Now we're getting to the Books where a lot more happens. In this one, I will include a lot more worlds, but not all as there are several where things will stay the same. Those I will skip, but if there are changes in those worlds but I didn't consider it worth a whole chapter, I will tell you.

enjoy

Fire is burning down the forest, magic neither light nor dark is rapidly consuming the lands thanks to two creatures, bearing an armored hearts-shaped mark on their bodies, their pale blue eyes, wide in the insanity of a lost bond, broken their contact to this realm.

She runs through the fire, trying to avoid the magic that is dragging this world into this other realm. 'I don't think I can make it.'

These two are not like the others; their voices are screaming for the bond they have lost. They cannot hear her through their own agony. Nor see her through those blind blue eyes.

One of them, in the shape of a tailed lizard, appears out from the flames, it roars and she hears its voice scream out in pain at having lost its bond to its master. The magic is leaking out from the markings on its body, something that tells her will pull this miserable Keeper back of where it belongs, but with a terrible prize… this world will be dragged down with it. "Let me help you!" She cries at the creature but it cannot hear her; more and more magic flushes out from its markings. Blinded, it runs straight at her and only by a hair, she dodges its long tail and can only watch it run back into the burning forest.

Another scream of agony, this time from the sky. She looks up and sees what was supposed to be her target, flying with its entire body on fire and being the cause of why this forest is burning. Like the tailed lizard this harpy eagle Keeper screams in agony of the lost bond, calling, searching for the bond to be mended. It strikes to the ground, evoking more fire. She blocks her face from the scorching flames, more than ever wants to get away but since her awakening, she has lost all of her former powers other than the ability to hear these powerful creatures.

Her prison warden is most likely having a blast watching her getting beaten down like this. She hates it but sadly, there is nothing she can do about it. Her protector cannot come and help as he does not know about this mission. If he did, then Xemnas won't hesitate to tighten the rope around his neck. She dreads he will make her protectors' eyes turn yellow again and if that happens, she does not have the power to save him.

'I have to do this.' She struggles through the intense fire, 'I need to—I can do it!' she sets into a sprint, following the two lost Keepers. She finds the harpy eagle, well, it actually found her. Appearing right before her, the red stones on its body engulfed in flames and it has trouble focusing on her in its desperate screeching to get its bond mended.

She stares at the giant bird before her, and although it's a huge threat to her, she does not feel afraid, only pitying this sad creature. "I've lost a friend who could control fire like you…" the Keeper snaps its attention to her, staring with its wide blue eyes and having problems focusing. She reaches a hand out to it "I know I'm not the one you're searching for, but I can be a friend if you want."

The flames in the red stones fade, the Keeper starts to focus better and after some hesitating, it slowly lowers its head down to her outstretched hand. Its beak touches her skin, and it surprises her; it is not hot but a comfortable warm. She can feel it reaching for her heart, wanting to create a bond between them.

In exchange, it will protect and obey her command.

She smiles, touched by its words and steps closer, hugging the giant bird's warm head. "You can be my Keeper." The harpy eagle's eyes softens, a feline pupil appears and slowly closes its eyes. A moment later and it shrinks, turning into a necklace with silver vines holding a bright red stone.

A portal opens and out from it walks a middle aged man, the right eye covered with an eye path, left side of the cheek having a large jagged scar. Like any other member of Organization XIII, is dressed in a black coat that is meant to protect one against the two realms of light and darkness. "Well done, little flower." Xigbar takes the necklace and smirks down to her fearful yet determent stare of their puppet. He opens a portal, she glances back to the burning and soon to be dragged down world. The other one, in form of a lizard can still be heard, but there's nothing she can do for that one. Xigbar smirks at the sound of that other Keeper's screaming. "Looks like this world won't be around for much longer." She gets quite upset at that, not that he cares. This Keeper is part of a successful experiment on his part, revealing what happens when a Keeper losses its master. He pushes her into the portal. She reluctantly follows, has to hurry though; her heart might be immune to the darkness but not her body and unless she wants to go back as well, then this girl better keep up with him.

Back in The World That Never Was, she is put back into her room, not allowed to leave unless supervised, truly giving the sense of being in prison.

She looks at the Aster tataricus flower pot beside her bed. The flowers have become limp and starting to turn brown.

Saix said it is dying because it does not get any sunlight and she, now taken this flower's name, feels the same. Shion turns her eyes to the black sky outside, letting her mind wander to the better days when she and her three best friends were sitting on the clock tower, talking about silly stuff while eating ice cream. 'I can only wonder if we will get the chance of doing that again, but…' she dries away a tear. 'those days are over.' Shion wants to leave but that's impossible, she cannot create dark portals anymore and even if she got inside one, she no longer wears the cloak that will protect her against the darkness residing in there. Not to mention that she has lost the keyblade, this time for good, and without a weapon, Shion knows she won't get far if she ever tried to run away.

Teleporting into the large room holding thirteen tall chairs, Saix, once the second-in-command, now demoted to the most distrusted member of the Organization. Not that he has the heart to care about his demotion. They might have chained him, but the plan he made with Axel will not falter.

"Saix, to prove your loyalty, return Roxas back to us." Xemnas, the leader of the Organization speaks from the tallest chair in his ever melancholy yet overdramatic voice. "Failure is not an option, unless you do not care about your other 'friend'"

Saix does not answer, he merely teleports away. He knew this would happen, Xemnas wants to torment him by forcing him to hunt down the people who reminded his empty body the importance of friendship and the warmth from the bond they share. His hands are very tied, he will try and bring Roxas back, but his young friend shouldn't return here but to Sora. It's a cruel fate, more so when reports are stating that Naminé has removed Roxas memories. 'Roxas always preferred knowing the harsh truth than being left in the dark.' Yet this might make it easier for him.

He walks over to a secured room, and Xemnas might consider himself smart, but that man tends to forget in his arrogance; Saix is the Nobody of a stubborn brat who had quite the knack in lock picking. How else do they think Isa and Lea got inside the castle all those times?

He pulls out a pair of lock picks, fiddle around and 'click' the door is open. Saix steps inside, his teal eyes land on each object that homes powerful beasts. Thanks to Shion, the Organization has gotten hold of three of these beasts, but he only needs one. He grabs the necklace, lying between another necklace of a neon-green musical node. Saix remembers how dread feels like as he notices that the third is missing; that infuriating scorpion. 'I need to be careful.' Saix notes himself, well aware that Keeper will be lurking around somewhere, but chances he will spot it is unlikely.

The scorpion Keeper has the ability to turn invisible, so for all he knows, it could be right above him. Saix does a quick check, scanning the area for a slight shimmer, but Saix turns his attention to the newest Keeper in their disposal when he sees none. Holding this ruby with sliver wrapped around it necklace, Saix can feel the beast inside and unlike one holding the kangaroo, this does not fear him, and unlike the scorpion, accepts his presence. "That's right, I am a friend of her." He puts the necklace into his pocket, does a quick illusion spell on a cheap necklace he 'found' on his last mission, making it look like the one he just took. Hopefully, they won't notice before it's way too late. Saix leaves the room and makes sure to lock the door after him.

He cannot return this to Shion without it being suspicious, but Saix gets the feeling that he might encounter one who can. Shion's pet should still be in Twilight Town after it followed those who took Roxas.

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Inside an old mansion, a hooded man is throwing a money pouch up in his right hand, a small cat-like monster is watching the going up and down object in a very intensely manner. The hooded man ignores this strange docile monster. His attention is more on the elderly man whose face is hidden by red wrappings and more focused on the computer screens than the conversation they are currently having. "Is it really that hard to make a beach?" The hooded asks the other man, one who is calling himself Diz.

"We had been giving the enemy another entry point." Diz points out and has to restrain himself from swearing when that dark blue monster suddenly jumps and snatches the data pouch, shaking it like a dog does to a toy. Eyeing the object in that creature's mouth and must wonder: "Why do you keep that thing around? It's a being of darkness."

The hooded looks down to the creature, playing with the data pouch in an oddly adorable manner. It followed them after he caught Roxas and although it has been quite snappy towards him, he cannot bring himself to destroy something that belongs to a friend of his. One he unfortunately had to banish back to his former prison after the fight with Roxas. At least the monster has kept the 'protector' of the mansion in check and only being a mild nuisance with its shenanigans. He does not answer Diz question, not feeling up to explaining about the dark boy that has been residing inside his heart for a year. Not many people are willing to accept darkness as an important part of life. So instead he asks this older man, "Anything from Organization XIII?"

Sensing the other male is not up for the discussion about that little monster, Diz returns his focus to the many security screens. A lot of the lesser Nobodies are roaming around, but; "It's only a matter of time before the humanoid Nobodies will make an appearance. We cannot waste much more time." Diz replies the hooded, and knows they will have to hurry to prepare Roxas to sacrifice everything he is so Sora can awake— the little monster jumps at him, and letting out a swear. "Get that thing out from here!" He commands the hooded, for there only so much he can take from beings of the darkness.

The hooded pull the creature away, holding it like a cat, which the little freak absolutely didn't like and started whistling angrily at him, but before it would take its bigger form, he dropped it out in the hallway. He would've commanded it to stay, but knowing who created it, the hooded doubts this monster will listen. So he merely throws the date pouch and with it busy, returns back to Diz.

The cat-monster stops playing when noticing its audience is gone, after a moment of staring into space. Swift drops the slightly torn pouch and goes to 'sleep' before the staircase. The tentacle ears twitch every time a sound arrives inside the mansion but other than that, this creature does not move.

Its ear tentacle moves at the sounds of the Lesser Nobodies, again flying around the mansion, though keeping their distance due to a, for now, dormant protector of the mansion's aura. Swift ignores all of that, not having any reason to react as it does not sense anyone worth its protection nor have gotten any command from its master to do anything. So like when it was in Castle Oblivion, the little monster lies and waits for something to happen.

Something did, a call from one close to Her, this person is quite far away but Swift still hears that one call at its current given name. That makes the small monster jerk its head up, stare for a moment to the door, before swiftly running outside. It gets under the door by becoming a blob of darkness, retaking its feline form when past the small obstacle, it runs past the Nobodies, through the forest and at Twilight Town's market place. It leaps onto the awaiting Saix, who catches it and allows the happy squeaking creature to get onto his shoulders.

"Nice knowing you still recognize me Swift." Saix remarks, last time he saw this monster cat, Swift was protecting an unstable Shion due to an overload of Sora's memories. Swift got very overprotective of her and Saix was certain it would've bitten his head off if he hadn't been respectful towards this creature. Now said creature is stroking its head against his, messing up his hair like a happy cat. That is rather amusing, especially when Swift here has been causing the Organization a lot of headaches back when they used Castle Oblivion as their research facility. But enough about reminiscing the past. Saix takes up the Keeper necklace and puts it up to Swift's nose; the small monster sniffs to it and he commands it. "Bring this to Shion."

Saix knows Swift here is just as smart as a Dusk, so it will understand this command. As expected, the small monster takes the necklace, leaps off him and runs into a dark portal of its making. Saix watches the spot of where Swift disappeared, then turns back to the path leading to the mansion and thus Roxas.

He snaps his fingers, and all of the lesser Nobodies begins to attack the mansion.

Did blink when a sudden screech of a horse, followed with a geyser of water, appeared at the mansion location. Saix listens to the sounds and the display of powerful water attacks. 'Looks like I made the right choice in keeping my distance. Riku and Naminé got themselves a Keeper. He is more than aware than picking a fight with one of those is a hazard he would rather not deal with.

The hooded and Naminé stand before the large window inside the completely white room, both watching the unicorn Keeper attack the Lesser Nobodies, keeping them safe for now. "Now the question; will the Organization run out of Nobodies, will they defeat our protector, or will Sora awaken before any of that happens?" The hooded wonders out loud.

Naminé looks up to him worried and has to ask; "Do you think you can defeat it?"

"Last time I was holding back." The hooded replies her simply, and if he has to fight that thing again, he does not have the dark boy to count on nor the monster of his friend's makings. It has disappeared to who knows where.

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She was sitting in the corner of her bed, not only being incredibly bored but also sad about her situation. Shion sighs, "I feel so worthless…" she muses to herself. Saix is out to re-capture Roxas, and if he fails, then Xemnas will eliminate her and probably do the same to Saix as well. To be used as an asset against Saix, Shion does not like it one but she does not have any tool to change her situation.

A known whistle makes Shion jerk her head up and her gloomy thoughts about her situation are pushed aside in the joy of seeing her pet again. "Swift!" She hugs the whistling blue creature, petting it, before asking her blue pet, "Where have you been?"

Of course, Swift cannot answer her what it has been doing these past days, and Shion really would like to know for somehow Swift got hold on the harpy eagle Keeper's passive form. "Hm? How did you get this?" She asks and takes the necklace, the Keeper inside reacts positively on her straight away. Sign that the harpy eagle has indeed accepted her as its new master. Shion smiles at this, but mostly at the fact she now has the tools to get away from here.

She feels bad doing this, but Shion hurls her flower pot at the window, breaking it just enough for her to throw out the necklace. "Awaken!" A couple of seconds later, the harpy eagle Keeper appears and with its powerful beak, shatters the rest of the window.

Shion carefully steps through the shard littered floor, but right as she climbs onto its neck, the door opens. She checks and to Shion's horror, it's Xigbar and he is not happy to see her try and escape.

"No you don't!" But before Xigbar can grab the girl, something jumps right at him, toppling him over. Looking up he sees an Unversed sigil on this cat-looking Flood. How the hell is there an Unversed here? Does that mean their creator is still— he can think about that later. Xigbar throws the Unversed off him, and teleports over to the awoken Keeper and the trying to escape girl. Still, before he can get a hold on the brat and keep her from escaping by the awoken harpy eagle Keeper, the Unversed throws him to the floor once again. This time as a much bigger and stronger form.

Swift roars to her and the message is clear: go now. Shion gets onto the Keeper and it jumps away from the castle, leaving deep claw marks into the white wall and takes her away from this prison of a world. She turns back and relieved to see Swift jump out from the window and disappear into its own dark portal, escaping its own destruction by the Freeshooter's hand.

More than irritated about her escape and it happened from the last being he ever expected, Xigbar dismisses his arrowgun. "Why would that kid help someone like her?" He ponders out loud. Vanitas wasn't known to help people, not even if it would benefit him, it was against his very nature. Why the only reason an Unversed ever would aid that girl is if was something she could control… wait, could it be? It might explain why that old coot chose Ventus of all people, and why he even tried to pull off such a stunt. But the very thought that the Unversed are shards of that split heart's true power, it's absurd. So much in fact that he can't help but laugh at the sheer thought.

Still chuckling Xigbar eye lands on the shattered window, watching a Keeper that never should have been there in the first place flies away with Shion on its back. "Fine, be it this way. It won't change anything in the long run." He turns around and leads the room. He does not look forward telling Xemnas about this, "But it's my own dang fault" he should've been more vigilant but well, can't cry over spilled milk, even this brand won't go away that easily.

Introducing the Harpy eagle Keeper and unlike the others, this Keeper is purely OC. It's not the first time I have put it into a KH story, but I think this time around that I have a better grasp on how much to use it and whatnot.

And in case some of you are confused, Xion changed her name to Shion in her way of showing she is no longer the replica the Organization wanted her to be. Not that the Organization would know, for only her friends remembers her thanks to the memory core Saix gave up for her.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask and I will do my best to answer them. but until then, I will see you in the next chapter.