Looming Darkness: Daybreak Chapter 30: Sweepers, a kingdom hearts fanfic

I'M ALIVE!

Yes, you read that right. I've returned from the realm of 'Dear Sweet Merciful God. Why Has This Taken So Long?'

Long story short: family drama, combined with work drama, combined with writer's block, combined with discovering Mass Effect seriously delayed this chapter. And I apologize for making you all wait.

To (hopefully) make up for it, I present the longest chapter so far in Looming Darkness. This chapter totals at over twenty thousand words!

But I've kept you waiting enough.

Disclaimer: After three months of no updates, I am DEFINITELY not worthy.

Enjoy!

Chapter Thirty: Sweepers

Silence.

Silence and darkness.

Endless darkness.

Naminé stared blankly at the darkness around her as she sank deeper into the abyss. How long had she been falling in the suffocating dark? A minute? A day?

The blonde teen tilted her head, watching with interest as bubbles of light formed behind her, as if she her sinking was disturbing the stillness of a non-existent ocean. She watched the bubbles vanish into the darkness behind her feet for several minutes. Or was it several weeks? Naminé still couldn't tell.

All of a sudden, the bubbles stopped forming, and it occurred to Naminé that she was no longer sinking through an ocean of darkness. Her feet were definitely touching a very solid surface. Naminé's pale blue eyes darted back and forth across the darkness, trying to spot anything aside from herself. But all there was to see was the abyss.

A pale, grayish-blue column of light slowly shone down from somewhere high above in the abyss, nearly blinding Naminé, who had grown so accustomed to the darkness. Slowly, the light grew, banishing away the darkness and revealing that the ground Naminé stood upon was made of several large tiles made of what appeared to be stained glass pieces in countless colors. The stained glass tiles were lined up side by side in a long, perfectly straight line.

The light pushed the darkness back further, revealing innumerable, carved marble doors set at perfect intervals on either side of the stained glass path as the darkness retreated to just behind the doors, giving the impression that they led to nowhere, except to the black abyss beyond.. Each door was nearly identical. The only differences between them all were the ebony plaques placed on the left hand side of each one. Carved into each plaque were a wide variety of symbols, clearly a language Naminé had never seen before.

Curiosity overtook her, and Naminé strode over to the closest door and grasped the crystalline handle and pulled on it. The door refused to budge. Naminé's brow furrowed in confusion. She pushed against the door, with no avail. The marble refused to budge.

"They won't open for you."

Naminé jumped as another voice spoke from somewhere behind her. She spun around and immediately spotted a man dressed in a black cloak with the hood pulled up, concealing his features from view.

"What do you mean?" The blonde asked. In response, the man gestured around at the doors with his hands.

"These doors lead to the memories of a heart other than your own," he said in a perfectly emotionless tone. "They are not yours to open."

Naminé raised her eyebrows at him. "You do realize that one of my special talents is interacting with and manipulating memories, right?"

The hooded man nodded. "I know you can," he said. "But these memories are bound with a very powerful magic and can only be opened by the heart they belong to."

Naminé let out a sigh. "Alright, so if I can't open them, then who can?" She asked. "Whose memories are they? And why are they in my dream?"

The man chuckled softly at this. "I don't remember saying this was a dream," he said. "Take a look around you. We're inside your heart at the moment, the place where the memories that don't belong have come to rest."

"If this is my heart, then who are you and why are you in here?" The blonde teen asked. "How did you get in here?"

"You brought me in here, Naminé," the man said. "Don't you remember? The day you became your own Somebody, no longer being just Kairi's Nobody? You used your powers to rifle through the memories of Xanthos, and in doing so, you stumbled across something you weren't supposed to know, which triggered a hidden magic sealed within Xanthos' body and banished you from his heart and mind, at a minor cost to his physical health, of course. The magic that banished you from his mind left me behind in your heart to find the memory you took."

"So, in a way, you're Xanthos?" Naminé asked.

"I came from his heart, didn't I?" The man replied.

"You said that I took a memory from Xanthos? What memory?"

The cloaked man shrugged. "I do not know. And that is why I am here. Through one of these doors is the memory I seek, and you are going to help me find it."

"Why do I have to?" Naminé asked. "I thought that was your job, so why don't you do it yourself?"

"Are you saying you want to miss out on a detailed trip into the memories of a very powerful Chaser?" The man asked, his tone suggesting that he already knew what Naminé would do.

Naminé let out a sigh. No. There was no way she would even consider passing up an opportunity like that. Xanthos' memories would undoubtedly lead her to learning more about the Keyblade War, something that, to her knowledge, no one had ever been able to learn very much about. Who in their right mind would pass up an opportunity like that?

"Lead on," Naminé said, a hint of eagerness creeping into her tone as she looked up at the cloaked man.

The man let out a chuckle and held out his right hand. In a flash of bright, purple light, a Keyblade appeared in his grip. The Keyblade had a spiky, black guard resembling demonic wings, a horned, demonic head just above the handle, two barbed shafts, and teeth resembling a battle axe split into three almost claw-like protrusions. It resembled the Oblivion to a degree, but with two shafts and a different head. It also contains two demonic, blue eyes; one on the Keychain and the other towards the tip of the blade. Its shaft and head were adorned with several twisting, silver patterns, adding to the sinister appearance of the blade.

"Then let's go." The man turned towards the nearest door and aimed his Keyblade at it. A loud clicking sound resounded from some hidden mechanism inside the door and it slowly opened inwards, revealing what appeared to be a wall of bright light. The man shouldered his weapon and gestured for Naminé to walk through the door first.

The blonde teen nodded and stepped through the doorway into the light. How long she stood in the light, Naminé couldn't say, but eventually the light faded, leaving Naminé standing in the middle of a dark, dank alleyway in the middle of winter. Strangely enough, she wasn't cold, even though the snow around her was piled as high as two feet in some places. It took her a moment to realize that she was now in one of Xanthos' memories.

She looked around at her surroundings. The city she had ended up in was made of mostly stone and was surrounded by several high walls that seemed to serve a dual purpose for protection, and dividing the various districts of the city. Naminé didn't have much more time to get a better look at the moonlit architecture before Xanthos himself strode past her, albeit looking several years younger than when Naminé had met him. He was dressed in the same black cloak both he and the former Organization XIII wore and he had his hand clenched tight around an Oblivion Keyblade.

Naminé quickly followed him as the Chaser wound his way through the snow covered streets, clearly looking for someone or something. He stopped a few times to peer around corners, always taking extra care to avoid the men and women in matching guard uniforms. This went on for several minutes until finally, Naminé caught sight of someone else in the city beside the guards and Xanthos, a man in his late twenties, who was clearly drunk, that was stumbling around the alleyways of the city, shouting obscenities and racial slurs about 'cat-people'.

Next to Naminé, Xanthos was giving the man an emotionless smirk. He lifted his free hand and threw his hood up over his head; hiding his face from view, but not before Naminé had managed to catch a glimpse of his eyes. Naminé's blood ran cold. Xanthos' eyes weren't the silver color she remembered him having. They were a bright, sinister yellow, the same yellow those whose hearts were twisted by Darkness were known to have.

Naminé watched, frozen in place by shock as Xanthos slowly stepped out of the shadows and advanced on the drunkard. As he drew nearer to the man, a woman's voice echoed mysteriously, though it seemed only Naminé could hear her. "That husband of mine thinks he can sleep with any bar maiden he wishes? If he's not going to be faithful to me like he promised, then he needs to be taught a lesson!" Xanthos stopped behind the man and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"What do you want?" The man snapped, slurring his words at the Chaser.

The woman's voice echoed in Naminé's head once more. "Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me."

Naminé watched, horrified, as Xanthos drew back his blade, and swung it into the man's neck, severing his head from his body. Naminé cried out in shock, but no one was around to hear her. It was all just a memory.

For a moment, her world turned into a swirl of color, light and darkness, and the snow covered city was gone. In its place was the view from the inside of what appeared to be a temple, dedicated to some god or goddess. Naminé and Xanthos were standing on a catwalk high above the floor below next to a hanging brazier that contained a brightly glowing fire within. In the rows of seats below them, a woman knelt, her hands folded in prayer. Naminé gave a start as Xanthos summoned the Oblivion to his hand and pointed it at one of the four chains supporting the brazier in front of them and cast a continuous stream of Blizzard magic on I, freezing the chain solid.

A woman's voice entered Naminé's mind once more, this one different from the one she had heard in her last memory. "That filthy little thief thinks she can get away with stealing my precious necklace and then claiming it was hers so the guards don't believe me? Ha! Think again." Naminé turned fearfully towards the Xanthos in the memory, his face was as still and emotionless as stone as he canceled his magic before striking the frozen chain with his Keyblade, shattering it. "Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me." Naminé squeezed her eyes shut as the flaming contents of the brazier spilled onto the woman below. But she couldn't block out the poor girls' tortured screams as fire took her life.

"Make it stop," Naminé pleaded. "How could he do this? How could anyone do this? No more. Please." Her pleading went unanswered as the memory shifted yet again. Now she was standing to the side of a wooden throne in a long, grand hall. A man in his early forties sat on the throne, garbed in a set of fine, silk clothes with a golden circlet adorned with sapphires around the crown of his head. Four guards armed with a variety of bladed weapons stood to both sides of the throne as servants bustled about to place food on a table before the man. A woman in a dark, purple robe entered the room and bowed to the man on the throne and began discussing something with him in a hushed tone. Naminé looked around the room, but there was no sign of Xanthos anywhere. Wasn't this his memory?

"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me." A man's voice said. The blonde teen's eyes widened.

The massive, double doors that led into the grand hall were thrown open, revealing Xanthos standing outside, his Keyblade and cloak stained with the blood of two slain guards at his feet.

"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me." The voices of two women spoke into Naminé's mind.

The man on the throne was shouting at his four guards to attack. One with a broadsword strapped to his back reacted first and charged at Xanthos, drawing his blade as he went. Fire surrounded the edge of the Oblivion in the Chaser's hand as he countered the broadsword and melted through the steel weapon. The guard stumbled past Xanthos and was swiftly cut down.

"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me." A child's voice spoke.

The other three guards all roared in frustration and charged at Xanthos. The Chaser leapt to the side as the first guard reached him, smoothly avoiding the steel blade that threatened to cut into him. The Oblivion's teeth hooked the guard's weapon by the blade near the hilt, allowing Xanthos to disarm the man with minimal effort. The guard stared wide-eyed in surprise before he was knocked back into one of the other two guards by a spinning kick from Xanthos. A glowing, bright blue blade of pure energy appeared in Xanthos' hand, which he hurled like a javelin into the chest of the third and last guard to reach the fray.

"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me." The voice of an elderly woman chanted.

The other two guards untangled themselves from one another and launched themselves at Xanthos. The Keyblade Wielder smirked and easily parried their hasty attacks before disarming them both and blasting them away with fire magic.

"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me." A man and a woman spoke in unison.

The woman in the purple robes raised her hands and fired twin bolts of lightning at Xanthos. A Reflect spell appeared around her target, and deflected her attack right back at her. The woman hastily cast up a barrier between her and her re-directed attack. Her attack collided with her barrier and both magics cancelled each other out with a loud crack that left Naminé's ears ringing. The woman was knocked off her feet and thrown into a wall head first, her neck snapping and bending at an angle that a neck shouldn't bend. Her lifeless body fell to the floor, hand still twitching.

"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me." The voices were blending together now, becoming harder for Naminé to tell one from another.

Xanthos turned his attention on the man who was still sitting on the throne. The man shakily drew a war-axe from its place on his belt, ready to defend himself from the Chaser. Xanthos shook his head with a chuckle and raised his hand as he advanced on the throne. A whip made of the same electric-blue energy he had used to cut down one of the guards lashed out from Xanthos' hand and wrapped around the shaft of the axe, tearing it from the man's grasp.

"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me."

The man sat back down on the throne and hung his head in defeat as Xanthos stopped in front of him and raised the Oblivion above his head, poised to strike. Naminé turned her head away, unable to watch anymore.

"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me."

"Why?" She asked herself, as she heard the sound of a blade slicing through the air and sinking into flesh, quickly accompanied by the splatter of blood on the hardwood floors. "I thought he was a good guy. Why would he do this?"

"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me."

Naminé's eyes opened against her will. The man on the throne had a large gash torn into his throat, and the floor around him was stained with blood. To her surprise, Xanthos turned to face her, his face and clothes bathed in blood. His golden-yellow eyes didn't seem to be focused on her though. In fact, he seemed to be staring off into the distance at the setting sun, which was barely visible through the doors he had thrown open. His voice, though younger sounding but unmistakably his, echoed through her mind, completing the chant.

"For the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear."

Tuesday, June 29th 4794 P.C.

Onboard the Kingdom

Somewhere in the Sea of the Worlds

Naminé sat bolt upright as the Kingdom lurched violently to the side, throwing her off of Kairi's bed and onto the floor. With a groan of pain, the blonde pulled herself to her feet only to nearly fall down again as the ship rocked again. The door to Kairi's room opened, revealing Nanaki, dressed in some of Kairi's loaned night-clothes and with her hair tangled up something awful.

"You okay, Naminé?" The purple-haired wielder asked, clinging to the side of the door frame as a loud explosion from somewhere outside of the Kingdom caused it to lurch once more.

"I'd be better if I knew what was going on," Naminé said, doing her best to put a smile on her face, even as she was thrown back onto Kairi's bed.

"Sora said we're being chased by some really big Heartless ships," Nanaki explained. "We're faster than them, but they've got some pretty big guns so he's trying to lose them in-" she was interrupted as the Kingdom made a barrel roll. Fortunately for those on board, the Artificial Gravity Generator was still operational, so they're feet stayed firmly on the floor, so to speak. The AGG didn't prevent them from being thrown side to side, which was much worse for Naminé than Nanaki.

"-in an asteroid field," the purple-haired teen finished as she hurried into the room to help Naminé back to her feet.

The blonde gave Nanaki her thanks and suggested the two of them head up to the bridge where they could buckle themselves in before Sora's piloting got either of them hurt. This earned a laugh from both of them, which karma rewarded them by tossing them heavily into the half-circular room that connected all three bedrooms and on top of an unsuspecting Roxas.

"There are nicer ways to say good morning, you know," he mentioned as both girls helped him stand up.

"Sorry, Roxy," Nanaki said with a smirk. Roxas gave her a scowl. "Blame your brother's flying."

"I thought I told you not to call me Roxy yesterday," Roxas mumbled.

"Tough beans, Roxy," Nanaki giggled. "I'm gonna call you whatever I want." Roxas sighed. Normally, Naminé would have had to do her best to stifle her own giggles, but the memories of what she had seen in her dream were still fresh. Instead, she remained silent as she and Nanaki followed the blond out of the room and into the hall beyond as he made his way to the bridge.

They found Sora and Kairi both strapped into their chairs already, both still looking like they had literally climbed out of their beds and into the chairs. Sora was jerking the controls of the ship left and right to avoid the incoming space rocks. Kairi had her eyes glued to a targeting computer and was gunning down the squadrons of Heartless ships released by the two carriers pursuing them.

"You two look like you're having fun," Roxas noted as he sat down on the chair to Sora's left.

"A blast," Kairi said sarcastically, emphasizing her words by reducing another ship into dust.

"Nice shooting, Kairi!" Sora said. "Keep it up! We're almost out of the asteroid field." As he spoke, Sora was forced to jerk the controls to the side to avoid a collision with a large asteroid by navigating the Kingdom through a narrow, winding tunnel that was cut through the rock, barely leaving enough space for the ship to make it through. To Sora's credit, they made it out the other side without so much as chipping the Kingdom's paint job.

The same couldn't be said about the Heartless cruisers pursuing them. The closer of the two ships attempted to pass through the asteroid the same way Sora had, only to be crushed by the space rock. The second cruiser, which had already received an extensive amount of hull damage from being hit by larger asteroids, ran straight into the first cruiser and both exploded in a great ball of flame that lit up the bridge of the Kingdom, even as they broke free of the asteroid field.

"And that's how it's done!" Sora said cheerfully as he switched the Kingdom back into autopilot mode. "We're coming up on a new world here in a few minutes you guys, I figured that Nanaki and I could beam ourselves down real quick and pick us up some supplies. Our kitchen's looking a little…"

"It's empty," Roxas cut him off. "Plain and simple as that. We're down to a few bottles of Coke, some fruit snacks and three boxes of Wheat Thins. There isn't anything to make a halfway decent meal with."

"Like I said," Sora continued with a shrug, "Nanaki and I will beam down real quick to pick up some supplies and we can be on our way."

"Why just you and Nanaki?" Naminé asked. "Why shouldn't the rest of us go?"

"Because they're the only ones still in mostly decent shape after what happened on Lynfael," Roxas pointed out. "I'm still recovering from fighting all those guards and Sora's Anti-Form. Kairi's got that bullet hole in her shoulder that's still healing. You look like you're about to pass out on your feet. And to top it all off, Richard 's been lying down on the couch ever since he got on board and has yet to move a single muscle. I can't tell if he's sleeping, or dead."

"Maybe he used up too much power turning that Veneschall to glass?" Kairi suggested. "It might take him some time to heal."

"Exactly," Sora said, undoing his seatbelt as he stood up. "It'll take us a couple hours at most to get the food I'm thinking, so we should be back on the road pretty quickly, so to speak. I'm gonna go change real quick before we arrive." He quickly exited the bridge, pausing to give Kairi a quick, good morning kiss on the cheek as he did so. Kairi's cheeks flushed red slightly as he took her by surprise.

Nanaki let out a low whistle. "That's the first time I've seen him willingly give you any kind of emotional contact since we left my home world," the lavender teen commented. At her words, Kairi's mind briefly flashed back to the night before, where she and Sora had ended up having a two and a half hour heart to heart about why he was doing his best to avoid her since they had put Lynfael to their rear as they headed out for Radiant Garden.

Sora had been afraid for her safety. He had lost control with his Anti-Form, shot out Recovery Seven's throat and hurled Recovery Two to what Sora assumed was her death. He was afraid of what he might do to Kairi if he lost control. Even as he had explained his reasoning to her, he looked defeated, and afraid. Two things she knew the Sora she had fallen for would never display, especially over something as silly as losing control of the powers he didn't even fully understand. So Kairi had done the only thing she could think of.

She literally slapped sense back into him.

It had taken her over an hour after that to help Sora realize that what had happened with his Anti-Form wasn't his fault, that it had been Recovery Seven's fault instead. She had promised to always stand by him, to be his guiding light and pull him back from the Darkness if he ever fell victim to it again, just like she had twice now.

That good morning kiss Sora had given her as he passed was more than enough to comfort Kairi and reassure her that everything was going to be alright. With a smile, she nodded to Nanaki. "There's a lot more where that came from, trust me," the auburn-haired teen said with a smile as she stood up from her seat to go change as well. She brushed past Nanaki and headed down the stairs to the deck below; ignoring the violet-haired Wielder's gagging motions.

In less than twenty minutes, Sora and Nanaki had both changed out of their nightclothes and compiled a shopping list with help from Roxas and Kairi (Naminé was remaining unusually silent, which had the others slightly worried). The Kingdom engines were powered down and Sora had locked the Warp System coordinates on what appeared to be a relatively small town so he and Nanaki would attract less attention. Sora gave Kairi one longer-than-necessary kiss goodbye, to Nanaki's chagrin once more before the two teens vanished in a flash of light. The instant they were gone, Kairi rounded on Naminé.

"Alright, sis," she pressed her finger against the blonde's nose as she spoke, "wanna tell me what's bothering you? Don't try to say that 'it's nothing'. We still have that empathetic link going on here and I can tell it's something really bad."

"Is that true?" Roxas asked, bending at the waist a little bit so he could look Naminé in the eye.

Naminé nodded. "At least, I think it is. I had a very strange dream."

Café Cait Sith

Sangelas Town

Padosoan

Dry plate. Stack. Dry plate. Stack. Dry plate. Stack.

Such was the usual morning pattern of Annette Pierce, owner of the hole in the wall sweeper café Cait Sith. Despite being in her mid forties and being a heavy smoker, Annette still looked to be in her late twenties with her natural short-cut blonde hair. The only sign of her age were the faint lines under her eyes.

Dry plate. Stack. Dry plate. Stack.

She let out a heavy sigh and grabbed hold of yet another plate. It had only been a year and a half since she had opened the Cait Sith café on the world of Padosoan. A year and a half since her homeworld of Elsida had fallen to Darkness and she, along with thousands of her fellow Elsidians, had woken up on Padosoan, where they were welcomed with open and sympathetic arms by the Padosinites. It hadn't taken long for the survivors of Elsida to adapt to the changes in scenery and life. After only a few months, they had managed to incorporate some of their old world into their new one.

Three left. Dry plate. Stack.

Back on Elsida, crime had been rampant. Criminals and gangs were a common sight and the authorities were terribly overwhelmed. So bounties were placed on criminals to be captured by bounty hunters called 'Sweepers'. Sweepers were forbidden to use lethal force unless absolutely necessary or specified as part of the bounty. Once sweepers were officially recognized by the numerous governments of Elsida, the amount of serious crime dropped severely, being reduced from murder and bank robberies to petty theft and empty threats.

Two left. Dry plate. Stack.

Annette had been a sweeper once a few years ago. She had made a decent living for herself but as she got older, she grew tired of constantly hunting down 'small game'. So, after completing one last big job where she single-handedly brought down one of the three largest drug-smuggling rings in the western regions, she retired from the sweeper life and instead took up being an informant for other sweepers. Not a day went by where she didn't regret her decision.

One left. Dry plate. Sta-

The sound of the bell above the door clanging softly broke Annette out of her morning routine of drying the dishes from the previous day's work. She shifted the cigarette to the side of her mouth in irritation and turned to face the door. "Hey! We're not open yet!" The shadows of a small group of four people fell across the entryway

"Don't be so harsh, Annette. We're starving." The tallest person in the group grumbled.

Annette let out a sigh and exhaled a puff of smoke as she gestured the arrivals in. "Oh. It's you two."

"Long time no see!" The first man to enter the room, a sweeper by the name of Train Heartnet said with a cheerful grin and wave.

He was in his early twenties and had spiky, dark brown hair that looked like he never combed it. His eyes were bright yellow and had an almost cat-like quality to them. He was dressed in a simple pair of black pants and matching sneakers, a dark blue jacket that seemed to be several sizes too small as it only covered the upper half of his torso yet still had sleeves long enough that they had to be rolled up to avoid covering his hands. A v-neck white undershirt was visible underneath the jacket that exposed a large portion of his upper chest, revealing the numeral XIII tattooed over heart. A gun holster was strapped to his right thigh for easy access with the pistol inside barely exposed, save for two red, decorative tassels that dangled freely.

"Yo," Sven Vollfied, another sweeper, said gruffly as he held open the door for the two others following Train and him in.

Sven was dressed in a plain, slightly off-white suit. His shoes were shined to the point where they were almost a reflective surface. The dress shirt he wore beneath the suit jacket was dark blue and accented by a ruby-red tie. His naturally green hair was unkempt and flattened down from spending an excessive amount of time under the fedora Sven wore that matched the rest of his suit. Perhaps the most mysterious part of him was the eye patch he wore over his right eye. Annette was one of the very few people in any world that knew that Sven's eye patch was not a fashion statement or because he couldn't see. But she had promised Sven that she would keep his secret and never breathe a word of it to another.

To Annette's surprise, Sven was closely followed by a pair of teenagers. The first one was a young girl in her late teens. The majority of her body was concealed beneath a tattered tan cloak and her eyes were hidden beneath a pair of goggles with a reflective surface. Her violet hair was cropped short so that it rested above her shoulders at about chin-height. Her mouth was hanging open as if she had never been inside a small café like the Cait Sith before.

The second teen was a boy in his mid-teens with caramel colored, gravity-defying spiky hair. He was dressed in a mostly black and red outfit with several decorative belts supporting large pouches on his thighs. A silver crown necklace dangled around his neck by a chain. He wore a large amused grin on his face as he watched the young girl stare around in awe.

Annette shot Sven a curious look and tilted her head in the direction of the two teens as she set down the last plate she had to dry. "Didn't know you were the type to drag kids along with you, Sven."

"I'm not," the sweeper replied. "They helped us take down Sadon Reed this morning. This is just us paying them back." Annette's eyebrows rose.

"Sadon Reed? That dine-and-dash that hit all nearly every restaurant in over in Desburg?"

"That's the one," Sven said as he made his way to the bar Annette was standing behind.

"By accident," the violet-haired teen pointed out. "We were just stopping the Heartless from terrorizing the people of this world and he accidentally got caught in the crossfire."

"Still, he almost managed to get away from us," Train reminded the teens. "If you two hadn't been there, we wouldn't have been able to get our bounty.

Annette just shrugged it off (she had seen and heard stranger things back in her day, after all) and gestured for the four arrivals to come in. "Sit down," she said, shooting a glance towards Sven and Train. "The usual? A bottle of milk and black coffee?" Sven nodded.

"And rice balls! Rice balls with salmon!" Train said enthusiastically.

Annette sighed. "Rice balls… who else would come into my shop and order rice balls?" She turned towards the two teens as her hand grabbed hold of the freshly brewed pot of coffee just in her reach. "What about you two?"

"Orange juice for me, please," the spiky-haired teen asked.

"Do you have any keverarian brew?" The girl asked. The other four all gave her confused looks. "No? How about scalethen pulp?"

"You're not from around here, are you?" Annette noted. The girl just grinned sheepishly.

"What gave me away?" Her cheeks had developed a bright red tinge to them.

"Just get her some orange juice," the other teen said quickly. "I'm sure she'll like it." Annette just shrugged and turned to bring up their order.

"It's been a while, Sven," Annette noted as she passed two glasses of orange juice to the teens. "You've been pretty good about calling for information lately. I hadn't heard from you, so I figured you got yourselves killed."

"We're not that easy to get rid of," the Sweeper said as he sipped his coffee.

"We're not dead yet," Train added with a small grin. "Though I've lost count of the number of cases we've blown lately."

Annette shook her head. "Living off the streets as usual? I heard Chronos was looking for you. I guess I shouldn't have worried."

"Wow. You're good, Annette."

"Never underestimate a former sweeper," Annette said with a snort of indignation. "Can't say I envy you, though. All your old pals are gunning for you. But I guess you made your choice, huh?" Train nodded and opened his mouth to continue speaking, only to be interrupted as the front door was flung open and a blonde woman in a long, beige trench coat practically flew across the room to cling to Train.

"Help me!" She pleaded as she buried her face into his chest. Train's face was twisted in confusion as he looked from his companions, to the woman and back again.

"Umm… what?"

"Please! I'm being chased by big scary men!" The woman explained.

There wasn't even a moment of silence for Train to consider her offer before he responded. "No."

That was quick. Sora noted as he took a drink from his orange juice.

"Wh-why not?" The blonde asked, a look of hurt forming on her face.

"I just ordered rice balls," Train replied with an innocent grin. Sora and Nanaki both let out simultaneous snorts of laughter, causing them to accidentally inhale their drinks. The woman's mouth dropped open. Before she could say anything else in an attempt to change Train's mind, Sven launched himself at his spiky-haired companion and kicked him in the side of the head.

Train let out a cry of surprise and pain as he toppled to the ground where he quickly sat up and glared daggers at his partner. "Sven!"

"You can't turn down a damsel in distress and call yourself a man!" Sven snapped at him, absentmindedly straightening his tie as he stared down at Train.

"I can if I'm about to eat!" Train retorted. Sven let out a snort of frustration and turned to the woman, immediately changing his entire demeanor from hostile to comforting.

"Please, ignore that gluttonous beast," he said in a kind and caring tone, much to Train's irritation and Sora and Nanaki's amusement. "Why don't you tell me about your predicament?" Before the woman could speak, several voices began shouting from just outside of the cafés door as a group of four men ran past the window.

"Where'd she go?"

"She's in that shop!"

"Thought she could lose us, did she?"

"Who are those guys?" Nanaki asked, jabbing her thumb in the direction of the four thugs standing outside.

"I-I don't know," the woman said, a hint of fear creeping its way into her voice, causing it to shake slightly. "They just started coming after for no reason. What do I do now? I outran them once, but…"

Train let out a sigh. "Aw, man. Annette! I'm gonna go throw out the trash. Have the rice balls ready for me, will you?"

"Yeah, sure," Annette replied, not even looking up as she began to prepare the food. "But I don't want anybody dying in front of my shop, understand?"

"I'm not going to die!" The Sweeper said in protest.

"I wasn't talking about you…"

"He's a bit of an odd person, isn't he?" Sora commented as Train stepped outside to deal with the five guys that had followed the woman to the café.

"You don't even know the half of it," Sven grumbled as he turned in his seat to get a better look at the impending brawl about to take place.

"Yo!" Train called out to the four thugs as he closed the door behind him. "Look, I don't know who you guys are, but you're disrupting business."

"He's taking them all on by himself?" The woman whispered in shock. "It's four against one. They'll kill him!"

"Nah," Sven said, seemingly without a care in the world. "He's not the type to turn his back on a woman in need, no matter what he says."

"I suggest you disappear," Train called out to the thugs. "That is, unless you want your faces rearranged."

"Hah, you fool," the foremost thug, assumedly the leader, said. "You think you can threaten the Iron Maiden Gang?"

"The who?" Train asked. "Never heard of 'em."

"We ain't interested in you either!" Another thug, armed with a baseball bat snapped. "Move or di-" The thug's words were cut short as Train moved with seemingly inhuman speed and delivered a kick to the guy's head. The thug fell backward with a scream of pain, dropping his weapon. One of the other men panicked and drew a pistol and fired off three panicked shots at the Sweeper. Train's upper body became a blur as he effortlessly weaved between the bullets, completely unharmed.

"Can he see the bullets?" Sora exclaimed as the group in the café watched the fight outside. "That's awesome!"

"Oh, I get it. You're looking for the quickest way to the hospital, huh?" Train commented as he drew his ornate revolver, Hades, from its holster.

The Hades was an exceptionally unique weapon, both in appearance and functionality. Like a standard revolver, it had a rotating drum with six chambers for bullets that could only be loaded when the front of the gun was opened up, similar to double-barreled shotgun. The body of Hades was thicker than the average revolver, and more angular than most guns in general, designed purely for decorative purposes. The numeral XIII was engraved in gold on both sides.

The thug's eyes widened in recognition, darting back and forth between the engraving on the Hades and the tattoo on Train's chest. Not possible… He told himself.

"An ornate black pistol with the numeral thirteen etched into the side," Train said as he locked eyes with the gun wielding thug. "You recognize it, don't you?"

The other men all looked at their companion, who nodded stiffly. "Of course I do. I'm not a fool," he snapped. "That gun was the favorite of a legendary assassin. He assassinated countless leaders of various factions, cities and nations, embodied bad luck in the underground back on Elsida, and practically had the world in his paw. That's the gun of the Black Cat."

Train smirked cockily as shivers shot up the spines of the other thugs. "That's right!"

"Fine then," the thug with the guns spat as he pulled out a second pistol and aimed it at Train. "So, since you seem to be claiming to be the world's best gunman, do you think you can kill me?"Ridiculous. He probably showed us that gun as a bluff. He's trying to scare us off. But I'm no fool! I happen to know for a fact that two years ago, the Black Cat betrayed Chronos and was put to death because of it.

But still. Even if I defeat an imposter claiming to be the Black Cat while wielding a decorated black pistol, my name will become the best known in the underground! With a sadistic grin, the thug took aim at Train, and pulled both triggers. "Die, Black Cat!" Twenty-one shots rang out in rapid succession as the bullets flew through the air towards Train. Train simply shook his head and raised the Hades. With speeds beyond what any normal human would've been capable of, Train swung the Hades around in front of him and deflected all twenty-one bullets away from him, harmlessly redirecting them into the pavement.

Inside the café, the blonde woman watched the fight outside with immense interest.

He's strong. She noted. Those punks are no match for him. He is the real thing.

"You're remarkably calm, young lady," Sven commented, while Sora and Nanaki cheered Train on next to him. The blonde woman gave a start and glanced up at Sven, who towered a good foot and a half above her. His one visible eye wasn't watching Train and the thugs anymore, but was instead focused intently on her. "Be honest now, who are you?"

The woman was taken aback. "Huh? I told you, those guys just came after me!"

Sven obviously didn't believe her. "Right. So I can't help but wonder…" His hand lashed out and grabbed the side of her coat, yanking it open to reveal a pistol strapped to the inside of the coats lining. "…why you didn't use your gun to run them off."

"You… you saw that?" The woman almost seemed to be visibly sweating now. "You're sharp."

"Not really," Sven admitted. "It's pretty easy to tell when someone's packing heat. That's a pretty big piece to be carrying just for self defense. And besides, you're obviously in disguise." His eyes flicked up to her hair for the briefest of moments. "It's a safe bet you'd be armed, too."

Back outside, the gunman felt a wave of fear wash over him as the gun smoke settled, revealing the unharmed Train. I don't believe it. He used the body of the gun as a shield and knocked all of those bullets down?

"This gun was specially made for me out of orichalcum," Train explained. "Ordinary bullets won't even scratch it. I guess you could say this gun is my other partner, aside from Sven." The fear the thugs were all feeling intensified as they stared into Train's eyes, watching as the pupils narrowed into cat-like slits. "My turn."

The thug with the guns panicked and raised his weapons again to empty the clips in a desperate attack, but Train was faster. Two shots rang out from the Hades, and flew into the barrels of both of the thug's guns, causing them to explode. The thug cried out in pain and dropped his ruined weapons. He looked up at Train in shock and was quickly greeted by the body of the Hades as it slammed painfully into the side of his head, knocking him to the ground. After the gunman crumpled to the ground, the Sweeper rounded on the others and quickly beat them down.

"Okay, that was pretty awesome," Sora said. "I've never seen someone with that kind of skill before."

"Train's one of a kind," Sven said. "Those punks didn't stand a chance."

"So… are we done here?" Train asked the thugs as they rolled around on the ground, moaning in pain. The four of them looked up at the sweeper, who hadn't even broken a sweat, then at each other before reaching a silent agreement. Despite their pain, they scrambled to their feet and ran with their tails between their legs, all the while complaining about the thrashing they had just taken.

"Who is that guy?"

"You gotta be kidding! This wasn't in our contract!"

"This stupid charade is over!"

"Charade, huh?" Train muttered as he headed back inside the shop. Without even acknowledging the others, he strode straight up to the blonde woman and stared her dead in the eye. "I'd like an explanation, miss."

"You really are something else. I guess my informants knew what they were talking about. I like you guys… a lot." She turned towards Sven. "You were right; I put those thugs up to it. Consider it a bit of mischief. I just needed to know if you two were the real thing. All I had to do was bat my eyelashes and they were on board, really." She reached a hand up to her hair and casually pulled the wig she was wearing off, revealing shoulder-length, amethyst colored hair. "And I always work in disguise. Don't worry about it. If my cover is blown, I'm out of a job."

"Just who are you?" Sven asked.

"Rinslet Walker," the woman replied. "I'm a thief, ever heard of me?" Sven's eye widened in surprise. "So… you two, you're sweepers, right? I have a little business proposal for you. A partnership, if you will."

"'Business proposal'?" Train asked.

"Yeah. I need you on my side," Rinslet said with a nod. "I need the man who was once feared by the most powerful leaders back on our world. I need the Black Cat." She pointed at Train, who let out a small chuckle.

"Heh. You know who I am and you still want to team up?"

"Yep!" Rinslet smiled sweetly back at him.

"She's gutsy," Train said to Sven, who nodded. "I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing."

"Who's the Black Cat?" Sora asked, crossing his arms and tilting his head to the side in mild confusion. "Some kind of superhero?" There was a brief moment where all of the adults in the room stared at him. "What?"

"The Black Cat used to be the best assassin in the Chronos Numbers and was supposedly the best gunman in the world," Annette explained. "Rumor has it he was killed by Chronos over a year ago for betraying them." She tilted her head in Train's direction. "Obviously they were wrong."

"They sure tried their hardest though," Train said smugly.

Sven took hold of the conversation, steering it back towards the original topic of discussion as he addressed Rinslet. "You said you were a thief? So… you're that Rinslet Walker?"

"You've heard of her?" Train asked.

Sven nodded. "She's infamous. A thief for hire. She'll steal anything, for a price."

"A thief for hire?" Nanaki repeated. Both she and Sora turned their gazes onto the woman in question, their eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"She's worked for everyone from government officials to gangsters," Sven continued. "She'll steal state secrets, controlled substances… whatever."

"Since you know me so well, let's cut to the chase, shall we?" Rinslet suggested, giving Sven a smug smile. "I'm starting on a huge job right now, one too big for me to handle by myself." Sora briefly struggled with the immature side of his mind, fighting off the urge to add in a 'That's what she said.' "So, I figured I needed a couple of sweepers to help me get the job done."

"Look, Walker," Train said in a surprisingly serious tone. "We're legitimate professionals. We can't get mixed up in a heist."

"I'm not asking you to. You'd just be doing your jobs as sweepers," Rinslet said as she pulled a sheet of folded up paper out from an inside pocket on her coat and handed it to Sven who glanced at it as he took a swig of coffee from his cup. "Only this man would be your next target."

"Torneo Rudman?" Sven exclaimed, spitting out his drink in his shock, much to Annette's irritation. "He's worth, what? Half a million, maybe?"

"At least that much," Train said, an eager glint of light dancing around in his eyes as he stared at the wanted poster. "I remember him from a list of high bounty fugitives in this area."

"My target is the research data he's been collecting," Rinslet continued, pretending she had never been interrupted. "I got as far as finding him, which was no easy task, mind you! But… his mansion's protected by a massive security system. And I've heard rumors that he's got these weird, black monsters all over the place as an extra bit of security. I don't even know what those things are!"

"I do," Sora said suddenly. The others all turned to look at him. "Those things are probably the Heartless."

"Heartless?" Nanaki asked. "I remember you mentioning them on our way here, but you didn't exactly explain what they were."

"They're the Darkness in everyone's heart," Sora explained. "When the Heartless take a person's heart, the Darkness in that heart forms a new Heartless. All they ever do is search for more hearts to take, but they're also after the hearts of the worlds. And they can't really be stopped, except by this." There was a flash of bright light in Sora's hand as he summoned the Oblivion to his hand. Oddly enough, Sven and Train didn't seem to find it that odd and Annette didn't seem to be paying much attention.

"What is that thing?" Sven asked. "A weapon?" Sora nodded in response.

"It's a Keyblade," Nanaki explained. "I've got one too." There was another flash of light, and the Keeper's Crest appeared in the purple-haired teen's grip.

"The Heartless are afraid of the Keyblade," Sora explained. "It's the only weapon that can really stop them. They just keep coming back and back otherwise."

"Then it looks like I might need you two as well," Rinslet said with an eager grin. "I can't breach Torneo's place alone. But that's where you come in! I'm the brains, and you four can be the muscle! Together we can make it happen!"

"Right… aren't you also a fugitive?" Sven asked. "What's to stop us from capturing you and collecting your bounty?"

"For starters, the government back home and the governments here are clients of mine. If they acknowledged my crimes, they'd have to acknowledge their own. They won't offer a bounty for me."

"I see corruption isn't limited to just my world, then," Nanaki said in an undertone, just loud enough for only Sora to hear her.

"I see."

"So… you have two choices," Rinslet said as she turned on her heel and began walking toward the exit, "either take a gamble and join me, or run away like cowards. If you're in, meet me in Sapidoa City tomorrow around noon, I'll be in the central plaza downtown." She paused just before heading out the door to blow a kiss in the direction of the four of them. "Ciao!"

Train and Sven's Hideout

Two Hours Later

"Wow," Train said as he observed the cleanliness of their hideout by checking for dust with his fingertips. "It's been so long since we used this place. I thought it would be wrecked by now."

"Annette's been looking after it for us," Sven said as he crushed out his cigarette in one of the dozens of ashtrays in their hideout, only vaguely paying attention as Train walked into the adjacent kitchen.

"There's nothing to eat though!"

Sven sighed. Why was he surprised that food was once again the top priority on his partners' mental list? "Of course there's no food. It's been a month since we were here last. All of the emergency rations would've spoiled if we'd left them here."

"Why don't we just order a pizza then?" Train suggested as he came back into the living room. "It's not like we're going to be here tomorrow anyway." Sven ignored him and lost himself in thought as he recalled their earlier conversation with Rinslet Walker before they had parted ways with her and the two teenage Keyblade Wielders who went off to go shopping for food supplies before they headed back to wherever it was they were staying.

"Train," he spoke up, "are we sure we want to form an alliance with this girl? She is a criminal after all, and we're Sweepers."

"We're not getting involved in anything illegal," his partner said as he stared out the window at the forest behind the hideout. "It's like Rinslet said, we'd just be doing our jobs as Sweepers by busting a crime boss."

"Torneo Rudman…" Sven said glancing at the wanted poster resting on the coffee table in front of him. "Last I heard, he was heading up an arms smuggling outfit over on the Sonia continent. And now suddenly he's here doing scientific research? Something doesn't add up to me."

"But, if we do bust him, we'll be set for the next few months," Train reminded him as Sven lit another cigarette. "We might actually be able to make the car payment for once. And your smoking habit isn't exactly cheap either."

"That doesn't' change the fact that this is a bad idea!" Sven groaned as he threw himself onto a nearby couch "I'm all for chivalry and everything, but I don't trust this woman."

"Well, we can't just walk away," Train said, staring out of the window intently at something in the cluster trees off in the distance.

"We can't?"

"C'mon, Sven," the younger man pushed open the large windows and drew Hades from its holster and aimed at the trees. "The risk is almost as high as the reward. We have to do it! Besides, that woman thinks she can con us." The Hades let out a loud crack as Train pulled the trigger and blasted apart a fake owl in one of the trees. "If we back down, it'll ruin my rep."

With a groan of irritation, more at his partner than anything else, Sven caved. "Fine, let's do it. Reasoning with you never works anyway."

Rinslet Walker's Hotel Room

Sapidoa City

Rinslet stared at the now static covered screen of her laptop in numb shock, the towel she had been using to dry her hair slipping out of her hands and falling to the floor with a muffled thump. "No way! He shot out the telescopic bird camera?" I set that up a hundred meters away! So… that's what the Black Cat can do, huh? This is gonna be fun!"

Torneo Rudman's Mansion

Sapidoa City

Despite his thicker build and shorter stature, Torneo Rudman always gave the impression of a man to be feared. He rarely smiled, and when he did, he had such a sinister appearance that if was even more terrifying then his normal, irritated look. But the only thing about him that was even more frightening about him was seeing him anxious. And unfortunately for the night guard that had called him, Rudman was an anxious man that night.

"What?" Rudman growled into the mouthpiece of the phone, not even bothering with pleasantries or standard phone-answering etiquette.

"Boss Torneo, your guest has arrived." The voice of the night guard on the other end of the line said, shaking slightly out of nervousness.

"Show him in. And for Christ's sake, be respectful!" Rudman barked before slamming the phone back into its place at his bedside table. Torneo ran a hand through his hair, slicking it back as he stood up and made his way to the lounge where he would meet with his very important guest. Torneo paused by one of the many mirrors that decorated his hallways to examine his appearance.

His eyes were first drawn to the large, jagged scar on the left side of his forehead that ran down to the corner of his eye. He was proud of this scar. A grenade had gone off less than four feet from him back in his younger days when he served in his homeland's army and this was the only remaining mark he had. The best part was that it always intimated those he viewed to be weaker than himself. He straightened his tie with a thick skinned hand before nodding in satisfaction to himself. Intimidating as always.

He was alone when he arrived, much to his relief. He never wanted to keep that man waiting. Sure enough, he was only alone for a few minutes before his much esteemed guest arrived.

"Your security is very tight, Torneo," Creed Diskenth said as he strode into the room less than a few seconds after Rudman, a small smirk on his face.

"Heh, yes," Torneo said as he made his way to the small bar in the room to pour drinks for himself and his guest. "There have been so many spies and Sweepers after me lately."

"That is a nuisance," Creed commented as he sat down on one of the plush sofas decorating the room, propping his sheathed sword up next to him as he did so. "I quite sympathize."

"Please, I have no troubles compared you yours," Torneo said, casually waving away the sympathy. "The governments of several worlds and Chronos all after you… I cannot imagine what you must go through."

"And yet, you come to my aid," Creed said with a grin. "You are a man of dangerous whims."

Torneo let out a gruff chuckle and handed the glass of amber liquid to his guest. "No, no. This is no whim. I believe you can take my million dollar 'God's Breath' research project and bring it to fruition to destroy all the dull old worlds and bring about universal change!"

Sora blinked several times, completely convinced that he was seeing things. He couldn't figure out how he had somehow managed to make it all the way from Padosoan to the Keyblade Graveyard in less than one night. But, sure enough, there he was. Same cloud covered sky. Same dry earth. Same fields of ancient, rust covered Keyblades embedded in the ground.

Standing in the middle of the field of Keyblades, where four makeshift roads between the fallen weapons converged was a much older man. The man was bald except for thin eyebrows and a curled, silver goatee. His ears were pointed and his eyes were a disturbingly familiar color of yellow, not unlike that of a Heartless. He had broad, hunched shoulders and a crooked back. The man's clothing vaguely reminded Sora of the outfit worn by Xehanort's Heartless. It was composed of a white and black coat with a red inner lining, over a white shirt with two thin black belts, as well as white gloves and calf-high black boots.

The man turned towards Sora and gestured out at the field of Keyblades with a wide, sweeping motion of his arm. "Behold," he spoke in a deep, raspy voice, "Behold. These lifeless Keys used to be full of power. United with the hearts of their Masters. On this barren soil, Keyblades of Light and Darkness were locked in combat as a great Keyblade War raged. Countless Keyblade Wielders gave up their lives all in search of one ultimate Key. And it will soon belong to me." The man seemed to turn to dust, fading away in a light breeze that rolled across the Keyblade Graveyard.

Sora's brow knitted in confusion. But before he had time to even think about what he had just seen, the Keyblade Graveyard was swallowed by Darkness, leaving Sora floating in an endless abyss without the tiniest fragment of light to give him his bearings. There was a flash of light somewhere to his left, drawing his attention. Sora turned and found himself face to face with Xehanort's Heartless, the great Door to Darkness looming ominously behind him.

"All worlds begin in Darkness and all so end," Ansem, Seeker of Darkness said, his deep voice echoing somehow in the endless abyss surrounding the two of them. "The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, it grows, consumes it. Such is its nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came! You see, darkness is the hearts true essence."

Sora stood his ground against the Heartless, prepared to say the same things to him he had said back when they first fought over a year ago. But even as he opened his mouth to speak, the great marble doors opened and a beam of Light pierced the Heartless' chest. Xehanort's Heartless smirked down at Sora as his entire body was rapidly consumed by the Light, leaving nothing behind. Sora stared blankly at the space where the Heartless had been standing a few moments before.

The Darkness gave way to the Altar of Naught on the Castle That Never Was. Sure enough, Xemnas himself stood not too far from Sora, staring emotionlessly down at him. "The time has arrived. Look to the skies!" Xemnas proclaimed, gesturing beyond the tower's edge where the heart shaped moon of Kingdom Hearts could be seen lighting up the darkened skies of the World That Never Was. "There hangs the heart of all hearts, Kingdom Hears, shining down on us at last. See the countless hearts that have gathered? Hearts full of rage... hate... sadness... and bliss. There, in the sky, hangs the promise of a new world. My friends! Remember why we have organized; all the things we hope to achieve. The strength of the human heart is vast. Soon, though, we will have gained power over it! Never again will it... have power over us."

Two Keyblades appeared to Xemnas' left and right, the Kingdom Key and the Way to the Dawn, respectively. Both Keyblades became surrounded in a bright, golden aura that rapidly intensified until Sora could hardly stand to stare at them any longer. The auras became streaks of Light that reduced Xemnas to dust when they made contact with him. As he vanished, Xemnas looked down at Sora, his emotionless expression replaced with one of victorious satisfaction.

The World That Never Was shattered like glass around Sora and the spiky-haired teen felt himself falling once more into the void. He landed on his feet in a small, metallic room. Wooden furniture lay in pieces while dozens of books on a bookshelf slowly burned, casting an eerie light across the room. A man in a black cloak was huddled in a corner of the room, as far away from the fire as he could make himself, clutching a bottle of alcohol to his chest.

"It's all my fault," the man whispered. "When I lost her in the War, I almost gave into the Darkness once again. But he offered me the power to right the wrongs. I should've known better. He was using me to make sure he would return. But I was so blinded by revenge, I couldn't see what he was planning until there was nothing I could do to stop him." The man in the cloak looked up at Sora. "It's up to you, child. You have to stop him."

Sora waited expecting the man to speak again, or for the scene to shift, but nothing happened. The man stared at Sora from beneath the shadows cast by his hood. "Why me?" Sora asked. "What makes me so special?"

"You are the one chosen by the Keyblade," the man explained. "You weren't chosen by a Keyblade Master, but by the Keyblade itself. You are the Chosen Wielder, the one who can fully unlock the Keyblade's full potential without any prior knowledge. And you are the only one, who can defeat NoX Thera, bringer of the Everlasting Night."

"I don't understand," Sora said, shaking his head in confusion. "Who's NoX Thera? What's the Everlasting Night? What do you me-" Sora's words were cut off as once more the world around him vanished, this time in a hazy, jet-black mist. The mist quickly cleared, and Sora once again found himself in the World That Never Was, standing near the base of Memory's Skyscraper.

A young man dressed in a black cloak stood between Sora and Memory's Skyscraper. He appeared to be in his early twenties, or at least his late teens. He had silver hair that was spiked up and out of his face except for his bangs, golden-yellow eyes that seemed to glow in the dim lighting of the city, and lightly tanned skin. As Sora and the other locked eyes, the man in the cloak raised his hand towards Sora, offering it to him palm up. Sora's eyes widened in recognition.

Back on the Destiny Islands, to offer a stranger your hand like that was a sign of friendship and camaraderie. As the Sora stared at the man's hand in shock, a ghostly image of Riku when he was younger superimposed itself over the man, smiling warmly back at Sora before fading away. Grinning, the spiky haired stepped forward and gripped the man's hand tightly in a shake. The man smirked and tightened his grip, practically crushing the bones in Sora's hand. Sora let out a cry of pain as the man squeezed his hand tighter and tighter.

Eleven Dark portals opened up in a semi-circle behind the man and eleven figures dressed in black cloaks stepped out. The silver-haired man smirked down at Sora and summoned the No Name Keyblade to his hand. "Open your heart," he said, his voice was like honey laced with poison. "Become the thirteenth." The Keyblade descended on Sora's chest.

Onboard the Kingdom

In Orbit over Padosoan

Sora awoke with a start as his leg jerked violently beneath him, almost causing him to fall out of the chair he had fallen asleep in. When he realized that he had just been dreaming, he let out a groan of irritation and did his best to make himself comfortable in his chair on the bridge. It had been a few hours since he and Nanaki had returned to the Kingdom with their two dozen or so bags of food after parting ways with Train, Sven and Annette earlier in the day. They had both agreed that sleeping on the ship was a better option than trying to find and pay for a hotel room.

Since he had given up his room to Roxas, and the other two bedrooms on the ship were otherwise now taken, he had been forced to find a new place to sleep. His first choice had been the couch in the rec room, but it was still occupied by Richard. Whether the warlock was alive or dead, Sora couldn't tell (not that he actually cared one way or the other), but all of his efforts to get the pathological, bloodthirsty, homicidal maniac to move (magical or otherwise) were in vain. The warlock simply remained on the couch, forcing Sora to find somewhere else to sleep.

Thankfully enough, the chairs on the bridge were quite comfortable and capable of reclining. So, he settled for what he could, resigning himself to the knowledge that he would probably wake up with a stiff neck and back, regardless of how comfortable the chairs were.

"We need a bigger ship," Sora grumbled. He closed his eyes and attempted to rejoin the dream world, but sleep refused to come to him as easily as it had before. That dream he had just had kept replaying through his mind. And he couldn't help but feel as though some higher power was trying to tell him something and one phrase kept repeating itself in his mind, "Open your heart. Become the thirteenth."

Wednesday, June 30th 4794 P.C.

Sapidoa City

Central Plaza

Padosoan

Anyone who said the trip from Sangelas Town to Sapidoa City was a comfortable trip would have been deemed insane and shipped off to the nearest mental-health facility. Sora, Nanaki, Sven and Train all piled into Sven's old car, which was barely large enough to hold all four of them. Not only that, it didn't have the best gas mileage available, the air conditioning didn't work, and the seats were stiff and not very comfortable. All of this combined led to a very terrible six hour drive through the scorching heat of barren plains to Sapidoa City.

Much to the relief of everyone in the car though, Sapidoa was a seaside city and a wonderfully cool breeze reached them when they were still several miles away, bringing them some relief as they made their way to a local hotel to secure a place to stay before they went to meet up with Rinslet.

"Yoo hoo!" Rinslet called out to their group of misfits as she caught sight of them from across the crowded square. She had ditched her overcoat and revealing outfit for something a little more suited for the warmer climate. She was wearing a bright yellow, tropical short-sleeved shirt and a pair of designer sunglasses. She had apparently decided against wearing her wig again, making her easy to spot due to the purple color of her hair. She ran up to them with a larger than necessary smug smile on her face. "Go figure, I didn't think you'd actually show up."

"Liar," Sven called her out. "You knew we'd come. That's why you're here."

"Quit trying to be cute," Sora said, trying his best to imitate the cool, collected appearance that Sven seemed to always have, only to fail and earn a bout of giggles from Nanaki, who was taking pictures with the camera she had purchased the day before. Sora shot her an un-amused stare, which earned him even more giggles as the purple-haired Keyblade Wielder snapped more photos of him.

"Don't be mean!" Rinslet said in a mock-offended tone, slapping Sora gently on his shoulder. "Anyway, I haven't eaten yet. Hungry?" That grabbed the attention of most of the group.

"Always!" Sora, Nanaki and Train said in perfect unison. Sven just sighed and allowed Rinslet to lead them to the nearest open-air café for a spot of lunch.

Alliance HQ

The Frozen Fields

Xanthos turned away from the window that he had been staring out of for the better part of the day. Truthfully, he hated being back here on the Frozen Fields, though he would never admit it out loud. It brought back too many bad memories of the Keyblade War. He let out a sigh. But he didn't really have a choice.

To his knowledge, he was the only surviving Chaser in existence, which meant he was the only one capable of passing on the knowledge of Keyblade Chasing to the future generations of Chasers. Admittedly, the next generation of Chasers was only Olette, but Xanthos had a feeling that more new Chasers would start popping up within a few years. He couldn't explain why he felt like that, he simply did. And there was simply no better place to train them than here, in the great Forge of the Chasers, on what was once the Fields of Paradisium.

The Fields of Paradisium. It had been almost five thousand years since this world was named that. Xanthos almost found it hard to believe. He could still remember the endless fields of wild grass, colored the most vivid green possible. It had once been the closest thing to Heaven anyone could ever find in their life. But that was all gone now. Lost during the Keyblade War when some fool had gotten his hands on a weapon from the Armageddon Codex, the forbidden collection of weapons designed to bring about the end of all things.

Xanthos' fists clenched in anger as he recalled the shouting, the sight of people frozen solid as Winter's Sorrow was broken open, unleashing the Fimbulwinter, an endless season of cold and ice across the world, from then until the end of time. Thus, the Fields of Paradisium perished in the cold and became the Frozen Fields, a dead world devoid of any life.

With a deep calming breath, Xanthos opened his eyes. He didn't need to dwell on the past anymore. Otherwise, he might give in to the Darkness that still lingered in his heart. He had a duty to Olette, to ensure that she became the best Chaser she possibly could under his guidance, as well as preparing her for the upcoming battles against the forces of Darkness that loomed over the heads of everyone in the universe.

"Speak of the Devil…" Xanthos said quietly as he realized his Apprentice was staring back at him from the doorway. He hadn't even heard her come in.

He was pleased to see that Olette had finally taken to wearing the black cloak he had given her, though he imagined it would be slightly difficult for her to adjust to fighting in slightly heeled boots. He would've preferred to have given her a set of Keyblade Armor for herself, but the only functioning set he had available he intended to give to Riku for field testing.

When he had returned to the Forge of the Chasers, now renamed into the Alliance of the Worlds Headquarters, he had discovered several sets of Keyblade Armor in still somewhat decent condition. After refurbishing the sets of armor during his spare time over the past few weeks, he had had what he believed to be a brilliant idea. Admittedly, he wasn't sure if the idea was his own or one he had from overconsumption of alcohol on that particular night. He decided to upgrade the armor with a few more modern features and until they were field tested in a wide variety of natural environments instead of the computer-generated ones produced by a training simulator, he refused to give Olette a set.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I, Master?" Olette asked, her eyes glancing at the nearly empty bottle in Xanthos' left hand. "I can come back later."

"Nonsense!" Xanthos said perhaps a little too eagerly as he gestured for her to come in rather than stand in the doorway. "Come in." Olette did as he asked and stepped further into the room as Xanthos downed the last of his bottle. "What can I do for you?"

"I was hoping you would let me try that training exercise I failed on Sunday," Olette replied. Xanthos raised his eyebrow at her and tossed the now empty bottle into a wire bin near his feet. His silver eyes slowly traveled back towards the window as he considered her request. Olette stood patiently, doing her best to ignore the pounding of her heart against her ribcage. She didn't know why, but the mere thought of asking her Master for a favor like this filled her with an odd feeling of dread.

"Are you certain you are prepared?" Xanthos asked, not even turning his head to look at her. "It's hardly been half of a week since you failed."

"I understand, Master," Olette said her voice remaining strong and even. Xanthos fought the urge to smirk, just like every other time he listened to Olette take on a strong tone of voice. She was such a sweet girl who rarely spoke to anyone like she was now, that Xanthos found it hard to fight back the laughs. He knew she was being dead serious, but that only made it funnier to him. "But with all due respect, I feel like I was distracted when I tried it the first time. I'm sure I can do better this time."

"And what distracted you? Hmm?" Xanthos asked, looking at his Apprentice out of the corner of his eyes. Olette's cheeks flushed red after a moment and she averted her gaze from him. That was all the confirmation Xanthos needed.

"It's nothing of importance, Master," Olette said. A blatant lie if Xanthos had ever heard one, but he wasn't about to call her on it. She knew what her distraction had been and wouldn't be coming to him, requesting permission to try again if she didn't have a way to avoid being distracted once more.

"Alright then," Xanthos said as he gestured for her to leave him. "Go find Pence and tell him to prepare Simulation Program Thirty Four 'H' for this evening. Afterwards, I want you to reflect on your previous attempt to prepare yourself. Do you understand?" Olette bowed to him, placing her right hand over her heart and closing her eyes as she did so.

"Thank you, Master. I'll go find Pence right away," she said before straightening up and quickly exiting the room. Xanthos sighed and turned back towards the window casting one last glance at the frozen wasteland beyond before he rose to his feet. If Olette was determined to try again, then he needed to change it up just a tiny bit, which meant he needed to find the one person in the complex capable of helping him with that task.

Sapidoa Central Plaza

Sapidoa City

Padosoan

"Hey! Where're your friends?" Rinslet asked Sven as she returned from her quick trip to the restroom, only to find the table she had shared with her 'business partners' to be empty except for the well dressed Sweeper.

"Train, you mean? He went out," Sven said, uninterestedly. "If you're asking about the others, they went to go do some shopping. I told them to just meet us back at the hotel later."

"He went out?" Rinslet repeated, clearly only interested in Train at the moment. "Out where? I wanted to go over the job with you guys."

"You already did that," Sven reminded her.

"The only thing I told you was Torneo's address!" Rinslet snapped back. Men…

"That's all we needed to know," the Sweeper said as he lit up his seventh cigarette of the day. "We have our own way of doing things."

"You what? Wait a minute! You can't just do it your way! You're missing the whole point of an alliance!"

"Quiet down, okay? Everything's fine," Sven said in a reassuring tone. "Just follow our lead. We prefer to set our own pace."

"You 'prefer' it?" Rinslet growled back. The implications of Sven's words ran through her head at that moment and she was immediately rewarded with a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Wait… He didn't… Did he?"

Torneo's Mansion

Train let out a low whistle as he stared up at the high walls that surrounded the entirety of Torneo's mansion.

"Man this place is huge," the sweeper noted. "I wonder why rich people feel the need to show off their money like this. I've checked around and this is the only spot not under camera surveillance. Six… maybe seven meters up? No sweat!" He took a few, larger than normal steps backwards before running straight at the wall. A split second before he would've collided with the stone barrier, Train's legs bent into a crouch before he used them to leap high into the air, landing on top of the wall in a very cat-like manner.

"Like I said, no sweat!"

Sapidoa Central Plaza

"He went to recon the mansion?" Rinslet shouted, slamming the palms of her hands against the table. To his credit, Sven didn't even flinch. "What are you thinking? What if he blows it and they know we're coming?"

"Look. You came to us knowing that he's the legendary 'Black Cat', right? Then you should know you have nothing to worry about."

"I'm just saying, don't underestimate Torneo. He's not just any arms dealer! He has an underground lab and he's conducting horrifying research…" Rinslet's hands flew to her mouth as she realized she had just revealed more than she intended. Sven's eye narrowed in suspicion. I thought so. This is more than just a simple heist.

"You said you're after this guy's research data," the Sweeper said as he crushed out his cigarette.

"Y-yes…" Rinslet slowly lowered herself into a chair, knowing full well her loose tongue had brought the impending Q and A on her.

"Since we're allies and all, maybe you ought to tell us the whole story. This research of his, what's it about?"

"Okay, fine. I'll tell you," Rinslet said with a sigh. "Torneo is experimenting with bio-weapons in the form of 'Super-humans'."

Sven cocked an eyebrow at her. This was starting to sound like a bad sci-fi plot to him, and he had read more than his fare share of those in his time. "'Super-humans'?"

"Yes. He's developing living weapons."

Torneo's Mansion

Train scratched his head, feeling more than a little confused as he stared around the perimeter of Torneo's mansion. "Weird. No guards." He had been at the mansion for the better part of a half hour and had to see a single person. Even the pool near the bush he was hiding in was devoid of life around it. Considering it was a rather hot day, this seemed more than a little strange to the Sweeper. "Is it siesta time or something? This is going to be too easy." A loud scream of pain echoed across the grounds, interrupting Train's thoughts. A second cry followed shortly after that, followed by a loud thud that sounded eerily like someone collapsing to the ground.

Train's nostrils twitched on instinct and his eyes narrowed as he caught a whiff of a scent that was more than familiar to him. "I smell blood. What's going on?" He quickly scanned his surroundings once again, and, positive no guards were around, sprang from his hiding place and took off in the direction where he had heard the screams come from. It didn't take him long to reach the source of the smell of blood and the screams, despite the size of the mansion's grounds. Train managed to stay out of sight and hid just around the corner to an open-air dining area Torneo had set up. The crime boss himself was sitting dead center in front of a long table with a decent sized meal set up in front of him. His guards, all dressed in stereotypical, black and white suits, ties, sunglasses and transparent earpieces were gathered behind him. The only exceptions were the bodies of two guards, both covered in their own blood and with massive gashes covering their bodies, the kind inflicted by a large, bladed weapon, and a third guard, who was doing his best to crawl away from a person who stood in the shadows, hidden from view.

Torneo let out a muffled chuckle as he chewed on the bite of steak in his mouth. "What's wrong? You're not going to run?" The guard on the ground rapidly shook his head back and forth, his mouth moving as though he were trying to find the words to plead for his life, his eyes constantly darting in the direction of the shadowy figure. "If you don't run, she can't chase you, can she? Eve wants to play a game of tag, you idiot! Don't you, Eve?" Torneo turned his eyes on the figure in the shadows as she stepped forth. His pride and joy. His ultimate weapon.

Eve was a simple looking girl, most likely no older than twelve or thirteen, dressed in plain, black dress that reached down to her knees. She had long, honey-yellow hair that fell down to the back of her knees with short bangs in the front. Her eyes were a bright magenta in color, but they seemed dull, as if there were no light in them. Her face was emotionless, she simply stared, and when she spoke, she spoke in a slow, monotone voice. "Play… tag. I'm it. I'm the Demon."

"Yes! You're the Demon. And the Demon hunts the prey," Torneo encouraged the girl as he took another bite of his meal. "Understand, Eve?"

"Sir! Please! S-spare me!" The guard pleaded finally finding the words to speak. "It'll never happen again! I swear!"

"Too late. Right, Eve?" Torneo chuckled sinisterly. Eve nodded and held out her right hand. A faint, pale blue light began to glow from inside her skin, intensifying until her entire hand was hidden within the light. Then the light began to expand until it was around three feet long and as thick as the thickest part of Eve's arm. The light faded, revealing that her hand had transformed into the blade of a broadsword.

Train stared on in shock as the girl raised her arm while Torneo cheered her on. "Do it! Kill him!" The girl showed no emotion as she swung her blade-arm down towards her victim, who cried out in terror as he saw his imminent demise. Train had seen more than enough. Eve's arm stopped just short of cutting open the man as the sound of a gun being fired nearby took her attention.

"Good to see a youngster who appreciates the importance of being well armed. But, that's not how we play tag where I come from." Train called out as he stepped into view from around the corner, the barrel of Hades still smoking from the shot he had fired. Whoops. I hadn't planned on doing anything more than reconnaissance. Sven's not going to be happy about this one.

"Who are you?" One of Torneo's guards demanded as he whipped a pistol out from the inside of his jacket.

"A Sweeper," Train replied nonchalantly.

Torneo smirked and let out a small laugh. "I see. A hyena after the price on my head, hmm? I'm impressed you made it this far."

"Shall I take care of him, Boss Torneo?" One of the guards asked in a hushed tone as he went to draw out his weapon.

"No, hold on," Torneo said, a sinister grin spreading across his face. "Eve… Why don't you play tag with that man, too? Show him how unwise it would be for a sweeper to come after me."

"Hold on! Your game of tag is lethal. No thanks!" Train quickly exclaimed as he leapt high into the air with all of the strength his legs could muster, successfully landing on the roof of Torneo's mansion in a single bound. "Torneo! Nothing I'd like better than to nab you right here, right now... but if we scuffle and one of these bystanders dies then my bounty gets cut in half. Stupid rule if you ask me. But I'm a sweeper and I don't make the rules."

"You're no ordinary hyena, I see," the gangster commented, undoubtedly impressed by Train's display of physical skill. "But if you think I'll let you walk away from this, you're sorely mistaken." He snapped his fingers. "Kill him."

"Yes, sir!" The reply came from several of his guards as they drew their weapons and took aim at the sweeper.

"Not a chance!" Train flicked his wrist, and tossed a small hand grenade with the image of a laughing cat on it in the direction of the guards. Long before

"What'd he do?" One of the guards shouted.

"I think he threw a grenade!" Another replied.

"Ciao for now, Torneo! I'll be back," Train's voice called out through the smoke.

"Where'd he go?"

"He got away! He's outside the grounds by now!"

"That foolish hyena…" Torneo grumbled to himself. Was that a tattoo of the number thirteen on his chest? "Find him! Eve, come with me." There was no response. Even though the girl had been trained and raised to have no emotion, she knew better than to remain silent when spoken to. "Eve?" Torneo looked around, but there was no sign of his pet project anywhere. "Eve!"

On the other side of Torneo's mansion, Eve had easily leapt over the wall and landed on the sidewalk on the other side. She glanced left and right down the street before deciding to head right and into the city.

The Sweeper had joined her game, and the Demon now hunted her new prey.

Sapidoa Central Plaza

"I'm headed back to the hotel," Sven announced to Rinslet as he stood up from the table. "Train and those kids should be back by now."

"Fine," Rinslet sighed. "I'll get in touch with you later. Tell your partner not to act on his own anymore, will you?"

"I'll tell him," Sven promised. "But it won't do any good." The statement didn't exactly instill a sense of confidence in Rinslet.

"Hey. You don't think he… I mean, he wouldn't have started anything, right?" Rinslet asked as Sven turned to leave. A very small part of her brain was wondering if she had made the right decision.

"I doubt it. Then again, he does love trouble."

I told her I doubted it, but... I wouldn't put it past Train to start something. I better find hi- Sven nearly leapt out of his skin as his phone suddenly started beeping inside his pocket.

"Sven, buddy! How's it going?" Train's voice crackled over the line as Sven pulled out his phone and hit the 'Answer' button.

"Train? I was getting worried! Where are you?"

"Torneo's place."

For a moment, Sven couldn't find any words. It took him a full five seconds to speak up again. "What on earth are you still doing there?"

"Er… I said hello, but then I had to run. Or pretend to run. Heh. I'm still inside the mansion." Sven's eye twitched in irritation. "It's just not my style to only scout out the place, you know?"

"That's not the problem!" Sven snapped. "We never agreed to anything more than that! And why'd you have to 'say hello'? I was a fool to trust you."

"Aw, c'mon. Don't be mad."

"Listen, Train, come back right now! Rinslet filled me in. That place is more dangerous than we thought!"

"Nah. I'm gonna hang out here until I can get to Torneo-"

"Listen to me! That 'research' she's after; it's nanotechnology for military purposes."

"Nano… who?"

"Nanotechnology. Micro-robots engineered to be smaller than one billionth of a meter. Used correctly, these nanomachines can manipulate DNA structure to cure serious illnesses. Molecules can be rearranged to create new matter. The possibilities are endless. Torneo invested enormous capital in the creation of nanomachine soldiers, human clones with nanotechnology built into their bodies back on our world and it looks like he's keeping up with that plan here. He has developed a living military weapon with the ability to transform at will."

"That explains it. She's cute, for a weapon," Train said absent-mindedly as he closed the barrel of his Hades shut, having just reloaded it. That's gruesome, grooming a killer like it's a natural thing to do. Too bad, Torneo. Now you've crossed paths with the Black Cat. And you know what that means; bad luck.

"Come on back, Train, before this gets any worse."

"Er… Too late?" Train said into his end of the line as the knocking on the door to the restroom he was hiding in resumed. "Sven, I gotta go. I'm in a bit of a jam. Call you later."

"What? Hey-!" Sven tried to keep him talking, but the definitive 'click' from Train hanging up his end cut him off. "That idiot! Fine! Who cares?"

"Hey, kid! Watch where yer goin'!" A deep voice shouted. Sven's ears perked up and he turned his head around to find the source. The voice was coming from a rather large, body-builder type of man. He was staring down at a young girl with long, golden hair, probably not much older than eleven or twelve, who was dressed in a plain black dress. The girl didn't seem fazed by the man's shouting, in fact, her face was completely expressionless. She made to move out of the man's way and continue on her path down the sidewalk, but the man held out a large hand, stopping her. "Not so fast! Say yer sorry!"

"Do you want to play tag with me?" Eve asked the man in her monotone voice.

"Tag?" The man scoffed. "What? You stupid or somethin'? I should call yer folks and make 'em pay me-" Sven had seen enough. No man who treated a kid like that deserved to be called a man. And this punk needed to be taught a lesson or two in chivalry, the hard way.

"Compensation?" The Sweeper said as he stepped up behind the man and placed his gun to his head. Feeling the cold steel of the weapon pressed against his head, the man froze in place, a look of terror forming on his face. "Good idea. I only have this bullet with me. But you're welcome to have it as compensation. Do you want it or not?"

"Er… N-no thank you," the man replied, losing his tough demeanor in a split second before running away screaming like a stereotypical little girl.

"Sheesh. Who treats a kid like that?" Sven grumbled before turning back towards the blonde girl. "You okay, kid?"

"I'm the demon," Eve said quietly.

"Huh?" Sven stuck a finger in his ear and twisted it to make sure he had heard her right. Did she just call herself a demon? Nah. I've gotta be hearing things. "I thought you were playing tag?"

"Yes," Eve answered. "But I lost him."

"That's a problem," Sven sighed and rubbed the back of his head with his hand. He couldn't in good conscience leave the kid by herself. That would go against his code of chivalry. "You lost your friend?"

"No," Eve replied. "I don't know him."

Sven raised an eyebrow at that. Whatever he had been expecting, that certainly wasn't it. "How's that? Where do you live?"

Eve looked back and forth along the street for a moment with a slightly dazed expression on her face. "I don't know. Where am I?"

"You're not… lost, are you?"

City Park

Twenty Minutes Later

"Here," Eve looked away from the group of teenagers she had been watching playing some sort of card game around the fountain in the heart of the city park. Sven stood over her, offering a double-scooped, strawberry ice cream cone. Eve took the cone in her hands and stared blankly at it as the Sweeper sat down next to her. "We'll eat these and then figure out what to do next." Sven let out a sigh and took a bite from his own cone. Great… A dangerous man like myself, reduced to sharing ice cream with a little girl. But what am I supposed to do? I can't just leave her here.

"You can eat this stuff?" Eve asked. Sven raised his eyebrow at her.

"What? You've never had ice cream before?" Sven asked incredulously, giving his own cone a lick. "You're a weird kid." Eve watched him for a moment, observing how he ate his own cone before hesitantly giving her own a taste.

She gave a small gasp of surprise as her tongue touched the ice cream. "It's cold."

"Yeah. That's ice cream for you," Sven said with a grin as Eve eagerly began devouring the treat.

"But it's good."

Sven smirked and looked over at the group of teens by the fountain. "So… what were you looking at over there?" He asked.

"People," Eve replied. "I've never seen so many people before. I mostly stay inside my house. I never knew there were so many people."

"This?" Sven gestured at the small area of the park with a chuckle. "This is nothing. Most towns have even more."

Eve's eyes, if possible, seemed to open even wider as the possibility of there being more people than what she was seeing in the park dawned on her. "Really?"

"Yep. Go to a big city sometime."

"How many are there?"

"People? Well, let's see… In a big city, a plaza like this one would be totally packed."

"Really?"

"Yep!" Sven said with a laugh. "The Potato Tossing Festival in Vista City? There are so many people there you can't move." Eve turned her attention back on her ice cream as she tried to imagine that many people. The idea scared her a little bit. "You should go sometime. Just watch out for flying spuds."

"I'm picking up the signal from Eve's bracelet!" Torneo's driver announced as he swerved around a corner at speeds that were well above the legal limit. "We're getting close, Boss Torneo."

"She's a long way from home," Torneo growled. "Stop the car and find her!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Okay now, we've finished our ice cream so let's get started," Sven announced as he led Eve out of the park and towards the nearby shopping district.

"What are we going to do?" Eve asked, curiosity slipping into her tone, proving even more to Sven that the kid was capable of showing some emotion. Even if it was just a hint.

Sven scratched his chin as he quickly decided what he hoped would be the best course of action, given the situation. "How about if we walk around for a little while, and if you don't recognize anything, then we'll go to the police," he suggested. "We can't wander all day."

"Police?" Eve repeated, once again in her neutral tone.

"Yeah, not my favorite idea either," the Sweeper admitted. The police forces of Padosoan were among the less welcoming groups to the Elsidians, even less to Sweepers. When the Elsidians arrived on Padosoan, they brought a lot of their crime with them. As if that wasn't bad enough, the various police forces weren't thrilled by the ideas of Sweepers, mostly because it meant asking for help and as a whole, the police forces were all very proud of hardly ever needing help to get the job done.

"My uncle said the police are our enemies," Eve said, catching Sven completely off guard.

What kind of uncle tells his niece the police are basically bad people? Maybe I should make sure she's going back to a safe environment. I'd feel bad if I let her go back to someplace that's only going to ruin her future.

"We're very close, boss!" One of Torneo's guards announced as he opened the door to the car for the crime boss. Sven looked around at the raised voice and nearly froze in place as he saw the thick build of Torneo stepping out of the car and looking around for something.

Torneo? What's he doing here? What happened to Train? Dozens of questions quickly danced through Sven's mind as he stared at his bounty. He's wide open! This is it! Sven snapped into action, plunging his hand into his jacket he grabbed hold of his hidden pistol and whipped it out, aiming it at Torneo as he shouted at him."Hold it, Torneo!" Rudman turned his attention on Sven, his eyes flicking to stare at Eve for a moment before smirking cruelly back at Sven.

"And you are?" He asked.

"A Sweeper. And I'm taking you in," Sven said with a victorious grin.

Torneo's Mansion

"Got him! The intruder was in the west wing!" One of Torneo's mansion guards said as he tossed an unconscious Train onto the floor of the security room.

"Lucky break! That guy's quiet as a cat! Where was he?" Another asked.

"He's something else alright. He was inside a vase."

"What?" Mr. Flit, Torneo's right hand man exclaimed. Mr. Flit was a rather thin man, dressed in a dull, off-white suit with a navy-blue collared shirt and white tie visible beneath his perfectly aligned jacket. He had a rather thin, rat-like face with a long nose and small eyes. His navy-blue dyed hair was cut in a perfectly symmetrical bowl cut. Despite his slightly ridiculous appearance, only an idiot would laugh at him, because here in Torneo's mansion, he held almost as much power as the boss himself. "Good work!" Inwardly he let out a sigh of relief. Now I can face the boss. "Did you drug him?"

"No… I think he just fell asleep…" One of the guards said.

"Who found him?"

"I did, Mr. Flit!" One of the guards, a man slightly shorter than the others said, raising his hand. "Where is Boss Torneo now? I'd like to report to him personally."

"He's not here," Mr. Flit said as he poked Train's sleeping form sharply, barely even bothering to look up at the man who had spoken up. "Security cameras picked Eve up leaving the grounds. He took a crew with him and went to find her." He straightened up and dusted himself off. "I'll file a report with Boss Torneo later. He'll be pleased, I'm sure. Back to your stations."

"Yes, sir!" The guards all saluted Mr. Flit and quickly exited the security room except for the two who were normally stationed in there.

"So, Mr. Flit. What'll we do with this guy?" One of the remaining guards asked, poking Train's cheek.

"Lock him up until the boss returns," Mr. Flit said with a sigh. "This cat has been more trouble than he was worth."

Train's eyes slowly opened and stared dully at the guard in front of him. "Hey, he's awake," the guard in question announced. Train blinked once and his head fell backwards on his shoulders as he let out a loud snore, which only seemed to irritate the guard that had been poking him. "You… snap out of it!" The guard grabbed him by his hair and yanked his head forward, also ripping off his hair and the skin around the entirety of his head.

"The hell?" The guard stared at the very realistic mask-and-wig combination he now held in his clutches. Looking back, he saw the same face of the man who had caught the intruder, only this one was unconscious and had the words 'Try Again!' written on his forehead.

"A disguise?" Mr. Flit exclaimed angrily. "Then… that man just now…! Damn it!"

"That guy was out cold," Train chuckled to himself as he darted out of one of the mansion's unguarded side doors and bolted for the wall surrounding it. "That knock out gas of Sven's really works. If Torneo's not here, there's no point in hanging around anymore." Besides, at times like these, it's wise to make a quick escape unless you really want to irritate Sven.

Shopping District Alleyways

Blood fell with a steady drip to the dirty pavement below as Sven forced himself to take another step in the direction of the hospital, Eve's voice echoing though his mind as he did so.

"I'm the demon."

Sven groaned as he limped down one of the city's many back alleyways, away from the prying eyes of the public. One arm was pressed tightly against his chest where Eve had run him through with her arm-blade. Stupid. That was stupid of me. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

The image of Eve's flesh glowing bright blue as the Nanomachines inside her activated, briefly altering the physical makeup of her arm, turning it to steel and shaping it into a long, slender blade flashed through Sven's mind. I never messed up this bad. Not even back in my detective days with the IBI.

Another image, the dull pain caused by the shock as Eve lunged forward and stabbed Sven before he could even register what had happened. The tears in her eyes as she looked sadly up at him… That kid… She put a hole right through me. I'm gonna give her… a piece… of… my…

Sven's thoughts escaped him as he fell face-first onto the stone pavement; his blood slowly began to pool around him.

Sapidoa City Oceanic Front Hotel

Several Hours Later

"What? No! That's a terrible idea!" Rinslet shouted at Train as they walked briskly through the halls of the hotel they were all staying at, Sora and Nanaki trailing only slightly behind them. After meeting up with the thief and the Keyblade Wielders in the hotel's lobby, Train had proceeded to make a beeline straight for the hotel room he and Sven were sharing with the teens while he explained his plan to take down Torneo to Rinslet. A plan that wasn't exactly greeted with open arms. "We're not going back to Torneo's tonight! You seriously can't think-"

"Yes, I can," Train said as they stepped out of the elevator onto the thirteenth floor. "We don't need a fancy plan. I'll just shoot my way in and grab the guy! Well, before I grab him, I might punch him. In the face. Really, really hard."

"Listen to me! I know you're upset about your partner, but come on! He's not dead. We have time to think this through-" Her words were cut off as Train spun suddenly, and pinned her against the wall with one hand. The look on his face was enough to send a shiver of fear up Rinslet's spine.

"My partner is bleeding," the Sweeper reminded her. "Do you really think I can stand here and discuss this rationally? Well, I can't!"

"Torneo's weapon got to Sven. You get that, right?" Rinslet demanded as she painfully jabbed a finger into Train's chest, causing the man to wince slightly. "Nanomachine particles were found at the base of the wound. If we burst in without a plan, we'll end up like Sven."

"Eve won't pose a threat if we grab Torneo first," Train countered as he released Rinslet. "Without him, she's not dangerous."

"How do you know that?" Sora asked, his eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"Instinct."

"Instinct?"

"Sven was caught off-guard because she's a kid," Train explained as he walked to the door to the room he and Sven were sharing and dug around in his pocket for the key to the door. "If he'd known what she was, like we do, he'd still be standing. Sven! You're awake!"

"Yeah," Sven said, not even bothering to look up from where he was lying on his bed as the small group of four entered. "I'm a little woozy from blood loss. But I guess I'm alive."

No way! Conscious in less than twelve hours? Rinslet couldn't believe her eyes. Sure, she missed the vital organs, but that wound almost killed him anyway. These guys aren't human.

"You'd better thank Rinslet," Nanaki chimed in. "If she hadn't found you, you'd be in heaven or hell by now."

"And me, for using some healing spells on you," Sora added.

"Oh? Great," Sven grunted. "So I owe you two? Well, thanks."

"Yeah, well, I just happened to be walking by, that's all," Rinslet said in an attempt to make it seem like less of a big deal and that she hadn't done it out of the kindness in her heart. "What was I supposed to do? Leave my ally to bleed to death?"

"Anyway…" Train began, striding over to the table provided in the room and dropping a paper bag onto it that let out several loud clinks as whatever was inside bumped against each other.

"What's that?" Sven asked, tilting his head at the bag.

"I bought some ammo," Train said simply. "I want to hit his place tonight. You stay here and rest. I can handle that fat guy alone."

"I'm going with you!" Sven said sharply, wincing as he sat himself up and placed his feet on the floor.

"You're what?" Sora asked incredulously. "But you're seriously injured! Even with the Curaga spells I cast on you, a wound like that will take some time to heal."

"I have to… There's something I need to tell her…"

"Are you nuts? You're still bleedi-" Nanaki began.

"Eve, you mean?" Train said, cutting the teen off. "You wanna tell me what happened?"

Sven flinched as the memory of Eve transforming her arm and stabbing him flashed through his mind once again. "I don't feel like talking right now. Sorry."

"Okay, but I don't feel like taking you with me either," Train countered in a tone that displayed his seriousness without coming across as stern. "I'm not going to let you risk your life twice in one day. "

"Train… I… I have to go with you," Sven insisted.

"Why? Because you're too stubborn to stay home and heal?" Train asked. The two partners stared intently at each other for several long moments, both waiting for the other's resolve to crack. Train gave in first after he realized that Sven wouldn't cave. "Fine. We'll let this decide." He pulled out his pistol and spun it around on one finger before opening it up and taking out five bullets.

His gun? Sora asked himself. What? Is he going to have some sort of Western show down with Sven?

With a flick of his wrist, Train spun the chamber of the gun around quickly before snapping it closed and tossing it to Sven, who easily caught it in one hand. "I took out all but one bullet," Train explained as he walked over to Sven's bedside table and placed his hand on it. "Six chambers. One bullet. Now, use it to shoot my hand."

"What?" The other four in the room all cried out in disbelief.

"I want to see how committed you are," Train explained. "If my luck is bad, I'll lose my hand. But if you don't have the resolve to do it, then I can't take you with me. A wounded man with a weak resolve won't survive a battle."

"True enough," Sven agreed. He had seen enough men and women die in the line of duty back when he was a detective with the International Bureau of Investigation to attest to that fact.

Has he lost his mind? Sora asked as he watched the two Sweepers intently. What's the point of this?

"Are you sure about this?" Sven asked as he tightened his hold of the Hades. Train nodded. Knowing him, it's probably not loaded at all. "You ready?" Train grinned. Sven placed the barrel of the gun against the top of Train's hand and pulled the trigger. To everyone's horror, the gun went off with a bang. But it wasn't accompanied by a cry of pain from Train. Instead, the man was laughing.

"No hesitation at all. That's what I call a partner!" Train praised Sven. "But man, the odds were six to one. Some luck you've got!" He smiled at the four confused and angry faces staring back at him. "Surprised? Like I'd put my hand in real danger. I messed with the bullet beforehand. That was all noise and sparkle. If you'd fired a real bullet, I wouldn't be laughing."

"You son of a-"

"You jerk!" Nanaki growled, slapping Train on the back of his head.

"C'mon. Don't be mad!"

"So, what's next then?" Sora asked as Sven grabbed his hat and placed it over his head. The Sweeper turned back toward the door and gave the teen a confident smirk.

"We're going to Torneo's place."

Before you ask if this is a filler chapter, the answer is sorta-kinda. It doesn't really focus on our main characters, but it introduces three of the most important characters to the Chronos/Apostles of the Star aspect of Looming Darkness: Train Heartnet (The Black Cat), Sven Vollfied, and Eve, the child bio-weapon. They alone are important enough to warrant a lot of focus during this chapter.

I also tried my hand at a slightly different style of writing in terms of scene length. I don't think I'll be doing it again. All it did was cause me irritation during the process.

Yes, Xanthos served in the Dark Brotherhood of Tamriel (if you don't know who they are, go look up the Elder Scrolls video game series) back in his youth.

This'll be the last time it takes me more than a month to get a new chapter out. I've resolved all personal issues in my life and my work schedule is finally back to normal, so I have no excuses anymore. You guys are all fantastic and I feel as if I've let you down by taking so long.

On that note, chapter 31: The Cat Bares its Fangs should be up in a week or two . Which also reminds me, I've started up a Twitter account to keep anyone who's interested in the progress I'm making. I'll be updating on a consistent basis, so all of you can keep track of my progress. If you tweet me a question, I may just reveal somehting about the future of Looming Darkness! Twitter: ShadowHorizons

Before I go, I want to remind anyone who hasn't voted in the poll yet to please do so. Seriously, I know more than five of you are reading this thing.

As always, reviews are appreciated. I love hearing opinions from you guys, like I said before, you guys rock and give me the motivation to keep going.

It's great to be back!

Aspicio, diluculo Infinitas Noctis.

Shadow Horizons