Yeah yeah I don't own KH (because I wouldn't be here writing about it, I'd be off pysching out).

I try to make all my stories as realistic (or, "game" realistic) as possible, so part of this is things that have actually been mentioned in the game, and other parts that I've had to make up, for lack of information. Then again...I don't mind using my imagination. ;) Enjoy my friends...


II. Braig. Xigbar. The Freeshooter.

When my brother told me that I was in for an intense rumble, I didn't think he actually meant it. My brother wasn't the brightest of sorts. Some think that I'm not particularly clever either. How do they think that I became number 2 in this Organization if I was an idiot who just sat around on my bum all day? But that's not the point, right? Right. So my brother. Not to be rude...but he really wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, if you know what I mean. He was often making up things so he could sound smarter than he really was...an "overactive imagination", I think, is what my mother called it. She always favored him over me. But I showed her. When I was the one to be picked for the professor's aides, you shoulda seen her face. ... But right. The story. My brother told me I was in for a shock. Shock. My brother rarely shocked me; he was never clever enough to come up with anything even remotely surprising.

My brother's name is Antonio. Tony, for short. I may be giving you the wrong idea, that I dislike my brother, or that he was a moron. He was...a smart kid. Just...didn't know how to work things out. When he told stories, it was...captivating. Ya know, you couldn't look away, and you could almost see it coming true before your eyes. Sometimes he'd do math problems in seconds, problems that took me hours. But then, his mind would stop working. Just like that. One moment he'd be the genius, and the next, just a bumbling fool. A kind one at that. He was pure of heart, as well. Much as I try to convince you that I was the right one to be Ansem the Wise's apprentice, I have ta say, I tried to get Ansem to consider Tony instead of me. I even asked, begged almost, for him to take Tony and expirement with him, because he was so pure. I hoped that perhaps, whatever condition was ailing Tony's mind, could be healed using the purity of his thoughts and feelings. But the professor...he didn't encourage it, and instead, I agreed. Tony didn't mind though. He laughed and clapped me on the back, then showed me the batch of cookies he had made. My mother...well. Let's not talk about my mother, aiight?

So Tony said I was going to be in for the biggest fight of my life. This was long before the professor even started looking for apprentices. Like I said, I didn't believe Tony, 'cause...well...I didn't. But when he took me back to the plot of land behind the Screaming Dragon (our fav'rite pub, ya know? 'course, I never let Tony drink). Now Tony never really knew good ol' dad (died in a shipping accident; he was a big buff guy, moved crates and stuff...more brawn than brains, no offense to him either), and he had certainly never met my other brother, Bik. Bik could've been anything. He was stronger than dad and smarter than mom, and he was my hero. Until he left, that is.

Sometimes I wondered, why he left. Was it because of me? I was almost sure it was. But then, I heard Mom...and Dad talking. One night. I had suspected, but now I knew. It was Dad, I was sure. Bik and Dad bickered and argued about everything. Really, literally, everything. The girls Bik dated, the waves Bik surfed, the jobs Dad took, the choices Dad made for the family. I 'spose it was a fight about one of Bik's girls. It usually was. Or maybe because Bik had recently announced that he wanted to travel, rather than attend a university like Mom and Dad had planned. Besides. If Bik had married the girl he had been dating then (Taelia, a spunky brunette who was too outspoken for Mom, or Dad's, like), and if he had traveled instead of getting a real education, then that meant Bik would have been the big disappointment, not me. Tony wasn't even born then. So after Bik left, I had a year or so of actually being their big hope.

I had tried to reach him once or twice, but my attempts were fruitless. I traced him to a few different ports before he seemingly vanished off the face of the world. I assumed he had changed his name. Bik was the kind of guy who would do that. Most likely, he went by a different alias on every new ship he joined, every different port he landed on. Then again, for all I knew, for the past few years he might not even be sailing.

But when I turned around the corner of the Dragon, I knew who it was. His face had changed, his features sharpened, a scar etched in the center of his right eyebrow made him look just a bit more dangerous. But his eyes werethe same. I knew they wouldn't change. At first a spiteful green, but once you knew him better, you could see the kinder flecks of brown. But even so...his eyes never looked kindly upon me, even though I tagged him everywhere.

So that was the big, intense fight. Me and Bik. 'Course, Tony didn't know who Bik was, and didn't bother to ask how we knew each other. Too sweet o' a kid to ask somethin' like that. There wasn't anybody else there, like you'd expect. None of Bik's cronies or druken bastards wandering out from the Screaming Dragon. It was getting dark by the minute, and we just kept going at it. All the anger that had been pent up inside of me, 10 years of frustration, it all went out on Bik. My right eye went on with Bik found on bottle on the ground. The scar came across when he pulled a pocket knife. Hours later, I guess it was that much, I woke up on the a cot. A man, Ansem the Wise, was looking at me. Didn't know who he was then, o' course. He patted my head, muttered some crap like "A few more years, and you'll be good". I thought he was talkin about my health. I panicked. But no need. Tony was there. Said I was gonna be fine. I asked what happened to Bik. Tony said that he and the guys from the bar had left him unconcious outside. He wasn't there when they checked back after bringing me inside. I didn't mind.

You can see the remains of that fight, here and here. You can see what's left of Tony too. He liked looking at the stars. He wanted to explore space. So now, I can control space. Bend it to my will. I think...I think I'd rather have Tony.


Xigbar was sitting in the Exploration Room. It was on the fourth level of the castle. It was a great, domed room. The ceiling was painted a dark, dark blue, so dark it might as well have been black. Small, unidentifiable stones had been placed throughout the domed ceiling, meant to represent the night sky. The stones let down shafts of light that gave the room a speckled apperance when the main lights were off. He only had one light on now, illuminating the desk space he was using.

Booksthat he had gathered from the shelves that surronded two sides of the room were scattered on his large table. The table was curved in a semi-circle shape, allowing him to have a 180 degree working space. Maps that he pulled from their cylanders were strewn on one half of the table. Pens littered the empty spaces any between. Xigbar squinted with his one eye, his left to be percise, and studied the current map that held his attention.

The maps and the books were all of geographical studies and creatures that inhabited the different worlds and lands. He had asked Marluxia once, who had filled the room with its resources. The other Nobody did not have an answer for him. But Xigbar didn't mind. He spent most of his time here anyway, he didn't need to know it's history.

The current map was labeled with a dark green script: The Land of Dragons. He made a scoffing, half laughing, sound as he traced the word "Dragon", reminded briefly of an old encounter he had had. His other hand gently traced the scar slashed across his face, absentmindedly. He turned his chair to flip through the pages of a large scarlet book by his side. It was a guide to the creatures of that land. Another book, a thin black book, was also close at hand. Now that one...that one had been a "borrowed gift" from Ansem the Wise. He had taken that one for his own. He heard the great doors swing open behind him. He whirled about. Luxord was standing in the doorway.

"Oh...it's you," Xigbar said softly, turning away and started tracing a path on the map. He heard the heavy thunking of Luxord's boots as he approached the table. His hand moved forward and gently picked up the black book. He fingered it slowly before opening it up.

"Morphing of the Heartless?" he read from the front page. "What could you possibly be using this for?" he asked, placing it gently back in its place. Xigbar didn't answer, but Luxord didn't expect one. His eyes scanned over what was in front of Xigbar. A piece of paper that was had been sketched upon with a pencil, a creature resembling a Heartless. Then, his eyes looked at the map and the red book of creatures. "Ah," he said with knowledge. "Clever, Xigbar...clever."

Xigbar stopped and put down the red pencil he held in his hand. He blinked a few times. Luxord rarely bestowed compliments on anyone, much less anything that even suggested smarts higher than his own. "A worthy comment, Luxord," he replied, staying seated. Luxord shifted through some other papers on the desk, finding many notes and scribbles about a certain star in the sky, and a book that was about space exploration.

"Xibar," Luxord said slowly, "why do you torture yourself with this?" He held up the space exploration book. "You know plenty about space. You don't need to be reminded of...him any more." Luxord was one of the few members of the Organization who even knew anything about what had happened, so many years ago. Apparently, he had once played a game with Jenkins, a friend of Xibgar's who had worked at the Screaming Dragon. Stories get passed on. Especially through bars and card games.

"I don't need you to tell me that," Xigbar said, pushing back the chair and standing up. Luxord watched Number II with wary but unafraid eyes. The Freeshooter walked over to the wall that faced that the outside of the castle. It was a large,consuming window, one that held the entire wall in its possession. A telescope was already trained on one of the stars in the sky. Xigbar knelt down to look through it, and he spoke just loud enough for his friend to hear.

"Because I told him I'd take him there some day."

"Where, Xigbar?" Luxord asked, not having moved from his position at the desk. The book hung limply from his hand.

"To see the dragons."