II

"Karax!! Karax!" She was running through the halls with her discovery. "Karax!!"

Xanadu had been sitting on the couch reading some sort of book documenting all of Ansem the Wise's findings. "If you're looking for her, she's on watch duty. You'll find her down there." She went back to reading as the young nobody nodded. "Hold it!" Rainthrax had stopped iin her tracks. "Why are you looking for her? What's that?" She had noticed that her comrade was holding onto a few papers.

"Nothing that you need to know about yet. She wants these, though. Thanks for the location, though. Later!" She ran off.

----- -----

Down in the cells, the three members of Organization XIII had regained consciousness, and were heavily confused. Karax was leaning against the wall. They could all hear footsteps, and looked off to their left, only to see another member of Karax's group.

"Something wrong?" Rainthrax didn't respond, but gave the papers to her leader. "Marluxia's plans?" She looked over them quickly. "Good. Feel free to do whatever for now." Rainthrax still didn't speak. She bowed and left the room. Karax, on the other hand, had some questions for her captives.

Luxord was too busy playing Solitaire to care about anything, but Demyx and Axel were close to going at each other's throats. "Would you stop?"

"Don't make me create water clones!"

"Shut up. Neither of you can use your elemental abilities. It'll be easier for all of us if you stop arguing." She was reading over the documents.

Luxord had flipped the Ace of Spades. "So, who was that?"

"Rainthrax. Once of the younger members of the group." She set down the papers and formed a small tornado in her hand. "Tell me, why did you all come here? You abandoned it... So why? I wouldn't think you have any buisness here..."

Axel stood against her. "What do you know!? Why do you care?" The room warmed up, but no fire had started. "Why are you here...?"

"I'm not sure I should tell you, but with three of you as captives here... That leaves only four in The World That Never Was..." She laughed in a mocking manner. "You don't know how much easier you've made my objectives!" She laughed again, and then sighed. "Sorry... I just can't help it when my enemies endanger themselves! Ha ha..." A light breeze was blowing, and then it died down completely. "Hm... Tell me something... Which would you rather choose... Light, or eternal darkness?" They didn't answer with a justified statement.

"What do you mean?" Demyx was grasping the bars.

"I mean do you want to live or die?" She sighed again, irritated. "Fine, I'll put it into easier terms. If you continue to follow Xemnas, then you'll die. If you choose to leave the organization and follow me, you'll live...as long as you don't turn your coat and go back." She pushed herself off of the wall. "Which do you choose?" She didn't get an answer. "Think about it. You got 8 hours. Start considering." She left them alone in the same cell.

"Well, what do we do Axel? Demyx?"

"Go back to playing your stupid card game." Axel walked to one of the three walls and sat down in the corners. He wasn't sure which to choose. "Life or death... Which one do we pick?"

"Either way, we're gonna wind up dead..." Demyx went over to Luxord and they started to play War.

Axel was looking at the door to the cell. "Hm?" He didn't walk over to it, but he could clearly see that the cell door hadn't been locked. It was his oppertunity, and his alone. "Now I just have to wait until both of them fall asleep." Hopefully, another one of them wouldn't be coming down to keep watch. "That'll be my chance to escape..."

----- -----

"I'm going to take a look at The Wolrd That Never Was. Zyrex, you're on watch duty, and in charge while I'm away." She looked over her followers. "I want to know about anything that happened once I get back. Understood?" The four of them nodded. "Good. I leave you." She vanished in a gust of wind.

Zyrex breathed a sigh of relief. "You heard her. I'm in charge."

Xanamas stood up, glaring at her comrade. "SO? Big beal. She still put you on watch duty." She looked away from him. "She gave you an order, so if you don't mind, the three of us are going to leave and take care of things that need to be taken care of." She waved 'good-bye' and left the room. "Later, Zyrex!"

They walked out on him, leaving him with a grin on his face. "Hey! Get back here! THAT'S AN ORDER!! XANAMAS! XANADU!! RAINTHRAX!?" He sighed. "Great... After five minutes, they hate me... Whatever."

----- -----

The World That Never Was was clad in darkness. Memory's Skyscraper was filled with Heartless and Nobodies, mainly Dusks, Dragoons, Snipers, Neoshadows, and Soldiers. Summoning her semi-circular blades, she began to fight them off, tossing them and swinging them around as the gusts of wind became stronger. Throwing both of her glowing blades at the same time, she was able to take out about twenty-five of both Heartless and Nobodies. Catching them, she was ready to launch another attack. "How many more are there?" Over 500 had been sent back to the darkness by her, but more kept coming.

A strong gust was forming into a tornado, and she was charging up for another assault. "This is the last stirke... If this doesn't get rid of them..." The tornado thrashed them and her blades cut them down. Once the wind storm had died down, she fell to her knees and her blades cracked a small amount. "There's too many... I can't handle this many." She tried to call up more wind, but to no avail. Standing, she was ready to take them on with her bare hands. Pushing herself beyond her limits, blades form by the wind was slashing them, banishing them back into oblivion and releasing captive hearts.

A wall of fire surrounded her, fending off ememies from both groups. "BURN!! Get back!!" Some type of black, red, and silver-ish circular weapons were flying around the area, eliminating them one by one. "You alright? Karax?" She didn't look at him, but she thanked him, falling to the ground. "Hey, are you alright?" He poked her a few times, and then picked her up in his arms, taking her back to Castle Oblivion. "Geez. I thought she was stronger than that..."

... ... ... Her icy eyes flicked open, and she was staring at the crystaline white ceiling. Her body ached. She looked around the room and saw her weapons sitting in the corner opposite a door. "What?" She looked out the window. "The fire... Axel!"

"Hm?" Rainthrax had pushed open the door. "You're back already? When did you get back?"

Karax pressed a hand to her forehead. "It feels like my head's been stabbed by a thousand daggers..." She sighed. "Tell me something, Rainthrax... Who's watching the cells?" There was no response. "Zyrex better be down there..." Her head turned to her Third-in-Command. "Gather the others and meet me down there. We have a matter to attend to... I'll be there momentarily."

The cells were as gloomy as ever, but two things were missing. One was Axel. He had escaped somehow, and then vanished. Two, was that Zyrex was nowhere to be seen. Demyx and Luxord had moved on from War and had been playing Go Fish for the past three hours. As soon as Xanadu, Xanamas and Rainthrax walked in, their heads turned to the members of Karax's group. "Hey, have you guys seen Axel at all? He vanished without a word a few hours ago." None of them knew.

Karax, however, had gone to the roof. As soon as she got up there, she saw Axel. "How did you get out? And why hide up here of all places?"

He was sitting on the edge of the castle roof. "Who knows? Maybe it's because of the view..." He didn't even glance at her. "I've been considering your offer, and I've decided to join you." She gasped and he laughed. "What? Didn't expect it?"

"Yes and no. I guess I was presuming too much, like always." She sat down beside him. "You realize that it won't be easy, right? But you probably know Xemnas and The World That Never Was better than any of us... And thanks for back there... As much as I HATE to admit it... Axel, as of now, you follow my orders, and mine alone. If you betray me, you'll experience pain that doesn't seem possible. As you would say... Got it memorized?"

Axel turned to her, smiling. "I got it memorized... You look like you anticipated the fact that I'd be joining you..." She didn't answer him. "Karax, just out of my own curiosity, why are you trying to wipe out Organization XIII?"

"You're right... I did anticipate it. Xanadu, one of the younger members that I've known since I became a Nobody, had the ability to see into the future. In one of her visions, and I quote... two new allies... One with hair like fire, and the other an expert marksman. Makes sense... You're the one with hair like fire, but I have no idea who the expert marksman is." Standing, she opened a portal. "About the Organization... I want revenge for what a certain somebody did to me a year ago... Come on. By now, the others will have located Zyrex. Let's go." She vanished into the darkness, and Axel followed her.

Back in the cells, Zyrex had shown up shortly after Karax and Axel had arrived. "Good news. We've got a new ally. Axel." Xanadu smiled, while the others grinned. Demyx and Luxord couldn't beleive that he'd chosen life over loyalty. "Oh, shut up. As for you, Zyrex, come with me. We...have to discuss something." She walked away from the group and was followed by her Second-in-Command.

"What's up?"

"One of them escaped... Be thankful he's now an ally." Karax's back was facing Zyrex. "However, you failed your duty. I told you to keep watch and you didn't. You know where this is going, don't you?"

He gasped, but accepted it. "I understand, but..."

"BUT NOTHING!! You disobeyed a direct order, and now you know that you must suffer the punishment." She looked away from him. "Sorry, Zyrex, but I have to do this..." Within moments, screams of agony and pain filled the area, and everyone in the same room was gasping.

"What's she doing to him?" Axel had whispered into Xanadu's ear.

"I don't know..." She was also whispering. The screams became louder. "This is the first time any of us haven't done what she said. Who knows what she's doing to him..." She had a scared look on her face, and was clutching onto Rainthrax's arm.

The screams died down, and the sound of heavy breathing filled the room. "Forgive me!"

"I'm sorry, but this must be done." Again, Zyrex's screams echoed off the walls. Once the screams died down a second time, it was over. She left him lying on the floor and walked back to the cell that Demyx and Luxord were locked in. "Sorry all of you had to hear that... And to all of you..." She glanced at all of her followers, minus Zyrex, and grinned. "Let his pain be an example to all of you about how I treat disloyalty." She turned to her captives. "As for the two of you, have you decided yet?"

"Sorry, but we refuse, unlike you!"

"Yeah! You traitor!" Demyx was pointing at Number 8 and was glaring at him. "How could you Axel!? How could you betray your Organization!?"

"I'm an assassin. Turning on my allies is what I do..." He didn't notice it, but every member that followed Karax, including Karax herself, was glaring at Axel with suspicion. "Besides, I'd rathed be on the winning side."

"Enough, both of you." She looked over to Demyx and Luxord. "Rainthrax, release them from the darkness."

She nodded, and her fingernails, which were already long, sharp and pointy, grew. With a flick of her wrist, the nails were lodged in their necks, and they died within three minutes, fading away ever so slowly.

"Toxins?"

"Yes."

She looked over to where Zyrex was still lying on the ground. "Axel, help me get him to his room. He needs rest. The rest of you, feel free to do whatever for the remainder of the day."She looked back at Axel. "That goes for you too. You're one of us now." Karax then vanished in a portal, as did everyone else.

And so it was done. Now, there only remained four Organization XIII members. Everything was coming together.

In her room, she was laying on her bed holding a bunch of papers. "Maybe now I can read these in peace..."