Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I own your dog, Scruffy.

Chapter 4

The Sailor, the Sorcerer, and the Sadist

Axel bowed low, his shaggy mane of hair almost sweeping the floor. The flickering torches on either side sent scattered shadows dancing across the rough stone; demons lurking in the shelter of the dark. He could feel the glare of the man in front of him, beating down onto the back of his neck like an avenging sun. He wouldn't be surprised if he had a rash the next day.

"Rise, Axel," the man said, "And explain."

"I'm sorry to inform you, Lord Xemnas…that I lost the girl."

Xemnas folded his arms. He wore a black coat, identical to Axel's. His hair was long and silver, and he had an odd, rather artificial-looking tan. He was the center of Organization 13, its heart and its blood. He had recruited Axel to his cause a few months ago.

"You are beginning to try my patience. I bestowed this job upon you, Axel, because I believed you were the best suited to it. You, who are both my greatest friend and keenest ally."

Liar, Axel thought, repulsed. I'm more like you greatest slave and keenest bitch.

"I apologize," he said blandly.

Xemnas' eyes flashed. "Apologize? You may have yet compromised our entire operation! The girl must be brought to Sai'x immediately!"

Axel was nodding and bowing again. "Yes, Sir, I'll go at once."

Before Axel could go on, Xemnas raised a hand, stepping through the portal of darkness rising up behind him. In his place now stood another. This man was dressed identical to the rest of the members of the Organization, but he had two slanting scars across his forehead, forming a lopsided 'X'.

"Sai'x," Axel greeted him.

"So good to see you, Axel," the man called. "I hear you're failing, as per normality."

Axel's hands balled into fists, but he held his tongue. This man was psychotic, everyone in the Organization knew that. Best not to get on his bad side.

Which of course, Axel was already on.

"I've been waiting for the girl for some time now, and yet here you stand, without your prize. Tell me Axel, what is so difficult about persuading a woman to follow you?"

"She's not an idiot," Axel answered, "And she can manipulate the realm. Better than some members of the Organization, actually."

"Indeed?" His expression had grown hungrier. "I can hardly wait to meet this girl."

Axel cringed. He didn't want to think about this; Sai'x getting his hands on Kairi. She seemed so pure, so untainted by anything. The idea of this man touching her, or even looking at her, made him feel physically ill.

"You're not going to turn her into one of your toys," he said, his voice more confident than he felt.

Sai'x raised a thin eyebrow. "Oh? You mean like the last one."

Axel could feel his skin prickling. This man disgusted him.

Sai'x was now tapping his chin, feigning recall. "What was her name…Namine, that was it." His eyes narrowed. "She screamed quite beautifully when I—,"

"Shut up!" Axel yelled, "I don't want to hear about it."

Sai'x grinned, showing two rows of yellow teeth. "I wonder how Sora's girl will scream when we finally find her…"

When Kairi awoke, she was no longer in Twilight Town. The train had left the well-tended fields and villages, to be replaced with a bleak expanse of craggy terrain. She had been intent on watching the transition, of possibly finding out where exactly she was going, but she had fallen asleep. The train's route would forever be a mystery.

Pluto was still locked in slumber, lying splayed across three seats opposite Kairi. His ear was twitching slightly, and she imagined he was dreaming of chasing rabbits or whatever else dogs were supposed to dream about.

Standing up, she stretched and yawned loudly. There didn't seem to be any way out of the coach into the rest of the train (she had checked earlier) so she sat back down, waiting for something to appear in the distance other than rocks.

She didn't have long to wait.

It marred the horizon like some dark, slumbering beast. A few minutes later Kairi was able to pick out individual buildings, all small and run down, and one massive structure, dominating the area. It was made of dark, stained stone and seemed to be in the process of either crumbling apart or being built. Possibly both. All in all, it looked like a city from a fairytale. A depressing fairytale.

The train ground to a halt on what looked to have been at one time a battlement, but now looked like it was being devoured by some creature that had an appetite for stone. Kairi placed a hand on Pluto's head. He licked her hand and sprang up, almost foaming at the mouth in excitement.

"Calm down, boy, we don't even know where we are."

The moment she stood up, the train's door sprang open. Feeling slightly apprehensive, she stepped out into the new world.

There wasn't that much to see. Everything just seemed to consist of small, one-story stone buildings that lined meandering avenues. There didn't seemed to be any kind of sentient beings around either. The only sound was the steady drip, drip, drip of a sluggish fountain carved into a garden wall.

"This place…feels familiar," Kairi commented to Pluto as they walked along what could hardly pass for a street.

Pluto didn't answer, just panted, his pink tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth. Suddenly, he stiffened. A low growl started in his throat, shaking his whole body and making his ears stand on end.
"What's wrong?" Kairi asked, looking for the source of Pluto's discomfort. She found it further down the street, in the form of a little black creature. It looked vaguely humanoid, but with odd feelers sticking out of its head. Kairi recognized it immediately. A heartless.

"Shit," she breathed.

The things seemed to have noticed her, because it was now scurrying down the line of houses as fast as its spindly legs could carry it. It seemed strangely insubstantial, as if it was made of nothing but thick fog. But those talons looked real enough.

Kairi didn't know what to do. She couldn't fight it; the only person she knew who could was Sora. And he wasn't here. So she did the only the she could do. She turned and ran, back toward the train, Pluto barreling along at her heels.

"What the..?"

Kairi skidded to a halt. The train was gone. There was no indication that anything had been there besides the unrelieved line of ramshackle houses, not even tracks. She turned back to the heartless. It was still coming, and it had been joined by three of its fellows. They stalked her like prey, their staring yellow eyes never moving from their target.

She fought back a yell. Had she really come all this way, just to be eaten by a creature of the darkness? It didn't seem fair, any of it. It was all that damn Axel's fault, all his…

"Are you going to fight them, or are you just going to stand there?"

Kairi jumped. Someone had appeared in the shadows between two equally decrepit houses. He stepped out into the light, raising a brilliantly etched sword. The heartless hissed, turning to the man instead. He just scowled, brushing the dark hair out of his eyes.

The creatures pounced, all at once. Kairi screamed, but the man just calmly swung his sword. It hacked through the heartless like they were butter. The horrible little things didn't seem to have any survival instincts at all. Even after watching their fellows being shredded, they continued to launch themselves at him like kamikazes. It only took a few seconds for the street to be completely heartless-free.

The man sheathed his sword. He sighed heavily and turned to Kairi. "You want to be more careful. You might end up dead." He turned, trudging back to the lane separating the two dark houses.

"Wait!" Kairi called. Pluto barked in agreement.

The man gave no acknowledgement, but he slowed his pace slightly. Kairi followed him up the narrow alley, across a bridge spanning a dry canal, and up a set of stone steps. The more she saw of this silent stone town, the more she felt like she had been here before. It was more like déjà vu than anything; like she had walked these streets in a previous life.

The house the man stopped at didn't look much different from the rest of herd. Smallish, dark, and in its death throes. He opened the rotting wooden door, disappearing into the dim interior. Kairi hesitated for a moment, then followed. She gave her eyes a moment to adjust. When she could finally make out something other than nothing, Kairi found there was someone barely two feet in front of her. She squeaked, skipping backwards and almost tripping over Pluto.

The girl standing before her raised an eyebrow. "She's a little young for you, Squall."

The dark-haired man grunted. "My name is Leon. Get it right for once."

The girl laughed. She was small and her hair was cut like a boy's. Her body looked rather fragile, but there was something about her eyes that suggested looks might be deceiving.

"Uh, hi," Kairi said tentatively. "I'm…"

"Finally!"

The cry came from the corner. There was a man there, seated in front of a massive computer. Kairi hadn't noticed him at first. Never-ending lines of code filled each and every screen, and he was typing furiously, as though trying to win some kind of race. His clothes were rather old and tattered looking and kind of sailor-ish.

"Did you get somewhere, Cid?" the girl asked, turning to the computer.

Cid didn't answer, just continued to type. All three of the stranger's attentions were now completely focused on the computer screens. Not knowing what else to do, Kairi stared as well. About a minute went by, when Cid suddenly slammed his fist down on the keyboard.

"God fucking dammit to hell and back again on a deranged chocobo!"

Leon and the girl let out a collective sigh.

"What happened?" Kairi asked, looking from one to the other. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," the girl answered. "It's just Mr. Hacker is having a little trouble. By the way, who are you?"

"Kairi. And you?"

The girl struck a pose, hands on her hips. "I'm the great ninja Yuffie!"

"Uh, okay." Kairi gave a weak smile.

"And Mr. Charming over there is Leon." Yuffie shrugged a shoulder toward the man who had led Kairi inside. "Don't let the dark and sexy act fool you. He'd really just kind of annoying."

"Look who's talking," Leon said, without turning around. He seemed very intent on the cup of coffee he was currently adding sugar to.

"Who are you guys?" Kairi asked.

Yuffie sat down at the lopsided kitchen table, motioning for her to do the same. "We call ourselves the Restoration Committee. But right now we're just trying to find a way to break into Lord Ansem's files."

"Lord Ansem?" Why did that name sound so familiar?

"He used to rule this world," Yuffie explained, "Until the heartless came."

Kairi felt her heart rate beginning to speed up. "The heartless? You guys are fighting them too?"

"Too?" Cid repeated, turning around, his tone incredulous. "Who else have you met who's fighting them?"

"Damn, sorry, Sailor guy. Didn't mean to piss you off." Kairi could feel her mood going south.

"Sailor guy? That's Pilot guy to you, sweetheart."

Why does everyone keep calling me that? "Sorry. You look like a sailor."

"Let's pause in this riveting conversation, shall we?" Leon had finished with his coffee. "What I would like to know is what someone like you is doing Hollow Bastion. You're not from this world, are you?"

Kairi blinked. "No. How could you tell?"

Yuffie chuckled. "It's not hard to see. For one, you're outside in the evening. That's when the heartless come out in force. Everyone who lives here knows that."

Kairi turned back to Leon. "I'm looking for someone."

He looked confused for a moment, but then he smiled. "I think I understand." His voice was soft and almost timid. Sexy, like Yuffie had mentioned.

"Ah, splendid!" The voice came from back in the house. "It's good to have you back, young ma—,"

An old man had emerged from the other room, but he stopped short at the sight of Kairi. Everything about him screamed sorcerer, from his pointed hat to his long blue robes and slightly bemused expression. His brow furrowed, his eyebrows almost disappearing into his grizzled hair.

"Is something wrong, Merlin?" Yuffie asked.

The wizard scratched his head, looking from Kairi to the rest of them. "I thought for sure…I mean…I thought I felt…"

"Sora." Leon set down his coffee mug. "You thought she was Sora."

Merlin nodded. "Precisely. I thought I sensed his essence."

"Do you think it's a glamour?" Yuffie asked. She had suddenly stood up and was now backing slowly away from the table.

"She's a little too pretty to be Soar, don't ya'll think?" Cid commented.

"Hey!" Kairi's temper had snapped. "Somebody explain to me what the hell is going on!"

Everyone fell silent. They all looked rather befuddled.

"Well, that's definitely not a very Sora-like thing to say," Yuffie said finally.

"Most certainly not," Merlin agreed. Kairi opened her mouth, but the wizard held up a hand. "Before you start shouting again, Miss, please allow me to explain our situation. Sora—you know him, do you not?" Kairi nodded. "I thought so. He—Sora, I mean—has a very unique feeling to him, a unique aura, if you will. The power of his heart is easily discernable from a distance."

Kairi was beginning to catch on. "So you're saying…"

"Your hearts are identical. Or at least they seem to be. If we closed our eyes, there would be no doubt Sora was standing here in our midst."

Next Chapter: Why Nobody Likes a Beast