Author's Notes: Wow, chapter seven is short. Don't blink, or you might just miss it. I added a few paragraphs, but since the chapter's a little thin on dialogue, it didn't do much good. At any rate: enter the OC. If you read the story before (or if you name is Izzy or Erica), then you know that this character's name used to be Lily, but it's Yuri now. Which means the same thing, just in Japanese versus English. (I changed it to keep the language of the names consistent.)

(Yuri's POV)

I tore through the streets of Dark City with reckless abandon. With its dark, winding, unfamiliar twists and turns, the city was worse than The Maze card. Except with buildings instead of hedges. Which really wouldn't have been so bad, if it weren't for the fact that I was being chased.

I turned a sharp corner on to the next, equally shady, alley. I had to be careful, because I really couldn't afford to run into a dead end. The wet pavement was slippery and difficult to run on, but I had no choice. Or did I?

I held out the small, pink key that I wore around my neck. Holding my arm out in front of me as I ran, I tried to recall how I came to possess such a thing. No answers came immediately to mind.

"Release!"

The key transformed itself into a long, but still pink, staff. I scolded myself mentally for shouting, because that would easily give me away. Unless my plan worked, and then I would be out of here.

"Fly! Jump! Do something!" I yelled, still running, but taking small leaps every few steps.

Needless to say, my plan wasn't working. The cards weren't cooperating, and because I had made so much noise, I was more paranoid than ever. They had to have heard that, and it was made even worse by the fact that it was my voice. If it had been a crash, they might have just assumed it was a stray Dusk.

I skidded to a halt, having reached a fork in the winding, angular path between the buildings. Directly in front of me was a colossal structure, and to either side, two alleys framed by walls so high that they prevented even the smallest sliver of moonlight from illuminating the way.

I resisted the urge to use The Maze card, but though it would have thrown them off track, it would have disoriented me further, something I couldn't risk. So I kept running. The heart-shaped moon illuminated the dark streets, guiding my way. But it was also guiding theirs.

I tried again. "Float! Dash!"

Failure. I slipped on the slick pavement and crashed on to the ground. My eyes met two big, round bright yellow eyes. I scrambled to my feet as quickly as I could. In the shadow of the towering building, the eyes of several Heartless were all I could see.

As I continued to press on, the Shadows grabbed at my feet and tried to pull me back down. I knocked them away with my staff, clearing a path through the narrow alleyway. They were definitely catching up now, I was positive.

The Loop card would have helped, I was certain. But because my last several attempts to use the cards hadn't worked, I decided not to take that chance. I'd made too much noise already. I was running out of breath by the time I reached the square.

Looming over the square was Memory's Skyscraper. The tall tower nearly touched the dark, starless sky. The warm light shining in the windows of the ground floor looked so comforting, but it was no use. No one here could help me.

Listening to the rhythmic pounding of my shoes against the ground, a pain entered my head, accompanied by brief flashes of memories. But whose? Surely, not mine. The girl in the recollections looked only remotely like me, not enough for me to even consider that we were related, let alone the same person.

The fragmented memories grew increasingly painful as they began to arrive more frequently. Cards. Magic. Friends.

"Stop!" I shouted, cradling my head in my hands as if only that would keep my skull from falling apart. They did.

A streak of lightning lit up the sky and thunder rumbled ominously as if the sky were tearing apart. After the bright flash, the darkness around me seemed even more sinister and uninviting than before. The tall buildings appeared forlorn and desolate silhouetted against the heavy gray clouds. I shivered, but not from the damp chill in the air.

I turned to keep moving, I was almost there. But something caught my arm. Thinking it was a Dusk, or a Neo Shadow, I tried to shrug it off and keep running. As I took off again, I was pulled backwards, and I knew then that this was no Heartless.

I spun on my heel to see what was holding my arm. What I saw filled me with an icy cold fear. My captor was wearing a black cloak – he was one of them. I tried to pull away again, but his grip on my arm was firm. He didn't move and inch, or release my arm, either.

"Let go!" I cried, tugging my arm, but getting nowhere.

He said nothing, gave no indication that he had even heard me. But his hand remained on my arm, preventing me from making my escape. So close.

"I said, lemme go!" I shouted again, this time kicking him in the shin.

The boy crumpled, his hand immediately jumping from my arm to his leg. I took the chance and ran into the next alley, jumping over a group of crates. But something was wrong, I knew, because I had been running from two people, not one. I looked back briefly, just in time to see a taller man help the boy up.

I rounded a dark corner, but the next street was cloaked in shadow. The taller man was coming after me now, while his friend took a seat on the stairs of the skyscraper. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and held my arms out in front of me, running down the narrow passageway blindly. Even with my eyes open, it was too dark to see.

I darted in between the crates that occasionally clogged the alleyway, vigilantly stepping around them or leaping over them. If I had taken the right turn, I was now in Fragment Crossing, and as soon as I made it to the Alley to Between I was home free. There were far too many people in Twilight Town for them to find me there.

I dashed around the last corner – into a brick wall. I fell back, down onto the ground. In my hurry to break away from the boy, I must have taken the wrong turn. Now I was hopelessly lost, disoriented, and I still had not succeeded in shaking the other man off my trail.

Staring up at the building that blocked my way, a small flicker of light caught the corner of my eye. I turned around; it was a small flame. The glow was emanating from a small tongue of fire balanced on the tip of the man's finger. I backed up; eventually, my back pressed up firmly against the wall. I was trapped.

My head in my hands, I slid down the wall, curling into a ball at the base of the building. I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged them tightly, resting my head on my knees. A tear ran down my face – just one – but I quickly brushed it away.

"Come on, Yuri. No more running away, it's time to meet the Organization."