Chapter 9! Sorry it's shorter. I don't own any thing but Raene.

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I awoke to the quiet hum of voices from outside. I had awoken to these voices almost every day since I lived here. They were the voices of the world's people. They lived their quiet, unnoticed lives unbothered by us Nobodies. They rarely came outside, but when morning came, they opened their windows to greet the dark morning and a new day.

I opened my eyes to greet the morning. I found myself in my queen-size four-poster bed snuggled in my large, white, feathery quilt. How did I get here? I thought to myself. Last night came back to you. You had fallen asleep, leaning on Axel's shoulder. He must have carried you back to your room and tucked you in You figured.

I threw the quilt off of me and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. My feet touched cold marble and I looked down. My shoes and socks were gone. I looked at my hands. My gloves were gone too. I also noticed that I wasn't wearing my cloak, just my pants ands shirt. I looked down at my pale toes, which never really saw any sunlight. I wiggled them. They were the only part of my feet that I could see. Everything else, like my heels and such were covered by my large, baggy black pants.

I stood up and walked to the window. My room was on the south side of the castle. The main entrance was on the east side. Below my window was a large, dark street leading straight up from the center of the city to the cliff that dropped down forever. Why didn't they put the main entrance here? You thought. It made a lot more since to put it here on the south side then on the east side where the street that led up to it was only a few feet across.

Hey, it wasn't my construction plans, so I didn't think anymore on the subject. I turned to see the rest of my clothes hanging over the foot of my bed. I sat down and pulled on my shoes and socks. Then I slipped the tight gloves over my thin fingers. Lastly I threw the large, leather cloak over my head and made my way to Axel's room.

As I walked, I pondered more on what happened as Axel left on that mission a year ago. The day after he left, I found a note in my bedroom from Axel. In it he told me that I wasn't going to be able to see Kairi or any visions of her for a while. He explained that she was going to lose memories along with Sora. He said that he had a plan but he couldn't say much in the letter. All he told me was that Kairi would gain her memories back and that I could see her again. When I read it, I thought about the last vision I had had.

It was of Kairi and Sora. Sora had just locked Kingdom Hearts along with some King and Riku, their friend inside. They met up with each other. The ground below their feet started to slowly separate them. They said some last parting words. He promised to come back for her. She arrived back on the island that she lived on and found a carving of a boy and a girl in the cave they played in all the time. Sora had carved a paupu fruit in between them. She cried and then carved another one so that it looked as if they were both giving each other one. The vision was kind of confusing since they were mostly just flashes.

Axel said that I needed to hold onto that memory, that vision, so I wouldn't be sad.

Before I knew it, I was at Axel's door on the east side of the castle. I knocked and waited for an answer. No one said anything.

"'Alright, sleepy head. You better be dressed because I'm coming in," you spoke poking your head in the door.

The room was empty. The bed was made, which wasn't a surprise since he didn't sleep. I closed the door and teleported to the main lobby. Nobody.

Then to the training room. Nobody.

I spent an hour checking all the rooms including bedrooms. Nobody.

I teleported back to the main lobby and sat down at the base of the two grand marble staircases. Where is everybody?

I slapped myself on the forehead and drowned myself in a portal. There was one room I hadn't checked. I arrived in front of the door leading into the most center room in the whole castle. I politely knocked on the door. A booming voice ushered me in.

I stepped through the door at the base of someone's chair and walked to the center of the room. Xemnas was sitting in his chair directly in front of the door.

"Seraph Of Mortality, you're late!" He said with his deep voice.

"Yeah, kiddo. What took you so long?" Xigbar asked in his cocky voice.

"We thought you would have been here like an hour ago," Luxord added.

"I'm sorry for being late, Superior," I spoke keeping my eyes on the ground, ignoring everyone else in the room.

"Well, no matter then. Take a seat," he spoke sounding bored.

I shot my head up in surprise. "A seat, sir!"

"Did I stutter? Of course a seat!"

"Where?" I had never been asked to take a seat in the meeting chamber before.

"Anywhere!" He yelled getting annoyed.

I yelped and teleported into a chair within a tenth of a second. I looked down at my feet and saw at the ground the words The Cloaked Schemer written in the shiny marble at the floor.

I looked back up to see every member staring at me. I sat quiet and Xemnas started to talk. I looked around the room. Xemnas, Xigbar, Xaldin, Saïx, Luxord, and Demyx were all the in the room. Axel was nowhere to be found.

"Mission time! Ok, first Xaldin," Xemnas spoke. He threw a small clear orb at Xaldin who caught it with no effort. "Inside is all the information you'll need. If you have any questions you can find me in my quarters."

I raised an eyebrow. Who all could get into his quarters? I thought Xemnas was the only one.

"Demyx," he continued. Demyx shot his head up from looking at his fiddling thumbs. He was quite surprised that he was getting a mission. "I want you to go to this place," he spoke. He threw another orb at Demyx, who almost dropped it as it came within a catching distance of him. "I need you to negotiate with Hades. He is one of the great controllers of the Heartless. Make him see that he needs to plan his attack on the Keybearer so that, well, to our advantage, he will destroy thousands of Heartless."

"How am I supposed to negotiate without telling him of our plan, my lord?" Demyx asked.

"You'll think of something. Anyhow, Xarene will be joining you later on in this mission. But, right now, I have a special mission all her own."

I looked at him awaiting my instructions. "Xarene, you know where this Sora boy is?" I nodded. "We need you to follow him. I'm sure that King of his is soon to be helping him find out more about our kind. We need him to stay on track of destroying Heartless and not spending all of his time going after the lesser Nobodies." I nodded again. "Report back every now and inform us of his progress." He finished as you nodded. He then stood up and raised his hands dismissing us. Everyone jumped down from their seats and excited through the door.

I ran to catch up with Demyx who was quickly walking down the hall ahead of me. "Demyx! Hey, Demyx, wait up!"

He turned to my voice and waited for me to catch up. I came to his side and the both of us continued to walk in the same direction. Both of our rooms were on the same side of the castle. "What's up, Beautiful?" he asked.

I laughed under my breath. "Why do you always call me that?"

"Because it annoys you," he simply answered.

"I was wondering if you knew anything about Xemnas' private quarters. Do the other members, are they allowed in, I mean?"

He looked at me. "The older members do. I'm not allowed in, everyone but us are allowed. Stinks, doesn't it?" He laughed facing forward again.

"Yeah. So…." I said about to change the subject. "Do you know where Axel is?"

He stopped in his tracks. "Raene…" he spoke with a sort of sorrow tone to his voice.

"What? Did something happen to him?" I asked getting worried.

"Raene, Axel…he well, he's gone."

"What!" I said. My eyes growing wide with fear.

"He left me a note. He said he needed to get away. He can't have another strike against him or he's dead, literally. He said that he just needed to get away for a while."

"Why didn't he say anything to me?"

Demyx placed a hand on my lower back. "Hey, cheer up! He said not to worry and to tell you that too. He said he'll be fine. He'll be back soon, and that's his own words."

I smiled a little bit. "Did he say anything else?" I asked looking up at Demyx.

"Yeah…he told me to watch out for you." He said that and then walked away. I stood there a few minutes before walking down the hall to my room to prepare for my mission.

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Five cloaked figures walked up a large spiraling staircase in Xemnas' quarters.

"What's going to happen to her now that she has become a real Nobody, my lord?" one asked to the tall, broad-shouldered one in front.

"If she fades anymore into Darkness, she'll go away just like the other members who gave in too far. Nobodies live on the boarder of Darkness and Light. We can't dive in any farther than we have to the Darkness, but she is different, she can. Everyone, even Nobodies are made of half Light and half Darkness. She, on the other hand, is fated to lose that light. That void will be filled with Darkness from another."

The same one who asked the question spoke again. "So what you're saying is that she only has a matter of time before all the light is gone and the Darkness consumes her, as is her fate?"

"Precisely."

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Thanks everyone for reading. I am getting a lot of chapters done lately. Yay! Ok, so I never know when I am going out of town so don't be surprised if the next one doesn't come out for a while. Or maybe the one after the next, I don't know how many I can get done.