I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

Her Stolen Treasure

Keiya staggered off to the side, grasping the walls to keep herself from collapsing. Her face was white and drained, her hands and legs trembled violently, her knees were about to give out. Colored spots dotted her vision, forcing her to feel her way with her hands. The meeting was going on behind her; she could hear Sai's voice, a bit unsure but still commanding. It vibrated in the back of her skull. Words were lost to her, and time moved too slowly. Tight knots ran through her whole body. She mouthed prayers for the suffering to stop.

What do I do now, for the rest of my life…? she thought briefly, dazedly.

When she walked as far as she could, she shakily positioned herself against the wall and leaned there, her nails ready to dig into the stone. She could feel Sai glancing back at her every few seconds, and she knew the eyes of the entire council were on her, but she couldn't stand there and feign composure any longer. Nausea loomed over her whole body and her head felt too light and the room was rocking, she could swear it was rocking. Her stomach threatened to lurch. She pressed her head against the cool stone walls and closed her eyes.

Deep breaths, don't think, she told herself. Her eyes clenched shut against the colored lights. Make it stop, oh, please make it stop.

However, the stirring in her body refused to calm; at a rush of cool terror, she finally, defeatedly dropped to her knees and crossed her arms to her stomach. Utter sickness spread all the way to her grasping fingers and her mouth was wretched open as her throat twisted in a gag.

Sai struggled to divide his attention between his sickly teammate and the twenty-three men before him, hardly listening to his commands anymore as they were all staring curiously at the girl kneeling in the corner. She was causing a scene; he was losing control of the situation. But beyond that, he found his heart racing with anxiety. His thoughts scattered as to the cause of her malady and the consequences he was sure would follow; he wanted to help, but he had no idea what was wrong with her. He found the notion of approaching her—this now ghastly pale figure—almost frightening. And deeper still, he was frustrated—frustrated with her refusal to stop fighting and thinking.

It was all silence and no mess at all; after all, her body was practically empty of everything but darkness. She felt her stomach churn and heave with each gag, felt the blood in her body either rush or freeze. Sweat glued her bangs to her forehead, but her limbs had goose bumps, and even her finger tips seemed to be trembling. Her insides wretched again, and again, until she let out a choked cry of agony and sank further against the wall, counting the seconds.

"Everyone is dismissed," Sai announced with a wave of his hand, his eyes wary and locked on her limp form. No one budged or bothered to hear him. Whispers passed between the councilmen, dry glances and words of scorn.

Keiya drudged up her little energy left to draw her knees in and huddle into a loose ball. Her fingers couldn't lock around her knees; her legs couldn't even stay up on their own. She leaned against the wall desperately for support and buried her head in the crook between her shoulder and the concrete. Her eyes were fixated on the floor; everything she looked at had a bright, nauseating glare to it. Her only focus was to keep from slipping back into the miserable depths of retching.

After a moment void of movement, Sai turned around with a sharp look to see the sea of curious, ill-wishing faces. The stench of gossip hung in the air.

"Leave!" he demanded irritably.

He waited for each hesitant straggler to file out the door before hurrying over to her. He stopped a few steps short, unsure of how to treat her. With the aid of the darkness, sickness was inconceivable. All he felt was anguish when he concluded she had returned to her old habits. There was no changing her. He could never win. Even sitting right next to him, she was out of his grasp.

He cautiously stepped forward and leaned over to get a look at her face. She wore a blank look, almost serene, but her skin was sheet white and her hands jittered uncontrollably.

"Keiya? Are you alright?" he asked gently, his eyes wide.

She tilted her head away from him and clenched her eyes shut.

"W-what's wrong? What do you feel?"

"…Just leave me alone…" she whispered shakily.

He stared down at her, his glance now slightly hardened. "Just let me help you," he murmured, pulling off a glove and reaching for her forehead. His mother had done it for him several times in the past, standard activity when he was sick. He placed an ungloved had to her head and waited. He didn't know how to tell her temperature; he realized that a moment later.

"I'll be fine in a few minutes," she persisted, shrugging him away.

Sai felt useless, his hands in front of him ready to jump to some task that wasn't coming. This will never end, he thought bitterly. And I still don't have his name.

Keiya curled into a tighter ball and drew her arms weakly upon her knees. Her muscles refused to tighten; her whole body drooped once again into a loose huddle against the wall seconds later, and she let out a frustrated sigh. Then she felt her insides clench, and she jolted forward with her hands now thrust into the ground as her body sought to twist and upheave.

She came up moments later, a hand to her mouth and a tear rolling down her cheek.

Sai knelt next to her and placed his hand on her back. He could feel her shaking in distress and repulsion, but couldn't find the courage to hold her any closer. When she gagged and ducked her head again, he became nervous.

"Should I… call Maleficent?"

He heard her choke on a word before succumbing to another retch and leaning her head against the concrete wall.

"No! Don't call her!" she gasped out severely. "Just give me a minute… I feel better already."

Sai watched her slowly ease herself up into a sitting position. She took slow, deliberate breaths and blinked her eyes against the bright colors flooding her vision.

"Don't touch me," she added with a glare when she felt his hand crawl to her shoulder. "I said I'm fine."

He withdrew his hand immediately, frightened by her unpredictable state. Keiya's heavy breathing was the only sound in the room as she tried to get ahold of herself. She kept her face turned away from him, too ashamed to let him view her so pathetic. Sai took this as stubborn rejection, and felt his heart sink. He was still anxiously awaiting her to forget her outside affair; however, she persisted in making herself sick over him. He remembered her promise, that she would be obedient and submissive so long as her lover remained unharmed. How quickly she was going back on her word, and he had nothing solid with which to blackmail her.

He watched her clench her fingers against the wall as she tried to stand, then sagged back to the ground when her knees gave out.

"You're unbelievable," he muttered, drawing her attention. She looked up at him as he rose from the floor to stand tall before her. Her lips were slightly parted and trembling, and her eyes started to cloud again as nausea returned to swallow her.

"Why can't you just stop fighting the darkness?" he condemned with a scowl. His hand formed a fist at his side. "This is ridiculous! You promised you would stop! What the hell is wrong with you?"

She panted as she felt her body become heavy again. "It's not anything like that," she breathed, eyes shut again.

"Then why are you acting like this?"

"I don't know. Do you think—" She was cut off by a lurch of her stomach, forcing her to bow her head to the side. When she resurfaced, teardrops leaked from her red-rimmed eyes. Sai only watched in half-hearted pity.

"Do you think I'm doing this on purpose?" she whispered crossly.

He glowered and watched her miserably clutch the hem of her dress as she fought back the sick impulsions. Goose bumps crawled agonizingly up her skin, her face was twisted in pain. She knelt uncomfortably on the ground, her legs now splayed in front of her uselessly. Sai was both nervous and impatient; the sickness scared him, and her defiance enraged him to numbness.

"I'm calling Maleficent," he announced stiffly. He turned away from her and opened a portal.

"No, Sai!" she pleaded meekly, shaking her head. "I'm—"

But he disappeared before she could finish.

Keiya stared at the now blank space, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open. Defeatedly, she slumped against the wall. The twisting and churning in her body was nothing compared to the anxiety she now felt for her mistress's reaction.

She was in deep trouble, and she had only seconds left to herself.

~…~

Three weeks, Riku thought bitterly, clenching his fist against the wall. Three weeks, and not a trace of her.

"We found another one, Riku," Sora called, flipping switches and pressing buttons on the dashboard. "We'll be landing in five minutes."

He didn't look up. "Fine."

Sora turned around with a reassuring grin. "Hey, lighten up. You never know. This could be the one."

"Yeah… you say that every time," Riku replied with a bitter smile. It was the truth. "You don't have to pretend. I know we're probably not going to find her here…"

An awkward, now familiar discomfort crept into the atmosphere. Sora struggled for words, uneasy with his friend's resolute loss of hope. With every world they scoured, Riku became less and less talkative. The determination in his eyes hardened to frustration when they would step back onto the ship empty-handed, and would turn to sadness during flights when there was nothing for him to do.

Kairi eyed the boys warily and intervened with a soft smile, "Don't give up so easily! You have no idea where she could be—that means she could be anywhere!"

Riku crossed his arms and kept his eyes averted from his friends' grinning faces.

"I still think… I'd have better luck on my own…" he murmured.

Sora's eyes widened. "R-Riku, don't say that…"

He answered with a shrug.

The duo shared a sorrowful glance before returning to their own business. Just recently had he begun mentioning taking off on his own, bringing his search to a resolution with the help of the darkness. It taunted him, they knew, that with a little added help from the darkness, he could track her down in an instant. He could easily fight off their adversaries, and could bring an end to this searching and fighting through world after world with no hints or results. Kairi made a face as though she wanted Sora to keep talking to him, but he wasn't sure what else to say. His friend was beyond composure and pride.

Riku, meanwhile, stared through the window in contemplation.

By now she must think I've abandoned her… She could be hurt… or crying…

He closed his eyes and imagined the scene: her, sitting on the cold ground of a dark room, in isolation, with nothing but her thoughts and memories to tease and deride her. He was mystified by the brief stories she'd told him of how she was tortured with darkness into submission, how she would spend either days or weeks locked away until they thought her spirit had been broken. But after these months of treachery and careless abandonment, Maleficent would never let her off so easily.

No, it must be worse…

His thoughts stretched on into endless possibilities, each one worse than the last. He could hardly sleep, and when he did, he had nightmares. He dreamt of her forcibly soaked in darkness, sitting neglected in a cell, left to struggle and suffer in solitude. He dreamt of her being beaten for her disobedience, tormented and told all sorts of gruesome lies. He dreamt that she was waiting for him, and that he would never reach her; of her heart being brutally ripped from her chest; of her being abused and violated; of her lying listless on a floor, gashes in her skin and blood collecting all around her as the heartless viciously pounced and clawed her body.

Most of all, he dreamt of her crying and screaming his name, begging him to help her, but no matter how loudly she pleaded, he was running circles trying to find her. He could hear her gasp in pain, could practically hear the rustle of her clothing as she writhed away from her attacker. Those dreams always ended with a sudden, ear-splitting silence.

"Riku! Let's get going!" Kairi called to him.

He shuddered at his thoughts and followed everyone else out the door. His blood ran cold every time he gave into the terror of his nightmares. He could hear her voice in his head, could hear his name falling from her lips as she was crying, screaming, whimpering. He was making no progress in rescuing her. He felt like a failure.

What could they have done to her after three weeks? he wondered as they spread out on the battlefield. How much longer do I have to help her…?

He swung his blade in all directions, fighting with his instincts and nothing more. His moves had become mechanical, and his enthusiasm, nonexistent.

…or am I already too late?

~…~

Keiya couldn't bring herself to look up when Maleficent entered the room, followed by Sai, whose lips were curled into an impatient frown. She still felt languid and feverish, her nerves now rattling inside her with each footstep she heard approaching her. Weakness consumed her; she could no longer uphold her own pride.

Maleficent grasped her mercilessly by the arm and hoisted her up, not caring for the girl's maladies. The first order of business was, as always, to check the mark she had bestowed on her apprentice's body. She squeezed her wrist tight enough to turn it white. The mark was as black as the heart that had wrought it.

With a glare, she released Keiya's arm and tapped a bony finger against her chin to make her look up. Even without that fearless, stoic gaze, the look in her apprentice's eyes infuriated her. It was the air of obstinacy and detachment that gripped her nerves. She briefly felt the girl's forehead, then looked at her with a cold hard stare. She was in thought; both apprentices could feel it. Neither dared to budge.

"Well, what is all this?" she questioned flatly.

Keiya swallowed and tried not to sway; she could feel her knees trembling.

"Are you deliberately trying my patience? I can't have you causing a scene and falling all over the place—you're wasting my time!"

She slapped the girl hard, withdrawing a cry and a stumble. Sai jumped to catch her before she could fall while Maleficent paced a few steps away. Keiya groped for balance and pushed herself upright with Sai's assistance. The feeling of being crushed and powerless grew tenfold in her heart, but she no longer cared. None of it really mattered anymore. She silently pressed herself against the concrete and closed her eyes to try to stop a newly induced rocking sensation. Her hands were backed on the wall for support, her knuckles white and her fingers numb.

Sai watched apprehensively as Maleficent walked with a hand beneath her chin.

"Is… is there something wrong with her?" he finally mustered up the courage to ask.

Maleficent's voice was hard and cool. "I don't know."

Looking back at Keiya, who was now racked with discomfort and dizziness, he was beginning to regret his decision to get her into trouble.

"Maybe… it's just natural," he suggested.

The witch gave a short laugh full of pity and wandered back over to her ward. Pinpricks of anger were arising all over her calloused flesh. Casually, she waved Sai away from the girl's side and traced a line down her face in mock endearment.

"Natural? So long as she's not resisting the darkness, there's no way for her to feel hungry, thirsty, tired, or sick," she explained, placing emphasis on her last word. "It must be something else."

Keiya kept her head downcast, her eyes hidden by her bangs. Maleficent's cold, jagged nail sent shivers of fear down her spine as it slid down her face inch by inch. Her mentor's wrath was like a beast waiting to pounce on its prey; she could feel the suspense building all around them.

Maleficent looked down at her pensively, through narrowed eyes.

"No signs of treachery, no evidence of an act…" She pressed her sharp fingernail deeper into the side of the girl's face, earning not more than an expectant grimace. "Let's see what's wrong with you."

With a clean, deep scrape into the soft skin of her cheek, the witch stole several droplets of blood and gathered them onto the tip of her finger. Keiya cringed at the sting, longing to bring her hand to cover it, but did and said nothing as Maleficent summoned her magic and powers of perception to analyze the sample. She was on a petri dish—a miserable, inescapable petri dish.

Both apprentices waited anxiously as she trapped the few drops of blood within a small green flame at her fingertip. Sai's eyes were darting back and forth between the two women. Keiya looked ready to collapse to her knees, while Maleficent hovered tall over her, her face absolutely, eerily serene. He felt sweat gathering at his own brow, felt the thickness of the air put pressure on his lungs.

When the answer hit her, the flame disappeared and her whole face twisted into rage and disgust. She struck her apprentice hard across the face with a shaking hand, leaving a wet crimson stain across her cheek. Keiya's knees and elbows scraped over the jagged rubble as she abruptly hit the ground.

"Whore!" Maleficent spat over her. She grasped her by the roots of her hair and thrust her head down painfully. "You dare to come back to me like this? Filthy, treacherous slut!"

A chill rushed through Sai's body as he heard their mistress's bellows and watched his comrade wince in pain. "W-what's wrong with her?" he asked anxiously.

Maleficent's voice was vehement.

"A child."

Keiya slowly raised her head, the back of her palm wiping the blood from her face. A shimmer of a tear was born in her eyes, fell past the grime that coated her skin and the frown that creased her lips. Her blood drained from her face in terror, but at the same time, she felt warmth spread through her bones, seep to a place deeper than the darkness and the sickening chills could touch.

She stared at the ground in awe, lips trembling, a hand subconsciously resting over her stomach.

Riku's child… Our own family…

Heavy aching thumps pounded in Sai's chest, nauseating him to denial. "W-what?" His voice was merely a whisper.

"You've known for years now that you were to mate with Sai! I don't need an ordinary child running around this castle—I need a fighter! Lord knows neither of you have proved extraordinarily useful to me over the years…"

Keiya's legs wobbled as she strove to pick herself up, one hand groping the wall, her other arm protectively crossed over her abdomen. Thoughts swirled in her head, possibilities spiraled into the unknown; straight thinking seemed incomprehensible, yet she needed to think quickly. A baby—their baby; a product of their love! Her skin prickled excitedly with the thought of it: the days they spent together, the long nights of lovemaking, their whole history of friendship and romance transpired into a beautiful creation that she now carried inside her. But the thought of bringing their child into this dark, miserable world, and with no one by her side, paralyzed her with remorse. She'd caused the mess by running away, and now it was too late to go back. Blood rushed cold from her head to her toes as she opened her mouth to speak.

"I-I'll teach it," she offered half-heartedly. "It wouldn't be a waste, I can—"

"You raise a child? I don't trust you to control yourself, why would I allow you to keep a child in your care?"

"Please, I already promised I'd do whatever you say!" Keiya argued desperately.

She wanted to bite her tongue. Guilt hung over her so thickly, it wasn't long before she was at war with herself, drowning in self-hatred with each word that slipped from her mouth. Her heart wept apologies to the unborn creature inside her. Right and wrong combated and blurred in her mind. She wished there was a way out, but it was dreadfully clear to her: the only way to save it was to offer it.

"I can teach it to fight," Keiya continued, agony drenched in her voice. Seeing the frightening doubt creasing her mistress's face, she added, "It's still mine. I-it will fight just as well as any child I would have with Sai."

"Too much untainted blood!" the witch accused angrily. "I want a child of pure darkness—can your lover give me that?"

Her lips hung open in silence and her body sank down against the wall. His light was so pure, so good natured, while she was pathetically ready to engorge their only child in darkness before it was even born, all for the sake of letting it live its life the same terrible way she had lived hers, and she couldn't think of another way.

Maleficent glanced down at her apprentice spitefully. A far off, calculating look set in; sparks of irritation could practically be felt flying from her rigid figure.

"A useless child that will take years to train…" she started in agitation. "This baby will be more trouble than it's worth, just like you. I will not tolerate another runaway!"

Keiya seized her chance when the idea struck her.

"Then let me give it to the father!"

"You will not have any contact with the father, or anyone else, for that matter," Maleficent corrected hastily.

Keiya swallowed back a lump in her throat. Her nerves wouldn't settle no matter how hard she tried; her hands trembled to no end and her voice quavered each time she spoke.

"B-but he—"

"Silence! You won't argue with me!"

Sai watched and heard and felt as though he were sinking into the wall, fading in the dim light of the room. Someone else's baby was inside her. Someone else had had her first. Someone else had touched her, whispered to her, pleasured her, kissed her. And she had kissed him back. Veins throughout his body throbbed in loathing and detestation as he envisioned someone else running his hands through her hair and over her body, lying next to her in the middle of the night. It made his blood boil furiously and his stomach sick to the thought.

But she's supposed to be mine, he thought numbly, fists at his sides.

Despondency mixed with outrage and denial until all he felt was bitter betrayal.

"Someone else, then!" Keiya continued to plead anxiously. "Someone else can take care of it, it doesn't matter who. Let me give it away!"

"That doesn't solve my problem. This cannot interrupt my plans—three months was quite long enough, I won't have you wasting another nine!"

"Please, I can still fight… You wouldn't notice anything different—"

"Who's the father?" Sai interrupted.

Both sets of eyes snapped over to him, and he sorely locked his with hers. His voice was like venom, and his irises, brimming with darkness.

"Who is he?" he repeated louder, impatiently.

It took her a moment to grasp it, and when she did, she felt the knots in her stomach begin to unravel.

"Y-you don't… know?"

"Enough, Sai!" Maleficent warned hastily.

He started toward her menacingly, eyes narrowed to enraged slits.

"You don't know!" she exclaimed, hugging her arms to herself as he neared her. Relief and regret entered her swirl of emotions; he was never in any danger, and her return was needless, prompted by a trick. She could kill and die out of grief. Her whole life was in shambles, and her child's, in jeopardy, and it was all her doing.

Sai shouted above her, raised a hand to her face.

"What's his name?"

"No!"

"Tell me now!"

"I won't say it!" she shrieked stubbornly, even as his hands crushed her shoulders and shook her to dizziness.

"Be warned, girl, if you don't speak, there are consequences," came Maleficent's voice, still eloquent in her fury despite the turn of the tables.

"It doesn't matter," she argued, throwing Sai away from her when she regained enough strength. "I won't tell you! You can kill me first!"

The witch's lips curled into a small smirk. "And your child?" she reminded her.

A chill rushed up her spine, defeating her, and she dropped her arms heavily into her lap. Lips quivering, she exhaled a shaky breath. Worry had her whole body quaking, rushing, and hurting; she felt tears of helplessness threaten to surface, and she had no energy to withhold them.

Above her, Sai was also shaking—in resentment. He wanted to hurt her, yet he could barely bring himself to. Darkness swept freely through his body, feeding his rage with power, reminding him that everything that should have been his had been stolen by a stranger.

Maleficent conceded, "I suppose it doesn't matter for now; either way, this problem is more pressing, and I want it exterminated immediately. Sai?" Her voice was as fluid as ice.

Keiya's stomach dropped and the world fell on top of her. Through wide eyes she saw Sai steaming and lusting for vengeance, beginning to close in on her.

"N-no, wait—" she breathed tremulously.

He reached for her shoulders, his callous fingertips rough to the touch. She frantically tried to beat his hands away and writhed violently in his grip.

"Get off!"

"Sai, hold her still," Maleficent ordered. Through the corner of her eye, Keiya could see the green magic gathering in her hand. Her body went racked with nausea at the thought.

"Let me go! I'm begging you!"

"Just stop struggling!" he shouted in annoyance. Sai grasped her painfully as he tried to pin her arms down, eliciting gasps of horror, but these meant nothing to him now. He wanted what was his. He wanted to erase everything. Jealously was only the start of it; it was possessiveness, disgust, and bitter sadness. The thoughts of her entangling and entwining with someone else twisted his mind until he could no longer comprehend mercy.

With a grunt of exertion, he caught her arms and held them tightly together.

"We'll have children of our own, Keiya," he comforted dryly, gripping her harder as she struggled against him. Tears rolled down her cheeks uncontrollably, and she thrashed and cried and tried to wriggle away.

"Please, Sai!" she cried, shrinking at the sight of Maleficent's sickly green magic floating in her hand. Her insides lurched and her legs were useless, and there was nothing for her to gamble with, nothing to her advantage, and the guilt, oh, the guilt…

He glared down at her, at the loathsome, unborn remnant of her affair. It taunted and threatened him, and he had to demolish it.

"I can't let you do this," he muttered in revulsion.

Keiya stifled a cry when she saw Maleficent prepare to release her magic. With the last of her strength, she threw her body to the side in an effort to escape.

Then she felt a hard squeeze on the back of her neck, and everything went black.

~…~

Author's Note: I've wanted to write this chapter since before I started this story, so I hope the plot twist is enjoyable. Please note that my views on certain controversial topics are in no way expressed in this story, so no complaints, please.

Okay, if I don't get some more reviews on this chapter, I'm going to be sorely disappointed. DarkFlame Alchemist and caitlinkeitorin are the only two who reviewed last chapter. (Thanks, guys!) It would be great to hear from more people this time! If you're an author, you know you like getting feedback. So please, review?

Thank you for reading and I'll try to update more quickly now that it's summer!