Time to Get Nasty

Lea walked down the street to the Corner Market. It was only ten o'clock and already she was sweating from the mid summer heat. Her Uncle Winston owned it, and she knew that she was going to get free chocolate covered nuts when she came there. As Lea arrived at the market, she saw that it wasn't as busy as usual. In fact, there was almost no one there. The market with its green and white sides and huge wraparound porch was sitting empty except for her uncle and a few of his friends, men from Catik Road, the ones her mother told her to stay away from. It looked like she wasn't going to get her candy after all. Then she shook her head. Lea Delosian was not someone to give up easily. She tossed her long red hair back from her eyes. After all, she had survived the serious butt kicking she had received from her brothers after getting those tattoos under her eyes and telling them it was a gang symbol. And if those men at the porch were thinking about doing anything…well, she always had her trusty chakrams to deal with them.

"Hey, Uncle Winston!" Lea called running up the stairs. Her chuck boots made clumping sounds on the wood. Winston, a fat man in a tobacco stained t-shit walked over to her. He was carrying his gunblade, something she had never seen him do. It always remained mounted on the wall in his back office.

"What's going on? Why's the store empty?" Lea asked.

"Hmpf" Winston snorted. "Marty here, thinks he saw some weird kind of monsters in the East Forrest earlier" Winston said. "So me, being on o' the City Guard, had to close down my shop, and look out for these stupid 'yellow eyed shadows' as Marty called 'em. More likely he was drinking and he imagined the whole thing."

Lea sighed, and wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans. "I wish Icould be part of the City Guard" she said. "I'd be a great person for the job!"

"That you would" said Uncle Winston. "But, let's leave that to the men, eh?"

Lea scowled. Already at sixteen she had decided that she hated being a girl. They didn't get to do anything!

"Now don't be mad" said Winston seeing her expression. "Here, I'll give you to bags of chocolate. I don't have any of the nuts yet. Shipments from the west seem to have stopped for some reason" he frowned, and then smiled. "Probably because of those 'yellow eyed shadows', ha-ha! But it really is playing havoc with my business."

Lea barely heard a word he had said. She was thinking. All her life she had been forced to act like a normal girl, someone who would wait to get married and then raise children. That was how things worked in the world of Aquivale. But now she was thinking. Suppose that these monsters were real? Suppose that she killed them all? She was good at fighting; her brothers (unknown to their mother) had showed her how to handle the chakrams that their father had left behind when he died in the Great War. If she killed the monsters then she would be celebrated throughout the town. Maybe throughout the Kingdom of Aquivale. She determined that she would do just that.

As she walked out from the Market, her head was filled with dreams of grand celebrations in her honor---

"No! Lea you fool!" Axel sat upright in bed, sweating and breathing hard. "No, Lea" he said softly. "How could you be so stupid?" this was the fourth night in a row having that dream about Lea. It was so real. He could feel the heat of the sun, he could taste the candy, he smell Uncle Winston's smell of sweat and cigarette smoke. Lea loved her

(Her? My?)

Uncle to death and he loved her too. She was so frustrated by the world that she lived in. Axel shook his head. His name was Axel. Axel. Not Lea. Some weird girl who he had dreams about daily wasn't going to help him. He rarely dreamed and when he did he dreamed only of her. But what was his connection to this girl. He looked down at his

(Her)

weapons and sighed. These chakrams had been with him since before he entered the Organization. Xemnas had found him wandering around the Dark Beach outside the Castle with no memory of who he was. All he had to go by was a bunch of jumbled up letters in his head that he couldn't seem to organize into a recognizable name. That was all. But what were you wearing axel? said a nasty mocking voice in his head. Come now, let's discuss what you were WEARING when Superior Xemnas found you on the Dark Beach. What about the jeans…and what about the charm bracelet---

"Shut up" Axel said and went to the bathroom across the hall from his room. This was his section of the Castle; all the members got their own. He shared it with nobody, but his Nobodies. He laughed a little shakily at this joke. He went into the bathroom, turned on the lights and went to splash some cold water on his face. Then he looked in the mirror and screamed.

It was Lea's face in the mirror and not his own.

Suddenly a Dark Corridor formed behind Axel. He whirled to see Marluxia appear behind him. "Well, it looks like the Flurry of Dancing Flames has gone mad" Marluxia said, grinning a nasty smug grin. "I've arrived just in time for an excellent show."

Axel ignored him and turned back to the mirror. It was him in the mirror and not Lea. "Just me" he breathed. "Not Lea." He turned to Marluxia. "Now, what do you want?"

Like Axel, Marluxia was wearing a black bathrobe with his number emblazoned on it in silver. "I was asked by Zexion to get you" he said. "Superior Xemnas has called a meeting of the Thirteen Council."

Axel groaned. "Why now?" he said. "We're all supposed to be sleeping! What does he do, stay up and plot things while the sane people sleep?"

Marluxia shrugged. "How should I know? All I know is that you should get a move on. The Superior does not like to be kept waiting."

Axel gave on last snarl, and went back into his room. He appeared later in his black robe for everyday use. He and Marluxia teleported. Well, Axel thought, at least this was better than what happened earlier. It was a change and it would take his mind of Lea. At least for a while.

Most of the Organization was already seated in the huge silver throne that marked their places. Axel and Marluxia were the last ones.

"Took you a while didn't it?" asked Xibar. "And why is Axel all sweaty---ouch!" he said, as Marluxia directed a rain of razor sharp rose petals his way.

"Can't take a joke, eh Mar?" said Larxene. Marluxia and Axel silently took their places.

"Now that number eight and number eleven are here, we can begin" said Xemnas. He leaned back on his throne. "Terrible news" he said abruptly. "Twilight Town is no longer the place where Tine rests. Our Kingdom Hearts has been stolen."

"What do you mean, stolen sir?" Vexen said. "That should be impossible! Who managed to challenge that thing and live?"

"The Superior is explaining, Vexen" said Lexaeus.

"Yes, I was explaining" said Xemnas. "Tine was abducted by a mercenary group calling themselves 'Xavier's Flyers'. Does that name sound familiar?"

Saix gritted his teeth and his hand strayed to the X shaped scar on his face.

"Oh, him!" said Demyx. "I knew that name sounded familiar when you guys were talking about how Maleficent was---"

"SHUT UP!!" Xemnas roared in rage. He teleported from his throne to Demyx's and threw the Melodious Nocturne to the floor. "YOU ARE ALREADY IN TROUBLE! IF NOT FOR YOU, THEN WE WOULD NOT BE HAVING THIS CONVERSATION! TINE WOULD ALREADY BE IN OUR CUSTODY! YOU ALLOWED YOURSELF TO BE BEATEN BY SNIVILING CHILDREN!!" the veins stood out in the Superior's face. Then he calmed. "Forgive me, number nine" he said, helping Demyx up. He put a hand on his trembling shoulder. "This is a serious situation" he called up to the others from the floor. "If we are to locate Tine, then we must find the hideout of these Xavier's Flyers. If that traitor Xavier is indeed at their head, he is to be captured alive, if possible. If it someone else, kill them." He smiled that insane grin. "The time has come to get nasty, my friends. The well being of our hearts is depending on this!"

"Well let's get started!" said Xaldin. "What are we waiting for?"

Axel said nothing. The entire incident with Demyx had just confirmed for him what he had suspected for a long time: the Superior was insane. The question was, just how insane was he? Crazy didn't necessarily mean stupid. He might still be committed to their goal. But what if…no, Axel shook his head. Xemnas wouldn't, couldn't have any other use for Kingdom Hearts than to restore their hearts. It was impossible. After all, that was all that it was good for.

"What about thirteen?" asked Luxord. "He should do his part, shouldn't he, sir?"

"That little brat's never around when we need him" Xibar complained. "Why is he even in the Organization? He never even does anything. He's always on that 'extended mission' thing."

Xemnas nodded. "Number thirteen will be very useful to us this time. The time on his extended mission is will prove valuable. I'm sending him on this mission alone. Call it a make up for the missions that he's missed."

Axel smothered a laugh. Looked like the little snot was going to get his butt worked off. Axel had known Xavier. If the Flamboyant Brawler had something he wanted…he wasn't going to give it back without a fight or munetary persuasion.

When Tine woke up, she thought that she was still asleep in the bed in the Old Mansion. Or maybe, maybe she was still in the tank. Then she decided it was the Mansion. She had dreamed about meeting Hayner, Pence, and Ollette. There had never been any Twilight Town; there had never been any Riku. "Better get up" Tine muttered. She was feeling a lot better. For the first time in what seemed like days (but had only been hours, since she was dreaming after all) she felt completely better. No pain or aches or anything. Tine opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was her arms. They had, she noticed, unfortunately developed scars, faint pale lines that traced through the skin. She wondered how many other injuries had scarred. She also realized that while she was in a bed, she was nowhere that resembled the Old Mansion.

"Oh good! You're awake!" said a cheerful voice near her. Tine turned to see a girl a little older than her apparent age. She was about eighteen and had orange hair shot through with black. It added to her large brown eyes. She was tall and had a large battle ax strapped to her back.

"Who are you?" Tine asked. She looked around the room. She was in a room that was bare stone walls. The bed and a nightstand where the only features in it. The woman sat down on the bed.

"Hi Tine. My name is Lain" she said. "Xavier told me that when they captured you, you put up quite a fight. I guess that's why he didn't really hurt you. He could tell that you were in pain and hurting and that you still wouldn't give up."

Suddenly Tine remembered everything. "You!" she shrieked. "Your gang kidnapped me! Let me go, right now!"

Lain laughed slightly. "Let you go? Why would we do that? Maleficent has given us a massive reward for your capture."

Tine's eyes flared yellow. "Maleficent…I'll kill you all then! I'm at full strength now, and I make you all suffer!" she reached for the darkness power to summon her powers, her sword, her Heartless…and nothing happened. "What the heck?" Tine said.

"The darkness power is sealed from this castle" said Lain. Xavier did that a while ago, back when he was still in Organization XIII. Part of an experiment for someone named Vexen."

"So is our little prize awake?" Xavier asked as he entered the room. He walked over to where Lain was.

"She's awake…but you really have to work on that arrogant streak of yours, Xavier" said Lain. "What did you do to offend her…besides capturing her?"

"I might have been a little…cocky" said Xavier. "But it come with the territory, when you've got superhuman powers!" he threw his head back and laughed.

Lain gave Tine and exasperated look and sighed. Tine returned Lain's look with a glare. "Sorry" said Lain. "That's just the Flamboyant Brawler for you."

"Wait!" Tine said. "You were part of Organization XIII! I remember you telling me that!"

Xavier looked at her. "Oh yeah. How do you know about us anyway?" he asked.

"I met someone strange in Twilight Town with a black robe. He attacked and said he wanted to take me back with him."

Xavier sighed. "Oh yes, those slobs. So which one was it? That creeper Saix? That lazy ass Zexion?"

"Huh?" Tine asked. "What?"

"Oh, never mind" Xavier said. "All I can really guess is that the guys in black are on the move again. And they want you for some reason. I can't figure it out and I don't want to. All I want to do is turn you in for a lot of money." He smiled. "And if my former comrades don't like it, well…they know where to stuff it. Ha ha!"

Lain regarded Tine almost sadly. "I'm sorry, girl" she said. "But it was your bad luck to be created like that." She turned to walk away. "Come on, Xavier" she said. "Take me to the Bar Section and buy a girl a drink?" they both left holding hands and laughing. Tine heard the door click shut behind them and then it locked.

Tine thought about Riku. It would be nice to hold his hand the same way Lain was holding Xavier's. Then she brushed the thought away. This was not the time for such things. Now was the time to think of escape.