Chapter Two

I returned to my cousin in a huff, though I found, quite to my satisfaction, that she'd managed to start a decent conversation with Kiru, something about mathmatical equations I had no comprehension of. (Need I mention that her IQ was a good 40 points above mine?) I could tell that if our intelligence was fourty points apart, Sora's was at least 100 away from hers, because he was staring in utter horror at the complicated things coming out of her mouth, his head spinning in his eyes. Kairi seemed to grasp some of it, (more than Sora) but she was as lost as I. She looked up at me, and smiling broadly. Well, at least she was having fun. "Feel better"
I hesitated, but nodded, "I'm going to kill me a teenager, but other than that I'm fine." I frowned as Sora tilted his head at me, his pale blue eyes blinking.
"Why"
I glanced at him, and before I could think, I blurted, "because he's violent dolt who 'takes what he wants'." I snarled.
Kristi blinked at me a couple of times, digesting, before she narrowed her eyes, and crossed her arms. "What'd he do?" She asked flatly, her voice taking an altogether violent tone that even I didn't want to try.
"He just"
"Whatever. It doesn't matter. Let me at him." She got up to go after him, and this time it was Kiru and I that were holding -her-. We ended up yanking her backwards, and all three of us hit the sand. Kiru started laughing, but Kristi wasn't finding the humor, still trying to get up as I pinned her wrist down, grumbling random curses under my breath.
"This is the second time I've had to keep a stranger from killing my brother today." Kiru chuckled, "I thought Selene was the violent one"
"You thought wrong." I hissed between curses, sighing with relief as Kristi stopped fighting. I lifted a hand to wipe some sweat off of my forehead, and gasped as she chose the exact right moment to get up and start running.
"SHIT!" Kiru shouted climbing to his feet and nearly tackling her. I stayed back, and kept my hand at my forehead, shielding my eyes from the sunlight. I started laughing as he half ran past her, and then stood in her way. It wasn't long until they were both laughing, and Kristi gave up the 'fight'. Of course I knew it wasn't a -real- fight. If it was a -real- fight she'd've used karate or something on us. She was ten times stronger than I was (and yet I still had heroic moments.. odd, eh.
However, as Riku returned to the group, the violence in her eyes turned real, and she whirled on him, standing dead in front of him. They were about the same height, I noted. I must've been at least a head shorter than both of them, and I was older than Kristi was.
She poked him in the shoulder, backing him backwards a step from the group. "I challenge you." She hissed, "To a dual. No one -fucks- with my cousin." I took a step away, staring with round eyes. It was the first time I'd heard her say something worse than damn. Kiru seemed to sense this, and backed up with me, leaving the two standing face to face.
Then, naturally, resentment kicked in. I didn't need my younger cousin to protect me! I stepped forward again, coming up beside her, "No," I sneered, "You'll fight me"
Riku blinked at us as if we were insane. "...why"
"Why!" Kristi retorted, "WHY"
He looked utterly clueless, I noted. Something was wrong. "Because of what you did." I tried, watching his expression closely. You couldn't kid a kidder, and I was the greatest actress of my class.
He -was- clueless. "...And what'd I do?" He asked bluntly, blinking at us. I looked down to the sand in thought, Kristi noting his confusion at about the same time as I did. She was anything but stupid.
"Doppelganger?" I asked, turning to Kristi, but she shook her head slowly. I agreed, I didn't think there -were- doppelgangers in Kingdom Hearts. Course then, Kristi and I were never in the games either, and I didn't feel altogether human.
"What's going on?" Riku asked, perplexed as he looked from person to person.
Kiru stepped up, "Excuse me, I'd like to speak with you two." Kristi turned to him, blinking. Why was he being so polite now? They'd just got done debating over math... but still, glancing at me and with a silent agreement, we accepted the offer, following him as he led us away from the group.
He led us for longer than what I seemed possible on Destiny Islands. I think he may've taken us around in a few circles, but in the end we entered a tree house at the top of the island that wasn't there in the game. He slipped casually inside, holding the curtain open for us as we followed him in. The first thing I did was to look at him curiously, but my gaze soon diverted to the other things in the small cabin.
It was well decorated, considering that it's inhabitants consisted of a bunch of fourteen and fifteen year olds. Pictures decorated the walls, which were surprisingly solid considering that they were made out of tree branches glued together. There was little log furnature about the room, and a glass poupu fruit sculpture rested on the most solid looking of the tables.
As Kiru let the curtain fall back in place, it cut out all but a sliver of light, making things barely visable to most, though I found that I could see just as well in the dark as I could in the light. Hmm.. interesting. I spotted a mirror, and, forgetting the cliffhanger information he was supposed to give us. I noted that my skin was quite a bit paler than it had been before, and even then I was paler than most vanilla ice cream. My brown hair had darkened to a black, and came now to my midwaist, a couple of shimering red strands livening it up a bit. My eyes were still the color of chocolate, but my pupils were bright crimson color that glowed. I had on a simple but tight fitting black tank top with a bra thankfully built into it, and a pair of capris that flared at the base, and was lined with a design of red thread. On my feet were a pair of combat boots, much easier to move in than the high heels I tended to wear.
"Selene!" Kristi called, motioning for me to come over, and I obeyed, looking expectantly at Kiru as he glared at me.
"What you came into contact with," He began, lighting a candle for light as Kristi dragged a chair up under her, and sat down, "was a mimic of sorts. It's a man we've had problems with for quite some time now"
"Ansem?" I asked, naturally jumping to conclusions.
"No," He answered dimly, "He has nothing to do with the heartless, or the game with which you seem familiar. He claims to be a follower of the light, but from what I've seen he's on his own side"
"Who is he?" I asked impatiently, crossing my arms over my chest, and tapping my toe. I conveniently ignored the glare that both Kristi and Kiru sent me, and lifted an eyebrow expectantly, wondering whether he would answer me or not.
"They call him Albedo." He hissed quietly.
Ice joined Kristi's and my blood cells at the name. We knew the name well, from the game called Xenosaga, but... how... this was... Unless somehow the games were combined.
Either way, the name spelled out more trouble than I would expect from any of the villains from any other game.

Authors Notes: Hello, all. read, Review, and flamers welcome, as always. Yeah, I realize it's a somewhat shorter chapter than I'm used to writing, and yeah, I didn't get around to kicking Riku's ass with a stick, but I'll get around to it. I had to add the plot first.