Water.

I am floating in water. Pinpricks pierce my skin, and I feel so groggy.

My eyes slowly open. Where am I?

0000000000

The sight was horrifying. A scene from a horror film, a nightmare, a scientific journey gone awry, turned to madness. The only sounds were the heaving of his chest as he gazed on in horror, his eyes falling on the girl in the canister.

It was her; the girl who had traveled with Rinoa.

Something about this girl was… odd. She stood out amongst nothing and everything.

"Hey… you." Sora asked blankly, in awe. The girl turned to him. "Who are you?"

With a serene grin, the girl backed out the door.

"We'll meet again, like I promised."

The keyblade was summoned into his hand, and only then did Sora notice that he was shaking. His eyes were watering, and with fierce determination he grimaced and let the tears fall. Behind him, he heard the steps and gasps behind him as Rikku and Paine appeared.

Two men stood in the room, one a scientist the other… a stranger. He didn't know either of them, but the taller, more muscular man looked familiar. Sora grimaced and held his keyblade tight, and with a yell revealed their presence.

"What the hell is this?" He seethed, swinging his blade out in front of him. The scientist jumped, having been deep in thought, and suddenly scared. His eyes became wide as he backed away.

"C – Cloud?" He muttered, but then shook his head. "You – you are the boy. Sora!"

Glaring, Sora began to speak, but instead he watched as Rikku leapt ahead of him and into the room, grimacing and angry.

"Who is that girl? Let her go!" She roared, holding two weapons against her arms. Paine walked up next.

"Who are you?" Paine spoke calmly and evenly, but her eyes seem to be almost on fire, angry and passionate.

The scientist seemed jittery, and began inching away from the group. The man did not respond or acknowledge them, almost not having noticed them it seemed.

"What's up with him?" Rikku muttered, almost impatient to start a fight. When Rikku's sense of right or wrong came up, she was more than ready to prove her side.

"Are you scared?" She accused, growling. "I'll give you a reason to be scared!"

Paine's head snapped to the side, concerned. "Rikku, no!"

The girl leapt forward, limber, and dexterous as she flew through the air, she prepared to slice right through the man's arm. He could not move fast enough to dodge in such a small space. This was why both Sora and Paine were shocked to see Rikku slam into the opposite wall, the man having not moved anything but his arm.

Sora gawked at Rikku, and turned angrily to the blonde man. "Turn around! Who are you?"

Rikku groaned and began to sit up. Paine rushed to her aid. During the confusion, the scientist rushed out, frightened and panicked.

Bubbles floated in a flurry inside the tube. Sora, silent and a bit in awe, stared on at the girl floating in the misty liquid, eyes half shut, blank, and dark.

"Who am I?" The man muttered, lifting his hand up into the light. It was an eerie light, a blue sparkle from the tube of water.

Sora watched, bending over Rikku protectively, yet ready to leap up and attack. The tall blonde turned to the three, a strange grin on his lips.

"I found it! That's who I am! The one who found it, I did! Yes!" Prattling on, the man seemed crazed, gripping the iron railing in front of him so hard it began to crack. Sora watched the strange scene of the raving man, slowly letting his blade dissipate.

"Who… what's your name?" He whispered. The man seemed to freeze, remembering there were people in the room with him.

"I am…" He whispered. "Who am I?" Sora gawked at him in surprise.

The man turned, illuminated by the eerie fluorescent lights. Rikku sat up, taking in his strange look, seemingly out of breath as she stood. Paine watched her, and then stepped ahead towards the stranger.

"You" She began. She was interrupted.

The man silently stepped down and towards the three. Both Paine and Rikku immediately prepared their weapons, but Sora seemed far away.

Almost stumbling, the man paused in front of Paine his eyes dark and mislead.

"V – Victoria?" He mumbled. Paine looked shocked.

With a sudden cry, Rikku leapt once again at the man, swiping back and forth with her knife like weapons. Quick on his feet, the stranger leapt away, flipped over the railing and landed by a computer. Rikku nimbly leapt from one side of the room to the other, diving down on her enemy. The man drew a sword from his belt, parrying Rikku easily before, with a quick thrust, he sent her flying across the room.

"Rikku!" Paine rushed to her friend's side.

Sora was about to follow after, but something tickled the back of his mind. Like a missing thought, brushing the surface.

Look…

Sora paused in walking, and almost in a daze, turned towards the direction of the voice. It was the person in the tube. Was she… talking to him?

Gawking, Sora turned in awe to watch as the girl opened her eyes and blinked for a moment. After a moment, she smiled, like an innocent child as Paine shouts could be heard over Rikku's battle cries.

Look what I can do!

0-0-0-0-0-0

Quietly, and swiftly, he reached for her hood. She stepped away, head down, almost insecure.

"Rinoa?" Leon whispered, gazing quietly at the woman before him.

"I – Leon, don't." She muttered, turning away from him. Quizzical, Leon placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her back around, concerned.

"What are you hiding that you can't trust me to accept?" He asked, his eyes piercing and strong. Rinoa looked away.

"I don't – I would be ashamed."

"You shouldn't be." He returned. Lifting his hand beneath her hood to caress her cheek, he muttered. "You are the only one I want"

This made Rinoa gasp, and look up in shock. Accidentally, in doing so, the hood fell back.

Leon didn't seem to notice. He was too focused on her eyes. Dark hair fluttering in the wind, Rinoa turned away, ashamed.

A large scar trailed the woman's cheek bone, formed like a burn scar, and not very deep. Leon hand's traced it absentmindedly, but he never looked at it.

"The darkness – when I, when I went into the dark –"

"Shush" Leon quieted her gently, letting his forehead rest against hers. The two stood, rocking back and forth, Leon holding Rinoa gently. The woman sobbed quietly, so happy to be back with the man she loved, and to be accepted. Leon let his lips brush against the woman's skin.

"You have your scars – and I have mine" He whispered.

0-0-0-0-0-0

Pain shook through his skull like fire – vision blurry – legs shaky – why was he on the ground? Where was Demyx? Where was the stranger?

"R – Roxas!"

Grunting, the forenamed boy tried to sit up, but a gentle hand pushed him back to the ground. "It's me – Demyx" Roxas turned his head to look up at Demyx, who was leaning on his elbows beside Roxas.

"Where – where are we?" Roxas muttered.

Demyx sighed. "Still at the castle – you fought that guy, and did pretty good, but when we felt Saix enter the castle again, you paused for a little second, and he got you." Roxas winced at his weakness, lying back down on the ground.

"Where's Saix?" Roxas whispered.

"He's with these strange humans, and Zexion – they're fighting the guy. Actually – Zexion is fighting the guy. Actually – Zexion and the guy are talking in the midst of fighting. Well, actually –"

"Shut up Demyx"

"Shutting up now"

Demyx sat up a bit, frowning, and stretched across the floor to reach a small window. The room they were in was a small hide away in the wall. Looking outside, Demyx watched the fight.

"I hope Zexy's okay" Demyx muttered, feeling his heart flutter in worry.

Roxas felt his brand new heart worry as well.

"Don't worry – I'm sure we'll be fine."

0-0-0-0-0-0

Look what I can do!

Almost immediately, the glass began to crack. It was small at first, and grew, and grew, to the breaking point. Sora stepped back uncertainly, his eyes flitting between Rikku's fight, and the girl in the glass case.

Finally – it shattered! The man noticed it had, and laughed loudly.

"The damage has already been done!" He chided, shaking his head. "Nothing can reverse this now!"

Sora wasn't sure what he meant. What did this girl have to do with anything? Why was she in a tube? Her eyes were glittering like stars… was she really that girl he'd met a while ago? Maybe.

The one thing that jumped out at Sora when the girl stepped out, naked and dripping wet, was not a sexual thought. He noticed first, before anything else, the writing on her inner thigh.

SUBJECT 13 CHERISH DNA

In shock and confusion, Sora looked up to the girls glowing green eyes. She looked sad. As Rikku and Paine stared on in awe, and the man continued to cackle, everything began to shake. It was like a massive earthquake as the computers crackled and the glass shattered and alarms began screeching.

The girl's mouth moved but Sora did not hear her with his ears. She spoke in his mind.

I know where the others are!

Sora blinked, confused, and spoke.

"What do you mean?" He demanded, summoning his keyblade, ready for anything.

The girl shook her head, glided forward, and took Sora's hand.

Hurry!

The two began racing down a side hallway as the earthquake became worse. "Sora!" He heard those behind him calling frantically but it was all happening too fast for him to do anything. The strange girl, naked and almost floating through the hall pulled him along as the roof began collapsing.

Hurry!

As Sora was pulled through the castle, he kept having… strange visions.

To find is to lose and to lose is to find

"W – What's going on?!" He roared as she pulled him around a corner, into a room, and shut the door behind him.

Sora gawked at the room breathing hard. He was confused, and even more so when he looked ahead to see more of the glass containers that had housed the girl.

There were perhaps fourteen of them. Most of them were full. They were number 1 – 13, and then a special one that said 00 on it. In the first canister, and forward –

001: The Superior: Xemnas

002: The Freeshooter: Xigbar

003: The Whirlwind Lancer: Xaldin

004: The Chilly Academic: Vexen

005: The Silent Hero: Lexaeus

008: The Flurry of Dancing Flames: Axel

010: The Gambler of Fate: Luxord

011: The Graceful Assassin: Marluxia

012: The Savage Nymph: Larxene

Sora was shocked – his friends where unconscious and floating in the tubes, some of them injured and bleeding, others simply out of it.

"What happened to them?" Sora demanded turning to the strange, somber girl.

Sighing, she looked about, then to the tubes, and back to Sora, taking his hand again.

Hurry! Or they'll disappear forever!

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Well, that was a short yet interesting chapter.

I've got a lot of stuff going on, end of year tests, piano recitals, all that jazz, but I'm still alive I promise! I will continue writing!

Some of the characters, like Cloud for example, haven't really shown up since the Fall of Midnight. If a character hasn't shown up, that means they've fallen asleep, and will most likely remain asleep until the end of Fall of Midnight. Don't worry – they aren't dead!

Wishing math did not exist,

SULHADAHNE