Hey, guys and girls. I've had a few questions about Bruixe's weapon choice (not the Keyblade, dorks), so here goes:

The kodachi (literally 'small sword') is a Japanese sword too short to be considered a longsword but too long to be a dagger. It was considered a much faster weapon than the typical katana-wakizashi combination favored by samurai of the Edo period. The handle features greater curvature and a longer handle than the more common wakizashi; it was designed for variable grips, including the reversed-grip (blade pointing backwards).

This chapter is reeeaaaalllly loooooong. But, as always, enjoy.


Please don't cry one tear for me
I'm not afraid of what I have to say
This is my one and only voice
So listen close, it's only for today
I'm not angry, I'm just saying
Sometimes goodbye
Is a second chance
-Shinedown, "Second Chance"


Bruixe pulled the neck of her cloak higher, shielding her face from the bitter wind. It was still early, but dusk was beginning to settle, the short day of winter coming to a close.

This used to be the time of day Bruixe loved most, the half-light between day and night. After all, the Organization had called her the Twilight Avenger for a reason. Soon she would be able to live up to the second part of her name, too. Vengeance was coming, she could feel it.

Bruixe heard Ren before she saw her, off-balance footsteps echoing up the wall stairs. "Hey, Bruixe," said the younger girl, pulling herself onto the walltop and shivering. "Jeez. It's cold up here."

"You should've worn a cloak," Bruixe said, shrugging off her own and handing it to Ren.

"Thanks," said the younger girl sheepishly.

There was a long silence, as the sun slipped closer to the horizon and the sky began to take on a reddish-orange color. Ren sighed. "Pretty."

"Yeah," Bruixe agreed.

"Bruixe…" Ren said. "What was it? The Room of Awakening?"

The older girl was silent for a moment, then said, "It was a gateway, of sorts. You could call people from the other realm – people who had died. And you could talk to them."

"Bring them back?" Ren gasped, shocked.

"Not forever," Bruixe told her. "They can't stay in our realm. They keep a connection, to the realm of the dead. If you cut it, you get a Chaser."

"How'd you find it?"

"Isalena found it," Bruixe replied. "Under Xehanort's… under my old house. He'd hidden it, but it was all still there."

"So everyone who's ever died has gone there?" Ren asked.

"Yes," Bruixe said. "When I was there, I spoke to two of my old friends. They… they died, about a year and a half ago."

"Do you think… Terra and Riku are there, too?"

Even the mere mention of his name was enough to make her chest tighten. She nodded stiffly. "I… I never got the chance to talk to them, though. I…" Her voice trailed off. "It's too late now, anyway. Isalena's probably got it under lock and key."

Ren looked up thoughtfully. "If… if you could see Riku again… what would you say?"

Bruixe tried her best to answer, but couldn't force out the words. Finally she managed, "I don't know." Then, softer, "Probably… 'I'm sorry'. And…"

"I love you?" Ren asked.

Bruixe closed her eyes.

"You never got to say goodbye, huh," Ren whispered.

She unclasped Bruixe's cloak and handed it back to her, wrapping her frail arms around the older girl in a hug. "I'm sorry I brought it up," she said. "I bet it's hard."

"'S okay," Bruixe muttered gruffly.

Ren stepped back, green eyes unreadable. Strange – the girl usually wore her heart on her sleeve. We've all done some growing up in the past few weeks, Bruixe thought.

"Take care of yourself, okay?" Ren asked.

"Sure," Bruixe said, turning back to look at the sky again – it was purple now, muted, the edges fading to black.

Here, in the twilight hour, she thought. Where had she read that? Something from another life, no doubt. An old poem. 'Here in the twilight hour, I feel like I could die; when sorrow comes a rushing in, to send me to the sky.'

How appropriate.


"Hey, Bruixe, have you seen Ren?" Hanna asked from where she sat in the next room, chatting with Sora and Kairi.

Bruixe shrugged, hanging her cloak up on the rack by Garrison's front door. "Yeah, a few hours ago. She came up on the wall with me."

"Do you know where she went after that?" the lieutenant asked.

Bruixe frowned. "She didn't come back here?"

"Nope," Sora said. "We've been here for hours, we'd've seen her come in."

Bruixe stopped in the middle of pulling off her boots.

"Wonder where she could've gone?" Hanna said worriedly. "It's not like her to wander off like this."

"If you could see Riku again… what would you say?"

Bruixe hadn't asked why Ren was suddenly so curious about the realm of the dead. But she'd been asking an awful lot of questions… and Bruixe had told her exactly how to find the Room of Awakening.

"Shit," she cursed.

"What?" Hanna asked warily.

Bruixe shoved her foot back in her boot and grabbed her cloak back off the rack. "She's going back to the Room of Awakening," she said furiously. "She must think – dammit, this is my fault, I'll go after her."

"I'm coming with you," Hanna responded immediately.

"Me, too," Sora chimed in.

"No," Bruixe said firmly. "This is my fault, I'll take care of it."

"She's my sister," Hanna argued.

Bruixe gritted her teeth. "Fine. You can come. Sora, stay here."

"No way!" he protested. "You can't do anything without me. What's to stop someone dunking you in a lake again?"

"I don't need protecting," Bruixe pointed out. "This place does."

"Nothing will happen here," Sora said.

"Maybe," Bruixe replied. "But let's be honest, here. Without… well, now that it's just us, you and I are the only people tough enough to protect this place from Chasers. No offense, Hanna, but it's true. And if something were to happen out there, and both of us were taken out, Kingdom City would be done for. We can't take that risk."

Sora scowled, but Bruixe could tell he saw her point.

"Well, don't do anything stupid," he grunted finally.

Bruixe smirked. "I'm not you."


As it turned out, Ren wasn't hard to find. She'd left a trail of broken branches and crushed undergrowth so obvious a toddler could have followed it.

"Going somewhere?" Bruixe asked mildly, laying a hand on the smaller girl's shoulder.

Ren whirled around, her face a mask of panic, which quickly faded into badly-disguised guilt. "Um… no?"

Hanna let out a long, relieved breath. "Don't ever do that again," she scolded. "God, Ren, you scared me to death."

"I'm not a kid," Ren said sulkily. "You guys all run around and risk your lives fighting Chasers and stuff, and I sit at home doing nothing, and I just thought…"

Bruixe held up a hand. "I know. You just wanted to help… and I haven't been on top of things, lately. I know. And I'm grateful that you care that much about me, Ren. But coming out here could've been a really bad idea, Ren. You could at least have taken Sora with you. He would've agreed with you."

Ren looked down. "I didn't think of that."

"You never think things through!" Hanna began. "This is what happens when –"

"Quiet," Bruixe said.

"What?" Hanna demanded.

"I said quiet," Bruixe repeated, hands falling automatically to the hilts of her kodachis. She was sure she'd heard it – the crunch of feet over the frozen ground. She moved instinctively in front of the sisters as the culprits appeared – Chasers. Only ten of them, hardly a challenge.

But this wasn't the main threat here, Bruixe realized, as Councilor Isalena stepped out of the trees.

Behind Bruixe, metal rasped as Hanna drew her sword, and Bruixe could almost feel the anger rolling off of the lieutenant. Understandable. Here was the woman who had murdered her general, massacred her squad, held her captive for weeks, not to mention threatened her little sister.

"Why, Bruixe!" Isalena said, voice dripping with false courtesy. "What a lovely surprise!"

We can't fight, Bruixe thought. As much as I want to… the three of us can't take her. Not with all these Chasers here. We've got to escape.

No sooner had she thought this than the Chasers closed in behind them, cutting off their retreat.

"I do hope you'll do me the honor of staying a while," Isalena went on. "After all, absence does make the heart grow fonder. I must say, I didn't expect to see you again. Did you have a nice swim in the lake?"

"Shut up," Bruixe snarled. Hanna moved forward to stand at her side.

"Ah, the young lieutenant," Isalena said. "I'm so sorry that you didn't appreciate my hospitality, before. But I hope we can still be friends."

"I'll never be your friend!" Hanna shouted, leaping forward unexpectedly.

"Hanna, no!" Bruixe yelled, but it was too late – Isalena's Keyblade appeared in her hand and she flicked it lazily, clipping Hanna along the side of the head. She fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Hanna!" Ren cried, running to her sister and kneeling beside her.

Isalena twirled her Keyblade idly, as if showing it off. No, not Isalena's Keyblade, Bruixe realized with horror. Fallen Angel.

"That's mine," she growled, stepping forward.

Isalena gave a cold smile. "Not anymore, Bruixe, darling. Or haven't you ever been taught… what was it now, so childish… ah, yes… 'finders, keepers?'"

Bruixe whipped up a hand, intending to send a bolt of twilight magic at the Councilor, but what came out was something darker, like her magic before she'd become a Nobody. She didn't expect it, and the blast flew harmlessly out of her control, past Isalena, dissipating into the trees.

"Oh, my," Isalena said. "What is that? Certainly nothing I've seen before."

So the darkness had settled into her again – so what? It was powerful, and Bruixe could use it. She flung her hand up again, taking better aim this time, but Isalena was ready, and held out a hand. Bruixe's magic seemed to hit an invisible wall, curling back in on itself, condensing into a compact ball in the Councilor's palm.

Isalena's eyes flicked over to Hanna and Ren, and Bruixe realized what it meant with no time to spare – she threw herself in front of her friends as Isalena unleashed the dark magic, and Bruixe was caught in its path, defenseless as she tried to protect the sisters. She crashed to the ground, pain crackling through her body like electricity.

"Bruixe…?" she heard Hanna mumble.

"Get out," Bruixe panted. "Run."

Then Isalena was over her, Fallen Angel in hand, looking down at Bruixe.

"Too slow, Bruixe, darling," she said, and stabbed Bruixe through the heart.


Somehow, she'd thought death would feel… different.

But then, what had she expected? A dark-user turned Nobody, who regained her heart – and had it broken. She was one-of-a-kind, alone. She knew Axel and Demyx had ended up in the 'realm of the dead'. But could she really place herself in that same category?

Here, (if you could call it 'here' – that implied 'somewhere,' and was this really a 'place'?) beyond time, beyond existence, it was as if her thoughts were floating, no longer held back by physical limits. The anger and hate that had so overwhelmed her before (in life?) hadn't faded, not exactly, but she was able to see past them now, to the feat and the sorrow and the grief.

It occurred to her that she had become dark.

As soon as she had thought this, a sense of foreboding stole over her. She must still have a body of sorts, because now she was shaking, but not from cold. From fear. Anticipation.

A voice came to her.

You have been judged.

Terrible and wondrous at the same time, harsh and yet gentle – a voice with all the authority of the universe.

You have killed.
You have lied.
You have stolen, cheated, and betrayed.
Because of you, many have suffered.
Because of you,
an entire world lies on the brink of destruction.

It was true, she knew. She wanted to shout, 'I'm sorry!' but she couldn't, couldn't even make a sound. Despair, regret, remorse, poured from her to join her anger, hate, grief.

This was it, then. She had been tried, and found guilty. What was the punishment, she wondered? Was there a hell?

However.

Surprising that a single word could be so meaningful. A new emotion: hope. When was the last time she had felt that?

Although your actions condemn you,
your intentions were pure.
You act always in the best interests of those you care for,
regardless of the consequences.
There can be no nobler existence.
There can be no greater love.

Because of this,
you are forgiven.

Relief, gratitude, joy. Could one person really feel all this and not burst? One more: curiosity. What would happen now? As if in answer, the voice spoke again.

All things happen for a reason.
In the same way,
all people, all creatures, are born with a purpose.
Your purpose has not yet been fulfilled.
I am not finished with you. Yet.
It is not your time.

In the edges of this non-reality, this non-existence, there was suddenly a shift, as if the far reaches of herself, that had drifted away into non-space, were being pulled back to her, summoned by an unseen force.

You do not belong here.
Go.
Do not fail.
Never falter.
And take hope –
You are stronger than you know.

A sudden return to reality, to her senses. Touch – cold air, the weight of fabric, a hard surface below her. Sound – the echoes of a vast, open space.

She had been sent here by the voice? Somehow, she knew this to be true. Beyond doubt.

But where was 'here', exactly?

Bruixe opened her eyes.


what happens next? well, wouldn't you like to know.

and no, this isn't the end.

review, please. thanks for reading.