III

She was lying down on her bed, flipping through the pages that Rainthrax had given her. "I fianlly get some time alone." SHe was hopeful that Marluxia's documents would give her a little, if any, information on Organization XIII. "Three days have gone by since I suggested my plan to Larxene. Earlier today she gave me her answer, and I was thankful for it, but none of the others have responded well. Xemnas must be overthrown if everything is to continue going well. We won't survive under his commands! But then again, I dount that Larxene and I will survive if we are to attack him in The Castle That Never Was... Still, an attempt is better than nothing. Onto other matters, Axel has shown up again. It's getting to be a pain. I don't know whether to blame Axel or his plans, but all I know is that as soon as Axel came, Zexion was destroyed. Too bad though... Even though he opposed my plans, he helped me devise a strategy that could be very useful. I highly doubt that Xemnas will go down easily, but Larxene and I finally have a good plan! It's just marvelous!"

Karax sighed... "This is turning out to be useless..." She looked out the window next to her bed, and then returned to reading the documents. "I suppose I should be astonished... But then again, maybe not. There are rumors flying around... None that I'm too happy about, either. It seems the Keyblade Master has finally discovered a way to enter the realm of darkness. My only hope is that he won't get here any time soon... It's too early for that.But if he does arrive here sometime soon, you can bet that he'll get a fight! We won't go down easily..."

There was knocking on the door. "Karax? You busy?" The door creaked open and Xanadu had entered.

"What is it?" Her head turned to the youngest member of the group. "Something wrong?"

"It just seems like you're holding back..."

She exhaled heavily. "I though that you might've had another premonition...Leave."

"Forgive me..." She bowed, and just before the door closed behind her, Karax called her back in. "Yes?"

"I have a job for you..." She had set down the papers and crawled off of her bed. "I want you to go to the enemy's base. Infiltrate the castle and see if you can drill the layout into your brain. Stay hidden, and stay concealed. Keep your hood up as well. They may see you, but if you move carefully, you should be able to slip in unseen." She placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "You get caught... We'll never see each other again. Understood?"

"I think so... Just the castle?" Karax nooded to her. "I don't mean to seem imposing, but couldn't we just ask Axel for information?" She had a curious, yet proud, look on her face. "Wouldn't that just be easier?"

"Of course it would. But even if we did ask, how could we be sure that the info he tells us is true, right?" She glared at her follower, and then smiled. "It's better if we just go see for ourselves. Actually... You go find Rainthrax, and I'll go find Xanamas and Axel. We're all going on this one."

"What about Zyrex?"

She sighed. "Understand this... He isn't...capable, at the moment. It's just going to be the five of us. And, he'll probably get a chance to prove his loyalties to us instead of them. Makes sense, doesn't it?" Xanadu nodded. "Good. Go find her, and meet us as the castle gates. Time for a raid..."

----- -----

They traveled on the roofs, staying hidden. Each one of them had their hoods up, concealing their identities. They jumped from rooftop to rooftop, keeping a sharp lookout for enemies. Once they had reached Memory's Skyscraper, they split up. Axel traveled with Karax, Xanamas traveled with Rainthrax, and Xanadu was left to travel on her own.

Xanadu had her weapon, the Zodiac Bow, in her hand, and was ready to fire. All alone, she prayed that nothing would happen to her... That was when some type of bullet was shot at her.

"Hey, who're you?" The voice belonged to a man.

Xanadu had drawn back three arrows and was frantically looking around for whoever had shot at her. "You should come out of hiding. It'll make it easier for both of us. Don't you think so?" She didn't let him see, but she was using her spirit sight. She knew where he would strike next. Another shot was fired, but it was far off from where it should've hit. "Sorry, but you can't hit me. I know what your next move will be."

"As if! Dude, nobody has ever been able to read my moves! Not now, not ever, man!" He fired more rounds and reloaded.

"HOLD IT!!" The group stopped to look at Xanamas.

"Organization XIII?" Karax, Rainthrax, and Axel called up their weapons

Xanadu looked behind her, praising that her comrades had shown up. "Yeah!!"

"DUDE!! I was starting to wonder when you guys would get... Dude...So not cool, Ax... And here I though everyone was getting back from some super-secret mission. Man, was I wrong! You did turn on us! Not cool, dude, not cool!"

"Oh, would you just shut up...! You're more annoying than her!" Karax was pointing at the hooded Xanadu.

"Speak up! Who are you guys?" He took off his hood, revealing an eye patch that covered the right eye, and a scar on the left side of his face near his chin. He fired a warning shot. "Leave now!"

Karax joined her blades together and formed a sort of shield. They were still damaged from when she came earlier. Deflecting the shot, she smirked. "You want to know who we are? I'll tell you who we are..."

"You can stop, Xigbar. They're friends of mine from a little while back. They're welcome here. I didn't turn on you guys! Why would I do that?" He was smashed in the ribs by Karax's elbow.

She detatched her blades from one another. "I wouldn't listen to him. You want to know who we are, right?" He nodded. "We are the six people who will destroy Xemnas and have our revenge for the past!"

"Six? But there's only five of you...?" He shook his head. "What...ever. But... Maybe I should side with you guys... I can't help myself when it comes to humiliating Xemnas!"

Karax grabbed him by his neck and held him above the ground. "Understand this: We aren't planning on humiliating him..." She dropped him and ran both edges of her blades together, and they faded. "We plan on destroying him... And we can do it with or without your help." She removed her hood and allowed Xigbar to see her face. "Your name is...?"

He laughed. "Maybe you should tell them, Ax!" He jumped down to the roof they were stading on."

Axel sighed, not amused by his 'comrade'. "He's Number 2, and known as the Sharpshooter. His name's Xigbar. A bit of nut, if you ask me..."

"It doesn't matter." The group looked at Karax, and Xigbar made a crude remark. She sighed. "Welcome aboard. But let me get something across to you: You turn on us or disobey my orders... You'll wish that you were never created."

"Got it memorized?" Everyone looked at Axel. "Sorry..."

"Well, do you?"

"Yeah. No problem dude!"

----- -----

None of them had noticed, but once they got back to Castle Oblivion, they were missing another member. Of course, Zyrex was asleep, but Xanamas was nowhere to be seen. Xugbar, on the other hand, was slightly shocked to see how well the castle had held up after the defeat of five members of the organization. After five mintues inside, he made himself at home.

"Ok, listen up!" Karax had caught the attention of her group. "We don't have a name, but who cares? What we need to worry about is Xem... Where is Xanamas?" They all looked around for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. "We'll worry about it later. For now, we need to worry about what our strategy is for when we go in fo the kill. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

She nodded. "Meet in this room in two days with three ideas each. Xemnas will fall, and we will have our revenge..."