Hey guys. I forgot to mention this in the last chapter, but Bruixe was wearing her hood up during the fight with the 'mysterious stranger'… (and if you HAVEN'T figured it out yet, he's really Riku). Neither of them knew who the other was.
And a note about Twilight Town. The real one, not the program. It seems there's been some confusion. Twilight Town (well, in my fanfic at least) is full of Heartless. It's been completely overrun. When Ansem the Wise and Riku move out, the normal inhabitants will show up again. But for now, it's all Heartless.
This chapter's reaally long. Buckle in. I don't own Kingdom Hearts, except for Bruixe. Enjoy.
"WHAT?!" Bruixe screeched.
Demyx quailed. "It's not my fault!" he whined. "They just sent me to tell you!"
"This is BULLSHIT!" she yelled.
When Bruixe had reported to the computer room for the fifth day of surveillance, the three seats were already filled by Axel, Demyx, and Xigbar. Demyx had pulled her out into the hall and broken the news. Bruixe was being taken off the mission.
"Why?" she complained loudly. "What did I do?"
"Actually, it's not something youdid," Demyx told her. "It's that guy. The one we don't know. He saved you, right? Saix and Xemnas were talking, and Saix seemed to think you'd be… compromised. A life for a life, that sort of thing. Saix was convinced you wouldn't go against him, even though he's the enemy."
Bruixe had never thought about it that way. It had never been about the strange man to her – it had been about Roxas. But now… as much as she hated to admit it, Saix was right. The faceless, nameless stranger had taken on a much different meaning to her. He may have been their enemy… but he wasn't a killer.
"Can't believe this," she muttered.
"It's slow going anyway," Demyx said, obviously trying to make her feel better. "Xemnas's time-stop program won't work with the new security this Ansem guy put up. He thinks there's no way to get in right now."
"Then why are you still watching?" Bruixe pointed out.
Demyx shrugged. "Roxas is in that program, right? At some point Ansem's gonna have to take him outof the program. To do that, he'll have to take down the security. Xemnas thinks we can get in then."
"The timing would have to be perfect," she mused. "Otherwise you'd miss him…"
"You can still watch with us," Demyx said. "But no more going in. When the security comes down, it's gonna be just Axel."
Bruixe blinked. "That's stupid," she scoffed. "Roxas kicked his ass once, he can do it again."
"Maybe," Demyx said. "Maybe not. Xemnas thinks it'll be sometime tomorrow. I'll come get you," he offered, knowing Bruixe would want to be there.
"Thanks," she said gratefully. "I'm gonna… I dunno. I'm going out."
"See ya," Demyx replied. "Don't do anything Axel wouldn't do."
Bruixe snickered.
She hadn't really made up her mind on where she was going, but somehow she ended up in Twilight Town – the real one, not the virtual. A few Heartless ran around helter-skelter; she summoned her Rogues, watching them destroy the shadows with ease.
Bruixe wandered through Tram Commons, wondering if the tram would ever run again, if the inhabitants of this lonely town would ever come back.
Something ahead caught her attention – a flash of black. Had she missed a Heartless? She ran forward to see, and she gasped involuntarily. This was no Heartless.
Ahead, the mysterious cloaked man was disappearing into the hole in the commons wall, headed for the mansion.
A million thoughts ran through her head at once, but the only one she could make sense of was Follow him.
She allowed herself a small grin. Well, she could do that.
Bruixe tracked her quarry through the woods but frowned when he closed the gate behind him, locking it with an enormous keyhole. Where's Roxas when you need him? she wondered. The lock wouldn't stop her, but it would certainly slow her down.
She waited until the man had closed the mansion door behind him before she shimmied up the wrought-iron poles of the gate, dropping over the other side in a soft thump of rustled grass. The door to the mansion didn't squeak, thank goodness – but the foyer was deserted, with no sign of where the man had gone.
She took in her surroundings. One door was completely blocked off by rubble – she ruled that one out. She went to the door on the opposite side, pressing her ear against it; when she heard nothing, she shoved it open an inch to look in. Empty.
Bruixe swept up the stairs, feeling exposed in the wide-open room. To her right, she slipped through another door, pulling her hood up just in case.
Inside, the room had clearly once been a library, but the floor had been cut away to reveal a set of stairs and a hidden basement. She could hear voices below, and she crept down the stairs, knowing it was risky to get too close, but wanting to hear.
"Why did you show him the train?" someone asked.
"Because he missed the trip to the beach," replied another. This voice she recognized from having heard it in the virtual Twilight Town, however briefly. It was Ansem the Wise. She'd found their enemies.
"Hmph… that's almost kind of you," said the first man, who she now knew to be the mysterious stranger.
"Now… what about you? Are the holes in your memory starting to fill in?" Ansem asked.
"Yes… the haze is clearing.
"The same thing is happening to everyone who had ties to Sora," Ansem concluded. Bruixe wondered idly what they were talking about. "Very soon, to them, he'll be like a good friend who's gone away for a year."
"I've waited, and now I want to know," said the stranger firmly. "What is it that you want?"
There was a pause, and then: "Revenge."
Xemnas was right,Bruixe realized. He's out to take down the Organization.
"Revenge…" repeated the first man.
"Now, for the finishing touches," Ansem said in a no-nonsense voice. "First, we must dispose of Namine. She did a splendid job with Sora, but it's high time she disappeared. Roxas isn't the only one who was never meant to exist. Take care of it, Ansem."
What? Ansem the Wise had just called his own accomplice 'Ansem'. It didn't make any sense.
She heard movement, and launched herself back up the stairs, out the door. Behind her, heavy footsteps echoed, someone moving quickly.
A moment of panic. If she escaped across the foyer, he'd see her before she got to the door. Where, then? She dashed across the second floor, slipping into the room she hadn't checked.
This room was completely white, one wall occupied by a huge bay window, the others papered with artwork – sketches. A long white table stood in the center of the room. At one end, a small blonde girl sat. She fit Axel's description of the heart-witch. Namine.
Shit.
The girl gasped, opened her mouth to yell, and then Bruixe was there in a flash, gloved hand clamped firmly around the girl's face. "Not a sound," she ordered. If she'd had a heart, it would be pounding a thousand beats a minute. That man had just been ordered to kill Namine, and Bruixe was right there…
As if reading her mind, the door opened.
The stranger – Ansem? – took in the scene, tensing up. "You," he said.
Bruixe knew he recognized her from the fight on the roof, hood or no hood. She didn't answer.
"Let her go," 'Ansem' said.
Bruixe's mind kicked into overdrive. Why does he want me to let her go? He was just ordered to kill her. Unless… unless he doesn't want to?
'Ansem' sensed her hesitation and put it together. "Hm… you were listening. Alright, whoever you are, at least let Namine talk."
Bruixe scowled deeper, but slipped her hand off the girl's mouth, instead summoning one of her short swords to keep at the girl's neck.
"DiZ wants you to kill me?" Namine guessed.
DiZ? Is that what Ansem the Wise is calling himself? Why hide it?
"He told me it was high time you disappeared," Ansem said. "But… this worked out better than I could've hoped. You. Cloak-girl."
It was a pity he couldn't see Bruixe's face – her scowl would have put Xaldin's to shame.
"Fine, don't talk," he said, frustrated. "Look, you want to get out of here safe, right? And I want to not have to kill Namine. Why don't we… compromise."
Bruixe snorted.
"Hey, I saved your life," the man reminded her. "You owe me, whether you like it or not. So I'll tell you what. Take Namine out of here and go."
Finally Bruixe spoke, her voice almost a snarl, filled with fear and rage. Rage that she was being manipulated, and fear that her superiors were going to rake her over the coals for this. "What makes you think she'll be safe with me?" she spat.
The man shrugged. "She won't. Not if you're one of… them, anyway. Why were you following me? How did you find us?"
Bruixe looked away for a minute, ignoring his questions. "Look. You saved my life. I appreciate that. But you also stole my friend from me. You're still my enemy. If I do this for you… then we're square. I don't owe you anything."
"If we're lucky, we'll never see each other again," the man pointed out.
Bruixe snickered. "Fair enough." The blade disappeared from her hand. "Come on, girly, let's go."
"You're a friend of Axel's?" Namine asked as they stepped into a portal.
Bruixe had forgotten the heart-witch knew her hot-tempered friend. "Yeah," she answered. "He let you go, didn't he?"
Namine looked surprised. "Did he get in trouble?"
"Not… really," Bruixe said, allowing herself a small smile despite her foul mood. "But he's sort of on probation. Both of us are. If my superiors knew about this…"
"You won't tell them?" Namine asked. "You won't give DiZ and… and Ansem away?"
Bruixe noticed the hesitation, but decided not to ask. "If I do," she pointed out, "I'll have to explain why I didn't take you back to base."
"You're… you're not…?"
They came out of the portal in a grassy valley, clouds rolling overhead, a gentle wind blowing. "Where are we?" Namine wondered.
"Don't ask stupid questions," Bruixe scoffed. "You'll be safe here. There's a good place…" She led the younger girl to the cliffside nearby, shoving aside heavy branches to reveal a small cave, completely hidden by brush.
She'd found it years ago. It was the ideal place to hide – quiet, secluded, hidden from anyone who didn't know it was there. Perfect for a little girl with the entire Eternal Kingdom against her.
"You're in the McClain Mountains right now," Bruixe told the heart-witch. "If you go south through the valley, it opens up into a big field. There's a city there. You can hide here, or you can go into the city. Doesn't matter to me. If you see that guy again, tell him I kept my side of the bargain. We're even."
"Thank you, um… what's your name?"
"Bruixe," she said. "Number fourteen. Listen, about Nobodies… we aren't all bad. We aren't all evil creepers like Marluxia."
Namine smiled as if at something funny. "I know," she said.
Bruixe crossed her arms. "Well… I won't see you around. Don't do anything stupid. You have no idea what I'm risking…"
With that, she disappeared into another portal. I hope Xemnas doesn't find out about this…