I DO NOT OWN THE MUSIC OF UTADA HIKARU. THE LINK TO THE SONG IS IN THE CHAPTER AND ON MY PROFILE. ALSO, THE LINK TO THE REFERENCE I DREW FOR AN ITEM IN THIS CHAPTER IS IN THE CHAPTER AND ON MY PROFILE PAGE.

Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep…SLAM! I look up to see that its 6:00 am. I slowly but surely get up and walk to the bathroom to fix myself up. I hear my stomach growl and I walk into the hallway to find no one there. I thought to myself, "Well, it's about 6:20 am, so I have time to wander around looking for the kitchen."

I turn right and go down the hallway. There were numbers on every door: IV, III, II, I. Dead end. I turn around and walk past number VIII, I stopped and thought, "I'm pretty sure Axel is asleep or getting ready. I'll just keep going on."

I took a couple steps and hear a door open and close behind me. I spin around to see Axel standing there and smiling at me. He greeted, "Good morning rebel."

I shyly laughed, "You heard about yesterday's dilemma, huh?"

He laughed, "Heard about it?! Xemnas was so pissed off! He was ranting about it all through dinner! You know how to get on his bad side, which isn't good. He may kill you if you keep doing that."

I replied, "Yeah… I promised Saix I won't do that again."

I started to think about Anthony, I miss him. Axel noticed my glum face and said, "Hey, let's go get breakfast! I'm starving, what about you?"

He opened a portal and we both walked into the kitchen where Xaldin was preparing breakfast. He and his lances were darting all about the kitchen, scrambling eggs, flipping pancakes and bacon. We sat down at the table while Xaldin came over and said, "Why are you up so early Axel? You're always one of the last people to get up and for you missy, you need to stop trying to run away or the Superior will have your head."

He walked back to his breakfast making while Axel and I sat in silence until Demyx, Marluxia, and Larxene came down. Shortly after that Luxord and Xigbar groggily came down with a really bad hangover. According to Axel, it was from their endless rounds of beer pong last night. Then Vexen, Zexion, and Lexaeus came down and very shortly after then came Saix and Xemnas. Xaldin served everyone breakfast and everyone was talking until Demyx asked, "So, Natalee… do you play any musical instruments?"

I replied, "If you count my voice, then yes."

He squealed, "Oh my gosh! Let's hear your voice! Sing!"

Everyone drew their attention to me and I had butterflies in stomach. I stood up. I don't know what to sing. A minute later I thought of a Kingdom Hearts song which was perfect for the occasion. I said, "I'll be singing Simple and Clean. The slower version of the song..."

I cleared my throat and got the tune in my head. Looked at the ground and closed my eyes. I looked up, took a deep breath, and sang softly ( watch?v=iTJL-CgsTP8), "When you walk away. You don't hear me say, 'Please… Oh baby… Don't go.' Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight. It's hard to let it go."

I continued, "You're giving me, too many things. Lately, you're all I need. You smiled at me and said 'Don't get me wrong I love you, but does that mean I have to meet, your father? When we are older you'll understand what I meant when I said no. I don't think life is quite that simple.' When you walk away. You don't hear me say, 'Please… Oh baby… Don't go.' Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight. It's hard to let it go."

I curtseyed and sat down while everyone clapped in astonishment. Demyx runs up to me and hugs me and says, "I just found my new best friend. Sorry Axel!"

Axel teased, "Oh, I see how it is."

While everyone laughed and talked, Saix and Xemnas left the room, probably to sort out missions. Eventually, all the organization members left to get ready or to wait in the lounge. Demyx and I walked back to our rooms to finish getting ready and skipped arm in arm singing random David Bowie songs. We skipped into the lounge to run into Saix. He screamed at us, "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING YOU SQUABBLING BABOONS!"

Demyx jumped behind me, shaking while I was face to face with a very… very angry Saix. When he realized he was screaming at me, he regained his composure and said, "Sorry about that Natalee. That was directed to the sniveling baby cowering behind you."

Demyx shot up and was about to argue, but I cut him off to ask, "What is my mission today?"

Saix said, "Ah, yes. You two will be working together today. Today you both are to head to a new world called 'Hollow Bastion' and see what's out there. Since you're freshly trained in reconnaissance and espionage, you may be a good reminder to the slacker that's behind you. Plus, you need a baby sitter to make sure you don't run away. Although, you may end up doing the baby sitting because Demyx is a coward when it comes to fighting."

Demyx's jaw dropped as Saix handed me the mission itinerary. Demyx opened a portal mumbling about how mean Saix was acting. We arrived in Hollow Bastion and started to snoop around the corridors and the exterior of the castle. All we found were heartless, no signs of anything else even though I knew at about this point, Sora would be facing off Maleficent or Riku. Demyx whined, "I think we're done, can we go back now? I wanna play my sitar and sing David Bowie songs with you."

I replied, "I don't think we have enough information. We need to exceed the Superior's expectations if we want him to trust us."

He asked, "Why do we need his trust for?"

I was about to reply until I heard footsteps. I whispered, "Hide behind the pillar!"

We quickly tip toed behind the pillar and peered around it to see Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Anthony. A tear rolled down my face, I wanted to go to Anthony and feel his warm embrace. I felt a little shock go through my body. I knew the Superior was watching. I'm pretty sure Xemnas would kill him personally so I would have no motive to run away or no one to run to. I watched Anthony enter the chapel to face Maleficent. Demyx noticed the tear and whispered, "Are you okay?"

I choked, "No."

He sat down with me and asked, "You wanna be with Anthony, huh?"

I nodded and he replied, "Well… maybe you can put it this way. Just think you're helping out the less fortunate by helping us find our hearts. Your job is to tell us what's going to happen and then we get our hearts and then you can go back to Anthony."

I sobbed, "But that's not how it seemed like. It was like, do it or die. If you guys had asked nicely then I may have helped you, but the way you guys went about it was rather rude."

Demyx said, "Well, sorry that you got the wrong impression. We're kinda desperate. We've been trying to build Kingdom Hearts for nine years. Our luck hasn't struck yet. Anywho, I think we've done enough for today. Can we go back?"

I wiped the tears from my face and Demyx sprayed some water on my face so that it doesn't look like I cried. I said, "Thanks and I think we need to see what happens to Anthony and Sora. I need to see if they succeed in defeating Maleficent."

Demyx sighed and we sneaked inside the chapel to see a weird portal near the wall across from us. I pointed to the portal and we went through and snuck inside the large thorn brambles around the edges of the battle area. I saw Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Anthony fighting and taking some bad hits from Maleficent in her dragon form. Anthony had a mage staff which the handle looked like a white, silver-ish tree without leaves. It had a huge sapphire crystal on the top with miniature branches starting to grow onto the sapphire. It seems very typical of him to choose a weapon like that. I couldn't help to notice that no side was winning. I said to Demyx, "I think they need some outside help."

He exclaimed, "Are you crazy?! Don't you remember you're not supposed to be seen?! That's the point of reconnaissance and espionage!"

I said, "If we want to get hearts then we need that Keyblade bearer alive."

I thought of ways to help them without being seen, but the only way was to have a poison arrow or dart. All of a sudden an M shaped silver bow that was about three feet long appeared by my side. It had something written along the right side of the bow, but I couldn't read it. Then I held the bow in a position to shoot and an arrow appeared in my hand, ready for its kill. I saw the feather part it was purple and along the side of the arrow it said Belladonna. I knew what it meant. In Italian it meant a beautiful lady, but in English… it's a deadly poison, perfect for me. I aimed near Maleficent's heart and let go of the arrow. It stabbed her in the chest and she roared in pain. Sora and the gang looked in every direction to see where the arrow came from. Demyx complimented, "Nice shot! Xigbar would be proud of you!"

I replied, "Thanks!"

I watched Maleficent slowly die from the poison and Sora and the gang wacked at her vigorously. Five minutes later, she collapsed to the floor leaving the trademark outline of her human form with the arrow stuck onto the ground where her chest would be. The thorns started to vanish so Demyx and I teleported back to the World that Never Was. It felt good that I got to leave a piece of me behind for Anthony. Something for him to hold onto… until I see him again. Demyx and I appeared in the lounge to find Saix waiting for us and he asked, "So what have you found?"

I replied, "There are mainly heartless in that world. There is this witch, Maleficent, who LIVED there until a few minutes ago. The Keyblade wielder has destroyed her. Also, Ansem, the heartless one, has taken over Riku and all of the Princesses of Heart are there. Sora is about to give up his heart to release Kairi's, who is one of the Princesses of Heart, heart to save her."

Saix snickered, "So most of this was guesswork for you. That's good to know, but I am curious. Will we get a nobody out of the Keyblade wielder?"

I replied, "Yes, he'll appear in Twilight Town soon, but…"

He retorted, "But what?"

I warned, "He will have no memories so he'll be a zombie for the first week or so."

He replied, "Good to know."

Saix walked away, probably to give my report to Xemnas. I knew Roxas was eventually going to betray the Organization, but that information I will never reveal. Demyx said, "Nice! I didn't have to say anything. We should get paired up more often! This mission was kind of fun, for once."

I said, "Yeah."

We chilled out in the lounge until dinner and shortly after I went to my room. While I showered I thought about Anthony. I felt bad not even trying to communicate with him, but I did it for his sake. Keeping him safe to the best of my ability is my number one priority, right? I know he may be freaking out about my safety at all times, but I just don't want Xemnas to kill him because of me. I don't want to completely lose him. I got out of the shower and put on my pjs while thinking about all of this. I crawled into bed and crashed immediately.

NOTE: I made a reference for Natalee's bow and arrows which can be seen here: gallery/37768956#/d550oet

EDIT: I re-worded some things, added more to one of Saix's lines, and I fixed some spelling/grammar errors