"The world is too cruel for you to be so kind." ~Anonymous
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After a couple more weeks, Xion and I became friends. Well, to the point where we can talk and not feel awkward about it. Also, as a bonus, she no longer locked herself up in her room anymore. She's also gotten used to and is now fine with me sneaking up and taking photos of her. I've started a mini collection inside a folder and named it "Xion". It's really small, as I only have ten pictures of her. I don't do this to be creepy, though. I'm not building a shrine of Xion and furnishing it with her pictures. It's just something I'd like to do to her and she's fine with it. I guess it's just a little quirk of our small friendship.
As Xion and I were walking through town. I suddenly yelled, "Smile!"
Xion turned the a small grin and I yelled, "Ah-ha! I didn't have my camera on me, so I didn't take your picture! Now you're smiling for no reason!"
Xion froze and realized I tricked her before sighing and shaking her head, still smiling. "You got me," She said.
As we continued walking, I said to Xion, "You know, if we do somehow get caught by the Organization XIII, don't hesitate and throw me under the bus, okay? Tell them I kidnapped you and took you prisoner and keep you locked up, and you don't know where. I'll take full responsibility, okay?"
"Really?" Xion asked. "Thank you."
As we walked some more, Xion spoke up as well, "You know, I have this favorite place I love to go sometimes when I have time to spare before I meet up with my friends. There's this world that's just a beach. I go there and just sit by the shoreline and close my eyes, listening to the ocean waves. If I find a shell I pick it up and take it home with me. I don't know why, but I feel like I'm at home whenever I'm there."
"That place sounds wonderful," I smiled. "Hey, how about tomorrow, you take me there and we can spend the day there! We don't always have to stop by Twilight Town al the time, you know."
"Sure thing," Xion nodded.
"Xion? Sakura?" A voice yelled at us.
We jumped, both knowing that we've been caught. We slowly turned around to see Riku, pulling his hood down to get a better look at us and running up to us. 'What are you two doing here?!" He demanded. "I thought I told you two to stay at the mansion where it's safe!"
"Sorry, Riku," I immediately jumped in, taking the blame. "It was my idea. I took Xion out with me because I was getting tired and bored staying inside the mansion all the time."
"Well, I rather you'd be bored than unsafe," Riku sighed as he pulled his hood up. "Put your hood up, Xion. We can't have you getting spotted. I opened a Corridor of Darkness nearby, so let's go and take you back there. I'm not going to chew you out on it, but if we come back and DiZ is there, you two are on your own."
"I will take the blame," I offered myself as sacrifice.
"We'll see what DiZ thinks," Riku shook his head that was concealed by the hood as we headed down the blocks of Twilight Town.
When we passed an alleyway, we heard a voice yelled, "Who's there?"
I jumped at hearing the voice, knowing that they were addressing us. I slowly turned to see Axel standing with a blonde boy in the alleyway. "X-Xion?" The blonde boy stammered once more.
We were done for. Caught by the Organization, there's nothing else we could do but run. I grabbed Xion's hand and Riku and I sprinted away from the alley. Looks like we're going to have to ditch going through that Corridor of Darkness he had summoned. "After him!" I heard the blonde boy shout and I turned my head around to see him and Axel gaining in on us. "That guy's definitely done something to Xion!"
As we headed to the tunnels that lead us unto the train station, I heard Axel shout, "He's headed for the underground routes!"
"I said stop!" The blonde boy shouted once more. Just as we were about to enter them, something flew in front of us. As the wind of whatever was thrown at us still blew at our faces, I turned my head to see a blue lance stuck in the wall, a crack forming on the wall from impact as it stuck onto the wall.
"What...?" Axel and the blonde boy stammered. As Riku and I continued to stare at the lance, it detached itself from the wall and my eyes followed nit as it returned to its owner. It was a man with black dreadlocks with sideburns running up his cheeks and stopping an inch underneath his eyes. "So you're the imposter...you'd better be well prepared!" He grinned at us.
"Xaldin?!" The blonde boy sputtered. Riku then grabbed my arm and in a Riku-Xion-Sakura chain he made us jumped as we narrowly dodged arrow-like bullets that were shot where our feet were just were.
"Freeze!" The gunslinger revealed himself to be a eye patched man with a scar on his right cheek. He had black hair with white highlights slicked back and tied into a tight ponytail. He held the arrowguns in his hands, still smoking from him firing them at us.
"Xigbar!" The blonde boy shouted.
Two more Corridors of Darkness opened behind us and we turned to see a man with blonde hair and goatee shuffling a deck of cards as well as a teen with a dirty-blonde bullet with a blue sitar. "Luxord! Even Demyx, too?!" The blonde boy cried.
How did they find us so quickly? Did they already detect Xion and I as we were frolicking in Twilight own these past few days and decided today to jump us? Or when they noticed Axel and the blonde boy here on a mission they decided to follow, since it was obvious that those two had relations with Xion and it could possibly lead them to us? Or was it some big coincidence? "What a rare card to be played...to face off against the combined forces of Organization XIII!" Luxord smirked as he split his deck into two and spread them in his hands, turning them into fans. "The epic miraculous six-man mission!"
"How did you all..." Axel started.
"Everyone was in the castle since today we had a day off..." Xaldin explained.
"Then we got news of the imposter being here, so we all came together!" Xigbar finished as the six of them took a step closer, closing off any available exits for us. Axel and the blonde boy were in the outer ring and Axel had his chakrams out and the blonde boy had summoned a Keyblade, preparing to jump us if one of us happened to escape. Wait, if the blonde boy could use the Keyblade as well...then he must be Roxas, whomst Riku mentioned a while back.
"They are all heavily outnumbered, there's no chance they'll get away!" Demyx stated.
He was right. It was six against three, and only two of us could use the Keyblade for fighting. "Why don't you give all give up like the good punks you all are, huh?' Xigbar taunted.
Riku lifted his Keyblade into the air and shot out a gust of wind. Xion and I were sent flying outside the encirclement of Organization members. "Go!" He ordered. "I'll distract these guys!"
'I thought I told you to freeze!" Xigbar shouted as he aimed his arrowguns at Riku.
Xion and I took off and Roxas and Axel followed as they were outside the circle and could take us on. As Xion and I sprinted into the alleyway Roxas and Axel quickly closed in on us. I knew they were waiting for a dead end to trap us and take us with them back to their base of operations. Xion suddenly turned around and lobbed a fireball at the two boys chasing us not to attack them, but to cause the tunnel to become smoky so we can throw them off. As they coughed, Xion and I bolted, adrenaline pumping through us as we ran further down into the tunnel. A Corridor of Darkness appeared in front of us and Xion and I right towards it...
Only for me to be yanked backwards by my hair. I was about to cry out but the man had covered my mouth so I couldn't scream and I watched as Xion ran into the portal without me, probably so busy running she didn't notice that i had left her side. The portal was still open and I knew I had to enter it soon before Riku closed it and trapped me in the tunnel. I looked backwards to see who grabbed me, thinking it was Axel or Roxas but instead, I saw a man with long blue hair, yellow eyes, and an X shaped scar in the middle of his forehead appeared. He was taking me to a Corridor of Darkness he summoned behind us.
Seeing my small window of opportunity, I drew my dagger and stabbed the guy in the thigh with it. He roared and pain and released me and he hobbled around with his injured leg. I made a run for the Corridor of Darkness in front of me only to have something strike my right ankle, causing me to scream and fall over, bringing my leg up to my chest and clutching it. I didn't want to look at the injury as it would make it hurt even more than it did.
The blue-haired man was on one of his knees, keeping the injured one up as he yanked the dagger out before storing it away in his coat and using his claymore as crutch to prop himself back up on his feet. The claymore had a smooth, white handle with a gray spike set in its pommel. The guard is a pale yellow semi-circle with four small notches in its outer edge. The lower part of the main blade is thick and has concave sides, each side being lined by three small notches. The blade is pale blue and has blue-gray edges. The lower half of the blade is decorated by two small, light blue diamonds. The tip of the Lunatic is a blue ring with dark-blue edges and lined by seven spikes. The tip is connected to the main blade by a pale yellow symbol resembling a logo of some sort.
He limped up to me and grabbed me by the leg and began dragging me with him towards the Corridor of Darkness he summoned. I couldn't do anything as I let him drag me as I still clutched my leg and whimpered in pain, fading in and out of consciousness.
*~*~*~*~*~
"The first one...who ran...was Xion...right?" I heard Roxas pant as I stood around the corner, my nonexistent heart pumping loud and fast as I tried to slow my breathing so he and Axel wouldn't hear me. They were so close to finding me yet had no idea I was near them.
"At least we know she's safe and unharmed," Axel sighed. "She'll come back on her own..."
"How long is 'soon'..." Roxas asked. "Why'd you have to run away...Xion?" I heard the sound of a Corridor of Darkness being summoned and it closing within a few seconds.
Riku appeared behind me, took off the hood, and asked, "You want to go back?"
I slowly nodded yes. "All right, I'll get you there tomorrow," He said. He froze, looking around. "Where's Saki?" He hurriedly asked.
"She was right behind--" I looked behind Riku and I didn't see her. "Where did she go?" I blinked.
"Xion, was anyone chasing you while I was fending off those guys?" Riku asked hurriedly, looking panicked.
"I-I don't know..." I stammered. "There was Roxas and Axel, but I threw them off-course with a Fire spell."
"Those six guys got distracted when one of them accidentally shot a friendly fire to another and soon they were just fighting amongst each other.." Riku muttered as he placed a hand underneath his chin and thought of all the things that could've happened to her.
"...Riku?" I began. "There's a few more members in our Organization than the ones you fought and got chased by. There's Saïx and our leader, Xemnas." It dawned on me what likely happened. "Y-You don't think..."
"I think what you are thinking what happened, happened," Riku said grimly as he summoned a Corridor of Darkness behind us and we went through it.
*~*~*~*~*~
I awoke on a bed, remembering what had just happened to me I sat up immediately on my bed. I glanced around my prison. It was a rectangular-shaped room that had purple walls and floor. There was a small vanity with a brush sitting on the table. Through the mirror, I saw prison bars and jumping off the bed, I bounded to them only for a sharp pain spreading through my ankle and I cried, falling on my face. As I lifted my head slowly, I limped to the bars and tried to squeeze between the space between the bars but all I could get through the space were my arms and a bit of my shoulder. Peeking between the prison bars, I could see that the door was passcode locked.
"If you're going to try to squeeze through the bars, forget it," A voice laughed as I turned to Axel going through the prison door. Seeing the door open, I limp-ran to the open door but Axel stuck his leg out in front of me and pushed me back with it. "Nope."
He knocked me back onto the floor and I fell on my bottom. I got back up and limped over to my bed where Axel was. "Why are you limping?" He raised his brow and glanced down at my leg. "Of course, Saïx leaves the job half-done when dealing with situations like this," Axel muttered as he bent down to my injured ankle. I could see that it was swollen and bruised. Axel waved his hand over it and a lotus flower with green sparkles appeared over it and the swelling and bruise disappeared from my ankle.
"...thanks," I coldly responded. As he sat back down on my bed and handed me the plate he had. There was rice, vegetables, and meat on it. I poked at the rice and scooped it up and put it in my mouth. As I took another forkful of food, I noticed Axel staring at me from the corner of his eye. "Stop staring at me while I eat!" I shouted with a blush.
"Fine," Axel laughed casually at me. "I have orders to make sure you eat your meals."
"...you're here for another reason, aren't you?" I stated bluntly.
"Well, you could put it that way..." Axel put his cheek in his hand and propped his elbow on his thigh as he closed his eyes and smiled innocently at me. "Can you tell me your base of operations?"
"...knew it," I rolled my eyes as Axel chuckled.
"So...?" He urged.
"Not happening," I snapped. "Not when I know you're going to do once I tell you the information."
"We're not going to annihilate everyone there," Axel tried to assure me.
"You're going to kill everyone but spare but capture the ones who have thing you have to gain but dispose of them when you're done?" I demanded.
"...why are you like this?' Axel asked.
"Like what?!" I glared.
"You're acting so cold to me," Axel pointed out.
"Well, you lied to me, so of course I'm going to distrust you!" I cried, throwing my arms in the air.
"Look," Axel justified. "I was a double-agent. I did what I had to do. But I really valued our friendship."
"Yeah, you were a double-agent, I understand that..." I whispered harshly, a tear slipping down my cheek as I was losing it. "But as a double-agent, you knew what Marluxia's intentions were! You knew that he was secretly planning! You knew what he was going to do to me! But you stood there, yakking my ear off in Castle Oblivion, letting this happen to me! You could've warn me, as a friend or a good person!"
I sat there, I pouting and crossing my arms, looking away and squeezing my eyes shut to avoid breaking down in front of Axel."Sakura...?" I heard Axel quietly ask me and I felt my hand on my shoulder.
"Leave," I quietly growled, opening my eyes but not looking at him.
After a bit, I heard Axel sigh and felt him off the bed and leave. As he left my prison, I watched Axel through the reflection of my vanity enter the passcode to my door and opening it before closing it behind him.