Alright, so this is 1 out of the 4 chapters that will be posted consecutively. Hopefully I can do this without tiring myself out, since it's been a while—although short—since I've had to write.

By the way, I'm sick. Annnd, I've noticed that when I'm sick I do a lot of mistakes In terms of spelling and grammar. I struggle so baaad. DX ugggh.

Enjoy.

Chapter Nine
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Old enemies?

It was rather hard trying to fight off the nobodies while protecting the gate, but if he could protect Marie while fighting how hard can an inanimate object be to protect?

Of course, he had to take in the fact that Marie knew how to fight. The gate couldn't move, so the nobodies could obviously attack it. Sora growled, feeling irritated about these new monsters. He was more concerned for Marie, since he knew she didn't have her powers anymore. He was still determined to make up for what he did back at Neverland, and he couldn't wait to see Marie when she would forgive him.

He attacked another nobody, making it fall over. Although he wasn't as concentrated on them, he was still kicking their butts pretty hard. He peered over his shoulder, and noticed Leon fighting off some of the lesser nobodies. Looking at him—as well as Aerith, Yuffie and Cid—reminded Sora about how Hollow Bastion was another place Marie could call home. It made him wonder on how she stood on it. Would she go back with him to the islands, or would she actually stay in Hollow Bastion? He wanted her to go back with him, and that was the honest truth.

He was allowed to be selfish every now and then, right? If so, then he would happily call himself that if Marie was brought back to the islands with him. Sora looked at the other nobodies surrounding him, and attacked them all while casting his fire spell he received from Merlin. Of course, before any of that could happen, he needed to fight the nobodies blocking his path.

As he fought off the nobodies, he wondered how Marie, Donald and Goofy were doing fighting the rest of the nobodies.

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Marie

It was weird.

I couldn't move, and as I watched this girl's back I slowly started falling down to the floor. My back scrapped against the brick wall, but I couldn't feel it as my mind was on one thing.

That Keyblade.

Why did she have a Keyblade? What force was there for her to even have one? Did it choose her as it's wielder? There were so many questions, but I couldn't even open my mouth and ask who she was.

"So, you live..."

I heard the guy talk, defending his stance in front of the girl. I couldn't even look at her face, since she was wearing a hood, but I had a very familiar feeling about her. As I watched the guy jump back, the girl merely walked towards him. I could tell she was griping the Keyblade since her palms were getting red, and all I could was just... stare.

"You should have known better than to leave."

Leave? Did this girl know this guy? Well, I would assume so. It's not common at all to just stop a battle and take out your weapon at a random guy who probably didn't do anything. But I didn't know their history, so maybe she had a fight to finish. In any case, as I watched, I saw the girl run quickly towards the man.

He blocked her attack but from what I could tell, it looked as if she snapped her fingers, which oddly sent him flying backwards. He landed nicely enough, and he growled at her. I still couldn't see her face, but she ran towards the man again. This time, however, he created a black portal. He walked backwards toward it, and she followed closely behind.

And in the blink of the an eye, the battle was already over. I had to blink my eyes a couple of times to actually settle in the fact that there had been a fight going on. I got up slowly, and hissed lightly at the slight pain I was getting from my back. I didn't realize it til after, but the scraping I had done against the wall left a red mark on my upper right shoulder. I shrugged, and healed myself. There, good as new. As I patted off the excess dirt from my shirt and shorts, I saw Donald and Goofy running towards me.

"Marie, are you okay?" asked Goofy. I nodded, and looked at them.

"Those nobodies sure are a pain," I said, rubbing my nose. "who knew we had to split up just to fight the low levelled ones."

Goofy and Donald suggested going back to Sora, and I agreed. I almost forgot about Sora, but then again, he's acting weird. So not thinking about him was probably a good thing. Well, as we walked towards where Sora and Leon were, we were stopped by those very two guys.

"Sora!" shouted Donald, looking quite happy and relieved. Sora smiled brightly, and he waved at us. Leon merely crossed his arms, and gave the usual grunt of satisfaction. As I was about to say something, I heard someone speak.

"The Keyblade...A truly marvellous weapon."

Sora immediately took out his Keyblade, and he ran a little ahead of us. We were all on our guards, and Sora looked around. I was prepared to take out my Keyblade, but yet again, we heard the same voice.

"Were it only in more...capable hands..."

Sora growled, and I could tell he was getting irritated. But as I heard a bunch of people laugh, I gasped, and looked around. Sora had the same idea as he shouted at them. "Show yourselves!"

as soon as he said that, a man in a black cloak appeared. It wasn't the same guy I was about to fight a while ago, since his frame looked bigger. But the fact that there was more of them definitely irked me a lot. As this guy raised his hands in the air, more and more people in black cloaks appeared. It was then that I saw the guy I was about to fight, or more like the guy that was fighting that girl. I placed a hand on my chest, and wondered if that girl was alright... I hope so, since I don't want anyone to get hurt on my account.

"Organization XIII!" shouted Goofy as he pointed at them. Sora looked behind him and to us. Goofy and Donald gave him a nod of reassurance, most likely to confirm that they were ready to fight them. As he looked at me, I looked down at the floor. Once I looked up, I noticed Sora raised his eyebrow. I smiled weakly, and nodded with uncertainly. I dunno why, but I was feeling really inferior.

Sora raised his Keyblade, and shouted at how we were ready to fight them. I looked up at them, and the guy in the middle mocked us by saying he was hoping to be friends. I looked away from them, thinking back on what the guy said. Instead, we ask you to join us.

The lot laughed, and one by one they disappeared. Donald grew angry, and ran to try and reach them. Sora and Goofy followed, and I did as well—although slowly. When I heard Donald quack, I watched as a guy in the same black cloak appear in front of him. Donald looked back to where they were before, and then back to the man as he shouted. "What's the big idea!"

"Oopsy-daisy!" Oopsy-daisy? What was this guy? Three years old? Although, I don't know why his voice sounded so familiar. Sora violently swung his arm across, and told the guy to move. The guy, on the other hand, shook his head and slouched his shoulders as he spoke. "Now do you think that's polite, shutting me down like that?"

Sora once again told the guy to move, but the loser just wouldn't listen. "As if! You can talk all you want, but that won't change a thing."

Donald was the one to speak up now, as he told the guy we were going to make him move instead. I sighed mentally to myself, why did I get the feeling of familiarity from this guy? Sora and Goofy took their stance, and Donald looked at the guy with such fierce intensity.

"See, that would work—If I were just any old dude." The man waved his arms around for emphasis, and then pointed at himself after while speaking again. "'Cept I'm not. I'm with the Organization. Nothing "any old" about me."

Sora laughed as he mocked the guy, telling him how he stood on the sidelines while the low levelled nobodies did all the fighting. The man didn't even feel offended, instead, he was just getting cockier. He told us we got the wrong impression, and how he was going to "remind" us how tough these guys are. Both Sora and I tilted our heads in confusion, but Sora seemed way more confused than I.

The man laughed, and then looked at us. "That's right, he used to give me that exact same look."

I raised my eyebrow in confusion, and just stood there awkwardly as Sora growled. He swung his arm around again, and glared at the man. "I guess you think you can psych me out by saying random stuff!"

"Gee...I just don't know." The man, as well as us, just stood here for a while. Sora, Donald and Goofy all had their weapons out, and I was the only one who didn't. Well, the guy didn't, but he doesn't count. I held my hand to my chest, and it was balled up into a fist. Why this familiar feeling? Why with him?

"But I wonder about one thing," he said, looking at us. Sora and Donald growled, while Goofy only stared with his shield covering most of his face. I crossed my left arm, making my hand hold onto to my right arm. I looked at the man, and I felt like his eyes were on me, I felt this intense feeling coming from him. I couldn't help but feel distraught when I heard him speak. "Why didn't you die when the chance was given?"

He didn't point or anything, so we didn't know who he meant that to. But somehow...I felt like he meant it to me. If he did, what did he know about me? Was he hiding something, or worse, did he actually know me? I could feel the breaths of anxiety stirring up in me, and I just wanted to get away. But as I tried controlling my breathing, I noticed it slowly going away.

The man said something—I don't know what—and then left in the same black portal as the other guy did. I sighed heavily, and decided to get what he said out of my mind. I looked over to Sora, Donald and Goofy, who were all scratching their heads. Sora was weirded out by what the guy said, which of course, made sense. "who gave him the same look?"

"I think he was just tryin' to confuse ya," assured Goofy. Sora looked at him, and smiled brightly.

"Yeah, you're right!" he cheerfully replied. "Only one me!"

Leon walked towards us, having watched all of what happened, as Sora took out his membership card. He read the imprint, and as soon as he finished, the card began to glow. We all gasped in surprise as the card floated above us; it felt almost familiar. When it got higher, Sora's Keyblade started to glow as well. Leon asked what was going on, and I could also feel Goofy and Donald's eyes on me—probably because they were wondering why my Keyblade wasn't lighting up.

I wondered that, too.

As the light on Sora's Keyblade got brighter, he used both his hands to hold it up. A light appeared underneath his feet, and it was the shape of a crown. A whirlwind of light appeared around him, and a ray of light appeared from his card. It pointed out into the sky, and suddenly a keyhole appeared! I stood in understanding at what it meant. This was probably what Yen Sid was talking about—unlocking paths to new worlds, this was it.

"Ohh... now I get it," said Sora, realizing the same thing I was thinking. "The gates Yen sid was talking about..."

Sora immediately turned to Leon, and told him we had to run. New worlds were calling us, and to be honest...I'm really looking forward to it. Leon gave us a short goodbye, and told us to be careful about Organization XIII. Of course, they're the enemy... but, why do I feel so differently about it all?

Well...I guess I'll have to look into it later.

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Aura

Aura bent down slightly to catch her breath. Apparently, Xaldin had gotten away. She growled lightly at the thought, and couldn't believe that he had gotten a lot stronger than before.

They're probably scared about Sora being awake, or that Marie is on the loose. Of course, she didn't know for sure. Kingdom Hearts was a power to be reckoned with, and they knew that. They knew Marie would try to hunt them down sooner or later, but Aura couldn't see it. She could only picture the girl crying asking why they were even fighting, which was why it was her job to make sure that didn't happen.

As she caught her breath, she was able to hear the noise of a portal appearing. She braced herself for another fight, hoping this time she could actually hit someone. But as she turned around, her eyes turned wider than saucers as she was staring at the person she expected least. "Axel..."

There in front of the youth, stood a very solemn Axel. He was not smirking, or showing any signs of life. She looked away, unable to meet eyes with him. It was clear to her that something was wrong with Axel, but she didn't want to show that she was concerned. As much as it pained her, she had to treat Axel like the enemy.

"What are you doing here?" she said in a cold and uncaring voice. He blinked, and didn't respond. What the hell? She was starting to get annoyed, just what was Axel thinking about? She shook her head, and decided not to stay. She turned around, and waved her hand and told him she was leaving.

But before Aura could move, Axel was suddenly in front of her, and pinned her down to the ground. She grunted in pain, and tried to get away from his grasp. She had her eyes closed, and couldn't bear to look at him. She was scared that if she did...she would cry.

"I'm sorry," was all he could say, and it was barely a whisper. Aura gasped lightly, and looked at the ground beside her. Twilight Town was suppose to hold happy memories, not those of pain and hatred. She tried pushing him off, but the guy's weight was twice as heavy as her's. Without even thinking, she turned and looked at him. All she saw in return...were dead eyes.

"If I can't bring you back, I have to kill you," he said, a tiny bit louder than before. It was starting to make sense why he was acting so differently; he didn't want to do either of those. She stared into his eyes, and tried to find something—anything to see if he was still alive on the inside. She didn't want to let her guard down, but this man was Axel. This man was someone she trusted and loved with her life.

"Axel, please," she said, with obvious desperation in her voice. Her voice was low, and barely shaky. She had to keep her composure, even to her most trusted and loyal friend. "I can't die. I've done something that I need to fix."

Axel tilted his head a bit. He looked at her, as if to keep going on. She gave out a breathless sigh, and continued. "Marie doesn't know that she loves Sora. I need to fix this, so Sora doesn't fall into depression or something. Please.. let me go."

Axel only stared at her. She was pinned down to the ground, with the red-head on top of her. She stopped looking at him because it was too unbearable, why was this happening to her? Why was her friend doing this to her?

Before she could do anything else, Axel had gotten off of her. She gasped, and quickly jumped away from him. She took out her Keyblade, and this time her guard was fully up. He just stood there, unable to do anything. He didn't want to be the one to bring her back. He didn't want to be the one to kill her if he couldn't bring her back.

Instead, he wanted to be the one she smiled at. He wanted to be the one she could tell her problems too. But that was impossible, since they were now enemies. Axel grabbed his head, and Aura took notice. She was about to approach him, but then he suddenly gave out a loud yell. She stood there staring at his obviously hurting friend, and didn't know what to do.

Axel bent down on one knee, and started breathing heavily. He got up after a long while, and Aura only stared. He looked up at her, and she saw something different in his eyes. A sign of plea, perhaps?

"Go.." was all he could whisper. Aura took a hard, long look at him, and then left. She disappeared into her portal, and didn't look back at all. Axel slouched, and sighed. He hated this. He really did.

"Hmph. I know you're not injured." A man from the shadows appeared. A man Axel knew all too well. A man named Saix. He walked towards Axel, slowly and confidently. He stopped a inch away from him, and gave him a cold look.

"Well, I hope you found out something," he said, glaring at Axel. "If you did, that could spare your life from being turned into a dusk."

Axel looked away, and couldn't look at his once best friend. "She said Marie lost her memories of ever loving Sora, saying if she didn't fix it, he could get depressed or something."

"I see."

Saix began to think. This was perfect. This was the perfect news that he was waiting for. By using this knowledge, Saix could almost guarantee that Sora would fall into his ability to manipulate. All he had to do was play with his feelings for Marie, and that would surely bring down the boy's confidence. Saix chuckled, and walked away from Axel. He went through his portal, and decided on how to take on his plan.

Axel stood there, defenceless and alone. He betrayed his friend, and he didn't feel right about it at all. This was nothing like Castle Oblivion, where he didn't care if he betrayed his team-mates. This was Aura, someone who genuinely cared for him. He dropped his shoulders, and just stared at the floor.

He really wanted his friends back.

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Marie

We boarded the Gummi Ship, and instantly we were able to see the next world. I already set the weapons and defence shields so that Donald and Goofy could use them, and I made sure the ship was okay. It was actually really hard, and I'm not so sure about the checking up part. But if the ship falls apart or something, at least I'll know I did something wrong...ehe.

As Donald and Goofy punched in some buttons, Sora turned his chair around. He smiled at all of us, and I found it weird. So I had to ask. "What are you thinking about?"

"Hmm, nothing." he placed his hands behind his head, and stretched his legs as he was now sitting lazily on his chair. "Actually, I wonder why your Keyblade wasn't working when mine was."

"Yeah, what gives?" intruded Donald. Goofy didn't say anything, as he was trying to figure out which buttons to punch in. I sighed, and looked at the screen in front of me.

"I think it's because of my powers," I said as I crossed my legs. I didn't look at the guys. "Sora doesn't have any powers like I do, so I think he's able to focus more on his keyblade's power."

"So that means you won't unlock gates with me?" I heard him ask. I noticed slight sadness in his tone, but I decided to ignore it.

"It's okay, really." To be honest, I was happy about that. Not because Sora's acting weird, but I felt like it was one less responsibility for me. And lately, my life has revolved around being responsible. I finally looked at Sora and Donald, and smiled at them. "Plus, I can't take all of Sora's spotlight."

Donald and Sora laughed, and I continued to smile. This was nice, you know. Without having Sora to hit on me or anything, I was actually able to hold a normal and fun conversation with him.

"Alright then," Sora said as he turned his chair around. "We're heading out!"

Goofy and Donald had already finished their preparations, and they gave the go to Sora. He nodded back, and started up the ship. He was still getting the hang of it, since he pushed the gas pedal too fast. I know I can trust Sora to protect my back, but I'm not so sure how safe I am while he drives.

Alright, chapter Nine is out! XD hope you guys liked it.

And poor Axel, he's really stuck between a rock and a hard place. I hope Aura can still see the good in him.