Sorry this took so long, guys, I've been ridiculously uninspired lately. Then my friend Hanna (yes, I named the character after her, and Ren is for my friend Lauren. Incidentally, the Councilors Rondot and Nester are named after two of my friends, also.) Hanna pointed out that my characters were stuck in a perpetual state of suffering because I never progressed the story.

Oops.

Oh, yeah… one of my reviewers asked, "Why don't they all just warp out of the manor with the dark portals thingy?" Answer: if you remember, Riku can't do the portal thingy anymore, and Sora, Kairi, and Ren never could. Bruixe can't because Isalena has these blocker-spells that prevent anyone from portaling in or out. Kind of like Disney Castle, yeah? Except minus the whole Cornerstone-of-Light thing.

Heh-heh… anyway, this chapter takes place at the same time the last chapter did… just from a different POV. Enjoy.


I've gone for too long living like I'm not alive
So I'm gonna start over tonight
Beginning with you and I
Don't want to run from anything uncomfortable
I just want, no
I just need this pain to end right here
I'm not going
'Cause I've been waiting for a miracle and I'm not leaving
I won't let you
Let you give up on a miracle
When it might save you

- Paramore, "Miracle"


"AAAAAAAAGH!" Riku yelled, slamming both fists against the door in frustration.

"Did she dump you?" Sora asked sympathetically.

Riku glared at him. "No." He slid to the floor, running both hands through his silver hair. "It's worse."

"She told you she never wanted to see you again," his friend predicted.

"Would you stop with the lame break-up jokes?" Riku shouted, exasperated. "Isalena's forcing Bruixe to make Chasers. She's gonna destroy the Council, take over the city. That's why she killed Danthus - to lure Bruixe here. Because apparently since Bruixe's Keyblade made the Chasers once upon a time, Bruixe is the only one that can do it."

Sora frowned. "So you told Bruixe not to do it. Duh."

"Of course I did," Riku groaned. "But it gets worse. Isalena's saying if Bruixe doesn't make her an army… she's gonna kill us."

"Us?" Sora repeated.

"And Kairi, and that Ren girl."

Sora thought about this for a moment, calmer than one might expect of someone who had just been delivered a death sentence. "Wow," he said finally.

"Yeah, 'wow'," Riku muttered.

"What… what's she gonna do?" Sora asked uncertainly.

"I told her not to listen," the older boy said. "What else was I supposed to do? No way can she make a freakin' army of Chasers. Not when we spent last summer cleaning up the first Chaser mess. And with us locked up here, who do you think is gonna help them this time?"

Sora grimaced.

"Yeah," Riku said. "Of course, according to Bruixe, Isalena's gonna call them 'Wardens' instead of Chasers. And they'll be strictly controlled this time. Kingdom City won't even know what hits them."

"So she's not going to do it," Sora said.

Riku shook his head miserably. "She didn't listen to me. You know how she is. Bruixe… she would never put her friends in danger. No matter what. And... she could never willingly let us die, not as long as there was the slightest chance to save us. She... she thinks if she can just buy enough time, she can get us out of here. But... that's not going to happen."

There was silence in the cell as both friends considered that.

Sora opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly there was a frantic pounding on the door.

Both boys jumped to their feet as the door banged open, but neither was expecting to see who was outside.

"There you are," said a tall man with shaggy brown hair.

"Terra?" Riku managed. "What are you doing here?"

"Attempting to rescue you," Terra said wryly. "And Bruixe, I suppose. Where is she?"

Sora snickered under his breath. "And you said getting out of here wasn't going to happen."

Riku blinked as if trying to reassure himself that Terra was actually there, and not a figment of his imagination. For the first time since running into Rondot's soldiers outside the manor, he could see a tiny ray of hope. "I… I don't know. Another cell. Kairi and Ren are here, too."

"Well, then, we had better find them," the Liberator pointed out, and jogged down the hallway to the next cell.

"Hey, wait up!" Sora exclaimed, and both friends followed him out to start checking the other cells for their friends.

Riku opened one door to find a figure slumped against the wall, shackled at both wrists. A woman – but not one he recognized. Her dirty blonde hair hung in tangles around her unconscious face, and she was positively tiny – even smaller than Kairi. Despite that, Riku guessed that she was older than him, maybe around Terra's age.

"Over here," he called to Terra and Sora, and went in to undo the woman's shackles.

She stirred, brown eyes barely cracking open. "Who…" she began, and Riku silenced her.

"My name's Riku," he said. "I'm gonna get you out of here."

Terra looked into the cell and did a double take. "Hanna?" he whispered.

The woman's eyes grew suddenly sharp and focused as she recognized the Liberator. "Sir!" she croaked.

"Who?" Sora asked as Terra reached down to pick Hanna up as if she was no more than a doll. Which, Riku had to admit, she wasn't. It was clear imprisonment hadn't been kind to her – her arms were thin and emaciated, her face drawn.

"Lieutenant Hanna," Terra told them. "Ren's older sister. She was with Danthus and his patrol."

"Danthus…" Hanna croaked mournfully. "He… he's…"

"We know," Riku said grimly. "Believe me."

It was Sora who found Kairi and Ren, a few cells down from Hanna's. Both girls looked up, two pairs of wide, disbelieving eyes, blue and green.

"We're getting out of here," Sora said. "C'mon."

They stood, and it was then that Ren spotted her sister cradled in Terra's arms. "Hanna!" she cried, lunging forward to clutch the older girl's hand.

"Ren…?" Hanna managed, and Ren burst into tears.

"You're alive," she whimpered. "I thought… I thought…"

"Touching, but we're on a schedule here, people," Riku reminded them. "We gotta find Bruixe."

With five of them searching, they easily covered all the cells, but Bruixe was nowhere to be found.

"She's not here," Sora said somewhat unnecessarily.

"She has to be here!" Riku roared in frustration. "Where else could she be?"

"The mountain house, perhaps?" Terra mused. "The scouts reported seeing Rondot's men at Xehanort the Cruel's old mansion. It's possible she's being held there… although I can't imagine why…"

"Why doesn't matter," Riku said forcefully. "If she's there, I'm going after her."

"I think there's the small problem of us getting out of here," Sora pointed out. "I mean, come on, we can't go off rescuing anyone if we can't get out of this godforsaken manor."

"It may be easier than you think," Terra told him. "Lady Isalena is not here."

"Where is she?" Kairi wanted to know.

"There is a Council meeting in the city today," Terra said. "She's likely already there, and so is Rondot. It's why I chose today to come."

Terra's words proved true, and Riku and Sora only had to take out a few guards before the group reached the exit to the manor, where Terra had left chocobos.

Sora's jaw fell open, then he yelled, "Heartless!" and lunged for one of the animals, Keyblade drawn.

"Hey!" Terra moved to block him with an arm, shifting Hanna's weight to the other. "Those aren't Heartless. They're chocobos."

"What's a chocobo?" Sora asked, confused.

Terra pointed to the giant bird. "That is a chocobo."

"They're so cute," Ren said unexpectedly, tottering forward to hug one around its feathery neck.

A second waddled forward to nestle its beak into Riku's long hair. "Hey, watch it," he said gently, pushing the animal away.

"I only brought four," he said apologetically, swinging Hanna up onto one and helping Ren up behind her. Sora and Kairi mounted another, and Riku took the third.

He looked from Terra to Sora and back to Terra again. "It's just us this time, isn't it?" he asked the Liberator.

Terra nodded, looking to Sora. "You had better get these three to the city," he told the younger boy, meaning the three girls.

Sora's jaw fell open. "No way. You're not leaving me out of this one! Come on!"

"Yeah, we want to help," Ren said, and Kairi nodded her agreement.

Terra turned his gaze upon Ren. "You and your sister have done more than enough," he said. "Let us handle the rest."

"Yeah, and they'll need you if they run into any of Rondot's or Isalena's men," Riku told Sora.

"I'll come back and help if I can," he promised.

Riku shook his head. "No. If… if something happens to us, you guys have got to spread the word. Tell the whole city – everyone you can, anyone who'll listen. Isalena's lying to them all. You got that?"

Sora looked as if he were about to argue, then thought better of it. "Fine," he said stubbornly. "But you had better come back this time."

Riku grinned wryly. "I think I can handle that."

Terra saluted the four, then turned to Riku. "Come on."

Riku kicked his chocobo after him and was amazed at how gracefully the ungainly-looking bird loped across the sand. "You up for this?" he asked Terra.

The Liberator's face was a confident smirk. "Let's go teach some soldiers a lesson in humility."

"Now you're talking," Riku said, and together they charged to Bruixe's rescue.


review. please.

see? i asked nicely.