The title of this chapter is a little bit misleading, but it works. Here, you'll see a little bit of our new villains... (Evil laughter) Including the guy who tortured Axel, and some old faces...

Sora: "You're kind of creeping me out, man."

Thank you!

Sora: "... DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else. He does, however own most of the characters in this chapter."

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Chapter 25: The Assassin

Far, far away from the Unity, on a small, formerly bright world, a meeting was being held.

The meeting room was fairly large, dominated by a black, circular table in the center of the room. The Brotherhood's symbol was in it's center. On the ceiling was a kind of rock formation made of glowing blue crystals that almost resembled a chandelier. It lit the room and it's occupants with a tiny bit of eerie light.

On the table was a magically projected image of the Door to Darkness. The image shifted to show a realtime image of the Unity, rocketing through space past the speed of light.

Nine figures could be seen in the pale light, standing around the table.

Ruxik was near the front of the room, his arms were crossed over his chest. He glowered at the image of the ship.

Axel's tormentor was named Crucion. His hair was long, and pale blond. It was greased back down his shoulders and down his back. His slightly wrinkled face held a look of indifference. Perhaps he was bored that he had no one to torture.

Another was wearing a hooded crimson robe with a rim of brown fur around the neck and shoulders. His face was a that of a skeleton with a very thin layer of rotting skin, with gleaming red eye sockets. Antlers protruded from the top of the skull and out through the hood.

Another man had long silver hair that went past his waist. He wore black, and one sinister looking black angel wing sprouted from his right shoulder. He wore a jet black coat and metallic shoulder plates. A six-foot long sword was sheathed on his belt.

Farther back in the room, mostly concealed in shadows was a muscular man. He was just under average height, but his build, and feral orange eyes made him quite intimidating. He was clothed in black and grey, and his head was shaved. A wave-bladed, black sword was strapped to his back.

Near him was a four-legged creature. He lay on the ground, one of his sharp claws scratched the ground: a sign of impatiance. His eyes were dull green, surrounded by orange. His leps were pulled back in a snarl, revealing a row of extremely sharp, yellowing teeth.

A woman had her hands braced on the table and was looking at the image of the ship intently. She was the only female in the room. She had a slim figure, and waist-length, bright-red hair. She wore a brown, sleeveless top, and both arms were wound in crimson bandages, only showing her fingers. Her pants were black.

There was also a tall man with a shaved head and a thin beard and moustache. His chest was covered by black chest armor. The sleeve of a dark blue shirt could be seen, but the right arm was bare, displaying an array of strange tatoos that looked like thorns wrapping all around his heavily muscled arm.

The last man in the room had a long, dark brown hair down to his shoulders. He wore an outer robe of beige, and under-robes of black. A thin, pale scar ran from over his right eye all the way down to the lower left side of his chin.

A corridor of darkness opened up next to the only door in the room. Through it came Xaynew, clutching his side in obvious pain. His Heartless floated through after him. The corridor closed behind it. The Nobody staggered over to the table and steadied himself against it.

"You're late." Said the woman.

Xaynew glared at her. He cast his eyes to the far end of the room, as if in fear.

It was completely black, as if the light of the crystal formation was afraid to get too close. Absolutly nothing could be seen there, and it appeared that everybody in the room was keeping their distance.

"You failed to bring me a Keybearer." Came a voice from the darkness. It was as cold as the distances between stars.

"My apologies, my lord." The arrogent, angry Nobody that had left the World That Never Was couldn't been seen now. All that could be seen on his face was barely repressed fear. He reached inside a pouch on his belt, and pulled out what looked like cards.

No, they were cards. Each one was marked by a red Nobody symbol on the back. The fronts were marked two to twelve, but the number eight was missing.

"But I did aquire the Absent Silhouettes, as you requested, Master." His voice was practically quivering with nervousness.

The cards floated from his hands, and hovered toward the spot in the dark. They vanished from sight within the blackness. There was complete silence for several minutes, and Xaynew began to fear for his life (in the Nobody sense). But finally, the voice came again.

"Very well. You have fulfilled your original mission, at least."

Nine of the cards floated from the darkness, and toward the other occupants of the room. They floated in front of each of their recipiants, who took them, and placed them in pockets or pouches of some kind.

The image on the table shifted, and transformed into one of Sora, Kairi, Riku, and King Mickey. The four Keybearers. The voice came again.

"We still need two more of them to reach our goal."

"I tried to get them to surrender." Xaynew said. "I even threatened the Princess in hopes that the boy Sora would come along."

"And how did he react?"

Xaynew smirked. "He looked as if he would like nothing better than to tear me apart."

"Looks like he had a good go at it, too." The woman whispered to silver-haired man. He laughed quietly.

"So the tiny Keybearer is in love." The voice said, stretching out the last word as if it liked the sound of it. "Ruxik, why haven't you told me this?"

Ruxik looked at the dark space. "Master, I only have a limited knowledge of Riku's friends. It is perhaps a side-affect of my birth. But I didn't know the full nature of Sora and Kairi's relationship."

The voice was silent for a moment, before saying, "We may be able to use that relationship to our advantage in the future. But for now, we should focus on our next objective."

The image changed yet again. A large sphere filled with mysterious light, held in place on a light blue pedestal. The Cornerstone of Light.

"If we take the castle then the Keybearers will lose a very important base." The voice continued. "The only thing stopping us is that wretched Cornerstone of Light."

"My lord," The scarred man said, "Allow me to enter the castle and destroy it. It won't take two seconds-"

"No Klaxam." The voice interrupted. "The Cornerstone prevents beings of darkness from entering the castle at all. Not even I can enter, yet."

"Then how do you propose we enter, Master?" Ruxik asked.

"We need another being to enter. One that is not truly dark, but one that will follow our orders, regardless." Two orange eyes flashed briefly from the darkness, and faded again.

The door opened.

A small figure draped in grey robes stepped inside, a hood covered the person's face.

"Your orders," The voice said, "Are to infiltrate Disney Castle. You will destroy this-" The hooded figure looked at the image on the table, "The Cornerstone of Light. That is your primary objective."

The figure nodded slowly.

"When this objective is complete, you will attempt to capture one of the Keybearers." The image changed back into the pictures of Sora, Kairi, Riku, and the King. "We still need two, but you are to capture as many of them as you can. Alive. They are to be considered extremely dangerous. You may kill anyone else that gets in your way."

The figure nodded again.

"You are to leave immediately. Take a Gummi ship, but you are to leave no trace of our position."

"My lord," Xaynew interrupted, "I feel I should inform you that my brother is now traveling with the Keybearers."

The figure turned to regard him.

"He is capable of sensing people from a distance, if he's concentrating." He continued. "If he can feel our... assassin coming..."

"Your brother will be watching for dark beings like us." The voice interrupted. "He won't realize the threat until it is too late. And in any case, this isn't an assassin." The final card floated from the darkness, silently toward the cloaked figure. "Use this, if you must."

The figure took the card and put it into an inside pocket.

"Dismissed."

The figure turned around and exited the room without a sound.

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Bum bum BUUM! Alright! You probably recognized a certain person from past games in the room somewhere. And another one from someplace else... But the rest are all mine! Next chapter: Disney Castle. Review please!

In somewhat related news, as I write this I have FINALLY beaten Sephiroth in KH2!

ConfederateofZ: I'm glad you approve of my sappiness!

JoBrosCupcakeSwirl: More fighting and fluff soon!

Garuto: That little scene was actually based off an experience that I had once! There'll be more Keyblades later, but mostly the guys will be using those that they have now.

SamuraiJedi: Some of those things, I've yet to experience. Sad to say... Anyway, Kairi loves the overprotectiveness. And it gives the guys something else to poke fun at!

Shinku Ryuuga: I probably would play it. But I don't have a Nintendo DS, or acess to ReChain of Memories. And I'm having fun with you-know-who. (wink)

Sailor Winx: Thanks! But, Sora and Riku are known to have been alive already at the time of Birth by Sleep. They're like six years old.

RikuLover211: Welcome back! And thank you!