Xejicka: Chapter 17. I can't beleive I reached this far.

Thalkxene: Compared to other fan fictions, this isn't much of a milestone.

Xejicka: It is for me! Writer's block is pure evil!

Thalkxene: So is procrastination.

Disclaimer: Xejicka does not own the Kingdom Hearts Series, the Final Fantasy Series, Amaterasu or Reno's goggles. She still is confused about whether she owns Durus though.

Thalkxene: Seriously, does she own him?

Xejicka: I don't know. I will say that Sephiroth still hasn't tried to kill me in my sleep, yet.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 17: Introductions and Orders

Hollow Bastion

The smell of hot dogs filled the nostrils of Kathleen as she woke with a start. "Ugh! Get that thing away from me!" she said with disgust as she pushed the hot dog away.

"No problem," a blonde guy said as he took a bite out of the hot dog. "Mmmm..." he said with satisfaction as he finished his weanie in three bites. A pain surged through Kathleen's chest and she quickly clasped it.

"It feels like somebody shot me in the chest," Kathleen stated as she sat up.

"You were shot in the chest. I think everyone around here was," a dark haired woman said as she entered the area.

"Tifa?" Kathleen asked as she perked up.

"That's me," Tifa said with a smile. "So, you're Kathleen?"

"Yeah," Kathleen answered. She got up from the ground and walked up to her new teacher. "It's nice to meet meet you," she said as she shook hands with Tifa. Suddenly a white light flashed on both of their foreheads as soon as their palms touched. They both stumbled back, a bit dazed as they put one their hands near their own forhead. It felt like something hit them there and they obtained another thing, just something, into their minds.

"That was cool!" the blonde shouted with a mouthfull of hot dog. Shouting was regretable because he started to choke. He pulled out a water bottle and tried to pour water down his throat, but none came out. His eyes widened as he tried to pull off the heimlich manuever on himself. He was unsuccessful.

Tifa quickly ran behind him and wrapped her arms around him. With one quick thrust of a punch, the hot dog was out of the blonde. Kathleen started to laugh hard. She clutched her sides and she leaned forward as she laughed. The girl nearly fell to the ground from laughing. "What's your name?" she asked the blonde as she wiped years off her cheeks.

The blonde recovered form the choking and he straightened up. He back flipped to Kathleen and landed with the left side of his face facing her, his thumb pointing at his face and a grin that only accented the tattoo on his face. "It's Zell,"

Jessica walked away from the small army after a few minutes gaining consiousness. "Where are you going?" Sara asked as she followed Jessica.

"I don't want to say good bye yet. I'm not ready after all," Jessica replied sadly.

"It was your idea to come up here," Matt added with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Yeah, and look what happened, we were all shot!" Jessica pointed out. She didn't want to tell anyone about the weird dream she had. It was fun, but weird. She had an urge to fight with her whip anyways. This time was too painful and the fighting would distract her from the pain.

"Look, Jessica. I may not miss Jackie as much as you do. I live with a lot of regret for not saving her when I could have. If I could go back in time, I would," Matt strongly pointed out. Jessica lashed her whip out at the man's leg. He jumped back and held his leg with a wince.

"I'll do this later, when I'm ready," Jessica scoffed as she walked away.

"If you're going to go, at least beware of the heartless," Sara warned. Matt was behind her, silently cursing to himself.

"I'm well prepared," Jessica replied as she pulled out her whip.

Reno and Durus walked away from where they dropped off Kathleen. "Are you sure it was a good idea to leave Kathleen with that woman, unconsious?"

"She wouldn't wake up whe we tried to wake her. I know Tifa, she'll take good care of Kathleen," Reno casually replied. His rod was resting on his shoulder.

"What now?" Durus asked.

"You don't have a weapon. Why don't we get you one," Reno suggested.

"Yeah, I'd agree, but we don't have the money. We need to get a job," Durus replied.

"I thought we already had a job,"

"We're not being paid in cash for being bodyguards. We suck anyways. We aren't waiting for Kathleen like we should and we got taken down by one girl with a crossbow,"

"Don't remind me," Reno sighed in embarassment. All he wanted to do now was fight. That weird dream he had just put him in the mood for action. There were few heartless running about, but they weren't fun to fight. The two bodyguards were getting near a few houses that were crowded together. They slowly walked through the streets.

A dark haired woman crossed their path. A whip held tightly in her right hand. Reno caught sight of the whip, the dark haired woman known as Jessica caught sight of the rod. They both looked each other in the eyes and with a second's flash, both weapons clashed.

Jessica's whip wrapped around Reno's rod, she yanked him up into the sky. Reno still held his weapon and sent a bolt of electricity through his rod. It surged through Jessica's body but she didn't drop her weapon. Instead she lashed her whip out again and grappled it around Reno's goggles. She yanked back and grabbed the goggles as Reno gave a look of embarassment and anger as he landed behind Jessica.

She twirled the goggles in her left hand with a smile on her face. "Mine now," she said as she put the goggles on her head like a head band. The madness continued as Reno swung his rod at Jessica's feet. She fell to the ground but didn't stop there. She used her whip and wrapped it around Reno's left hand. She managed to twist the whip aroung the rod and she quickly dived to her right. The rod snapped out of Reno's hand and landed w ith a thud far away from the brawlers.

Reno refused to give up. Jessica was still recovering from the dive so he used this free opportunity. He yanked the whip out of Jessica's hand and flung it out of both of their reach. The whip almost hit Durus. Luckily he moved out of the way as the whip hit the wall behind him. Jessica and Reno now had their hands around each other's throats.

Reno almost looked nude without those goggles. Durus walked away from the insanity. He turned a corner and heard a crash from behind him. He didn't bother to look back because he didn't want to deal with the idiocy of his partner. So he walked to the place he tried sushi for the first time.

He felt through his pockets but sighed in annoyance as he found no munny. He dealt with that and decided to window shop at the weapons store. It gave him time to think, something he hadn't really done in a while.

'Dammit, Fate. Why did you deprive me of the ability to use darkness? I couldn't protect Kathleen because I couldn't summon Soul Eater. I need a weapon. I need it so you can fulfill your end of the bargain to me. I know I saw that girl that I danced with at the ball before. I know I did. I want to see her again. I have to.' Durus thought to himself.

The replica was too lost in his thoughts to notice a light brown skinned girl behind him. She tapped his shoulder and he jumped a foot in the air with a small scream. The girl started to laugh as Durus turned around."Oh, hi Ammi," he said with a slightly embarassed voice. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm looking for a weapon here," she lied. "Do you finally remember your name?" she asked.

"Oh, uh... yeah!" Durus relied, almost forgetting about how he lied about having amnesia. "It's Durus Nero Vesper," he cooly replied as he pointed to himself.

"It's a nice name," Amaterasu complemented, knowing full well that Durus was lying through his teeth about amnesia. She couldn't talk though, nor should she. "I guess you're looking for a weapon?" she commented.

"Yeah, I can't afford any though. Not even a small dagger,"

"Why don't you follow me? I know where you can get a good weapon, the only price you have to pay is a short walk," Amaterasu said as she walked away. Durus followed her, seeing he had nothing to do. He didn't want to deal with Reno either. So he followed the girl into the streets.

The World That Never Was

Jackie woke up with a slight start. She was held tightly in the arms of someone. She was lying in a couch in what appeared to be a vast library. The embrace she was in was comforting, her head resting on the chest of a man and his head resting on top of hers. Things felt so calm and comforting like this. that is, until Jackie noticed a familiar crest on the bare part of the chest of the man that held her.

Without even a millisecond's pass Jackie kicked the unfortunate man off the couch. He landed on the table across from the couch and broke it on landing. Needless to say, the poor man woke up, and not very comfortably either. "Owww..." he said as he got up from the destroyed table and he rubbed his right arm. "What was that for?"

"I'm sorry, Demyx. I thought you were somebody else," Jackie nervously apologized. She thought it was Xemnas at first. What a nightmare it would have been for her to wake up in his arms. She put her arms around herself as it was starting to get cold in this room, but then, she was in a short tube top. Zexion walked into their area ofo the massive library. A book was held open in his right hand.

"It's about time you two woke up. You're very heavy sleepers," Zexion commented as he snapped his book shut.

"It's cold in here," Jackie commented as she rubbed her arms, ignoring Zexion.

"What makes you say that?" Demyx asked Zexion.

"You two obviously didn't hear Number Ten's screams of pain nor did either of you wake up when we dragged you here. I honestly thought the gambler's screams would wake the dead, it was so loud," Zexion replied in his usual mysterious voice.

"Still cold here," Jackie said as she started to shiver, ignoring the cloaked schemer. Suddenly something black plopped on top of her. She quickly pulled the black mass off, only to realize it was a cloak. "Ummm, thanks," Jackie said as she slipped on the small cloak and looked up to see who was generous enough to give it to her. She let out a small shreik as she looked up to find the tall Lexaeus looking down on her. "Tall," she said in a weak, but high pitch voice.

"Any reason why you two are here?" Demyx asked his superiors.

"Our orders were to move to a new base. We came here to gather some of our belongings as well as some other things," Zexion said as he stared at Jackie. She became very scared and she tried to scuttle off the couch and behind the nearest book shelf. She couldn't even get past the edge of the couch as Lexaeus grabbed her by the tail and pulled.

"Damn that tail," Jackie said in a scared voice.

"We're leaving right now," the so called Silent Hero said as he formed a portal with his free hand. Jackie tried to cling onto the couch. She had no avail as she felt the darkness entangle her. Then all that was left in the library was a confused Demyx.

He looked down to notice that part of his cloak was partially unzipped. He hastily zipped it up and walked out of the libraray without too much care.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Xejicka: I'm sorry to say, but this will be that last chapter I'll write for a while. The reason is for many things: I have writer's block, I need to read the new Harry Potter book so no one will spoil it for me, I have a summer reading assignment I have to do as well as some other things I'm procrastinating.

Thalkxene: The story has turned angsty on us and we need to find some funny ideas.

Xejicka: I already have a few, but if you readers have some ideas, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thalkxene: This chapter felt like a filler chapter.

Xejicka: Yeah and I can't think of anything funny. This sucks, writer's block is pure evil! Thanks for reading, please reveiw.