It wasn't like there were any doors in this hallway. It was just one straight wall all the way down. There was nowhere for the man to hide, and yet he was gone; as if he'd vanished.

"What the…? Where'd he go?" She thought, trying to listen for any footsteps. She gave up listening after a few seconds, crossing her arms in a huff as she said, "That's the second person to run away from me today."

Hearing a small shuffling sound, Nikki turned around and saw the figure poking his head out from behind another corner.

"Aha! There you are!"

He flinched, knowing that he had been spotted, and disappeared around the corner again.

"Hey! Come back!"

Following him around the corner, Nikki found that he had led her to a dead end.

"What're you running away for?" She asked him.

He didn't answer.

The brunette sighed exasperatedly. "First that kid and now you. Why do you people always run away? What do you think I'm gonna do, bite you? I just want to know where the hell I am, and, more importantly, how I can get back home before my parents find out I'm gone and have a freaking heart attack. Let me repeat myself; I just. Want. To go. Home. That's not too much to ask for, is it? Well? Is it?"

The figure sat there for a moment, as if arguing with himself about what he should do next. The next thing Nikki knew, swirls of black and purple had engulfed the figure and then disappeared completely, taking him along with them.

"H-How did he do that?" She asked no one in particular.

Suddenly Nikki felt the same cold feeling that she experienced in the void, only this time it was behind her.

"Sorry about this.."

That was all she heard before she was hit in the back of the head. After that, everything went black and she tumbled to the floor in an unconscious heap.

"Hey, whaddya know. That trick actually works."

"Good work, Demyx. You caught the intruder."

Demyx flinched instinctively at the voice, and turned around to see three figures emerge from a dark portal. All three of them were wearing the same coat as Demyx, but with slight variations. The shortest one in the group had slightly bell-shaped sleeves, while the sleeves on the other two were more form-fitting. Two out of the three males were not wearing their hoods.

The shortest male had steely-blue hair, with a huge section of it covering the right side of his face. The one eye that was visible was a bright aqua.

The other hood-less male was tall and skinny, with bright, spiky red hair that went down past his shoulders. Reverse-teardrop markings rested just under his green eyes.

The figure with the hood, hands lazily on his hips, casually walked over to Nikki's unconscious body. He stood over her, walking around as he gave her a brief look over, occasionally poking her with his foot.

"Well, well, would you look at that." He said. "It's a human; just like Zexion said. Hm. She's pretty cute. Can we keep her Zexy, please~?"

'Zexion' said nothing, rolling his eyes at the nickname.

"What are we going to do with her?" Asked the redhead.

"Her fate is up to the Superior to decide." Zexion said simply. "For the time being, we'll keep her where we can keep an eye on her. Demyx. Take her to the Soundless Prison."

Demyx slumped his shoulders. "Whaa?" He whined. "Why me?"

"Because you caught her." Zexion deadpanned.

"By accident!"

"Are you seriously arguing with me right now? All you have to do is drop her off in a cell; or are you too lazy to do that one little thing?"

"... Uh..."

"I think that answers your question, Zexion." The hooded man chimed in. "Kid's about as lazy as they come. You're better off asking someone else."

"Fine. You do it then, Xigbar."

In response to this, 'Xigbar' jumped back a little and put his hands up. "Whoa there, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I never said I'd do it."

Zexion groaned in exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Ugh.. Forget it." He turned to the redhead. "Axel, you take her."

The redhead, now dubbed 'Axel,' shrugged his shoulders. "No problem." He said.

Walking over to Nikki, Axel knelt down, hooking one arm under her knees while wrapping his other around her shoulders. He lifted her up with little to no effort, carrying her bridal-style.

"Aw, look at her, she looks so peaceful." The redhead said fondly, after taking in her features. He added with a cheeky grin, "I agree with Xigbar. Let's keep her~."

Zexion's visible eye twitched. "Quit screwing around and just take her to her cell." He growled.

"Fine, fine. Tou~chy~."

"Oh, by the way, before I forget..." Xigbar began addressing Demyx, after Axel had warped away. "Demyx, Saïx wants you to report to The Grey Area; he says he has a mission for you."

"Another one?" Demyx whined. "But I just got back!"

"Look Kid, it's either you go there, or he's gonna come find you; and believe me, you don't want him to come looking for you. Remember what happened last time?"

Just like with Nikki, Demyx weighed his options. It was easy for him to run away from the human, for in the end she couldn't do anything to him. The only thing she could do was attack him with a flurry of punches and kicks, which he could easily avoid. It wasn't like she had a Keyblade, or anything. She was just a normal girl. Saïx on the other hand wasn't so easy to run from, and his berserk state was nothing less than terrifying. When he thought about it, the last thing he wanted was for Saïx to come looking for him.

"Oh, okay..." He drawled, slumping his shoulders again. "I'll go..."

As he warped away, Xigbar chuckled.

"Works every time." He said, amused. "So," He said after a brief silence. "what do you think?"

"About the human?" Said Zexion. "She is not a threat. The amount of darkness I sensed within her is the same as any other human; nothing even remotely extraordinary."

Xigbar scoffed. "Well duh. Anyone with half a brain can see that she's not a threat to us. The big question is, what is Xemnas going to do with her?"

"Whatever he sees fit."

"Maybe he'll let us keep her. We could use a cute little errand girl."

Zexion sighed. Of course he would say that. The old pervert. He couldn't wait to get back to his books.

Axel arrived at the Soundless Prison, carrying a still-unconscious Nikki in his arms. A couple of Dusks opened the door to a nearby cell, which he promptly walked into and set her down on floor, careful not to wake her up. After giving her a brief look over, he decided that she was pretty cute. At first he wondered how an ordinary human had made it to The World That Never Was. Sure, she wasn't the only human to come to this world, and also enter the castle, but, due to the lack of darkness in her heart, which was weak according to Zexion, she couldn't create a portal. So how did she get here? Now that he thought about it, Roxas had mentioned seeing a girl when he went to Destiny Island; a girl that knew he was going there, and figured she must have followed him back to the castle.

A sound suddenly jerked Axel out of his thoughts; a loud, yet melodic sound, that seemed to be coming from the girl. More specifically, it was coming from her pocket. He reached into her pocket and took out a little blue phone, which was ringing; which would explain the noise, and examined it. It was a flip phone, and he could see a little screen on the front. On the little illuminated window was the word "Mom." So, her mom was calling...

"Sorry sweetheart," He said to her unconscious form. "But I'm gonna have to take this. Can't have you calling for help now, can we?"

Silencing the ringing, Axel stuffed the phone into his pocket and stood back up. As he was walking out of the cell, he stopped right at the entrance to look back at Nikki, staring at her for a few seconds before he shut the cell door behind him.

To be continued...