Disclaimer: Don't own KH, COM, or KHII. I also don't own the story that Skyler tells. Own OCs. Own plot.

Chapter VIIII

Kaylee looked up at Marluxia, fear in her eyes.

"Don't look so scared," he advised. "I'm here to help you, remember?"

Kaylee nodded and held her sword a little higher, trying to prove to Marluxia and Zexion- and to herself- that she did have the confidence to do this. Marluxia raised his own blade.

"Make the first move," he ordered. Kaylee took one almost unnoticeable step back, then put all of her energy into running towards the pink-haired warrior. Marluxia quickly shot his blade in front of hers and allowed the force of the metals' collision to knock her off balance. Once she was, he only needed half of his energy to push her down.

"Ow," the girl groaned. Marluxia smiled and helped her up.

"Do you think you would be able to do that if I attacked you?"

"No," Kaylee admitted. She let her arms hang limply at her sides as she barely held on to the weapon in her hand.

"Then I'll have to teach you." She looked up, fear, worry, and shock spread across her face. "What? All Organization members have to be good fighters. Makes us all useful around here. Also helps us survive living with everyone else. So, show me your stance."

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A harsh storm took place outside. Nicolette didn't mind it, though. In fact, she loved it. She loved the sound of rain on the roof, whether it was the gentle pitter-patter of a small spring shower, or the rough beats of a thousand gallons of water being released from dozens of pregnant clouds. The sound was always soothing to her. So, as the lights slowly flickered as the first sign of the power going out, Nicolette was curled up on her bed with a rather large book, reading the impressive works of Edgar Allen Poe while listen to the tough beats of the storm's rain.

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Skyler looked out of the window of her Gummi ship. She saw gray clouds rolling in and knew that they were going to be in for a rough night. And as a small drizzle of rain started to sound on the metal roof, she also heard the banging of someone at the door. In fact, it was three people: Sora, Riku, and Kairi.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked.

"Getting soaked," Sora replied. Skyler grinned and opened the door wider.

"Come on in." The three made their way into their friend's temporary home and sat on the small day bed that was currently arranged as a couch. Skyler moved over to the tiny kitchen area, were a teapot was steaming, alerting her that the water inside had boiled. "I was just making some cocoa. Want some?"

"Sure," Riku answered. He was now in the middle of Sora and Kairi, Sora on his right and Kairi to his left, who were both nodding in agreement to his answer. Skyler smiled and took some mugs from on of the downsized cabinets.

"I love days like this," she commented as she handed her friends mugs of steaming hot cocoa. She grabbed a wooded chair, which she had placed small throw pillows on as makeshift cushions, and sat across from them, her own mug in hand.

"Why's that?" Kairi asked.

"It's just…I don't know. It's nice."

"Kind of dreary if you ask me," said Sora.

"I like dreary," said Skyler. She took a sip of the cocoa, pulling it away quickly after realizing how hot she'd made it. She smiled at the now giggling trio and blow softly on the surface of the drink.

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"That's enough for today," said Marluxia, sheathing his sword.

"Okay," said Kaylee, doing the same with her own weapon. She and Marluxia walked out of the arena. Kaylee moved to Zexion's side while Marluxia continued on, moving back to his room, most likely. As he past Zexion gave him a nod of thanks.

"You're dismissed for today," he then said to Kaylee.

"But Superior said…"

"Superior made me your mentor and that means I decide when you leave or stay." With those words the Cloaked Schemer departed. Kaylee watched after him then looked down into the large training arena. There were marks in the dirt where she had been thrown down by Marluxia. She sighed and considered going back to her room. But then she remembered the chaos that usually took place in the halls, making it hard to think. She slumped down and leaned against the high wall of the boards that kept spectators from entering the ring.

"What're you doing?" a familiar voice asked. Kaylee looked up to see Demyx standing over her.

"Nothing," she said. "Just thinking."

"About what?" he asked, sitting crossed-legged beside her.

"Just…Just about my friends. I haven't seen them since…" Her voice trailed off as she remembered that she had to keep her cover.

"Since you changed?" he asked.

"What?"

"Since you changed into a Nobody," he explained.

"Oh, right. Yeah."

"You're lucky," he stated.

"How's that?" she asked, happy to finally have an actual conversation with someone.

"You can remember your friends. I can't remember anything. None of us can."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know. I guess that's why we're looking for our hearts. They'll make us each somebody and give us back the lives we had before."

"You could probably remember if you wanted to."

"Believe me, Kexlae, we want to. But desire can't get us everything, can it?"

"I guess," Kaylee replied. She smiled at her companion. She had always seen him as a goofy, care-free, almost a bit dumb kind of guy. She was almost surprised to hear thoughts as deep as this coming from him.

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As Nicolette read her book, the lights flickered one last time before going out. She heard Yuffie scream, obviously startled by the sudden black-out, Cid yell at her to shut up, and Aerith yell at both of them to help her look for flashlights. She smiled at how the scene she listened probably looked. She then remembered Leon. No sound came from him. Not that she expected any to. He'd always been especially quiet. She pushed herself out of the comfortable position on the bed and dug through her drawers until she found some candles.

She the off-white candles on tall candlesticks that were placed neatly around the room. One think, faded pink candle fit neatly in a bowl that also held some nice popery. She light each candle with a spell she'd learned at the academy and smiled as the aroma of vanilla and rosemary filled the room. The popery also added a dull scent of berries. She also enjoyed the dim light given off by the candles' flames. She slowly crawled back on the bed, curled back up, and began reading once more.

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"So, what do you want to do?" Riku asked.

"I don't know," Sora replied. "What do you want to do?"

"Don't know. What do you want to do?"

"Do they do this often?" Skyler asked. Kairi nodded.

"Every time it rains." Upon hearing the girls' conversation they too boys shut their mouths.

"Why don't we tell scary stories?" Skyler suggested. As everyone agreed she turned out the lights and lit some candles, originally taken with her in case of an emergency. But for now, they set a good mood for some creepy tales of things that go bump in the night.

"Who wants to go first?" Sora asked.

"How about Skyler?" said Riku after taking a sip of his cocoa. Skyler smiled.

"I'd be happy to! Ooh and I have a great one, too! My friends, Nicolette and Kaylee, told it to me. It's called Jackal."

Before beginning, Skyler threw a blanket toward the trio and wrapped one around herself.

"So, there was this kid, Zack. He'd just moved and was having trouble fitting in and making friends. So, for Christmas, his parents got him a small German-Shepard-mix puppy. He named the dog Jackal."

"Wait," Sora interrupted. "What's so scary about a dog?"

"Just listen to the story," said Riku, tossing a throw pillow at the brunette's head. Sora grunted and Skyler cleared her throat.

"Anyway, Zack and Jackal did everything together. They were inseparable. And when Zack was about fifteen, his parents felt he was ready to stay home alone. So they told him all the usual rules- no friends over, don't open the door, don't answer the phone, etc- and left. So Zack did what any teenage boy who was left home alone would do. He ate pizza, played video games, did a minimal amount of homework so the teacher wouldn't kill him, ate more pizza and played more video games.

"He had taken a break from his game for a while and when he was about to turn it back on the power went out. Jackal barked and rushed to Zack's side. Zack pet the dog and assured him everything was alright. Then he went to the window to see if anyone else's power was out. He figured it might have been a blackout. But he looked up and down each side of his street and everyone else had some sort of electric device on. A TV, a radio, or a bunch of lights. Zack's was the only house that was pitch black. He saw a light go off in his neighbor's house, but he soon saw it was only because someone was going to bed. Someone else still had a light on on the lower floor.

"Zack then hurried through the house, flicking all the light switches along his way. It was no use, though. No lights worked. As he walked down the upstairs hallway it occurred to him that he only had one more room to check. So he slowly pushed open the bathroom door and flicked the switch. To his amazement the lights turned on. But when he looked down, I can't say that Zack was pleased with what he saw."

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"So what can you remember about your friends?" Demyx asked suddenly. Kaylee was pulled out of the daydream the silence had put her in.

"What?"

"Your friends? What can you remember about them?"

"Oh, um." Kaylee hoped she looked like she was thinking back on memories for, in reality, she was trying to think about what things she could tell Demyx about Nicolette and Skyler that would make it seem like she was a Nobody. "Small things. What they were like, what they liked to do, and I have some memories about things we'd do together."

"So not their names?"

"No."

"I guess that means you don't remember your true name." Kaylee shook her head, trying to look sad.

"Nope."

"Hey, Kexlae?"

"Yes?" Demyx hesitated before asking,

"What's it like to remember?" There was a pause. "To have memories, I mean."

"Oh, it's like…well." Kaylee didn't know how to put this. She knew what Demyx meant. Memories of the past. It was like if he were asking her to explain what it felt like to be able to reminisce, which was basically what he was doing. But she never had to explain how it felt to have memories of when she was younger. "It's hard to explain."

"Aw, c'mon! I'm sure you could," Demyx urged. Kaylee took interest in the ground as she tried to think of how to explain.

"Well, it's kind of like…..It's almost like…..It's almost like going back in time. If it's a good memory, or something you remember well, you can probably see every single little thing that happened. It it's something harder to remember you can still see little pieces of it."

"It must be nice," he said.

"It…It is."

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Nicolette took a quick recess from her book to look outside at the bleak, almost black sky. The falling raindrops magnified the clouds as they fell. A roll of thunder echoed through Hollow Bastion, followed by streak of lightening, cracking through the sky like a whip and recoiling back just as quickly.

She curled up tighter; the only thing keeping her knees from hitting her chest was the thick book she was holding. It wasn't that she didn't like the rain. No, no it wasn't that at all. As I told you before, she loved it. But when it rained like this it was not her favorite thing in the world. It reminded her of the night that her parents were taken and she was left to fend for herself. Sure, she had Skyler's family backing her up, but she did feel alone. Her parents were gone. She had no other family around. If you squint hard enough, she was alone.

She shuddered as she remembered each detail of that day perfectly.

Five-year-old Nicolette was busy building up a block tower on her living room floor. Her father was scanning the newspaper in his recliner and her mother was getting dinner started in the kitchen. Suddenly the house began shaking violently. Nicolette's tower collapsed into a pile of wooden block. Her father slammed down his paper, hurried and stood quickly while her mother hurried to pick up her daughter.

"What's going on?" Mrs. Montego asked, hugging Nicolette close to her.

"I don't know," her husband replied. They heard a ruckus outside and raced to see what it was. Once their front door slammed behind them they met the sounds of screams from women and children and desperate yells from the men trying to protect them. Nicolette held on to her mother afraid of the noise she heard around her. Mrs. Montego carefully put her daughter down. Nicolette wrapped her tiny hand around Mrs. Montego's.

"It's okay, Nikki."

"What's everyone running from?!" Mr. Montego bellowed over the crowd. He didn't have to wait long for a response. Standing in front of the family of three was a tiny black creature. Its antennae bobbed as it moved its tiny head. Its eyes were the only feature of a face it possessed. Large yellow ovals the only real color on its black body. "Get Nikki out of here!"

Mrs. Montego nodded and picked up the five-year-old once more. They raced away from the tiny creatures that were popping up everywhere. They soon found Nicolette's best friend Skyler holding on to her older brother, Kale's, hand.

"Mrs. Montego!" Kale called, pulling his sister closer to him. "We'll take Nikki!"

"Thank you, Kale, thank you." Mrs. Montego put her daughter down again. "Nicolette, I'll see you soon."

The little girl merely nodded as Kale took her hand with his free hand. He smiled to her mother then took the girls to his family's Gummi ship.

"I love you, Nicolette!" her mother called as they vanished from sight.

"Where's Momma?" Skyler asked her brother.

"I don't know, Sky. Just get in the ship." Skyler and Nicolette hurried into the vehicle and Kale drove them away. All they way into the dark night sky Skyler and Nicolette looked out the window, watching their world, their home, be destroyed by those black creatures; by the Heartless.

'I love you, too, Mommy' was the only thing running through Nicolette's mind.

"I love you too." Nicolette clutched the charm on her necklace tightly as the tears began to fall. She didn't try to subdue them now. She welcomed them. And so the teenaged girl let the tears fall like the rain outside her window.

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"On the floor was a slightly thick, bright red liquid. It was blood." Skyler looked at her audience of three, Riku looking interested, Sora looking surprised, and Kairi looking frightened. "He swallowed past a lump in his throat as he heard a moan. He looked up to see ghosts flying through the far wall. They would fly out, moan, groan, or scream, then float back to the wall. 'Get out' they screamed at him, 'leave the house' and 'save yourself'. Zack backed up out fear and tried to fight a scream as he ran back downstairs.

"He ran to Jackal for comfort, but something wasn't right about the Shepard mix. His eyes were glowing a bright red and two fang-like teeth stuck out from beneath his lip. Zack shivered but thought his imagination was playing tricks on him and tried to pet Jackal. But when he touched the dog's shoulders he felt nothing. He stroked his back. Nothing. He pat his head. Nothing. He rubbed his legs. Still nothing! The only part of Jackal Zack could feel was his wagging tail.

"Zack, not knowing what to do, paced the floor worriedly. Jackal followed him, watching him with his now red eyes. Suddenly the dog began to bark. Zack's heart jumped but he was relieved to find it was only because of a passing car. Although he couldn't feel the dog, Zack pet Jackal to comfort him. He then found a flashlight and began to read a book, hoping to pass the time.

"But, as he read, he heard a low growl. He looked up from the pages of the book to see Jackal, white teeth bared, red eyes glowing, growling at him. 'What is it, boy?' Zack asked. Jackal continued to growl. Then he pounced on his owner, knocking off the couch and to the ground. 'Jackal, it's me! Jackal!' Zack screamed, but the dog continued to fight him. The two had a rolling match on the ground before Zack managed to push the Shepard into the hall closet. He went to the bathroom and did his best to ignore the screaming ghosts as he cleaned his cuts.

"When he got back downstairs Zack checked his watch to see it was ten thirty. His parents where supposed to home by ten. Concluding that they must be running late he returned to his book. After about and hour Jackal calmed down and Zack decided to let him out. But once again, I can't tell you that what he saw pleased him."

A/N

Okay, this chapter is long enough. If you like the Jackal story, then, yay! It will be continued next chapter. And that Myxy moment was just for you Mistytail! Sorry for any typos but I was too tired to proof read. Bye!

Wolf