Captain Faris and her crew had commandeered yet another tavern where they kicked out all of the patrons and forced the barkeeps to serve them an endless supply of food and alcohol, lest they be killed on the spot. And while the staff might have been terrified out of their minds, the pirates were having a grand old time laughing and drinking together.

"Yo ho, yo ho! A pirate's life for me! We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot! Drink up me 'earties yo ho!" Captain Faris raised her glass into the air. "Aaaand I forgot the rest of the song *hic* just sing the rest fer me boys!"

It was all rowdy fun for Captain Faris and her crew, except for her first mate Dito, who she delegated all of her busy work to. When Dito finally arrived at the tavern, he was carrying a stack full of posters that he dumped on the bar counter.

"Hey, I think we have a problem."

She howled with drunken laughter. "Problem? Nothin' some rum can't fix, amirite boys?"

He rolled his eyes. "No this is a pretty big problem, I found these wanted posters around the city, you're gonna wanna have a look at this." He showed her one of the posters.

Captain Faris was still laughing at first until she closely read the poster, and when she realized what it said, she spit her rum out. "What the fuck is this?!" She snatched the poster out of Dito's hands. "I told those morons at the printing press I wanted the Intoner captured alive!"

"Eh? What's it maddah if duh wench's livin' or not?" One of her underlings slurred out.

She responded by violently slamming his head against the bar counter. "Her being alive is the difference between us being turned into those goddamn heartless or not!" She shoved the poster back at Dito. "Diego-"

"For the last time, it's Dito," He muttered.

"Whatever, just go back to the printing press and tell those bastards that we want the Intoner captured A-L-I-V-E or have them killed."

"Yeah, yeah, you got it, boss."

As Dito was leaving, she spun back around on the stool, then knocked on the counter. "Ugh, this shit's so annoying. Barkeep, gimme another drink."


Centurious the Azure: Pls, I used to be updating every week to every couple of months :,) I try to keep the character alive just long enough to reach their true potential, then kill them right before they reach all of their hopes and dreams.

Anon: There's gonna be more XV locations where that came from. Sarah is a reference to Garnet's real name from ff9. Lol I can't come up with original names so I just take names from the ff series and call it a day. Way to Dawn definitely had more significance in terms of Riku's character development. I still don't understand how a car key is significant to Riku in any way but what do I know. Had to give my boy Mikhail some love last branch 3 Five's feelings over the whole situation have been very conflicted, this chapter sort of broaches the topic a bit more.

Keybladelight: I'll consider making fanart of a few stuff, definitely look into making a station of awakening. Accord will appear in time, I'll update you guys on what she's been up to. I know this comment is like 3 months old but yes! Still really excited for whenever that anime's gonna release so things can start making sense again. I have seen the reincarnation outfit, it's literally my pfp, I'll have to think about making her change outfits, maybe it'll happen sometime in the future.


"Words Left Unsaid Like A Song Without A Melody"

There was a quiet tension that night around the campfire, Riku was understandably pissed off at Zero while Zero was happy to revel in the mess she created. That just left Mikhail, who'd successfully managed not to get a speck of dirt on him on the account that he was asleep the entire time, and Five, who was peacefully reading the Bible to herself. Needless to say, it was going to be a long and awkward night.

"Sooooo you're Five, huh? Zero's youngest sister, right?" Mikhail asked.

"That's correct."

"And you're s'posed to be a 'slut', right?"

"What?! Young man, it's disrespectful to speak to women in that way!"

"Wahh, don't get mad! That's just what Zero called you- not me! I don't even know what it means!"

Five put down her bible and sent Zero daggers in her direction. "That's rather hypocritical to call me a slut, don't you think?!"

"No, it's an apt description."

"Um maybe it was an apt description, but I've turned over a new leaf. I'm a God-fearing Intoner, Zero, with this thing called 'values', not sure if you know what that is."

She rolled her eye. "Oh, shut the fuck up."

"...Uh, anyways, so Five, how did Faris take over the Land of Seas and you end up becoming a nun?" Riku asked.

"Oh...that...uh, that's a bit of a long story I would rather not go into right at this moment. I'm far more interested in this plan you apparently have to save all of the Intoners."

"That depends on if Riku forged the dragonbone keyblade or not," Zero said.

"No, I had to leave to see what was happening at the convent, thanks for not helping by the way."

"Yeah, no matter how many times you bring that up I'm still not gonna care."

"What is a 'dragonbone keyblade' and why do you need it?" Five asked.

"To free the Intoners from the curse of the Flower," Riku said.

"The what now?"

"In each Intoner, there is a fragment of a demonic entity inside them called the 'Flower'—that's the source of an Intoner's power," Zero said.

"Honestly...that makes a lot of sense. I've always had a feeling there was a ravaging, insatiable evil inside of me that wasn't just my sex drive."

"Riiiight, so at first the only way to destroy the Flower was to kill the Intoner, but with the dragonbone keyblade, I have the power to seal the Flower for good. It makes you lose your powers as an Intoner and effectively turns you into an ordinary human. Or as 'ordinary' as Intoners can get," Riku said.

"Oh is that all?"

"Wow, I'm impressed you're actually following along," Zero said.

"I'm not that slow you know! Anyways, I quite like the idea of being a regular person, but I suppose that means I'll lose my immortality, power of song and ... my disciple."

"Well, there's always killing you instead if you don't want to give it up."

"...Which are all things I'm more than happy to lose of course...ha ha! So then, are you also willing to give up being an Intoner, Zero?"

"That's the plan when all of this is over."

"And then?"

"And then what?"

"Surely you have aspirations for when we live in this new world without Intoners."

"Who cares about that."

"Who cares? An unexamined life is not one worth living, darling. There is something...or should I say someone driving you towards an end goal, otherwise you wouldn't be fighting to save the Intoners, am I correct?"

"Oh- oh! I know the answer! After we save everyone, me and Zero are gonna go on this HUGE adventure to eat all the tasty meat in the world!" Mikhail jumped in.

"Hm? And by 'meat' you mean-"

"Chicken! Oh and beef! Maybe some pork too! They're all really yummy!"

Five rubbed her growling stomach. "It sure would be nice to gorge on a ton of meat right about now."

"I'm not as well-versed on the Bible as you clearly are so correct me if I'm wrong, but I swear I read somewhere that excessive eating is a sin? In fact, I- I think it was called 'gluttony'," Zero said with a smirk on her face.

"Kindly jump off the nearest cliff so that you may find salvation, Zero."

"Gosh, that doesn't sound like something a God-fearing Intoner, with 'values' would say."

"-Yeah, it sounds like I should go get dinner started. I'll be back in a few," Riku stood up, then disappeared into the surrounding forest.

Once he was gone, Five decided she would get her revenge for all of Zero's incessant teasing and she knew exactly where to target her. "...You know Zero, that boy you like is rather cute. I can see why you keep him around."

"I don't like him."

"Oh?" Her lips curled into a devilish smile. "In denial tonight, are we?"

"Yeah, you're one to talk. Besides, preachy virgins aren't my type."

"You say that with such scorn mm if I didn't know any better, I'd say this is a case of unrequited love, perhaps even with a hint of rejection? You're really not that hard to read, dear."

Now Zero was pissed. "Keep talking to me and I'll shove my sword down your throat!"

"I'm not into knife play, sorry, but it does seem like I struck a nerve, or would you like to prove otherwise?"

However cunning Five thought she was, Zero could see from a mile away where the conversation was heading and wanted to take no parts in it. So she left, wandering into the forest. The thought of joining Riku while he hunted did cross her mind, but she figured it probably wouldn't go over well with the whole still being pissed off at her thing and she didn't want to risk not having any dinner for the night.

Although Zero was alone, her inner thoughts always kept her company at the worst of times. Sure, she acted like she casually dismissed Five's invasive comments, but in actuality, she couldn't get them out of her head. Usually, whatever came out of her younger sister's mouth went in one ear and out the next, which was the best approach since she considered her intelligence to be the equivalent of a goldfish. But despite being someone who she thought couldn't finish a children's book by herself, Five was somehow able to read her from cover to cover.

To be fair, Five technically was her so maybe that factored in, but that reason alone didn't satisfy her. Because if Five could read the emotions she apparently couldn't keep in check, then could Riku? He was dense but he wasn't stupid, or at least not THAT stupid. Could he tell how she felt about him just by looking at her? She would just have to find out because she incidentally bumped into him in the forest.

"Oh, it's you." The way Riku cut his eyes and his sharp tone told her all that she needed to know without even having to ask. Typically, his attitude would've immediately pissed her off and sparked a full-blown argument, but these days, she was actually starting to find his crankiness sort of . . . what was the word? She couldn't even bring herself to admit it.

"Don't get your panties in a twist, I just happened to run into you," She replied passively. "Did you even catch anything yet?"

Riku showed her the three dead rabbits he was carrying around on a rope.

"Wow, a meal fit for a king. Why not catch something with more meat on its bones? Pretty sure I saw some ducks around here."

"Ah yeah uh about that," Riku rubbed the back of his head. "This is a weird question but have you ever thought about the ethical considerations of eating animals your friends with?"

She blinked, not sure if she heard him correctly, "What?"

"Like...you're friends with a dragon so you wouldn't eat dragon meat, right? Well back at home, I'm friends with a duck so it doesn't feel right to hunt them for the game, even though they have more meat."

Once Riku started droning on and on about the ethics of killing talking animals, Zero knew she was listening to the ramblings of a crazy person, yet she was still weirdly endeared to it and that made her feel sick to the stomach.

"...Sorry," He finally said, picking up on the hard looks Zero was giving him. "I bet you probably think that all sounds stupid."

"Yeah, you sound like a deranged idiot."

"Whatever...you know what's funny?"

"You seriously want me to answer that?"

He shot her a look and she chuckled.

"I'm kidding, go on."

"Back at home I was the serious, level-headed one among all of my friends, but here, either you treat everything I say like it's a joke or you're only half-listening to me. I get that some of the stuff I say may sound a little out there, but it makes it hard to have a genuine conversation with you if I'm being honest."

Zero rolled her eye, then said dismissively, "...You're so goddamn sensitive. Get over yourself." Now she was just being mean, more so than usual, in a petty attempt to mask her own perceived weakness.

Of course from Riku's point of view, she was just plain old mean and he got fed up with her. "Yeah...that's about what I expected from you. You're never gonna change, Zero." Then he left with his dead rabbits in hand, his words hanging over Zero's head like a storm cloud.

'What's gotten into me all of a sudden? This is all Five's fault for putting those stupid fucking ideas in my head, now I can't stop thinking about it.'

No matter how many bridges Zero was gonna end up burning, she was determined to prove her sister wrong because sure, while she thought about him constantly, 99% of those thoughts were either sexual or violent in nature. That remaining 1% was just a bunch of weird, unrelated shit. Like her remembering the rare times he would smile, watching him take care of Mikhail, and imagining a future with him, which she reasoned were all very normal, platonic thoughts to have about a friend.

Call it denial, but she was going to take her feelings to the grave because she knew that Riku would never feel the same way about her. And it sucked, for sure, but what part of her life didn't? The least she could do was make his life a living hell and get a few kicks out of it while she was at it.

The next morning, Zero was woken up by the very unpleasant sound of Five loudly preaching from the Bible. Of course, she also spoke in her trying-way-too-hard-to-sound-sexy voice so it hit the mark about as well as a nun talking about the joys of sex. Grumpy and feeling especially murderous, she responded like any normal person would and threw a dagger at Five's head.

Five, knowing her sister all too well, swayed her head to the side so the dagger would fly into Mikhail's forehead instead.

"OWIE! That hurt Zero!" The dragon cried out.

"Good morning to you too, Zero~" Five cooed, smiling at her sister.

"What the fuck are you doing Five?!"

"I'm just having Bible Study with Mikhail here, he started asking me about it while you were gone then one thing led to another, and I ended up baptizing him in the river."

"Wait you what?!"

"I'm free of all sin so now I'm gonna become a priest Zero!"

"You're free to join us if you'd like, you could certainly use some God in your life."

Zero rolled her back and groaned. "Drop this stupid act already, I think I hated you less when you were just talking about sex 24/7. At least then you weren't fucking indoctrinating my dragon!"

Five closed her Bible. "Oh you're so silly sis, how could I be 'indoctrinating' him if I'm not even a doctor? Hmmmm?"

"That's a really good point, Five! Wait, what's a doctor?" Mikhail asked.

"Ugh, I can't be surrounded by you idiots anymore. Where's Riku so we can get the hell out of here?"

"Riku went to wash up at the river not too long ago. He should be coming back by now.

"Oh, and you didn't jump in to join him? Maybe you have actually changed."

"See? I told you so! Abstinence is my middle name~" And then she coughed up a spat of blood right after she said that. "Um, that's ... normal, right?"

"Don't know, I'm not an 'indoctrinate'," Zero said with a chuckle.

"Ugh, you're no help, as per usual."

"—Hey, I'm ready. Let's get out of here." Riku rejoined them at the campsite, walking past Zero without so much as acknowledging her and heading straight to Five. "Five, you know where 'Crestholm' is, right?"

Five clapped her hands together. "Of course I know Crestholm! I used to go there during the summer before I got brutally attacked! It's a beautiful port city, with tons of taverns, beaches, festiv-"

"We're not going on a vacation. We need to save all the people who were kidnapped from Formouth and taken to Crestholm," Riku said. "And see if we can get any more information on Faris."

"Kidnapped? Wait, I did notice there was a strange lack of young men in the village..."

"Yeah that's because her pirates kidnapped them, I guess so she could put them to work."

"Mm hm, she's definitely putting them to work alright..."

"In like, labor camps or something?"

"Oh, bless your heart, Riku." She hopped on Mikhail's back, then pat the spot behind her where she wanted Riku to sit. "Come on cutie, you'll see when we get there."

"...I don't like where this is heading..."

Riku and Zero boarded Mikhail on opposite sides of Five, then they took off to the city of Crestholm. The tension between Riku and Zero was even more awkward than it was last night, so much so that Five picked up on it and decided she would toy around with them for her own amusement.

"So what is going on between you two?"

"Nothing!" They both said.

"Really? Because I've been sensing some strong romantic and or sexual tension between you guys as of late."

"I'm not into annoying pieces of shit," Zero said sharply.

"And I'm not into miserable jerks! I don't know what your problem is but I'm not putting up with this anymore! As soon as this mission is over you can count me out on ever traveling with you again!"

"Good fucking riddance! Only thing you've said so far that makes sense!"

"What do you mean 'good riddens'?! You were the one begging me to come along and help you!" He clasped his hands together and said in a mocking voice, "'Oh help me save my sisters, Riku! I need your help, I can't do anything on my own~'"

Five snickered to herself. 'How I love stirring the pot and causing drama.' Though her mischievousness ended up backfiring on her when Zero shoved Five out of the way so she could confront Riku. "- Uh hold on, shouldn't you be flying your dragon, Zero?!"

"Not now! Let me teach this asshole a lesson!"

While Riku and Zero were in a full-blown argument with each other, Mikhail was in his own little world, humming a tune to himself. "Dun dun dun Lady Luck- Lady Luck- something something motley crew dun dun!" Despite Five's initial guesstimate on how far Crestholm was, they were approaching the city much sooner than later, and the sky was populated by a fleet of airborne pirate ships which made Mikhail panic. "Um Z- Zero! We got a bunch of trouble!"

"What do you-" Zero let go of Riku, then flew Mikhail down low so they could avoid detection by the armada of pirate ships. "What the hell Five, I thought you said it would take a day's trip to get to Crestholm!"

"That's how long it takes on the ocean, obviously air travel's much faster."

"Really? Then why don't we test that out." Zero shoved Five off of Mikhail with the intention of trying to kill her but that was just wishful thinking since she knew Riku would swoop down and save her from falling to her death. When he inevitably saved her, he wasted no time in bitching at her again.

"I get being a serial killer is your thing Zero, but could you try not to kill anyone for five minutes?!"

When Zero turned back around to start up round 2 of their feud, it proved to be a grave mistake because Mikhail ended up flying out of control, tearing apart his wing on a sharp cliffside and they nosedived at an alarmingly fast rate.

"AHHHHHH! ZERO! DO SOMETHING! I'm too young and GOREG- I mean this is NOT the plan God had in store for me!" Five screamed, clutching onto Zero's back much to her annoyance.

"I'm working on it!"

Verse 9

As the end is nigh, disaster strikes the city streets

What's left in its wake are scattered debris

Left by broken people and dreams

When Zero activated the Intoner song, she shared her power with Mikhail and it sustained him long enough for them to 'safely' crash into a grotto outside Crestholm. "Is...everyone still alive?" She asked, crawling out from the rocky debris.

"Yeah, somehow," Riku said.

"Same here," Five muttered.

"You sure? You got a little something sticking out right there-" Riku vaguely gestured to the giant piece of sharp rock impaling her thigh.

"Oh this?" She pulled out the piece of rock like it was a splinter and blood started gushing out of the gaping hole it left behind.

"Uh Five, maybe you shouldn't have done that!"

"It'll be fine, Intoner powers, remember? What's more concerning is Mikhail." Five and Riku ran over to Mikhail's side as he was wailing on the ground.

"Owie...my wing really really hurts...I'm gonna be okay right?"

"Yeah, it'll heal up in no time," Riku cast Esuna then Curaga on his wing. "That should speed up the healing process."

Five took out her pocket Bible, then placed it near him, "And that should provide you with all your emotional healing! Look to the Lord and his strength, Mikhail."

"...amen..."

Lastly, all Zero could do was gently caress his scales. "I'm sorry, Mikhail...I'm sorry that all of this was Riku's fault!"

"What the- how is it my fault?! You're the one who flies him, it's all your fault for not paying attention!"

"Because you were fucking distracting me!"

Five got in between Riku and Five before things could get ugly. "Ah, ah, ah! Don't start this up again, either you two get a room or start behaving like adults. Mikhail is injured so we have to be strong for him!"

Riku brushed his hand through his hair. "...Yeah, you're right Five. Zero, let's just put aside our differences until we finish our job."

"Whatever," She dismissed. "So what the hell is the plan anyway?"

"Well, Crestholm appears to be a pirate stronghold so I'd say it's time for ~disguises~! Since I was being hunted down for my life, I had to cut and dye my hair to-"

"Not happening," Riku said.

"Cloaks it is then! You have spares, don't you Zero?"

"No, but I know where I can find some."

And by that, she meant she would mug a group of monks in an alleyway for them. "Alright, I don't think there's too much blood on them."

"Okay well we're definitely never letting you get cloaks for us again, but this should be more than enough," Five said.

With their cloaks on, the three of them infiltrated Crestholm, sneaking past the city gate's undetected. From the way Five described it, Riku imagined a picturesque city that belonged right on a postcard, and perhaps from a faraway view the rest of the city reflected that paradise, but from where they were, it was nothing short of a hellscape. Crowded, impoverished, heartless darting in and out of the shadows.

Skeptical of Five's judgment, Riku turned to her and whispered, "This is the place where you used to vacation at?"

"I mean, the area I stayed at was nice, I just...never really ventured outside of it and if I had to, I ignored all the bad parts."

"Oh so basically you lived at a resort while everyone else around you lived like this."

Five looked around, devastated at the number of children starving on the streets and the poor living conditions. "Yes, I knew there was poverty in the world, in fact, I used to send food to poor children in my other sister's countries, but it's different seeing it in person, especially in your own country...I had no idea my people were living like this. This is...horrible, and it's all my fault."

"Yep," Zero said.

"That's it, when I become ruler again, I'm making sure no one in my country ever goes hungry again! This place is getting the makeover of a lifetime!"

"That's the spirit. At least somewhere seedy and rotten like this would be a good place to find information on pirates," Riku said.

"Or Intoners-" Zero ran up to a wall filled with posters, among them was her own. "Wait, something's wrong, it says I'm wanted alive, it didn't use to say that before."

"Well that's a good thing, isn't it?" Five asked.

"Hell no! The only reason someone would want me alive is to torture information out of me, and what would some elf pirate want from me?"

"Who knows, maybe it's to get some dirt on me. I really don't think it's worth mulling over," Five said.

"I don't think so, nothing's ever that cut and dry here. You think Indigo had something to do with this?" Riku asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised. Whatever the case is, we need to find what we're looking for and get out of here."

"While it pains my heart to say this as a pious woman, in order to find those missing men, we should start our search at the male brothels. And I just so happen to know a few in Crestholm for no particular reason."

"Brothel?"

"Let's just say Faris is a...promiscuous woman. When you told me she had her pirates kidnap a bunch of young men, my first thought was that she was using them for her own pleasure."

"And not because you speak from experience?" Zero asked.

"Absolutely not! I outsource my men- I mean, ahem, I used to outsource my men! My days of debauchery are far behind me-" And just like that she went into another coughing fit, hacking up mouthfuls of blood until she was able to regain control of herself.

"You sure you're okay Five?" Riku asked.

"Of course I am," She lied, then she wiped away the blood dribbling down her chin and continued on like nothing happened, "... Like I was saying, not only could we find the Formouth men by looking around in the brothels, but it may also lead us to Faris herself."

"Sounds like a plan. So these 'brothels', what are they exactly?"

Zero rubbed her hands together. "Oh, this is gonna be rich!"

"Wh- What're you talking about?"

"Heh, you'll find out soon enough."

Five led them to 'Careula's', one of the more notorious brothels in Crestholm she used to frequent back in the day.

As they were going inside, Riku figured a brothel would be a pretty shady place with how Five and Zero acted, but he was not prepared to see a bunch of scantily clad, fairly attractive men walking around and seducing the various women and men seen around the venue. Nor was he prepared for the strong smell of stale alcohol and greasy food that made his face scrunch up.

Zero slapped Riku on the back, then grabbed onto his shoulders. "So, what do you think of your first brothel?"

"I...wanna go home..."

"Heh, usually it's a bunch of broads in these types of places, but this is a nice change of pace. I think I'll go investigate some of the men myself~"

"You better not leave me beh- aaaand she's gone. At least I got you Five..." But she too was gone. "...Five?"

Just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, an aristocratic woman approached him. "Well, aren't you handsome? And young too, all these other men are so old and ran through, but you're still so fresh. Tell me, what's your price?"

"..."

While Riku was freaking out, Five was rushing around the brothel like a lunatic, clutching the cross on her necklace and repeating a verse in her head over and over. 'Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.'

One of the prostitutes ended up walking up to Five while she was in a frenzy, concerned about her behavior. "Uh, hey babe, you okay?"

"Back away you hot, sexy man, don't try to seduce me because it'll absolutely work!"

"Uh okay, I won't then."

"Oooh, who am I kidding?!" She suddenly grabbed onto him and started sobbing on his perfectly chiseled shoulder. "I'm sooooo bad at trying to be good! I thought the reason why I was so unhappy was that I wanted sex and food and expensive clothing but-but I'm STILL so unhappy! I'm always hungry! I'm ALWAYS horny! And the only thing I want is to get my (redacted) pounded by a (redacted) until I (redacted) and (redacted)!"

He pat Five on the back. "Um...there, there? Sorry, not really good with these types of things."

"I'm just- I'm just such a bad person and since I'm an Intoner, I'm like, destined to be a bad person! All because I was born with some stupid demon Flower inside me! It's not fair!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Wait...Intoner as in like, our Intoner. Are you...are you Lady Five?!"

She nodded solemnly. "Yeah it's me, my disguise is just really, really, really good. I'm practically a natural!"

"Oh, honey, look at how far you've fallen from grace. You used to be beautiful and have beaming confidence, now not only do you look like a common peasant girl but you're a whole wanted woman skulking around in a brothel."

"It's a long story..."

"Whatever the case may be, you need to pull yourself together."

"I...I wouldn't even know where to start."

"Well for your Intoner problem, you may be in luck. If I recall correctly, you used to have a personal servant always around you, right?"

"Mm hm, my disciple."

"There's a client who frequents here often; small stature, really forgettable face, and believe me, he complains about how much he hated working for you a lot. If I'm not mistaken, I think he's here now."

Her eyes lit up. "Dito's here?! Wait...Dito's HERE?! Ah, never mind that, I should go see him-" She stopped herself. "No, no I- I can't. I didn't come here for that, I have to stay focused!"

He clasped his hands around hers. "Nonsense, Lady Five! To return to your former glory, you're gonna need your disciple by your side! Go talk to him and patch things up, maybe it'll get your mojo back."

"You're right...maybe what's been missing all along is -"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just bring you over to him so I can finally quit this job!"

Five followed the male prostitute towards the back of the brothel where she saw Dito talking and drinking with another prostitute. She was overcome with so much emotion that she could hardly stand on her legs, not just from the shock of seeing him after having spent so long apart, but from being reminded of that night when she was violently forced out of the life she once knew.

Even in the dimly lit brothel, Five could tell how much the degenerative effects of darkness were taking a toll on his body. His hair was pale white, his eyes a sickly yellow color and his presence was cold, snake-like. Though, as much as Five hated to admit it, other than his appearance, all the darkness did was reveal his inner self that she once tried so hard to suppress.

"-Yeah, I basically went from being bossed one around from one slutty woman to another," Dito said.

"Aw, I'm sure that must be hard for you."

He shrugged. "I can't really complain about Faris though. She pretty much lets me do whatever I want after I do all of her chores."

"Oh, does she let you do whoever you want to as well?"

"-Ahem! You're Dito, correct?"

"Yeah, who the hell's asking?"

As hesitant as Five was to approach Dito, her male prostitute friend was more than happy to get them acquainted with each other and pushed her towards him. "You won't believe this, but I'm pretty sure I found the girl you're looking for, this is Lady Five in the flesh!"

Dito took one look at Five and then burst out in laughter. "Did you have too much to drink or something? What about a short brunette with an A-cup at best reminded you of Five? She looks like she should be milking cows right now!"

"But no peasant girl would be delusional enough to call herself Lady Five, this is just... a really good disguise! You don't actually look this haggardly, right?"

"D...Did you say 'A-cup'?" Was all Five could muster.

"Uh yeah, not exactly impressing anyone with that chest, no offense," Dito said.

As if she were acting out a scene from a horror movie, she slowly looked down to see that her most prized possession had been reduced to more than half its size. Her face went even paler than it already was and she started patting her chest, thinking that maybe her eyes were just playing tricks on her, but no, they were in fact gone and she swore she could feel her soul escape from her body.

"..."

"Is she okay? Looks like she just saw someone die," Dito said.

Although Five was having one of the worst experiences of her life, her sister, on the other hand, was reveling in all of the depravity. Booze, attractive men by her side, and most importantly, Riku was nowhere in sight to bitch about all of the bad choices she was making. She figured a virgin like him was probably shaking and crying right now at all of the vulgarness so that would give her at least an hour to do what she wanted until he got ahold of himself.

And this was everything she ever could've wanted; alcohol, sex and no Riku. Riku would've judged her anyways if he was here, say she's participating in a corrupt system, call her a bad person then complain that she wasn't listening to him drone on and on about stupid shit. Either way, she was glad Riku wasn't there because Riku would've bothered her and then Riku would've Riku then Riku and Riku and Riku, Riku, Riku- Riku? Wait, what was this paragraph talking about again? Oh right, Riku.

"FUCK!" Zero slammed her glass against the wooden table, she'd just barely gotten started and she could already see Riku walking up to her way sooner than she expected, wearing that disappointed-but-not-surprised look on his face.

"There you are, finally. Look, I found some information on you-know-what and I need to talk to you in private."

"Ooh, is this your man? I thought you said you were single," One of the prostitutes cooed.

"Shut the hell up." Zero left her harem behind to go follow Riku somewhere secluded. "You know, you're really taking the whole being in a brothel thing a lot easier than I thought."

He shuddered. "Don't remind me...Anyways, there's apparently a lot of people, the guys from Formouth included, that are being taken to an old manor at the upper level of the city."

"Yeah, that manor is Faris's hideout. She's only there on the weekends and today just so happens to be a Saturday so we might be in luck."

Riku was genuinely impressed. "You actually got all of that information out of them? I didn't even think you cared about any of this."

She could feel herself getting embarrassed. "Well you care a lot about this so...I don't really have any other choice but to give a shit too. Besides, the sooner we finish this mission, the sooner you're gone."

"You're the one who's hard to deal with..." He said under his breath.

She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Nothing...so you think this whole thing is pretty messed up too, right? I can't believe someone would just take innocent people from their homes and force them to do all these sick things."

"This is just how the world is. If powerful people want sex, they're gonna get it whether the participants are willing or not. At least their families gave enough of a shit to worry about them being gone, a lot of the times they just sell their kids off for some pocket change and call it a day-I...I mean, that's what happened to Faris, anyways."

"Yeah, that's...who we're talking about...Faris. Well, I don't care if this is how the world is, I'm breaking this cycle of abuse. At least once we take her down, there'll be fewer people who end up like her."

"...You would say that. 'Ethical considerations' and all," She said with finger quotes.

"So you do actually listen to me?"

"Maybe. You talk so much it's hard to not pick up a word or two...and maybe I-"

In the middle of their conversation, they heard someone scream of bloody murder, and the only one who could scream like that while also sounding somewhat turned on at the same time was Five. They quickly located her by the sound of her shrieking wails and found her sobbing on the ground.

"What's wrong?!" Riku asked.

"M-m-m-m-y br- br- br-"

"Can you speak full sentences?"

"B- b-b-boobs."

"Boobs?"

"Her chest is a lot smaller than normal," Zero said.

"Wahhhhhh! My - my perfect, gigantic, bouncy, perky boobs are gone...GONE!"

"Hey, at least your body's more proportional now," Riku said, trying and failing to comfort her.

That was it. That was her limit. Five got up and just ran away out of the brothel crying.

Zero punched Riku's shoulder. "Why the hell would you say that?! Now we have to chase her down!"

"What? I thought it was a compliment."

"Then you're terrible at giving compliments!"

Riku and Zero ran out of the brothel to go catch up to Five, but she was long gone.

"Damn it, where do you think Five is now?" Zero asked.

"I don't know, she's your sister! Shouldn't you know these things?"

"I used to when she was just a nymphomaniac, but now she's a fucking Bible-thumping lunatic."

"So should we go to a church?"

"I doubt this place even has one, but it's worth a shot."

"...Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is anyway, so what if her chest is smaller now? That should be the least of her concerns."

"Listen, I didn't tell you this before because it wasn't relevant but I guess it is now. Each of the Intoners experiences growth in a part of their body as a result of the Flower. For Three, her hair grows really long, for Four it's her nails, and Five it's her chest."

"I get it. So for whatever reason, the Flower must be reacting negatively to her."

"Probably because she's been lying to herself every waking moment."

"Then that's something she needs to sort out on her own...So, follow up question, since you're an Intoner too, do you also experience some sort of growth?"

"Yeah, my impatience...and the flower in my eye."

"Did I have any of these side effects while I was an Intoner?"

"I think so."

"Really?"

Zero started smirking, which made him instantly regret asking her. "Who knows, I think that explains why your dick was so-"

"Shut up! Forget I even asked!"

"What? Gotta admit, you totally walked yourself into that one. Oh wait, see now that begs the question about what size it was befor-"

"ZERO! You're the most annoying and obnoxious person I've ever met before!"

"Thanks, I try."

After a while of searching around Crestholm, even at the city's only church, it became apparent that wherever Five was, she was in serious trouble. And with how multiple gangs of pirates were following them around, it looked like they would find out soon enough.

"Oi! Your disguises don't fool us, we know exactly who you lot are and we know exactly what you want," The pirate threw a tied-up Five on the ground in front of them. "But we're a generous crew, aren't we boys?"

"Argh! We sure are 'generous', whatever that word means!"

"Before we shed any unnecessary blood, I call for a parley."

"Sure we can't just let you have her?" Zero asked.

"Mm mmm mmm!" Five vigorously shook her head.

"Yeah, don't listen to her. So what do you guys want for her, money or something?" Riku asked.

The pirate pointed his cutlass at Zero. "We want this lass right here. You see, our captain's been gettin' real antsy lately about capturing her, and we don't want this brunette on our hands any more than you do, so here are our terms: let us take in the flower girl and we'll hand Five back to ya without harmin' a hair on her head."

"And what if we refuse?" Riku asked.

"Well if ye refuse then we'll definitely kill Five and take the flower girl in anyways. So I'd say you stand to gain something if you agree with our terms and conditions, whaddya say, mate?"

Riku summoned his keyblade. "How about these terms and conditions: let Five go, leave Zero and the rest of the people here alone, and maybe I won't hurt you too badly."

"Bwaha ha ha ha! This twink really thinks he can go against-" At the blink of an eye, Riku appeared in front of the pirate, he planted his foot on his stomach, then he flew several feet backward. After that, he cut off the ropes restraining Five.

"Now that we got that out of the way, let's kick some ass."

Riku, a boy who thinks he's so clever,

And Zero, a wretched girl who will soon be his undoing.

Little does he know, that every step forward he takes from here on out…

Will be a step closer to his home, with me.

Flowers for the Dead


A/N: Out of school, so maybe I'll actually update consistently for once who really knows

EDIT: Posted artwork of Five's current look on my Ao3, is still Catch358