Banshee: Hello everyone! I am so sorry this took so long. This last year hasn't been the greatest, and 2019 didn't get off to a great start either. These last few months have been awful, and on top of problems at work, working on my writing has been about as slow as a Pok'emon Gen. 4 playthrough... But I will try to upload new chapters more frequently, possibly every three to five months. Okay, enough with my problems. Enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I only own my OCs and the plot.

Chapter Six: Back to School

Recap:

"Our daughter is staying here, with her family. If you think for one second that I'll let her go back with you, then you're out of your bloody minds!"

Zexion shook his head and said, "I'm afraid that's not up to you; or us, for that matter. Like Roxas said, the Superior made the decision to keep her in the castle, and unless we wish to be turned into Dusks, we obey his orders. She stays with us until the Superior sees fit to release her."

"No way!" Riku objected, his Keyblade materializing in his hand. "We're not going to let you clowns use her like you did Kairi. She's not a pawn in your 'master plan.'"

"That's right." Sora agreed fervently, summoning his Keyblade as well. "We don't want to fight you again; the first time was absolutely exhausting, but we will if we have to!"

"Nobody is fighting anybody." Nikki interjected, feeling both tired and aggravated. "What part of 'I want to resolve this without fighting' don't you understand? It doesn't matter if we like it or not. Either way, I'm going to be staying at the castle... probably forever. I don't want my friends getting hurt fighting a pointless battle just for my sake. We're doing this my way, understand? Now put your damn Keyblades away before I beat you over the head with them!"

"But-"

"Away. NOW."

Riku opened his mouth to protest, but a harsh glare from Nikki silenced him. He glanced at Sora with a look that clearly said "Come on, back me up," but the brunette just shrugged. The taller male let out an annoyed groan and looked to Nikki's parents, hoping they would say something, but Catherine stopped her husband before he could speak by tugging on his mustache. He was shocked when he saw Sora's Keyblade disappear.

"You've got to be kidding me." He grumbled. "Sora, come on. You know how these people are. You know what they've done. They used that Naminé girl to try to brainwash you into being their puppet by messing with your memories. Mr. Illusions over there-" He nodded towards Zexion, who scowled, "-tried to manipulate me into thinking you would turn against me. And let's not forget that Axel's the one that kidnapped Kairi, and they imprisoned her in their castle so they could use the fact that they had her to manipulate you into gathering hearts for them! We can't trust them. We have to end this now!"

Sora sighed. "I know what they've done, Riku. But Nikki seems really serious about this... and I really don't want her to beat me with my own Keyblade... I trust her. I think we should do this her way."

"You can't be serious..."

"You trust her, don't you?"

"Yes, I do, but-"

"Then drop it."

"But-"

"Drop it."

"Sora-"

"Drop it."

"Sora, just let me-"

"Drop it."

"All right!" Riku yelled. He then took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as his Keyblade disappeared. "All right. Fine."

Then he turned to face the Nobodies, his expression deadly serious, and spoke in a tone that matched his face. "But I want to make one thing clear: If you do anything, anything at all to hurt Nikki, I swear I will strike down each and every one of you. Got it?"

Sora nodded in agreement, his eyes blazing. "That does double for me."

"Got it." Demyx squeaked from his hiding place behind Roxas, who rolled his eyes at his superior's cowardice.

Zexion just nodded. "Understood."

"I swear I will not harm one hair on her pretty little head." Axel promised. He then drew an 'X' on his chest where his heart should have been, and added cheekily, "Cross my heart."

Roxas smacked him. "Be serious!"

"I am. See? Crossed my heart and everything."

...

When they returned to the castle, they found Saïx waiting for them, hands folded behind his back.

"That took you long enough." He said with slight irritation. "What happened?"

"Aw, were you worried about us? I didn't know you cared so much, Saïx." Axel remarked cheekily. He went to pinch the berserker's cheek, but the other man caught his wrist before he could do so, his glare murderous.

"I don't." Saïx growled. "Honestly, I could care less if the girl's parents are okay with this arrangement or not. All I want to know is if we have to worry about the Keyblade Wielders getting involved."

Roxas scowled. He had done it again; not using Nikki's name and talking about her like she wasn't there. Just as he was going to give the older man a piece of his mind, Nikki put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. She shook her head, silently telling him not to bother yelling at him. It wouldn't do any good anyway. Luckily, Axel knew just what to say.

"Don't worry, we took care of it. As long as Nikki remains safe and unharmed, they won't get involved." He said casually as the diviner released his wrist.

"Good." Saïx simply said. "You're dismissed for now, but I expect all of you to report to the Grey Area for your missions first thing tomorrow morning."

And with that, the diviner left, disappearing into a portal.

"Now what do we do?" Demyx asked.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to bed." Nikki declared, yawning. "Scarface can get as pissy as he wants. I'm going to school tomorrow."

Yawning again, Nikki said good night to the Nobodies and went to her room.

Changing into one of her new pairs of pajamas, she got into bed, pulling the covers up to her chin. Today had been absolutely exhausting, and even though it wasn't her bed, she still felt comfortable enough in it to be able to fall asleep quickly. Little did she know, that as exhausting and irritating as today had been, it was only the beginning...

When Nikki woke up the next morning, she was startled to find an excited-looking Roxas staring right back at her. The unexpected presence made her yelp, and she would have fallen off the bed if it wasn't up against the wall.

"Jesus Bloody Christ, Roxas! Dinnae scare me like that!" She exclaimed, her hand on her chest. She looked at the time. It was 4:30 AM. "What are you doing up so early?"

"I'm here to take you to school."

Nikki blinked. "Really?" She asked. Roxas nodded. Giving him a flat look, she said, "You look way too excited about that."

The young Nobody pouted. "I've never seen a real school before. I don't even have any memories of going to school; Sora has all of them, and the one I went to when I was in that fake Twilight Town doesn't count."

Nikki blinked again. She had never seen a kid look so excited about going to school. School, like many things, was something you had to do, and for plenty of people it was like a bad job; it starts just fine, hell, you're even excited about it at first, but after a while you just end up going through the motions like a zombie or a machine, all while just waiting for the day to be over. That's what happens when you're stuck in one place for too long. Of course, that's one way of looking at it... if you want to be pessimistic about it.

"Come on," He urged, shaking her slightly. "You have to get ready. You don't want to be late."

"Roxas, calm down." Nikki ordered gently, taking his hands off her shoulders. "There's no need to rush. School doesn't start for another two hours. We have plenty of time."

"Okay..." Roxas relented, slumping his shoulders a little.

"Besides, you're not coming anyway, so you might as well get your butt back to bed."

At this, Roxas sat up straight and exclaimed, "What?!"

Nikki smiled and patted him on the head. "You're cute Roxas, but you're not a good liar. You and I both know that Axel's the one in charge of taking me to school, and he's picking me up too. That was the deal. Now go back to bed."

"Y-You can't tell me what to do!" The young Nobody blurted out childishly. "You're not my superior!"

"You're not coming, and that's final." Nikki said sternly as she laid back down. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to bed and I'm not getting up until my alarm goes off."

"But-"

"Ah ah!" Nikki cut him off, raising her hand. She continued, pointing to the door,"You. Bed. Now."

And with that, Nikki pulled the covers over her head and turned her back to the Nobody. Roxas pouted, puffing out his cheeks, and considered a retort, but he ended up staying quiet and doing exactly what she said and left the room, mumbling sourly to himself.

"So not fair..." He grumbled.

An hour and a half passed, and by this time Nikki had already fallen back to sleep. When Axel appeared in her room, she was completely unaware of his presence, even when he sauntered over to her bed and was standing so close he could wake her up physically. Noticing her phone on the little table next to the bed, Axel picked it up and flipped it open. He scrolled through the functions until he found the alarm clock, which was set for six a.m. and was only a minute away from going off. Smirking devilishly, Axel turned off the alarm and then closed the application, setting the phone back down, exactly where he had found it, before leaving the room. He returned not even a minute later with an uninflated balloon, which he blew up to a sufficient size before pinching the end so no air would escape. Holding the balloon over Nikki's head, Axel used his other hand to produce a small flame. The heat from the flame popped the balloon, the sound causing Nikki to snap awake and shriek as she flailed around before rolling out of bed. When she was finally able to untangle herself from the blanket, she looked up to see Axel standing over her, a big smile on his face.

"Rise and shine, sweetheart~." He greeted nonchalantly, as if he had just walked in and found her like that.

"Are you out of your bloody mind?!" Nikki yelled at him, her face red. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"There's nothing like a dose of adrenaline to wake you up in the morning. Who needs caffeine, am I right? Now hurry up and get dressed." He tossed Nikki her school uniform; which she had taken with her when she left her home, and held up his open hand."Breakfast is in five. We're having pancakes. If you're late, you automtically forfeit half of your food to me."

"Now wait a bloody minute-"

Axel cut her off, pointing to an imaginary watch on his wrist. "Four minutes and forty-five seconds to go. See you at breakfast~!"

Before Nikki could retort, Axel disappeared into a portal, smirk never leaving his face. She sat there on the floor, dumbfounded, for a few seconds before she hurried to untangle herself from the blanket so she could get dressed. A few minutes later, she was frantically running down the hallway to make it to the kitchen. She ran so fast she needed to skid to a stop as soon as she got there, and when she did she saw the redhead already sitting at the table. He had been tapping on the table, but he stopped as soon as he saw her.

"Eight minutes and fifty-seven seconds..." He said in a disappointed tone, shaking his head at her."Tsk tsk tsk... I have to say, I am very disappointed in you, young lady."

Immediately Nikki retorted, "If you gave me more time, I wouldnae be late!" Then she realized that she was walking right into one of his little games, and shook her head to snap herself out of her little fit of anger before she sat down. "Forget it. Let's just eat so you can take me to school."

Axel just smiled and pushed a plate towards Nikki. Despite what the Nobody had said earlier, there was a full stack of pancakes on it. Amused, he said, "I was just kidding around when I said I'd eat half your food. Got you motivated though, didn't it?"

He smiled, ignoring the daggers Nikki was mentally throwing at him. Ooh, if only, she thought. If only one of those daggers was real. That way it could hit him right in his forehead.

When she didn't eat, he urged her, "Go ahead, eat. I promise it's not poisoned." For emphasis, he drew an 'X' over his chest where his heart should have been, and added, "Cross my heart."

Nikki narrowed her eyes at him, picking up her fork and slowly digging it into the top pancake. She took a bite and found that they were quite good, but there was no way she was going to admit that to him, especially if he was the one who cooked them. Instead she opted to stay silent, eating her pancakes while glaring at Axel, who was also having something to eat. Eventually she finished her plate and ran to the bathroom to brush her teeth before coming back, and he summoned a portal.

When the portal finally opened, Nikki stepped out and found that they were a block away from the school, hidden away in a small alleyway between two buildings. She could see the front gate clearly from where she stood. Slowly creeping out of the portal, she made her way to the entrance to the alley, but stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"You remember the deal, right sweetheart?" She heard Axel say from behind her.

Rolling her eyes, Nikki responded in a flat tone, "Don't tell anybody. I know."

Satisfied with her answer, Axel patted her on the shoulder. "Good girl." He said. Ignoring Nikki's glare, he smiled and waved, adding in a cheeky manner, "Have a good first day, Honey Bunch~. See you after school~!"

Before Nikki could say anything, Axel slipped back into the portal and it disappeared, leaving her alone in the alley.

"Tch. Stupid git..." She muttered.

Adjusting the straps on her backpack, Nikki made her way to the front gate, ignoring the whispering of the students around her as they noticed her presence. As she approached the gates, she stopped briefly at the entrance, letting everyone else walk by her as she stared at the school with nervousness she hadn't felt since her first day there years ago. But it wasn't being back at school that made her uneasy. It was what would happen when she ran into her friends. How was she going to explain everything to them?

"NIKKI!"

The brunette was so deep in thought that she barely had time to register the desperate shout of her name, and when she did she had been tackled to the ground just as she was turning around to see who it was. At first she was confused, but when she saw a familiar head of short red hair and green eyes filled with tears, she recognized her tackler as her best friend Sandy. As the redhead was busy crying into Nikki's shoulder and holding onto her for dear life, the rest of her friends came running up to them, all but Harriet needing to catch their breath.

As soon as she caught her breath, Maggie exclaimed heatedly, "What the hell Sandy, at least give us a warning before you just start sprinting off for no reason! Now I'm gonna be all sweat-" Her rant died, however, as soon as she saw Nikki, and all her irritation disappeared in an instant as her big brown eyes started welling up with tears. She gasped, covering her mouth with her hands."Oh, God... Nikki!"

Maggie then launched herself forward, joining Sandy in hugging the daylights out of Nikki. She cried freely, not caring that her makeup was ruined, especially her mascara, which was streaming down her face along with the tears. They were immediately joined by Cassandra, and now Nikki had three crying friends hugging her with a grip so tight it was as if they were afraid she'd disappear if they let her go. The only one not hugging Nikki and crying their eyes out was Harriet, who stood there as stone-faced as ever, but there was something in her eyes as she observed the scene before her.

"Guys, guys, I'm okay." Nikki said finally, squirming to get out of their grip. "Now get off, I can't breathe!"

Still crying, they did as she said and let her go, one by one. Sandy was the last, and she made her disapproval show with a good punch in the arm, making Nikki flinch.

"Ow!" She yelped.

"Do you have any idea how worried we were?" Sandy began to scold her, glaring through the tears.

"I'm sorry, okay?"

Sandy scoffed. "'Sorry?' You follow some stranger through a weird portal-thingy and end up being held prisoner by some evil Organization for a month and all you have to say is 'sorry?'" At the look on Nikki's face, the redhead put her hands on her hips and continued with slight smugness, "Oh yeah, we know all about this whole 'Organization XIII' business. Sora, Riku and Kairi told us everything."

Nikki gulped. "Everything?"

"E-ve-ry-thing." Sandy said, emphasizing each syllable.

Somehow this made Nikki even angrier at the young trio; they couldn't tell her everything that happened, but they tell her friends? They were definitely going to get a verbal lashing the next time she saw them.

"I didnae want this to happen Sandy, it just did. What I did was stupid, and reckless, and I'm sorry. What else do you want me to say? I was an idiot for following some strange kid through a portal to God-knows-where, but I wouldnae have done it if those three had just been honest and told me everything from the beginning! I'm not the only one at fault here! So just lay off!"

Nikki didn't realize that she had been yelling until she had finished her little rant, seeing that not only were her friends staring at her with expressions of shock, but other students had stopped and stared as well. A quick glare sent her peers back on their way as she continued to stand there breathing heavily with her hands clenched into fists. Cassandra, the most sensitive of the group, had taken refuge behind Harriet, who remained expressionless. At first Sandy was about to open her mouth to retort, but suddenly decided against it, allowing this awkward, uncomfortable silence to continue for a few minutes.

The redhead finally spoke up after five minutes of silence. "So... how is this going to work, exactly; with you being their prisoner and all?"

Finally feeling somwehat calm, Nikki replied, "Well, the Organization doesn't want another fight with Sora and Riku, considering they beat their asses last time, so we worked out a deal. I can go anywhere I want as long as I have one of them with me, and there won't be any fighting as long as I'm safe. That's basically it."

"And your parents are okay with this?" Sandy asked with a raised eyebrow.

Nikki shrugged. "As okay as they can be, all things considered." She said. She paused for a moment before adding quietly, "I'm sorry for worrying you.."

Suddenly Harriet, who had remained silent the entire time, approached Nikki with that same steely look she had been wearing throughout the whole exchange. Being the tallest girl in the group, she towered over Nikki, who was shrinking back under her cool gaze. She was completely unprepared when the ravenette's fist shot out and punched her in the arm with enough force for her to feel a sharp ache. Nikki grunted in pain and held her arm, rubbing it in an attempt to alleviate the soreness that was forming in the spot where Harriet had hit her.

The taller girl gave her the darkest look she had ever seen, and though she was still speaking in her usual monotone voice, there was a slight edge to it as she simply said, "Don't do it again."

And just like that, the steely look in the ravenette's eyes was gone as she looked at Nikki with a small smile; just barely noticeable, which was normal for her. Offering a broader smile in return, Nikki hugged the taller girl and Harriet, not really being the affectionate type, just patted her on the head. The rest of the group joined in on the hug, but broke away from it quickly so they could get into the building before the bell rang.

As they walked onto school grounds and towards the font entrance, Sandy piped up, "So what exactly happened, anyway?"

Nikki sat in the little chair in front of Mr. Cooper's desk, playing with the pendant around her neck nervously as the vice-principal sifted through his documents. Just as she had walked inside the building, a member of the faculty stopped her and said she needed to report to the main office. Normally she would be talking to the principal himself, but the secretary said he was "too busy" to see her, so she was sent to Mr. Cooper's office instead. This was no surprise, of course. Principal Callahan was always "too busy" when it came to Nikki and her friends, and even if he did decide to grace them with his presence it was usually to give them a talking to about whatever scuffle they got into with his daughters that day; even if said daughters started it. It was fine, though. They preferred kindly Mr. Cooper over Principal Callahan any day. He could be a bit overbearing at times, but he always had the students' best interests at heart. Whenever there was a conflict, he tried to listen to both sides of the story before dealing out judgement, and he was usually pretty fair when it came to such things.

In contrast to Mr. Callahan, who was tall and fit, Mr. Cooper was short and chubby, with neatly combed hair and a fresh-pressed suit.

Mr. Cooper politely cleared his throat before speaking. "Good morning, Miss Hale. I understand that your parents reported you missing a month ago. I just want you to know that we are happy to have you back safe and sound. That being said, you have missed quite a lot while you were gone. If you'd like, we can give you some extra help after school to help you catch up, and I'm sure your friends will be more than happy to offer you their assistance as well."

He then handed Nikki a piece of paper.

"This here is your schedule. You'll find that all the classes you've chosen last year are all on the list. You'd better get going; your first class will be starting any minute. Off you go. Enjoy your first day back, Miss Hale!"

"Thank you, sir."

With that, Nikki left Mr. Cooper's office, shutting the door behind her.

As she walked to her first class, Nikki looked at the piece of paper the vice-principal had given her. The first class listed on the schedule was Gym with Mr. Ryan. Her other classes were Health with Mrs. Sanchez, English with Ms. Holly, Spanish with Mrs. Carriedo-Lopez, Science with Mr. Lincoln and History with Mr. Jameson. With only a few minutes until the first bell rang, Nikki hurried to the locker room, knowing full well how Mr. Ryan responded to tardiness; students who came in late had to run laps around the gym until he saw fit to tell them to stop, which usually took about fifty laps in extreme cases. Luckily, though, he would give the student some time to rest and hyrdate themselves before telling them to get off their ass and participate.

Luckily she was able to make it to the locker room and change into her gym clothes, making it into the gym with two minutes to spare. As was customary in Mr. Ryan's class, the students all lined up perfectly for him to do a roll call. She squeezed into the line, ending up right next to her best friend Sandy.

"Cutting it a bit close, aren't you?"

"Sorry." Nikki said. "I had to go see Mr. Cooper first."

"Why, was Mr. Callahan 'too busy' to talk to you himself?" The redhead remarked snidely.

"You know how it is." Nikki simply said, shrugging.

At the sound of heavy footsteps, the class fell silent, standing up straight as the gym teacher, Mr. Ryan stepped into the room. A tall, dark-skinned man, Mr. Ryan, with his bulky, well-defined muscles, straight posture and intimidating presence, made his students look like a pack of bent toothpicks. Being ex-military, a drill-sergeant to be exact, he had the tendency to treat his class like soldiers in training rather than a bunch of teenagers. Dressed in his usual army camouflage and dog tags, he looked like he just stepped out of the military base. He approached the line of students, hands folded behind his back.

"All right, maggots." He barked authoratively. "You know the drill. Anyone who doesn't answer when I call their name does extra laps."

Taking a clipboard, he called everyone's names. None of his students ever dared to mess with him or be smart during roll call. Anyone that did was forced to run laps until they collapsed. Everyone knew by now that Mr. Ryan was a tough, no-nonsense teacher that readily dealt out punishment to disrespectful students. The fact that he was ex-military and a former drill-sergeant only added to his expectations for proper behavior and respect, and after he made examples of a few smartasses people learned very quickly to abide by it, lest they suffer the consequences.

When he reached Nikki's name, he stopped.

"Nicole Hale." He called out.

"Here." She answered.

Mr. Ryan gave her a brief look-over before speaking. "Good to have you back, soldier. But don't think you'll get any special treatment just because you were missing for a month. I expect you to be able to keep up, you hear?"

"Yes Sir! I will, Sir!"

Satisfied, he said a quick "Good," and moved on to the next name on the list.

"All right," He said after finishing his roll call, "now I want all of you to run laps and don't stop until I say so."

Mr. Ryan then took the well-polished whistle that was around his neck and blew it long and loud, enough for the students' ears to ring, and shouted, "Begin!"

At the sound of the whistle the class took off running, going in circles around the gym. Every time someone went too slow, Mr. Ryan blew his whistle at them and demanded they run faster, making them maintain a light jog at the least. He had them keep going until he determined that each student had done a minimum of fifteen laps. Gesturing to a table heavily stocked with bottles, he had everyone take a ten minute break to rest and have some water. It was during this time that Nikki and her friends gathered to talk. The only one who wasn't there was Cassandra, who, being the youngest, was a year behind them, and therefore in the junior class.

"So what are these people like? Organization XIII, I mean." Sandy asked.

"I'm not supposed to talk about them, Sandy." Nikki replied dismissively. "One of the rules of being a captive, you know. Besides, one of them might be here listening."

Determined to get an answer, the redhead pressed, "Just sum it up for us, then."

The brunette sighed. "All right, fine." She said. She took a brief look around to make sure no one was listening before she gestured for them to come forward. They all leaned toward her, forming some sort of huddle, and only then did Nikki feel comfortable enough to speak. "They're crazy, and that's putting it nicely. Now can we change the subject, please? I'd really rather not talk about the Organization. The less people that know what's going on, the better."

"You have a point." Sandy conceded. "Imagine if Monique and Bella found out."

At the thought of her two worst enemies finding out her situation, and most likely using it to spread wild rumors about her, Nikki shuddered. "Just thinking about it gives me a headache."

"I have some pills in my bag." The redhead offered. "You want one?"

At first Nikki considered taking her up on the offer, but declined after thinking about it. "Maybe later."

"You sure you're okay, hon?" Maggie piped up, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, Mags, I'm fine." Nikki assured her.

Just as Sandy opened her mouth to speak, the sound of Mr. Ryan's whistle rang through the gym, signaling the end of their ten minute break. At first the redhead pouted and attempted to grill Nikki for more answers, she was roughly pushed ahead by Harriet who was giving her the 'let it go' look. Another fifteen laps later, Mr. Ryan called the students back in and, after expressing his satisfaction with their performance, announced that they coud have a free period for the rest of the class. They were now free to partake in any activity they wanted, just so long as they weren's just sitting there doing nothing.

Like usual, Nikki's group gathered in the weight room, settling down in one spot with one girl each using a different machine to keep themselves busy so their teacher wouldn't think they were slacking off.

By the time gym ended, Nikki's muscles were so sore she could feel them pulsing under her skin; which was normal for Mr. Ryan's classes, dragging her feet as she walked to her next class. As she was making her way down the hall, she spots some familiar faces, all of which gave her an unpleasant feeling in her stomach... faces belonging to Monique and her sister Bella. Like usual, the twins were surrounded by their fellow cheerleaders as they stood in front of the lockers, gathered in a huddle as they were engaged in conversation; no doubt gossiping as usual.

At first Nikki thought she could sneak around them, but unfortunately one of the girls spotted her and nudged Monique, pointing in her direction. The brunette sighed heavily as the blonde saw her, smiled arrogantly, and silenced the other cheerleaders with a snap of her fingers.

"Well, well, well," Monique started with that same, sickeningly sweet voice that Nikki hated with a passion, "look who it is girls. It's little Nikki."

"Piss off, Monique. I'm not in the mood for your shit today." Nikki growled.

She attempted to move past the group of girls and continue on her way, but they blocked her path.

Monique didn't seem bothered by Nikki's attitude because the smile on her face hadn't faltered one bit. "Ooh, someone's cranky this morning. We just wanted to say hi. We missed you, you know." She paused to address her squad. "Right girls?"

Bella and the rest of the squad nodded in agreement, smiling and giggling as they stood on either side of their leader.

With a tired sigh, Nikki asked, "What do you want Monique?"

"It's like I said. We just wanted to welcome you back and tell you how much we missed you. Things just weren't the same while you were gone. Those little friends of yours are so boring without you around to pull their strings. They look so lost and pathetic without you. It's sad, really."

Nikki crossed her arms. "Is there a point to all this, or are you just running your mouth like usual?"

Bella scoffed, looking offended. "How rude! Here we are being nice to you and you have the nerve to talk to us like that?"

"Shut up, Bella." Monique snapped harshly, making her sister flinch. She turned her attention back to Nikki and said sweetly, "Of course I have a point. My point is that you're entertaining and your friends aren't-at least without you around. Now that you're back, it'll be just like old times."

She paused briefly to look at her expensive watch, gasping lightly when she saw the time. "Oh my, look at the time. Class will start soon, and we don't want to be late, do we? You can have today to get settled, but it'll be back to business as usual tomorrow. We look forward to spending more quality time with you, darling."

And with that, Monique started walking, snapping her fingers as a signal to the others to follow her. Bella and the other girls obediently followed behind her, and Nikki locked eyes with the twins for a quick, but very tense, few seconds. Her and Bella glared at each other while Monique just smirked as they passed her and continued down the hall. Bella, who still felt bitter about being shot down by her sister, lingered at the back of the group and gave Nikki a rough bump with her shoulder behind her twin's back, the impact making the brunette drop her books. Feeling satisfied, Bella shot a smug smirk at Nikki as she strutted away, unfazed by the glare that was thrown her way.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Nikki just shook her head and knelt down to pick up her books.

"Some things never change..." She muttered quietly to herself.

The rest of Nikki's day went by without incident, but she found herself nearly buried under a mound of not only homework for that day but also makeup work for the month she lost. She hoped that between her friends and Zexion-if she could convince him to help-she could get it all done relatively quickly. The supersized workload was weighing down her already heavy backpack, making her walk with a slight hunch. To top it all off, she had gotten a text from Axel earlier that day, telling her that he was on a mission and would be a few minutes late picking her up.

As she exited the school, she spotted Kairi talking to Selphie, with Sora and Riku nowhere to be found. She called out the redhead's name, causing both girls to look her way.

"Hey Nikki." Kairi greeted her. "What's up?"

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Nikki asked.

"Sure."

Kairi and Selphie promptly said goodbye to each other and and the brunette walked away, leaving Kairi and Nikki alone. The redhead suddenly had a serious, mildly sad and guilty-looking expression on her face as soon as her friend left, giving Nikki the impression that she knew what she wanted to talk to her about.

"I'm so sorry about everything, Nikki." Kairi began to apologize, before Nikki had a chance to say anything. "It wasn't right for us to keep this whole thing with Organization XIII a secret from you, especially since you were always like a big sister to us. So much had happened while we were gone, and we only lied because we didn't want you to be dragged into it. We were just trying to protect you, and you ended up getting involved in this whole mess anyway."

"To be fair, I did follow Roxas; a kid I didn't know at the time, through a portal leading who-knows-where, and just waltzed right into their castle. I would say the blame goes 50/50 in this case." The brunette admitted, scratching the back of her neck.

Kairi shrugged and agreed, "I guess so. Sora and Riku told me about the meeting with your parents, and it's just so crazy. To be honest, I wasn't expecting them to let you come back to school."

"They just don't want Sora and Riku to kick their asses again." Nikki said with a smile.

Kairi laughed. "Yeah. Those two would have torn the castle apart to save you."

"Yeah, they would have."

"I can't speak for the boys, but I don't want anything like this to ever happen again. I promise that I'll never keep anything secret from you ever again, Nikki. The next time we go on an adventure, I'll make sure to let you know."

Nikki gave the redhead an appreciative smile. "Thanks, Kairi. That means a lot. Speaking of Sora and Riku, where are they? Usually when I see you three, you're always together."

Kairi thought about it for a moment, putting a finger to her lip.

"I think Sora said he forgot something in the locker room and went to go look for it. Riku went with him." She called after Nikki as the brunette turned around and began walking away, back towards the school, ""Why, is something wrong?"

"Nope." The older girl replied nonchalantly. "We're just going to have a little talk, is all. Don't worry, they'll come back out in one piece. See you later, Kairi."

Nikki's walk then turned into a run as she headed back inside the school, leaving a mildly concerned Kairi behind.

As soon as she re-entered the building, Nikki made a beeline for the boys' locker room where Kairi said that Sora and Riku had gone. Sure enough, she found them inside searching the lockers, with Sora becoming more worried and Riku just looking fed up. Besides her, they were the only people in the room. Opting not to say anything, Nikki just crossed her arms and leaned against the wall as she waited to be noticed.

"Are you sure you left it in here?" Riku asked with an exasperated sigh.

"I'm positive." Sora replied.

"You sure you didn't leave it in one of the classrooms?"

"We checked those rooms already. It wasn't in any of them." There was a slight pause before Sora suggested, with worry in his voice, "What if someone stole it?"

Riku rolled his eyes and said, rather bluntly,"I don't think anybody in their right mind would want to steal an old, faded and bleach-stained Superman t-shirt..."

Sora huffed. "Hey, that shirt was lucky!" He yelled out defensively. "I've been wearing it under my gym uniform for years and we haven't lost a single kickball game! It's also why I never get hit when we play dodgeball."

"You never get hit because I always have to save you." Riku deadpanned.

Sora shot the other teen a big, toothy grin and replied, "See? Totally lucky."

Sora then turned his attention back to the locker he was searching. Because he was too busy being neck-deep in said locker, he didn't notice Riku smile and shake his head. After about a minuye there was a sudden gasp, and Sora came out of the locker with his "lucky" shirt in his hands.

"Riku, I found it!" He exclaimed exitedly, showing his friend the shirt.

"Great, now let's get out of here. Kairi's probably thinking we got lost or something."

Sora nodded in agreement and stood up. He and Riku turned around and took one step before freezing instantly when they saw Nikki standing there leaning against the wall. They knew just by the look on her face that they were in trouble.

"Uh, Riku..."

"Crap.. Run."

Before they could run away, Nikki ran up to them and grabbed both boys by the ears, making them wince in pain

"Where do you think you're going? You two have some explaining to do." Nikki began to scold them. "You and Kairi go missing for over a year and when you finally get back you do nothing but keep secrets. I've been like a big sister to you three for years, and you have the nerve to keep your adventures a secret from me? I just think it's pretty damn sad that I had to get the truth from Roxas; a member of Organization XIII, who are your enemies by the way, instead of you. You had no problem telling my friends, though, did you? I thought this whole thing was supposed to be kept a secret. So spill it."

"It's not like we had a choice, Nikki." Riku said in their defense.

"Yeah. It was Sandy." Sora agreed. "She said we wouldn't make it to graduation if we didn't tell her what happened."

Nikki raised an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me that a couple of powerful Keyblade Wielders that fought countless monsters, saved worlds and stopped a villainous organization from gaining ultimate power let themselves get pushed around and threatened by a human with no special abilities or powers whatsoever?"

"You do know we're talking about Sandy, right?" Riku pointed out.

"What could she possibly do to you?"

"You'd be surprised. Can you let us go now?"

Nikki shook her head. "Not until you promise that you won't keep any more secrets from me." She said adamantly.

"You don't need to know everything we do, Nikki." Riku said defiantly.

"I think I have a right to know when you go on adventures to save the universe from darkness and evil. I would actually worry about you less if I knew what was going on." Nikki then tightened her grip on their ears, and said forcefully, "Now promise me."

Immediately Sora caved, grabbing Nikki's wrist and trying in vain to pry it off his ear as tears welled up in his eyes. "Owowowowow! Okay! I promise!"

As soon as she let him go, Sora rubbed his sore ear, which had turned red by this point. Riku, however, remained silent.

"Come on, Riku." Sora urged him to comply. "You know she won't let you go until you do what she says."

Riku continued to stay silent in defiance, but winced when Nikki tightened her grip on his ear.

"Okay, fine..." He conceded. "I promise."

Finally feeling satisfied, Nikki let him go.

"There, was that so hard?" She asked.

Rubbing his ear, Riku grumbled, "You really need to think of ways to get your point across other than inflicting pain."

"It worked, didn't it?"

"Was it really necessary, though?" Sora asked. "We already said we were sorry."

"I know." Nikki said. "I just wanted the extra closure of knowing you'll never keep secrets or lie to me again."

The look on her face made the two boys flinch. It was the kind of face your mom made when she was using a smile to hide how mad at you she really was. They could feel the anger boiling beneath the surface.

"Don't worry Nikki, we won't." Sora promised, his voice quivering a little.

Nikki's face then returned to normal. "Good." She said. "Now run along, before Kairi starts worrying about you."

As Sora and Riku left the locker room, Nikki's phone suddenly went off. She opened and found a text from Sandy asking where she was and that she was waiting by the front gate. Not wanting to keep her friend waiting, she left the locker room immediately.

When she got outside, Nikki found her best friend waiting by the front gate, looking like she was waiting there for an hour rather than a few minutes. That was typical of Sandy, however, as the girl was anxious and didn't have a great deal of patience because of it. The redhead looked up from her phone and saw Nikki approach her, and moved so she was standing up straight.

"I thought they would have picked you up by now." She said.

Knowing Sandy was referring to someone in Organization XIII, Nikki replied, "They're gonna be a little late. You wanna take a walk?"

Sandy just shrugged, which Nikki took as a confirmation, and they began walking off of school grounds and down the sidewalk.

"So you think the Organization will allow you to sleep over tonight, or are sleepovers off-limits to prisoners?" Sandy asked.

"Pretty sure they are, unless you want to spend a night in the castle."

Sandy scoffed. "Me? Spend the night in a castle full of crazy people? No thanks."

"Then I don't think it's going to happen."

"Damn..." The redhead cursed. She changed the subject after a few seconds, asking, "How do they expect you to get back to the castle, anyway? You can't make a portal-thingy, can you?"

Nikki stated matter-of-factly, "If I could, I would have escaped a long time ago. Axel's picking me up."

"Oh." There was a brief pause before Sandy asked, "Do you want me to beat him up for you?"

Nikki couldn't help but snort. "Axel is the Organization's assassin and double agent. If you think you can sneak up on him, then go for it. Let me know how it turns out."

"Hey, it's worth a shot." Sandy said, shrugging.

As they approached an alleyway; the same one Axel dropped Nikki off in, a portal suddenly appeared, mildly startling Sandy. She recovered quickly though, looking like she was ready to fight. As the Nobody exited the portal, she asked Nikki in a hushed tone, "That's him, right?"

Nikki nodded, and Sandy scowled in response.

"Long time no see, Sunshine." Axel greeted as he stepped out of the portal.

Nikki's face went flat."You dropped me off this morning." She deadpanned.

"You mean it's only been six hours? To me it felt like an eternity."

"When it comes to you, not even an eternity would be long enough." Nikki retorted harshly.

Axel gasped dramatically, a look of mock-hurt on his face as he put his hand over his heart. "Ouch, Sweetheart, that really hurt. I do have feelings, you know."

At the pet name, Sandy angrily interjected, "Don't call her that, you no-good friend-napper! She may be your prisoner, but that doesn't mean she belongs to you!"

"Actually, that's exactly what it means." The Nobody stated matter-of-factly. "And I'm sorry, but who are you?"

Sandy crossed her arms and stated proudly, "The name's Sandy. I'm her best friend and your worst nightmare. I'm warning you, if you do anything, anything at all to hurt her, I will end you so you better watch your ass, buster."

"I'm absolutely terrified." He muttered sarcastically. Then he turned to Nikki and asked, "So, you ready to head back?"

"Actually, I wanted to hang out with Sandy tonight." Nikki said, and Axel noticed the redheaded female's smug look from behind her.

"You can do whatever you want, so long as you don't mind having a third wheel tagging along."

"There's no way I'm letting that leather coat-wearing hedgehog in my house!" Sandy yelled out, pointing at Axel.

Axel raised an eyebrow. "Hedgehog?"

Looking smug, Sandy asked mockingly, "What's wrong? Did I hurt your feelings?"

In response, Axel smirked."I hate to burst your bubble Kiddo, but I've been called worse things by better people. If you really want to insult me, you'll have to do better than that."

The Nobody's smirk widened as Sandy's smugness faded.

"You're wasting your time, Sandy. Trust me." Nikki pointed out. "Insulting him is like getting Xemnas to laugh at knock-knock jokes. It just doesn't work."

At first Sandy considered flinging another insult, but decided against it and instead crossed her arms again, looking away in a huff. She stated defiantly, "I stand by what I said."

Nikki rolled her eyes at her friend's stubbornness and suggested, "Okay, then we can go to my house."

"No offense Sweetheart-" Axel continued to speak, ignoring the death glare Sandy was giving him for calling Nikki 'sweetheart' again, "-but if we go to your house, I'll have your dad breathing down my neck the whole time. That, and your dog growls at me."

"That dog deserves a steak."

"Why don't we go someplace neutral." The Nobody suggested, ignoring Sandy once again. "That way, everybody's happy. Sound fair?"

"I guess so." Nikki agreed. "How about Destiny Island?"

"Works for me." Axel said, shrugging.

Nikki turned to her friend. "Sandy?"

"Whatever."

"Okay then..."

Taking his cue, Axel opened a new portal, fighting back a smirk when the action made Sandy jump slightly. Gesturing to the swirling black mass, he said in a gentlemanly voice, "Ladies first."

"My, what a gentleman." Sandy said sarcastically.

"I was talking to the cute one."

Immediately Sandy was on the defensive. "You sayin' I'm ugly?" She asked accusingly.

Putting his hands up, Axel said dismissively, "Hey, you said it, not me."

Sandy snarled. "Why you-!"

"All right, that's enough. Let's go." Nikki immediately got behind her friend and started pushing her towards the portal.

As Nikki pushed Sandy towards the portal, said redhead spouting off mild curses, she shot a a glare at Axel as she passed him, silently telling him to cut the crap. His only response was a shrug and that telltale smirk of his as he followed them into the portal.

After they arrived at Destiny Island, Nikki and Sandy sat by the beach while Axel was hanging back under a nearby tree; just far enough to be out of earshot but close enough to see them, and Nikki began to tell her friend about everything that had happened while she was at the castle. The redhead listened intently to everything the brunette said, mostly staying silent while showing a look of shock every so often. When Nikki finished, Sandy let out a shaky breath.

"You're handling it better than I would have, Nikki. I don't think I could ever call the people keeping me prisoner my friends." She paused for a second, and then asked, "You're not really friends with them, are you?"

Just from the look on her friend's face, Nikki knew that Sandy was hoping she'd say no. She briefly turned her head to look at Axel and saw him on his phone; no doubt texting Roxas or playing some game, then turned back to Sandy.

She shrugged. "Hm, more or less. But it's only a few of them. The members that went with me to talk to my parents are the only ones out of the entire organization that I would ever consider friends."

Sandy grimaced. "Even spikehead over there?" She asked with disdain, nodding towards Axel.

"He's an annoying, insufferable git and I want to punch him in his smug face." Nikki muttered angrily, pounding her fist into her palm for emphasis. "I swear his purpose in life is to aggravate me. I tolerate him for Roxas' sake."

"Roxas must really be special if you're willing to put up with Axel."

"He's Sora's Nobody. They may be two different people personality-wise, but they have the same effect on others. I feel like a big sister to Sora, so it makes sense that I feel the same way towards Roxas."

"Is it normal for a Nobody and their original self to exist at the same time?" Sandy asked.

"Probably not." Nikki replied, shrugging. "But Vexen had some spare replica vessels lying around, so one was given to Roxas so he could have a body of his own. Now the two can be around each other without one of them passing out."

"Is Roxas anything like Sora?"

Nikki thought about it for a second. "In some ways. He's not nearly as happy-go-lucky or mellow as Sora is, but he's not a little jerk either. He's a good kid."

"That's good." Sandy paused again before asking, "You sure you can't sleep over tonight?"

Nikki muttered drly, "Let me check with my parole officer." Turning towards Axel, she called out,"Hey Axel, can I sleep over Sandy's house tonight?"

Axel didn't even look up from his phone as he responded absentmindedly, "Only if I can keep an eye on you, and you know that means I'll have to stay there too."

"Hell no!" Sandy yelled immediately.

"Then you can't."

Nikki groaned in exasperation. "Come on, can't you bend the rules just this once?"

"Sorry Sweetheart, no can do."

"But it's just for one night! Please?"

"Not unless your friend wants to stay at the castle."

"No way!" Sandy interjected.

Nikki turned to her friend, pleading. "It's only for one night, Sandy. Besides, you can meet Roxas. Please?"

Puffing out her lower lip, the brunette gave Sandy the biggest pouty, sad kicked puppy look the redhead had ever seen. Her hands clasped together, Nikki held them up in a pleading gesture, her lip quivering as tears welled up in her big blue eyes.

Axel wasn't going to lie. That was the cutest puppy dog face he had ever seen.

"Nikki, no." The redhead refused. "No, no, no. That face is not going to work on me. Not this time. Forget it."

But Nikki didn't stop. The look only intensified, and the brunette even started sniffling.

"I said no."

The sniffling turned into whining.

"Nikki, I said-"

The tears were about to fall...

"Okay. I'll do it."

And just like that, the puppy face was gone and Nikki let out a happy squeal, catching Sandy in a hug. As she was being hugged, Sandy turned to Axel and pointed a finger at him, telling him in a warning tone, "But no funny business, you got it? I don't want to wake up missing a kidney or something."

Axel raised an eyebrow, then waved it off. He said nonchalantly, "You can keep your kidneys. We're more interested in hearts. Vexen loves to dissect them, but the rest of us enjoy them as a tasty snack."

Sandy gasped at this and clutched her heart.

"Don't listen to him, Sandy." Nikki told her, shooting Axel the "cut the shit" glare while he sat there smirking. "You should call your mom."

Sandy's eyebrow arched. "And what do I tell her, exactly?" She asked.

"Just ask her if you can sleep over my house. I'll call my parents and let them know what's going on, and if your mom asks they'll lie and say we're both there eating ice cream and watching movies like we always do. She'll buy that."

"Okay." Sandy sighed heavily. "Jeez, the things I do for you.."

Sandy never felt more out of place in her life. There she was, in Nikki's room in the castle, surrounded by a bunch of weirdos in black leather coats; even if one of them was an adorable little cinammon roll, as they all tried to decide what they were going to do for the evening. Demyx had brought in a stack of board games three feet high; Battleship, Monopoly, Scrabble and Candy Land, to name a few, shoving each game in Zexion's face as the shorter Nobody was getting steadily more irritated. Apparently the schemer had been sitting in his room, reading like usual, when Demyx barged in and said they were having a sleepover, dragging him out before he had a chance to respond. Roxas and Axel were sitting in front of the TV Nikki brought from home, debating on which one of her games they should play. The redhead wanted to play a Resident Evil game while the blonde insisted that they play Legend of Zelda.

"This is not how I pictured staying in a castle run by an evil organization..." Sandy thought, not even bothering to hide the look of annoyance and mild disappointment on her face.

"Is it normally like this?" The redhead asked, referring to the two different arguments going on in front of them.

"With these guys? Aye. It is." Nikki replied. "You get used to it after a while."

While Nikki wasn't looking, Sandy made a face. There was no way she could ever get used to something like this.

Nikki stood up suddenly. "All right, that's it." She said testily as she made her way to Zexion and Demyx, who were the closest to her.

Grabbing a board game from the stack the noturne had on the floor, she then stalked over to the TV where Axel and Roxas were still locked in a heated debate. She pushed both of them aside and picked a completely different game than the two they were arguing over and slapped both items on the floor in the middle of the room. Then she took a few movies from her library and added them to the pile as well.

"Listen up." She said with authority. "This is my sleepover, so we're doing this my way, got it? We're starting with The Game of Life, and once we're done with that we're playing Mario Kart. The first person to win ten races wins, and then we move on to movies. We're gonna watch Marvel movies because I said so. Any questions?"

Axel raised his hand, no doubt to throw in a sarcastic remark, but Nikki ignored him.

"Good." She clapped her hands together. "Let's go play Life. I call the blue car~!"

"Aw, man!" Demyx whined. "I wanted the blue car..." He thought bitterly.

A few hours later, the group was exhausted. The Game of Life took longer than they expected, partially because Sandy and Nikki were the only ones who knew how to play so they had to explain the rules to the Nobodies. Luckily, they caught on quick enough and they were able to get through the game without hitting any snags. Zexion ended up winning, making it to retirement before any of the other players. Demyx, being the last to make it to the end of the game, bitterly claimed it was because he used his illusion powers to cheat, though the schemer denied it, calling the nocturne a sore loser. This fueled the blonde to try his absolute hardest to beat everyone in Mario Kart, but ended up coming in third behind Axel and Roxas who were both competing for first place. The evening ended after the group watched three different Marvel movies before finally deciding to throw in the towel and go to bed, but not before having a debate on which one of the three films was the best.

Too tired to return to their own rooms, the Nobodies had some Dusks bring in sleeping bags and slept on the floor. Sandy, not wanting to share the same sleeping space with the guys, opted to sleep in Nikki's bed. This decision earned her a remark from Axel, who was being a smartass as usual, but she got him back by giving him a swift kick to the shin. She felt good about it for a full two seconds before the assassin pointed out that she kicked like a little girl. The redhead would have kicked him again, this time aiming a little higher, but Nikki stopped her before she could even lift her foot.

As Nikki and the Nobodies laid asleep in their chosen spots, Sandy remained wide awake from her spot on Nikki's bed. She just couldn't get her head around it. How could all of them just play around, being all buddy-buddy and acting like nothing was wrong? Her best friend was being held prisoner by these people, and here they were in her room having a sleepover of all things, playing games and watching movies like they were all friends.

There was no way Nikki was really friends with them. Sure, Roxas was the exception because he's Sora's Nobody, but Axel? Demyx? Zexion? There was no way. Nikki must have developed Stockholm Syndrome. It was the only explanation. Why else would she be calling these people-with the exception of Roxas-her friends? And how could everyone be okay with all this; including Nikki's parents, and Sora, Riku and Kairi? The more Sandy thought about it, the more it drained her. Eventually she fell asleep too, wild thoughts swimming in her head.

To be continued...