Author's notes: There's a section that references Renovamen chapter 8 in this chapter...

Warned

"Guys…" Sarah slowly stepped into the lounge room. "Has anyone seen Tara?" Riku frowned, and then looked at Leera, Leran, Kazuya Terra, Aqua, Axel, Naminѐ, Link and Midna, all who shook their heads.

"Xion hasn't been seen, either. Or Kairi, for that matter." Kazuya commented.

"Or Ventus. Something's wrong." Leera shook her head, holding a hand over her heart. Aqua and Terra watched her closely. "Fear… of what, I'm not sure, but it's not mine."

"Think the Organization kidnapped them?" Kazuya suggested.

"Not possible." Midna shook her head. "There are Twili guards everywhere. I don't know much about this Organization, but there's no way they could get in undetected."

"Something smells like the Fishing Hole…" Link muttered.

"Sarah, what's the first place Tara would run to if she escaped capture and was trying to meet us?" Riku asked the teenaged blond haired girl.

Sarah frowned. "Let me grab my laptop." She turned and left the room, returning with a very small, white laptop. She opened it and then double clicked on the 'internet explorer' icon. After going to Google, she typed 'Gaming Anime Convention Brisbane'. "There." She clicked on the link. "There's a convention on this weekend at the convention center… She'd probably head there. Actually… I think that's the con she used to go to with Kyle and that every year…"

"So she'll be there?"

"Most likely."

"When is it?"

"Two days."

"Get packed. We're going." Riku turned and left the room.

"Won't we stand out?" Terra questioned.

"Not at a gaming convention." Sarah replied.

Tara sighed, staring at the screen on her laptop. At least she'd been allowed to hold onto that. Ventus was pacing in front of her, Xion was beside her, being a very, very brave soul and reading her online role play over her shoulder. Kairi was elsewhere. The three were in a small, dark room, probably about the size of a small bedroom.

"Explain that to me again…" Xion pointed to the screen.

"Mainly, it's a long inside joke." Tara answered her.

"And…?"

Tara sighed. "VRM, which stands for Ven, Roxas and Mase, was, or were, accidentally killed by you when you absorbed Roxas's strength. Aqua got pissed off because she thought Ven was killed in the process, stole Reno's knife and tried to kill you. Scout, a humanoid, bipedal American Water Spaniel, pulled the knife from her hand, and then Reno ordered her and Terra to leave. Then Roxas showed up as a ghost and everyone began to think that you were delusional, until he decided to play a bit of a prank on everyone by manipulating various pieces of furniture and pulling people's hair. Then he started writing on the table and stuff…"

"What does this have to do with the thermal vision?"

"…Good question. Did you even understand what I just said?"

"No."

"Didn't think so." Tara sighed. "I really need to finish that Soku AMV Rahs wanted me to do… and that Larxene AMV… and I think there was another one I was going to do…" Xion gave up trying to understand a word Tara was saying. "Awwwwww… that convention's on in two days." Tara sulked. "I'm gunna miss it… I was supposed to go cosplaying with Ven and Terra… and Yuffie was going to tag along… and Yuna… and Vexen… and they were going to ask Demyx if he was coming… and Ven was going to bring Roxas with him…" She sighed. By this point Ventus and Xion had long given up trying to understand her.

"Memories… let's hope there are no undercover immigration officers, shall we?" Riku commented as they walked into the convention, having paid and everything else. "Sarah, you know Tara better than us. Go find her." Sarah nodded and ran off… to the arcade. Riku sighed. "I should've known."

"There are several Nobodies here." Aqua muttered, glancing around.

"Wouldn't surprise me." Riku sighed.

Tara frowned, crossing her arms. Lexaeus followed behind her, and, frankly, she did not want to get Larxene-slapped by him, so she obediently stayed away from where he told her not to go. She could see Xion nearby, being followed by Saїx. Ventus appeared to be alone, but Xigbar was staying within shooting range to him.

She then spotted a couple of, rather familiar cosplayers.

"Lexaeus?" She asked innocently, "can I go talk to those two?" She asked, pointing to the two of them. Lexaeus nodded. Tara ran over to them, and glomped the shorter one, a Ventus cosplayer.

"VENTUS! I missed you!"

"A-Aqua?" The cosplayer stuttered, having been knocked over by her. The taller one, a Terra cosplayer, chuckled at the two of them. Tara got off him and offered him a hand, which he took. She pulled him to his feet.

"Hiya, Terra." She waved. "Did Yuff and that come with you?"

"Maybe…"

"Why may-AK, BAD YUFFIE! GET OFF." Tara squeaked as someone tackled her from behind, wrapping their arms around her neck.

"AKI!"

"Bad Yuffie!" Repeated a third person, this one not cosplaying. He had dark hair, and was shoulder height to the Terra cosplayer, who Tara remembered was six-foot-two. 'Yuffie' let go, sulking. She wasn't cosplaying, either, and had short, blond hair. She was also shorter than Tara (which was quite a feat).

"Aww, dun sulk, Yuffie!" Tara wrapped her arm around the younger girl's shoulders. "By the way, hey, Vexen! Demyx here?"

"He's off somewhere." The Ventus cosplayer shrugged.

"Did you bring Roxas?"

"Yeah, he's over there." He pointed over to the arcade. Tara spotted the ten year old, dark haired boy they had nicknamed Roxas, but she also spotted someone else. Riku. And not a cosplayer. The real Riku.

"Jamie, you see that Riku cosplayer over there?" Tara asked 'Yuffie' quietly. She nodded. "Go over to him and tell him that Tara, Xion and Ventus are nearby but can't talk." Jamie ran over to the arcade. Tara looked over at Lexaeus when he made a brisk grunt-like noise. "Coming." She sighed. "See you around, guys." She, rather miserably, walked over to Lexaeus.

"HI THERE!"

Riku blinked at the, apparently hyper, short, blond haired girl beside him. "Hello?" What did she want, a photo?

"Aki wanted me to tell you that 'Tara, Xion and Ventus are nearby but can't talk' okay goodbye!" She turned and ran off.

"Sarah, who's that girl?" He asked. Sarah looked over.

"Jamie, I think… her nickname's Yuffie because she's so hyper."

"Yeah… I can understand that…"

"…"

"…"

"The cosplay competition will be starting soon…"

"Maybe we'll find the others."

"Maybe…"

Riku crossed his arms. There was something… fishy about the twelve Organization members standing on the stage for the cosplay competition. Everyone but Axel and Roxas was there.

"So, I notice that you're missing a couple of people…" The guy with the microphone, that is really only there to move the skits along, commented.

"Yeah… Roxas called in sick and Axel's taking care of him." Xion answered. There were a couple cheers from the back, and someone yelled 'is it a boy or a girl?' Sarah, who was sitting beside Riku, cracked up laughing. The silverette rubbed his temples. How much longer do I have to put up with this? I don't know who's worse, Tara or Sarah!

Tara, meanwhile, was curled up in one of the back seats, compared to the group who was up the front. She noticed Xigbar, who had his guns in his hands, was watching them. He attached the two guns…

Riku found himself hitting the ground as the chair he had been sitting in a moment ago gained a hole in the back. Tara looked over at him.

"You okay?"

"Fine." He answered. Tara gulped as Saїx stepped off the stage, summoning his claymore. All of the innocent people in the area ran away.

"Tara, Sarah, get behind us." Terra and Aqua stood up, summoning their Keyblades. The two earth girls did so, moving back behind the Keybladers.

"I wouldn't do that." Saїx chided.

Sarah looked beside her. "Tara?" She called. The girl was no longer there. Everyone looked over, then back to the stage. Zexion had a hold of the girl, his hand over her mouth and a knife to her throat. Tara looked at the group, a panicked look in her eyes.

"One wrong move… and I'll kill her." Zexion warned.

"Tara!"

"Kyle, you idiot! Get back here!"

Everyone looked over their shoulders at the two. One had dark brown hair, and was about Tara's age and slightly taller than her. One looked to be a couple years older and was over six feet tall, with light brown hair. Both were wearing casual clothing (this surprised Tara, as she had seen them cosplaying not long ago). The short, blond haired girl who had passed Tara's message onto Riku was with them as well. The tallest one had a hold of the darker haired boy's arm. Everyone disregarded them and turned back to the Nobodies. Lexaeus had grabbed Xion to keep her from playing hero. Tara closed her eyes, simply waiting for the knife to slice her throat. As a fanfiction writer, she wondered what it would be like, the pain. She had always described pain in her writing… but… what would this be like? Would her death be fast? Slow? Painful? Numb? She could only wonder.

Nothing happened.

She opened her eyes when she felt herself pulled off the stage and caught by someone.

"Thanks, Adam." She thanked her friend after he gently placed her on the ground.

"Don't mention it." He answered. "Go to Kyle." She nodded and ran off. Adam looked over at Zexion, who was picking himself up off the floor. Saїx and Axel were both nowhere to be seen. "I'll deal with this one." He said, turning to look at Riku and the others. They nodded. Link drew his sword, and the Keybladers all brandished their blades. Xion was still firmly in Lexaeus' grip, however, and was unable to fight.

Riku noted that Kazuya and Leran's weapons were in fact, Keyblades. Kazuya had Oblivion and Oathkeeper in his hands, while Leran had Way to the Dawn.

Adam laughed at the sight of Zexion's 'weapon'. "A book? Man, that's crazy!" He exclaimed. Zexion didn't answer him, the pages flicking seemingly of their own accord. At first, Adam assumed that he was about to use magic. Until this proved to be a ruse and quickly closed the book, raising it to strike Adam on the head with the spine. Adam caught the book and Zexion's wrist, before twisting his arm around.

"You couldn't hit my head if you tried! You're a midget!" Adam commented. Truth was, he was probably the tallest out of everyone there. He spun Zexion around and placed his thumb behind his shoulder. Zexion looked out of it for a moment, before falling unconscious. The overly tall teenager let go of his arm and let him fall to the ground.

"That was too easy." He muttered.

Riku clutched his arm. Terra swung at Saїx…

But all the Organization XIII members vanished. Xion collapsed to the ground, trembling slightly.

"Why did they run away?" Adam almost pouted. "Cowards!"

"Don't tempt them." Riku muttered. "One at a time is a breeze. All at once… no. Not good." Adam nodded.

"Guess you got a point there."

"We've got to get you guys out of here." Riku muttered. "It's not safe on Earth anymore."

"Y'think?" Adam raised an eyebrow. Riku chuckled.

"Let's get out of here." Tara muttered, sitting on the floor and hugging her knees. Riku opened a portal. Tara, rather shakily, got to her feet and stumbled through it after Sarah. The others followed behind her.

"Tara, you okay?"

Tara looked up as Riku stepped into the room.

"Do you normally care?" She asked, going back to the laptop sitting on her lap. Riku stood there for a moment, surprised at the girl's sour attitude. "If you really want to know, I'm better than a couple days ago." Riku nodded, then eyed the pendant around her neck.

"How long've you had that?"

"Sorry?"

"The pendant."

"Oh," Tara looked down at her necklace. The chain was silver colored, with a bronze Oathkeeper pendant. "Kyle gave it to me ages ago… I thought I lost it, but Kyle found it at his house. He has one of Oblivion." Riku chuckled amusedly. Tara glared at him. "You're almost worst than the school girls… only by now they'd have told all their friends."

"And you?"

"I'm an outcast. Give me a computer and I'm happy." Tara answered, going back to her laptop. Riku, despite having been scarred for life last time he had done this, walked over and looked over her shoulder.

Renovamen 8 - Microsoft Word non-commercial use

"Renovamen?" He asked her.

"Fanfiction I'm writing." Tara answered. "T-rated, don't worry." She smirked when Riku exhaled sharply. "You can read it if you want."

"Will I end up scarred?"

"No." Tara laughed. Riku sighed, and looked at what she was writing.

Zack exhaled sharply as Myde fell into the sea water. He wished he knew whether Lumen was alive or not… he looked up as Advocatus stepped clumsily onto the deck.

"How's your side?"

"Better." Advocatus answered. "Where's Lumen?" Zack shook his head.

"I don't know. The ship's captain's gone to go find him."

"Where could he have gone?"

"Myde showed up while you were out of it. We threw him overboard, but not after he knocked Lumen off the ship."

Advocatus's eyes widened. "Why are you just standing here, then?" He demanded.

"There's nothing I can do. Someone has to mind the boat. Besides, Jack's already gone to go find him. Advocatus, wait!"

Advocatus didn't listen, diving over the edge of the boat.

"Damn it."

"Who's all in that?"

"You're Advocatus, Sora is Lumen."

"Why Advocatus?"

"Advocatus Diaboli is Latin for Devil's Advocate. You'd have to read the rest to figure out who people call you that."

"Long story short?"

"Everyone has been reborn – hence the name Renovamen, which means 'rebirth'. Xemnas has taken control of the worlds and melded them together. You were taken from your parents at birth to be raised as Xemnas's personal servant, assassin, etc. Due to a few assassinations at your hands, and the fact that no one likes Xemnas, earned you the name 'Advocatus Diaboli', seeing as you weren't named at birth."

"Have fun." Riku muttered, turning and leaving the room. He stopped, however, when Tara screamed. He turned back and returned to the room. Tara was still alone with her laptop, but she had a horrified look on her face, and her skin was ghost pale.

"What's wrong?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Th…the Organization… is attacking Seattle…"

"Why did we scream?"

"Seattle is my hometown! It's my Destiny Isles!"

"Oh…"