Again, sorry about the last chapter. This one is better.

Sora: "Thank God!"

Okay, I get it. Could you just do the disclaimer?

Sora: "DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything other than the plot and O.C.s. The first of which we get to see next chapter!

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Chapter 14: Saving the Committee

Sora, Kairi, and Hayner tore through the Heartless in the tunnel system like a sword through cloth.

They had seperated with Riku's group about ten minutes peviously. Those three had taken the eastern tunnels, which would take them to the Twilight Town square. They would find themselves in the town square, surrounded by a few shops and have the most direct access to the mansion.

Sora's group would come out somewhere near the "Usual Spot". A hidden area in a back alley near the Sandlot where Hayner, Pence and Olette would whittle away the hours. From there it wasn't too far to get to the mansion.

For the last ten minutes, they had been ripping through the Heartless lines, and there were still no injuries apart from a small bruise on Hayner's shin and a little scratch on Sora's left arm.

During a break in the fighting, Sora turned to his two friends.

"How are you liking your first day?" He asked with a grin. It felt great being back in the field.

Kairi smiled. "I'm having fun!" Out of the three of them, she had been the one using the most magic spells. He was pleased, she was becoming quite skilled in magic.

Someday, maybe she'll even beat me...

"Ooh, I want some front row tickets to that fight!" Roxas said.

You'll be fighting Namine at the same time, you know.

"Oh..." Roxas flinched.

Yeah "oh".

Hayner had fought gallently, but it was obvious that he wasn't used to fighting too many opponents at once. The boy was definitely up for it, but he could be seen panting for breath on occasion. "You've been doing this for how long?"

He chuckled. "Me? About a year and a half. You get somewhat used to it after the first month."

Hayner groaned in frustration, while the other two shared a laugh at his expense.

"C'mon you lazy bums!" Kairi said, once again using her favorite nickname for Sora. "The mansion awaits!" She started walking in the general direction they had followed. Sora and Hayner followed dutifully behind her.

Eventually, they arrived at the exit to the tunnels. They cleared out a few Shadows (piece of cake) and stepped out into the sunlight. After the relative darkness of the tunnel system, the light took a while to get used to.

As they had predicted, they were in the back alley by the Sandlot. All they had to do was run a few more yards to the Sandlot, pass through, cut through the square, through the forest, and into the mansion.

Easy right?

Sora thought so. The three of them sprinted down the alley, they cast a glance at the red curtain and iron gate that concealed the "Usual Spot", but didn't stop. They thought it odd that the Heartless had stopped attacking them.

They decended into the Sandlot, and found a much different situation. There were four figures there, surrounded by Heartless. Sora knew them, not very well, but he could feel a surge of frustration in the back of his mind that belonged to Roxas.

The first of them was a young man (though older than them) with a constant scowl on his face and a pale scar on his nose and forehead. He wore a sleeveless, white coat over a blue vest, and a black beanie. In his hand was a weapon that Sora thought vaguely familiar. It appeared to be a dark-colored variant of the Gunblade he had seen Squall wield.

Seifer.

The second was a larger, muscular, dark-skinned man of about the same age. He wore a sleeveless orange shirt and black pants. He didn't really give you the impression of a great thinker, and he wasn't. He was fighting off the Heartless with a large double-headed club-like weapon.

Raijin.

The third was a young woman with silver hair. One of her eyes featured an unnerving red pupil, but the other was covered by her long bangs. She was wearing a blue sleeveless jacket and capri shorts. She wielded a blue and silver chakram, and used it well.

Fujin.

The final fighter was a small boy with a strange appearance. With his black skin and glowing yellow eyes, he could have passed for a Heartless himself (were it not for the clothes). He was wearing a tiny blue trench coat, and a pointy leather hat. He scurried back and forth, casting fairly impressive magic spells. Fireballs, ice shards, and a touch more.

Vivi.

Together, those four taking a stand in the Sandlot were the "Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee". And they were losing.

Seifer was apperently suffering from an injury in his side. He was on one knee, holding the injury with one hand, and firing at Heartless with the other. The others were panting heavily, and were soaked with sweat.

Sora wondered how long they had been fighting. They were all panting from exhaustion, and he was amazed they could even stand. As if to reinforce his point, Rai suddenly dropped his weapon and fell over in exhaustion.

"They need our help!" Kairi said, calling Destiny's Light to her hand.

"Do we have to?" Hayner and Roxas moaned at the same time. Though, of course Sora was the only one who heard the latter.

"Unfortunately, yes." Sora said. He called Oblivion to his hand and raised it into the sky. "Thundaga!"

Bolts of lightning decended from the clear sky and incinerated a quarter of the Heartless menacing the Committee. All eyes turned to the newcomers, and the Heartless changed track immediately, charging at the two Keybearers and their ally.

"Firaga!" Kairi shouted, pointing her blade at the oncoming horde. A large fireball burst from the tip and into the group. Once the smoke cleared, they rushed in with weapons slashing.

Sora sprinted in first, taking the enemies out with furious slashes of his blade. Kairi and Hayner were right behind him. It wasn't long before the Heartless were completely focused on them. Drawn to the Keyblades like moths to a flame. And between Kairi and Sora threre were plenty of those flames, too.

Sora ducked under a strike from a Soldier, and struck it in the stomach. He twisted around on the spot and struck down an Assassin Nobody before it could explode against him. Kairi came up behind him and struck a Berserker in the back the instant before it brought it's claymore crashing down on her boyfriend's head.

A Dusk rushed toward Vivi. He had fallen flat on his back from exhaustion. Before it hit him, Hayner's blade flashed, and caught it in the back before it could take the boy's life. A Shadow charged toward him, but he swung horizontally, and took it out before it had a chance of taking him down.

After several minutes of fighting, they had beaten back all of them with little damage to themselves. The end came when Sora whacked away the final one (a Morning Star) into the side of a building as if it was a baseball just before it landed on top of Seifer.

And just like that, it was done. The Sandlot was enveloped in a peaceful quiet, without a trace of the struggle that had taken place moments before.

Sora turned around to see how Seifer and his gang were faring. All four of them were on the ground panting. Vivi was sitting on the ground, he was probably the least injured of the Disciplinary Committee, which was surprising. He was talking quietly with Hayner thanking him over and over for helping him. Kairi was trying to help Rai up, and he noticed the guy was leaning heavily against him.

"I'm fine... y'know." He muttered, though he was grimacing.

Seifer was still on the ground, clutching his side. Fuu was trying to tend to his wound, but it seemed he was to proud to accept assistance.

"Here, let me see it." Sora offered, walking over to him.

"I'm fine, kid." He snarled.

"No you're not." Sora countered. "Look, it'll take two seconds."

"I said I'm fine –augh!" He said, cut off by a sharp pain froom his wound.

Hayner walked up to Sora's side. "C'mon Sora, let's just get out of here." His hatred of the man was bubbling back up to the surface. But Sora would have none of it.

He lifted his hand into the air. In a second, it was glowing with swirling green energy. "Cura." The energy flew from his hand in the form of glowing green tendrils. They seperated into groups. Some wrapped around Vivi, Rai, and Fuu. The injuries they had sustained healed, and they stood straighter.

Seifer's injury shone brightly even through his fingers. After a second, he finally stood tall again. He pulled his hand away slowly, and to his astonishment, his wound was healed.

The four newly healed warriors examined themselves, stretched out their muscles, and then looked at the ones who had saved them. Their reaction was mixed.

Vivi rushed forward and hugged Sora's leg. "Thank you!" The boy exclaimed, now holding his leg in a death grip. "Thanks!"

Rai stepped forward and slapped Sora and Hayner on their backs, nearly knocking them over. "Hey, you guys ain't too bad, y'know? I mean, savin' us twice now, y'know?"

"Uh, thanks." Sora said. He saw Kairi trying to conceal a smile.

"Tough." Was all that Fuu said. He hadn't really expected anything more.

Seifer was silent. He looked down at Sora from his vantage point as if sizing him up. Sora looked right back. They just stared each other down for a full minute, before the taller one gave him a barely noticable nod.

He bent down and picked up his fallen Gunblade. He turned as he holstered it and walked off. Over his shoulder he said, "Come on." Fuu and Rai followed after him immediately. Vivi released Sora's leg.

"Thanks again guys! See you around!" He said cheerily. And with that he ran after Seifer.

Sora watched them go. It may have been a trick of the wind, but he thought he heard Seifer mutter, "The strongest guys in Twilight Town."

"Unbelievable." Roxas said incredulously. "You save his life, and the guy barely acknowledges you."

Am I detecting a bit of hostility, Roxas?

"Shut up."

Sora, Kairi, and Hayner stared after them for a while, looking after them. Kairi walked up to Sora and pecked him on the cheek. He gazed at her and lifted a hand to where her lips had touched. "What was that for?"

"It was good of you to heal them. I'm proud of you." She said with a smile.

"Maybe there's hope for you yet!" Hayner added, chuckling.

"Har har." He said. He leaned over and briefly kissed Kairi. "Now shouldn't we be getting to the mansion?"

They nodded, and he led them to the town square. The coast was clear from where they stood, but they could hear sounds of fighting in the opposite direction.

"Sounds like Riku, Pence, and Donald have arrived." Sora commented. Sure enough, he heard the familiar sound of crackling electricity; likely from one of Donald's lightning attacks. "Think we should lend them a hand?" he asked.

That was when they heard Riku's crazy laughter floating back to them, causing Sora and Kairi to laugh. "Nah," Kairi said, "Why spoil their fun?"

"Have I mentioned that you people freak me out?" Hayner said.

"You've implied it." Sora responded, "Now let's go!"

They cleared off a small group of Heartless as they made their way over to a large crack in the wall to the north. They proceeded through, and found themselves in a forest. Just enough sunlight made it through the canopy to make it quite a pretty scene. They walked through a bit farther, taking out a six Dusks and eight Shadows.

It didn't take them very long, and they found a small pathway that led west out of the forest. They took it without question.

And before them was the mansion they had been looking for. It was an impressive two story building, with bricks the color of the sunset. It's three towers stretched into the sky. It's beautiful stain-glass windows glittered in the permanent twilight. They gazed up at it, wondering if they would find a certain Nobody inside.

They didn't notice the figure cloaked in shadow, watching them from one of the highest windows.

--

Cliffhanger, sort of. Review please!

Elevategirl: I already have parts (not chapters) like that planned out already.

Shinku Ryuuga: Uh... Don't know where that came from. But I don't think Hayner would do that. But thank you about the fight scenes. And I'd rather not say what 'carnal' means, just look it up.

Heaven-Monument: Awww... Shyucks. Who knew that Minnie could kick some Heartless tail? I could have just stood back and let her do the work!