Note from forevermagik13: Character development all around! Rarmaster is looking to develop 23, so I pounced on that. Plus, I figured I'd follow up on that Assassin bit. And 6 just started developing himself. I'm responsible for the 23 and 19 scene, the Joseph and 6 scene, and the 19 and Alpha scene. Rarmaster took the 6, Namine and Joseph in Twilight Town scene.

aquabutterfly, Can't Escape runs parallel to both All the Pieces as well as the FtP/Nothing's Fair/Dead Inside. All the Pieces is my other fic, the other three belong to rarmaster. The majority of Can't Escape takes place in rarmaster's universe, with the exception of the Twilight Town chapters where Joseph ran into my Sora, Kairi, Riku and Axel. There really wasn't any significance of Joseph meeting them, we just thought it'd be fun to write. Granted, he did provide food for thought for both my Namine and my Riku. He *may* run into them again, but such a scene has not been written yet. Other crossover scenes where rarmaster's Riku/Namine/Joseph/etc meeting up with my Sora/Kairi/Riku/Axel/Namine/Roxas/Xion/etc will take place. However, there will not be a showdown between Sora's Shadow and my charries. Though he may want to, it won't happen. If it did, it would be a throwaway scene. Did I answer all of your questions? If not, I can try again :)

This particular chapter takes place AROUND what rarmaster is currently posting. Probably a bit after, given the fact that there is a second infiltration of tWtNW mentioned. As for how this is running alongside my universe... oh gosh. It's hard to say... probably a bit before though. Granted, my universe runs several times faster, so it's hard to say, really.

Note from rarmaster: I hate Sora's Shadow. Period.

"Shouldn't we di—" 23 cut himself off short. Disable wasn't a word that you could really say aloud anymore.

"Shouldn't we do something about 6?" he asked 19.

19 was currently trying to copy down a few pages of research. 6 had gotten a hold of them and had scribbled all over them with Joseph's blue crayon. It was hard to tell who was more upset: 19 because of his research, or Joseph because of his blue crayon.

"Do what, exactly?" 19 asked.

"Rewrite him?" 23 asked, exasperatedly. "He's becoming a liability! He can't fight, he doesn't do research, he doesn't have any particular function whatsoever, all he does is cause people grief. I mean, he leaves Riku alone—but Riku hardly hears anything anymore if it doesn't have to do with Namine."

"Riku did just fine on the last infiltration, if it wasn't for the fact that 37 happened to be on the other side of the door that we were trying to get through, we might have actually succeeded, Alpha was so sure…"

"How did you get out of that, anyway?" 23 asked, temporarily distracted.

"Axel. He was talking with 37. He caught a glimpse of us and sent a couple of Assassins to warn us. And by warn, I mean attack. But, hey, he tried…"

"Wouldn't someone suspect…?"

"Oh, I'm sure 37 suspects a lot of things, but he's smart enough to not say anything until he has proof. The last thing he needs is getting in trouble with Saix, or getting Saix in trouble with Xemnas. They need proof that we were there just as much as they need proof that Namine is here."

"Well, anyway, about 6…" 23 said, returning to the original subject. "Can't we…"

"If we Disable him, we're no better than Saix," 19 said curtly.

"Saix… disposes of Replicas when they annoy him. 6…"

"Is only slightly insane. We've been dealing with him for all this time, I don't see why it's only become an issue now…"

"But…"

"Look," 19 said, cutting him off. "We don't have the power to Disable anyone anyway, so it doesn't matter. And the type of rewriting that 6 would require to be… not so high-maintenance isn't possible without shutting off all the major functions first. Besides, he has personality, even if he is insane…"

"Master Vexen should have…"

"Master Vexen should have done a lot of things, but he didn't get the chance. And now, before you start blaming Riku for this mess, I'm leaving. Come find me when you have something worthwhile to talk about. I'm going to go discuss with Alpha when we're raiding next. And if he doesn't know, then I'll go ask Lexaeus."

xx

Joseph was sitting calmly on a couch, trying to find a replacement crayon for the one that 6 used up. He kept handing 6 the ones he explicitly didn't like. He didn't want to, but 29 told him to be nice to 6. 6 kept complaining about a 'dark Sora' and how he was evil and nasty and told him bad things. No one was really paying attention to him though. But 29 and 2 kept telling everyone to just be kind and patient with 6 until he got over the latest randomness.

"He said that he would do terrible things… he would hurt people… he caused a meltdown…"

Joseph, who was the only one listening, looked over at 6 with a raised eyebrow. He felt very much like Riku as he did so.

"He caused a memory meltdown?" he asked.

6 nodded.

Joseph snorted. "Better not tell Riku, or you'll send him on a wild goose chase."

"Riku can't see him like I can…"

"Like I said, wild goose chase, here, want this one? It's more green than blue."

"Ooh! Pretty!"

"I heard my name?" Riku asked, coming in. Namine followed right behind him.

"Yup," Joseph said. "6 was just ranting and raving, I wouldn't worry about it."

"Right," Riku said, sitting down on the couch opposite of them. Namine sat right beside him. Joseph wanted to smack his forehead, but he didn't want to be obvious.

"Didn't 29 tell you to be nice to 6?" Namine asked.

"I am!" Joseph said defensively. "Look, I gave him like, ten crayons!"

Namine laughed.

The sound of corridors appearing caused everyone to jump up.

"You have GOT to be kidding me!" Riku shouted.

Namine sighed. She opened a corridor of her own and stepped through it.

"Come on, 6," Joseph said. "You can't stay here and fight…"

"But I want to!"

"No, come on, let's go get ice-cream…"

"Ooh! I like ice-cream!"

"Yeah," Joseph said. "Let's go do that."

Joseph formed a dark corridor of his own.

29 caught the boy's eye.

"Thank you for watching out for 6," he said.

Joseph shrugged. "Someone's got to. Besides, you don't want me here."

He wanted to say something about Namine, and how they'd promised to hang out and get ice-cream at times like this, but he figured Riku would kill him if he was the reason why 37 found out that Namine was in Castle Oblivion.

So, with that, Joseph corridored to Namine's room to invite her along to get ice-cream with him and 6.

xx

19 didn't have to go very far to find Alpha. Alpha was only a couple of hallways away, seemingly arguing with an Assassin.

"Why is there an Assassin here?" 19 asked.

"I don't know, but it's not letting me past," Alpha replied with a frown.

"Should we call Axel?"

Alpha snorted. "Like he'd come if we could. He probably… oh…"

"What?"

"Axel said he was training a couple of Assassins to warn us of a raid…"

"You think that's what this guy is trying to do?" 19 asked, resisting the urge to write that tidbit of information down.

"Yeah, I think that's exactly…"

"You have GOT to be kidding me…"

They could hear Riku yell that from the floor below.

"We need a warning bell," Alpha muttered.

He turned around and caught 19's eye. Then they both disappeared through dark corridors to go fend off 37 and whatever replicas he brought with him.

xx

Joseph sighed, feeling around in his pocket. Namine turned to him, confused, though her mouth was too full of ice cream to ask what was wrong.

"I'm almost out of WINNER sticks…" Joseph said after a moment, his voice quiet. He stood there for a second, not saying anything more.

Namine quickly swallowed her ice cream, shocked by this statement. "What!" she asked.

"Well, I never actually managed to get all of them out of the Organization's headquarters," Joseph explained. "Me and 29 left too soon. I didn't have time to get all of them, cause I have a lot… and the ones I did manage to bring are almost all gone…"

"I thought you got a new one every time you got ice cream…" Namine said slowly.

"Well, that doesn't help when I'm only going once or twice a week and I'm buying for more than one person," Joseph replied, an edge in his voice. He sighed. "Sorry…" he muttered. "I didn't mean it like that."

Namine shook her head. "No problem," she assured him.

"I need to tag along next time they infiltrate the Organization's headquarters," Joseph concluded. "Then, as long as no one's moved my stash, I'll be-" He stopped walking suddenly, glancing around. "Where's 6?" he asked, voice frantic.

Namine swallowed, glancing around to find him, too. She spotted him quickly and pointed him out to Joseph. Joseph nodded and ran over to go fetch him. Namine followed at a slower pace.

Joseph stopped suddenly, turning to Namine, looking worried.

"Uh-oh…" Namine whispered, and rushed over.

6 was muttering to himself.

"No, I'm not going to do it," 6 said defiantly, though who he was talking to was a mystery. "You can't make me."

Namine turned to Joseph, eyebrows raised. He shrugged and shook his head, looking completely clueless.

"6," Namine said after a moment. "No one's telling you to do anything…"

6 however, decided to cover his ears with his hands at this moment (dropping his ice cream) and probably didn't hear her. "No!" he shouted. "I can't hear you! If I can't hear you, you can't tell me to do it! You can't make me!"

"6!" Namine called, gently trying to get him to pull his hands away from his ears. "Who's telling you to do what?"

"The dark Sora…" 6 muttered, slowly pointing. "He's here…" His voice sounded haunted, scared even.

Namine turned to where he was pointing. Nothing was there.

Or, wait, what was-

Namine frowned. For a split second, she had sensed something there. Maybe not seen, exactly… but there was something. She was itching for her sketchbook now, so she could quickly draw this and maybe figure out what 6 was talking about.

But it would have to be soon…

6 suddenly flinched, as if in pain. "I'm sorry!" he said frantically. "I didn't mean to- I didn't mean- don't- it's not my fault! She asked me kindly… I wanted to respond- I-"

He stopped quickly, cowering in fear.

Namine turned back to where he had pointed, but still found nothing there. Now the sense that something was there was gone, too. She glanced over at Joseph, and was surprised to find him picking up 6's dropped ice cream and cleaning all the dirty ice cream off of it. He looked up at her, and then shrugged.

6 had had a WINNER stick.

"I never know when I'll find them…" Joseph muttered, sounding apologetic.

Namine shook her head and turned her attention back to 6. "6," she said gently. "It's alright, no one's going to hurt you, okay? You're okay, right?"

"Here!" Joseph said, handing 6 his WINNER stick. "This was yours. You should have it."

6 took it, almost instantly brightening.

"I want another ice cream!" he declared.

Joseph nodded, and pulled another WINNER stick out of his pocket, though he didn't look to happy about it. Namine raised her eyebrows questioningly, but he just shook his head.

"We'll go get another ice cream, then," Joseph told 6, grinning and then heading off back to the ice cream shop.

Namine and 6 quickly followed. By the time they had caught up with Joseph, he had already gotten the ice cream and handed it to 6. 6 took it, looking absolutely thrilled, and started eating it enthusiastically.

"Why didn't you just use the one that-" Namine began to ask Joseph, but Joseph shook his head and smiled.

"6 doesn't really understand that you can trade a WINNER stick for another ice cream," he explained. "To him, they're just exciting little keepsakes. And… I figured… after whatever that was…" he trailed off, and then shrugged.

"Well… that was nice of you," Namine told him.

"It was the least I could do," Joseph said.