Chapter 8: Xigbar and the Bird (double-ux3 . youtube . com/watch?v=UpkKBbcM0us)

Memo: HAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I love this scene here... Stupid old man... You can tell he and Nexus were friends, though. hahaha. Keep in mind Nexus is NOT wearing her Organization robe right now.

*~*~*

Sora, Nexus, Donald, and Goofy finally reached the bailey during an entire argument about Nexus and everything about her that they could find. Luckily for her, she could find a way out of every question except one.

"Look, just tell us what you know about the Organization," Sora begged as they approached where Leon was standing. "You didn't cry for no reason at all."

Before Nexus could say anything, Leon interrupted their conversation. Nexus was suddenly thankful for his annoying nasal voice.

"Look at that," he said, pointing over the edge of the balcony-like area. Sora and Nexus gasped at the sight below them. A huge mass of black was moving around like a sea of darkness. Actually, that was more or less what it was. Thousands of Heartless were swarming. "We want to restore Hollow Bastion to what it used to be. Who knows--maybe even something better. There's still a lot to do, but I'm sure we can handle everything-- Except...for that..."

Leon pointed to the castle, then to two white things walking toward the castle. It took only a second to realize they were Dusks.

"...and that."

"We'll handle 'em!" Sora shouted proudly.

"Well, that's good to hear." Leon looked relieved. "So Sora--do you know what's going on, then?"

"There's this guy, Pete, who's been going around plotting with the Heartless. But he's not smart enough to tie his own shoes. The ones we need to worry about are the Nobodies."

"And those Organization XIII guys in charge, too!" Goofy added. They aren't ALL bad, Nexus thought. But before she could tell them this, a voice rang out in the short silence.

"You called?" asked a familiar voice. Familiar to Nexus, I mean.

The five of them looked around and saw no one. Sora ran out into the open area on the side.

"You're doing well," the voice said again.

"Who's that?!" Sora shouted, summoning his keyblade.

"What's going on?" Leon asked Nexus.

"It's the Organization's leader," she replied. "This could get ugly."

"This calls for a celebration..."

Suddenly several Dusks appeared by Nexus and Leon. Sora ran over to them to escape within the comfort of the gate, but an unknown force shut it.

"We can't let them get through the gate!" Nexus exclaimed, pulling out her gun from its holster.

"Right!" Leon agreed, whipping out his gunblade.

"A man with a gun; right on!" Nexus said, grinning.

The Dusks were easily defeated, even without the cowering Donald and Goofy's help.

"The Keyblade...a truly marvelous weapon. Were it only in more...capable hands..." The voice spoke again, only this time, laughter from a small group of people was heard.

"Show yourselves!" Sora commanded.

"Ummm," Nexus murmured. But it was too late to run for it; she opted for hiding behind Goofy instead.

"Organization XIII!" Goofy shouted as Xemnas raised his arms.

"Good! Now we can settle this!" Sora cried

"What a shame... And here I thought we could be friends."

The Organization--or what was left of it since Axel and Nexus annihilated half of them--laughed and disappeared one by one.

"Stop!" Donald quacked, running down towards the stairs and right into a cloaked man. "What's the big idea!?"

"Oopsy-daisy!" the man said. Nexus' ears perked up. Could it seriously be...?

"Move!" Sora growled.

"Now, do you think that's polite, shutting me down like that?"

Nexus gasped. It was Xigbar. She continued to stay hidden, though. She was waiting for the opportune moment.

"I said get outta the way!" Sora repeated.

"As if! You can talk all you want, but that won't change a thing." Yup. This was definitely Xigbar.

"Then we're gonna MAKE you move!" Donald shouted.

"See, that would work--if I were just any old dude. 'Cept I'm not. I'm with the Organization. Nothing "any old" about me."

That doesn't even make sense, Nexus thought, stifling a laugh.

"Ha! Tough talk for someone who stood on the sidelines while his Nobody flunkeys did the fighting!" Sora called back.

"Oh, dear. I think you got the wrong impression," Xigbar said, wagging his finger at Sora.

"You gonna cry?"

"As if! Why don't I remind you how tough the crowd you're dealing with really is?"

"Remind me?"

Nexus watched as Sora's angry face became soft, then hardened all over again. Roxas...

"That's RIGHT, he used to give me that same exact look," Xigbar said, laughing.

"Sora, don't listen to him!"

Nexus' PoV

I was really getting sick of Xigbar. I wanted to go ahead and take him out.

"Hey, it's YOU!" he gasped.

"Bet you're not as excited to see me as I am to see you," I said, glaring at him.

"I can't believe I'm seeing you actually alive." Xigbar laughed. "When Xemnas said Nexus, I thought it might be Sune's Nobody--"

"Yeah, yeah, and allllllll you ever cared about was her and your stupid research. Look where THAT got you."

"As if! I've got more authority than ever!"

"Tch. Selfish idiots," I muttered, crossing my arms. "By the by, do you know why I'm here?" I pulled out my gun. "Can you spell 'elimination'?"

"I'd love to see you try!" Xigbar then laughed. "You realize I'm gonna tell Xemnas about this, right?"

"Oh whatever. Tell Mr. Mansex anything you want. He know I'm a fake," I snapped. "I'd watch your own back because you're on my list...and it keeps getting shorter because of all the checkmarks."

"As if! I'd watch out for your so-called partner!"

Before I could respond, Xigbar laughed cruelly and opened a portal.

"NO!"

*~*~*

"NO!" Nexus shouted, running in after the strange Organization member.

"Nexus, wait!" Sora exclaimed. But she was gone. "Well...easy come, easy go. C'mon, let's get going."

"But, uh, don'tcha think we should wait for Nexus?" Goofy suggested.

"Hardly. Do you think she'd wait for us?" Donald said.

Before Goofy could disagree, Nexus suddenly came flying out of a dark portal, screaming. She landed on her butt on the hard ground.

"Oof! Ow...hey!"

She jumped to her feet and made an attempt to chase after Xigbar, but the portal quickly closed. Growling, Nexus stomped her foot. She looked really pissed.

"You little...RRRRR!!!"

Nexus flipped Xigbar--or, more so, where he had just been--the bird, then made another extremely crude hand motion, then stopped and clenched her fist.

"Lemme guess: you're all standing right behind me, aren't you?"

"Yep."

"And you saw me...right."

Shaking her fist at where the portal had been, Nexus suddenly smiled and looked over her shoulder. She looked truly embarrassed.

"Sorry about that!" she said, grinning sheepishly.

"I can't believe you just did that," Sora said, eyes wide.

"Yeah, I know...but I hate that guy."

"That was weird, though. WHO gave him the same look?" Sora crossed his arms, his keyblade disappearing.

"Y'know, I think he was just tryin' to confuse ya," Goofy replied.

"Yeah, you're right. Only one me!" Sora looked at Nexus.

"Hey, don't look at me," she said, raising her eyebrows.

Sora rolled his eyes and pulled out his Hollow Bastion membership card.

"The Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee Honorary Member--"

Suddenly the card began to glow. Sora gasped and let go of it to watch it float into the air. To everyone's amazement, Sora's keyblade reappeared and began to glow brightly.

"Huh?" Sora said, cocking his head a little.

"What's this?" Leon asked.

"Gawrsh, ya think...?"

Nexus' PoV

I can honestly say that, for once, I had no clue as to what was going on. I felt a strange sense of innocence. (^^U)

Light flashed from the Keyblade and the card. An invisible wind blew through Sora's clothes and hair as a crown symbol appeared on the ground beneath him. The card revealed a Keyhole and Sora locked it. Man...weird. Maybe it was a gateway, I thought.

"Ohh...now I get it," Sora said, lowering his keyblade. "That must've been the gate Yen Sid talked about."

"Oh boy!" Donald shouted, jumping up and down.

"Sorry to run, Leon, but other worlds are calling," Sora said, waving a little.

Leon nodded understandingly. "Organization XIII... They look tough. Be careful out there."

"They aren't THAT bad, Leon!" I exclaimed, grinning. "Nice to meet ya!" He nodded again, smiling.

"See ya!" Sora shouted as we ran off. I looked over my shoulder to see Leon salute us.

.........

"Nexus, do you want to fly?" Sora asked me. I shook my head.

"I'll trust you can learn by example," I replied, sitting down.

"If you're bored, you can go give yourself a tour of the ship."

I nodded and did such. I wasn't so much bored as worried. Talking to Xigbar made me feel uneasy, I guess. I wondered if he knew more about Axel right then than I did.

I randomly opened up a dresser drawer and saw a little black notebook with colored pencils. A smirk making its way onto my face, I opened the book, expecting it to be a diary. But it was blank.

"And now it's mine," I whispered to myself. I had a sudden idea. I wanted to write a story.

Sitting down on my bed, I contemplated what to write about.

"Once upon a time..." I wrote, thinking hard. "......Crap. I can't think of...!"

And then it hit me. I knew what I was going to write. The story didn't have an ending yet, but it didn't necessarily need to yet.

I had been through enough, so who said the story couldn't be MY story?

.........

I think writing that story was the hardest thing for me to do, and yet...when I was writing it, it seemed like everything was coming together. Like maybe...I still had a chance.

Either way, it definitely helped pass the time.

We were about to enter a new world. Sora called it:

The Land of Dragons.