Finally back! So, this chapter we're going to get more answers! And . . . you might have some questions at the end, but you'll mostly get answers to stuff! I originally wanted to make it longer/include certain events, but I decided to push it to the next chapter to let some of the information here sink in.

So, here we go! Thanks for all the reviews/critiques guys. It's because of you that I continue writing. If you have any questions about anything just shout it out (in the comments XD 'Cause if you did it out loud that would be kind of weird). it helps more than you know.

Justice T.

"The world is full of nasty surprises."

~Vanitas (age Unknown)

. . .

What You Do in the Dark

. . .

~Reawakened~

Perhaps I should be grateful. Cases of amnesia are not uncommon. Yet, the sympathy for the condition is lacking I think.

Either people are hearing about it too often or too many people are being caught in a ruse. Either way, most gave me this weary look when I tried to tell them that I'd lost most of my memories. It's very frustrating, but the person I was really angry with was myself.

I don't even fully understand my condition. Perhaps amnesia is the wrong word. The only thing I can do is try to explain it as clearly as I can. I have nothing to lose, or rather I've lost enough to grow a thick skin about losing what most consider to be important.

As I said earlier, I've lost seven years. The strange thing is that that's actually normal for a Cambion.

Cambions are mixed, the offspring of an Incubus and a mortal woman. When the child is born they have no pulse and remain in slumber for seven years. Their magic grows as they age, rising with the strength in their bones and inactive heart. When they finally open their eyes for the first time, their latent magic isn't available until they receive the proper amount of training to call on it.

Not that it takes that much time. The years lost are made up in intelligence and advanced social development. Some people say Cambions are aware of everything even while they're sleeping, as if the world was one womb and their magic the sac of nutrients. The normal recovery time is six months, a year at the latest, and then you have a normal, overpowered teen at your disposal (as Axel would say).

If only it were the same for me. I lost time, but the way it happened, the way I've had to recover . . . Well, let's just say it made my "first" day back at school very interesting.

I reawakened in my sleep, within dreams with a puzzle in front of me. I could see random flashes, images, blurring scenes of different moments in time. I would slowly start to recognize the person in my memories, but before I could form a name for the person they would slip away.

A constant cycle of replacement and confusion. It was quickly becoming overwhelming, so I held on to the things that stood out the clearest. His face, his blank face, showed up before me and I ran towards him, desperate to hold onto this one memory.

It was Roxas. I smiled widely and opened my arms to hug him. This was the boy who had accompanied my dreams. This was the boy who I would eventually protect. This-

Was not the boy I remembered. I lowered my arms, narrowing my eyes as he walked toward me. He was taller, lanky and wiry, with purple skin marring his eyelids. The eyes, the blue dull color I remembered, were filled with tension and dread. His mouth was pressed in a firm line. He stopped a foot in front of me, avoiding my eyes.

The air felt cold all of a sudden. I swallowed, trying to smile. "Hello, Roxas."

He blinked once, still not looking at me. "You need to run," he said, voice grave.

I ignored the warning in his tone. He had just expressed the most emotion I'd ever seen from him. He just seemed . . . really sad. "Roxas, I can help you."

I walked closer to him, about to embrace him again when his palm stopped me. He had it pressed against my chest, right over my heart, and I remembered the hospital. The pain. Sora's fingers. I shuddered, barely aware as Roxas leaned in, whispering into my ear. "I told you to run."

His hands curled around my shoulder and waist. I gasped as I felt his teeth against my neck. He bit me a few times, and I was too shocked to protest as his hands traveled underneath my shirt. When I finally mustered enough sense to say something, he lifted his head, immediately trapping my mouth with a searing kiss.

I've never had a dream like this, I thought. I wanted to shake my head. I wanted to ask him what was going on. Why had he aged? And why was he touching me? But my body had a different response.

It felt natural, almost expected, for me to kiss him back as hard as I could. I felt the force of his tongue, felt the strength as he literally forced my mouth open. Stars shot underneath my eyelids, leaving me disoriented as he explored my mouth. I had forgotten about his hands, the only thing I could feel was his mouth and the apt pressure in my stomach. Something inside me exploded, sending this warm feeling that spread from my stomach into my hands and legs.

I didn't want it to stop. My memories didn't matter. My confusion didn't matter. Even Roxas didn't matter. All I knew at that moment was that I hadn't experienced anything close to what Roxas was doing in a long time.

And the one thing that stuck with me as I felt his breath rush past my lips was . . . I missed this.

And then, with that thought ringing through my head, I woke up.

I shot up, my back muscles taut, as if I had been thrown against a spring-board. My breathing was ragged, unsteady, barely making up for the machine gun-like pounding in my chest. I was close to hyperventilating when I started laughing. Before panic could fully set in I closed my mouth, breathing in deeply through my nose. A strange sound filtered out from the back of my throat and it took me a while to realize that I was humming.

My voice had changed. I lifted a hand to my neck, trying to rub away whatever was irritating it. But this only brought attention to my fingers, which looked thicker and longer compared to my former, childish digits.

I turned away from my hands, staring at my legs. They, too, were longer. Had I become a giant overnight? My thoughts twisted back and forth as I got up and walked over to my mirror . . . or, at least, I tried to do that. Instead, I fell flat on my face, kissing the floor headfirst.

Now I was fully awake, and I knew something was wrong. Something was very wrong. I scrambled back into a standing position, wobbling over to my desk through the tides of my embarrassment. The heat in my cheeks gave my skin an eerie, red color, as if I had a rash across the sides of my cheeks. I could only swallow, staring at the face of a solemn girl with pale, defined features barely visible under the mop of platinum hair.

Hideous, I thought, frowning. I look like some kind of bitter witch. "How old am I?" I muttered, turning away from the mirror and messing with the rest of my stuff. As I searched through my drawers, I strained to remember what had happened the night before . . . and countless nights before that. The beginning was clear. Dreams, medicine I never wanted to take, trying to be friends with Roxas at school, Roxas is dangerous, hospital visit, and . . . Dad giving me the largest smile I'd ever seen from him.

I smiled at the last memory as I continued searching. I finally found my backpack and dumped out the contents. Pencils, notebooks, paper, and the like fell out, clanking against the ground in domino formations. I picked up what looked like a faded I.D. card, reading the inscription.

Student Number 800924X: Namine Everest

Age: 14

Grade: B-Level, Base in Magic (Varied)

"Base in magic?" I murmured. My hands shook and I closed my eyes as a white flash nearly blinded me. I hid my face, dropping the card.

"Namine? Hey."

I flinch back when his fingers snap in my face. "Where did you go?"

"I'm fine. I'm just a little nervous." My head turns to the side, and I frown. "You don't have to baby me."

"That's pretty much impossible, you know that." I felt his hand messing up my hair into an unattractive spiral of curls. "Come on, let me see it."

I shake my head quickly. "No."

"Awww, come on, don't be like that. Don't tell me you don't like taking pictures all of a sudden."

"No, Dad. This one is hideous, seriously."

"With genetics like this?" I couldn't help but smile when he gives me a cheeky grin. "Relax, you got the best."

"You're only saying that because you have to."

"No, I mean it." He sighs, turning away from me. "At least don't grip it like that. You're going to break it."

"I feel safer this way. You know we can barely do anything else without it. I can't even buy anything from the snack machines without showing this card."

Sora whistles, turning a sharp corner and nearly sending me out the windshield. "Man, time flies. Security was never that good when I went there."

I frown. "You were only there for two years, right? This is my third year and I'm barely making it through the beginner phase."

"Hey, you're just a late bloomer. Once your magic manifests you'll speed through everything. Alright? Trust me on that." His smile wasn't as wide now, but the emotional impact kept rising as tears form in his eyes. "I'm proud . . . Kairi is proud . . . you're doing great, trust."

Oh no. "Dad . . . that's not fair. You don't get to cry." Ugh, my defense isn't that high yet. He could actually make me cry, too.

We jerk to a halt in front of the school and he gives me a quick kiss on the forehead. "Love you, cutie."

"I'm not cute, Dad."

He chuckles. "Remember what I always tell you."

I sigh, nodding once. "The nail that stands out gets hammered in," I repeat, shrugging.

"That's right. Stay hammered in." His eyes darken considerably and he speaks in a serious tone. "There's no point in standing out if it means your head gets chopped off, right?"

Sheesh, what a morbid example. "Got it."

"Good . . . say hello to Roxas for me." He winks once, giving me his trademark grin, but the mischievous glint in his eyes ruins the act. "Tell him I enjoyed our little chat."

I gasp in mortification as he drives away. Good god . . . what did he tell him? I shake my head, placing my I.D. back in my pocket and letting it slip from my tense, shaking fingers.

The vision broke apart quickly, leaving me with numb, shaking fingers. I flexed them, trying to get the feeling back as I work out the kinks in my shoulders from keeping them upright for too long. Then my eyes shifted back to the card. That memory . . . did I get it because I touched the card?

"Namine!"

My door bulged outward with the force of his knocking. I jumped to my feet, opening the door with unstable, rocky arm movements. Dad stood in the doorway, fist hovering in the mid-knock position. His eyes narrowed, looking me up and down. "Why aren't you dressed?"

"Uhhh, I . . . I overslept," I spat out, which was the partial truth.

He raised an eyebrow before crossing his arms. "As powerful as you are, even you need rest. You're only making it harder for you to control yourself."

Without hesitation, my mouth moved, forming words outside what my stumped brain could process. "I can control myself just fine, Dad. Take your own advice for once." I then slammed the door in his face, locking it.

I breathed in deeply through my nose, covering my lips as my eyes widened. I hadn't meant to say that. It was like a part of me was two steps ahead while everything else was stuck in a fog. Muscle memory, I thought before sitting back at my bed, going through the rest of the things in my backpack.

1) An all access school I.D. card.

2) Feeling of boredom and dread from a seemingly normal conversation with Sora.

3) A strained yet powerful connection with Roxas.

These starting points would expand, collide with each other, and over the course of the year I would slowly fill in the gaps with every detail missing from the blurry generalizations in my head. There was only one problem. The latent power within me had just been given a nudge . . . and a nudge would be all it took to send me headfirst into the memories of people I never wanted to see.