Velvet POV

"Halloween Town will be our next destination, I'm not familiar with this world, so I believe it would be in our best interest to travel together at this time." Seeing as all the others were in agreement, we prepared for the journey ahead. The Nobody that I had sensed in this uncharted world seemed to have a powerful aura about them. Hopefully, we could recruit them to our side, we were going to need whoever was willing to fight.

To be honest, someone who could spar with us, that was actually on a challenging level. The Dusks were alright, but I wouldn't say that they were training material. Sure, if you got surrounded by a couple of hundred or so, but that wasn't anything new to me. No, we required someone who was overpowered, resilient, determined and wasn't afraid to try to kill us. The real deal, cause out there our enemies were many. Just because we were different, but I feared that Xemnas wasn't telling us everything. Regardless, I have no other purpose, though I always chose my destiny. I feel that this is what Laphi would want, instead of squandering my second chance on vengeance.

"Velvet? Are you ready?" Luna was looking rather concerned, that is if you could call it that. "Yeah, let's get going, we have a lot of ground to cover."

"As you wish Master," Mash being the first to disappear, darkness swirling around her seat as she slowly disappeared.

"Don't lag now," Luna flashing me her signature goofy grin as she let the darkness take her, willingly bending to her desire.

"I guess it's time, Xemnas if you can hear me. We'll try not to disappoint, you just wait, next time it will be us saving you." With those words, I let the darkness form around me as my will became the guide to where I wanted to go. A place where frights and pranks were a norm, a land of scares and chills. A truly peculiar world, but I still couldn't quite put my finger on that powerful aura that I had sensed before. It was almost psychotic, but had a motherly side? No, it was more of the affection as if this individual were a spouse maybe? Marriage was really not something that I had seriously thought of in my last life. It's a little too late for that anyway, considering the circumstances.

Finally reaching my destination as I let the darkness release me from its grasp, appearing in what seemed to be the central part of town, I guess? Mash and Luna had already arrived before as they examined every inch of the place. Pumpkins for lights, a Gargoyle fountain spewing some kind of green water, and strange wrought iron fences and gates. Of course, it didn't end there, as there were also tombstones in seemingly random places along with oversized pillars.

"I don't think I've ever seen a world quite like this before, what do you think, Velvet?" Thinking over Luna's question, honestly, it was strange and unnecessary, but I wasn't here to judge the inhabitants. Just to locate the target and convince him or her to join our side.

"They have an interesting way of living, that's for sure, but we should focus on locating the target." Though maybe a little recon couldn't hurt. After all, Xemnas always said that knowledge was power. "Perhaps we could do just a little investigating on the side, just in case."

"You got it, Velvet! Let's go, Mash!" With that, the two of them headed off, with Mash stopping briefly to give a slight bow before rushing off after Luna. Seeing them like that brings back memories, I wonder how the others are doing. I didn't even know how long I had been trapped in that world until Luna and Xemnas came to find me coincidentally. Then again, I wasn't a strong believer in chance happenings, he sought me out. Whatever the reason, I'm here now with a job to do regardless.

While I was lost in thought, the enemy took the liberty of surrounding me, just a couple of dozen Shadow Heartless, no big deal. Their bodies rising from the ground drawing closer to me, with small legs and arms, they didn't pose too much of a threat. However, they could be a problem if left unchecked.

"What a pain, you want a fight? Well, now you got one!" Grabbing the nearest Shadow Heartless by its antennas, I swung it like a weapon, knocking at least a half dozen out. They didn't respond kindly to being used as a rag doll, made evident when reinforcements showed up. I stabbed another through the chest while swinging my leg to slice another one with my hidden blade. A few more rushed me from behind, anticipating their attack with a simple backflip, landing on a nearby pillar.

Seeing as the pillar began to wobble, I got a sudden stroke of genius. Leaping from pillar to pillar as the unsteady rocky formations began to fall over, crushing most of the Shadow creatures in a blast of smoke and debris. The remainder of the creatures tried to flee, but I wasn't going to let them get off that easily. I let the power in my left arm free itself as my hand turned into something truly hideous. A black hand with tinges of red that crept up the now claw-like fingers also becoming significantly larger than my right arm.

"Arrrrggggghhhhhh!" Letting out a scream as I grabbed one Shadow after another, ripping them to pieces. Squashing one underfoot as I sliced another one, both creatures fading into darkness. I didn't stop there as I scooped up another group of the little runts, squeezing them until their bodies were crushed into a fine dark powder. I could feel the daemon part of me start to take over as I kept killing over and over and over. There seemed to be no end in sight as I turned the middle of the town into a massacre.

Then out of nowhere, a few Gargoyle Heartless zoomed in on me from behind. Grabbing one by the face with my clawed hand, squeezing its body while swinging my hand at the other one. The Heartless soon dissolved into nothing, leaving behind a floating heart, "Oops, I guess I was too rough." The other two bolted straight at me as if to avenge their fallen, steeling myself ready to crush both of them. Before I could react, a flash of dark black armor had appeared but only for a second. Once it was gone, the Gargoyle Heartless were stopped in their tracks, confused, I attempted to approach them. Then, their heads shot off disappearing almost immediately, their apparent severed bodies shooting darkness out of the now stumps of heads fading away.

"Are you familiar with this world?" Turning around towards the sound of a female voice muffled by what sounded like a helmet. There, appearing out of the shadows, was a tall slender woman wearing black armor with a unique helm while brandishing a heavy looking battle-ax.

"Not particularly, I'm assuming you're not from around here either?" She definitely felt like the presence that I was looking for. Her skill level was on a different level than the rest of us.

"That would be a fair assumption, all I remember was losing consciousness and then waking up here. But…" But what? Unless she was talking about the lack of emotion, though if I didn't know any better, I would say that she had an unusually calm demeanor. Which is undoubtedly what was bothering me. There was no way that someone of her caliber could pull off something as sadistic as lopping the heads off the Gargoyle like Heartless. I wasn't one to be talking, but even I had retained some humanity. There was certainly something really wrong with this woman, all my senses telling me to run. Run far away and never come back, if she had any empathy towards life before she became a Nobody, there was none left now.

"You feel empty, almost hollow, like you know what to feel, but you can't, no matter how much you try." That's right, just keep her occupied. I never feared anyone or even death, but this woman was a different story. How could so much evil exist in such a person?

"You seem to know an awful lot about this problem that I am having." Crap! Her aura started to intensify to the point where it was beginning to become difficult to even breathe. "Is it because you're the one responsible for this?" Her armor disappearing into a flash of light, being replaced instead with a pure white dress with silky gloves covering her slender hands. A golden spider web necklace that covered her shoulders and chest. Her eyes were golden with vertically slit pupils. Two thick horns protruding crookedly from her head and black angel-like wings that were attached to her waist. I was seriously screwed right now unless I could somehow convince this chick that I wasn't the cause of her problem.

"I know because I'm the same as you, no heart, no way to feel true emotion." Her gaze was intense, as if she were looking straight into my soul. Then, as if she found a reason to trust me, the demon woman simply nodded her head. Taking that as the okay to explain everything to her and hope she found it satisfiable. "Chances are, you probably lost your heart to darkness, but seeing as you have a strong will and desire, a shell was left behind. Which is what you and I are. A shallow husk of what it was like to feel true emotion" She just took it all in, as if she was weighing what I was saying against her own better judgment. Whatever she came up with, hopefully, it was enough. I fear that if she decided to kill me, it would be no contest. Well, I got what I wanted, a ridiculously overpowered Nobody in every way imaginable.

"That sounds logical, in fact, it sounds similar to what I've already experienced. I know now that you're not an enemy, after all, my lord in the last life would not approve of hastily made decisions on emotions." That irony, though, like we ever had to worry about that. Though every so often I wondered.

"I would say I'm glad to hear you say that, but the feeling would be empty." Breathing a sigh of relief, I somehow managed to talk myself out of a fight for once.

The woman chuckled while introducing herself as Albedo, explaining that in her past life she was known as a Floor Guardian. Also supervising the other Guardians and a multitude of other tasks that also included administrative duties. "You could say that I was the Lord's right hand, though I'm not much of one if I let a little darkness corrupt me." Albedo also went on to explain the purpose of the Guardian's existence, but after an invasion plan was botched, that was when the Heartless showed up.

"That would explain how you lost your heart, they have somehow managed to invade a lot of our worlds according to our leader. Well, I like to think he's still our leader, out there somewhere waiting to be found." Albedo walked towards me and wrapped her slender arms around me, pulling me close.

"I guess this means we need to work together if we want to find our missing Lords." Pulling away just enough to offer me a sympathetic smile. Even though I wanted to believe we couldn't feel emotion, I always believed that there was still a bit left inside our empty shells.

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