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A/N: Sorry for the delay, folks! I hit the proverbial writer's block and spent the last week with my co-author, Tsugumi Angelus, trying to get out of the funk. As soon as she gets ungrounded, we're going to set up a Freewebs with the chapters of this fan fiction, official art, an "ask the author", a "Mia's Journal" with additional information about the characters and relationships between characters, and (hopefully eventually maybe) animated episodes. If this happens, I will provide a link to the freewebs. However, I will continue posting my story here for all to read. I hope you enjoy, please drop me a comment or a PM. On another subject, there are a few things left hanging that will be cleared up later. Please be patient with me! Despite all appearances, I know what I'm doing!

9/6/09 EPIC UPDATE: Some of you are probably wondering what happened to the freewebs... It's still coming, apparently, Tsugumi's just taking her time! Hopefully this update and the newest chapter will keep you appeased for a little bit. Anyhoo, not many changes in this chapter either. Just a couple tweaks in wording.

Chapter 6: First Blood

The meeting place of Organization XIII was completely white, making the black cloaks of the members themselves stand out all the more. Thirteen black figures were usually seated on thirteen snow white chairs, set into the white walls. Only two of the chairs were empty today. One of the seats was meant to be empty. The usual occupant was guarding something very important. The occupant of the other was standing in the center of the ring. He was the only one with his hood off. He was also the shortest.

“You failed.”

Roxas crossed his arms, forcing himself to look humbled. “Yeah, I… er… offer… penance? Is that the word?” He looked over at a hooded figure over his shoulder, who made a ‘go on’ sort of motion with its hand.

“Penance?!” the figure two seats to Roxas’ boss’ right shouted. “You should lay down your life! You lost the girl, and now those fools have her.”

“Should I forgive you?” the leader of Organization XIII asked. His voice was not loud or angry. It never was. That usually was the scariest thing about him.

“Wasting time with her was… rash… and if I were to do it all over again—” Roxas couldn’t continue posturing anymore. He burst out laughing. “Ah, who am I kidding? I would do it exactly the same way. Okay, but seriously—I have a great reason for you not to kill me: I know where they are.”

Dead silence. Exactly the effect Roxas wanted. He’d kept that trump card up his sleeve for weeks just for a moment like this. He continued. “I can give you the exact coordinates. I can also give you everyone’s name, cell phone number, and probably even hazard a guess at their inside leg measurements. Just give me another chance. That’s all I’m asking here. One more chance.”

A little more silence. Roxas could feel a sneer creeping across his boss’ face. He hated it when his boss sneered. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand up even more than usual.

“I think we can let Roxas off. Just this once.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mia stuck close to Leon as they plowed through a horde of Heartless outside of the castle’s innermost gates. He looked just like a movie star, wielding one of the coolest swords she had ever seen. If a handgun and a sword mated somehow and had a baby, it would look like Leon’s sword.

Its handle looked like a handgun’s, complete with a trigger, but then morphed into a blade where the barrel would have been. It could slash like a sword, but when he pointed and pulled the trigger…

There was a bang and the Heartless directly in front of them exploded in purple smoke with a pathetic squeak.

Mia looked at Leon with an admiring glint in her eye. “You have got to be the single coolest person I have met in my life.”

Leon flushed a bit and muttered something Mia didn’t catch because she was busy using Pearl on a Heartless that got too close for comfort. He put a hand on her shoulder. “You stay close to me.” He turned back to Yuffie and Tifa, who were right behind them. “You two are in a group. Tifa, send out a broadcast on all channels; tell Cid and Aerith that they’re together. Anyone else who’s here who can help, get them in this party.”

Tifa pulled a short-wave radio from her overskirt. “I’ll let the Gullwings know then. And yes, I’ll tell them to stay out of your sight. I know they give you the creeps.”

“What about Vincent?” Mia shouted as she sliced through an offending Heartless. “Aren’t you going to partner him up with anybody?”

“Vincent can handle himself,” said Leon. “Besides, he works better alone. Come on, we’re heading to the bailey! I need to check on the Hollow Bastion.”

They took off through a Heartless swarm.

“What’s the Hollow Bastion?” Mia demanded, cutting off the head of one.

“For a long time, this world was taken over by Heartless,” Leon shouted over the din of battle. “They took over this castle here, then built another one right across the gorge we call the Great Maw. When this world was overcome by darkness, we called it Hollow Bastion, but we’ve changed it back to Radiant Gardens since then. But we still call the dark castle across the way Hollow Bastion.”

“Haven’t you tried to knock it down?” She sliced a Heartless in half and blocked another one trying to maul her.

“We’ve suggested it, but nobody’s gone for it. They seem to think the place is cursed… Go figure.” He shot down five Heartless all in a row with a single shot.

Mia shrugged. “Well, that’s people for you.” She looked up at the giant wall that was the bailey. “I gotta say, this place is impressive.”

“Thanks. Yuffie, Aerith, and I helped build most of this. The castle is all mostly restored from the Heartless takeover. We ran the Restoration Committee last year.” He walked up to a large gate in the wall and over to a large pad imbedded in the wall. “Only five people can open this gate.”

She looked around. “Where’d all the Heartless go?”

“Town’s automatic defense system, probably. See those turrets on the wall? Rigged to shoot down any Heartless that show up. Cutting edge tech… Don’t ask me to explain it, please. Cid is probably the only one who understands himself when he’s talking technology.”

Leon pressed his hand to the pad and the gate opened with a creak. He muttered something about somebody needing to oil it and set off through the castle wall. Mia trotted along behind him.

The first thing she saw was a giant, dark castle towering ominously on the horizon. The second thing was the possibly hundreds of Heartless in the gorge underneath them, surrounding a figure in red cloak.

“It’s Vincent!” Mia shouted. “We have to help him!”

She dashed to the edge of the cliff a little too fast and teetered on the edge with a scream. Leon grabbed her shoulder and firmly pulled her back. “Don’t worry. I said before… Vincent can take care of himself.”

Mia looked down, watching nervously as Vincent shot down Heartless after Heartless. There were way too many, she instinctively knew. He’d be overwhelmed soon. She looked to Leon pleadingly. He shook his head and pointed down, indicating that she should keep watching.

Things were proceeding at a dizzying speed. Heartless were disappearing, more were reappearing. And then suddenly one of the humanoid ones jumped at him and landed on his back. His knees buckled and he vanished beneath a swarm of Heartless.

Mia’s legs began running all on their own. She broke free of Leon’s grip on her shoulder and, ignoring his cry of warning, jumped off the cliff. She was falling just long enough to fully think “I’m a freaking idiot” before hitting the ground on her hands and knees. She was a little winded, but stupidity was still at the steering wheel of her body. She charged at the heap of Heartless and slashed diagonally at it. Those that weren’t dead made themselves scarce, leaving Vincent to regain his composure and stand.

“You okay?” she asked him.

“No. I’m mortally wounded.”

“Where?”

“My pride.”

Mia made a face. “Sure. Next time, I’ll let you die.”

Vincent tried to look contemptuous and thankful at the same time. He failed, only managing to look irritated. “Thanks, I guess.” He rubbed blood from a cut on his forehead.

Mia lifted her hand and held it over the cut. There was a pause, then both the cut and her hand glowed green before the cut closed. Vincent looked even more peeved. “Where did you learn that?”

“Yuko. She didn’t actually tell me how it worked though. I just see it like that in the movies all the time.”

“I see.” He looked around. “Well, this is a happy development.”

Mia imitated Vincent’s movement and saw that while they had been recovering, they had been surrounded by more Heartless than they could count without freezing time for a good long while. “Now what?” she squeaked.

Vincent flipped his gun open and swore. “Damn. Almost out of ammo.”

“Got a plan?” she asked.

“Sure,” he answered.

“What’s that?”

“Let’s throw rocks at them.”

His sarcasm was not lost on her. “Don’t make jokes like that!”

“Alright then. Here’s my real plan. Let me take care of them.”

“How are you going to do that? You just said you’re out of bull—” Mia didn’t have time to finish her sentence.

Vincent let out an animalistic growl. His back hunched forward and he spread his feet apart. The Heartless approached without caution.

There was a roar and a flash of purple and red light. Mia wisely hit the deck and covered the back of her head, snapping her eyes tight shut as unpleasant ripping sounds came from all around her.

And then it stopped. She sat up nervously. Everything was exactly the same as before, except for the absence of all Heartless and Vincent on his knees right behind her, looking exhausted.

Mia sat up and crawled over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. Vincent looked down at her, panting heavily. A ghost of a smile passed across his lips and he stood, a little shaky, but unharmed. Mia’s face lightened, and she rose as well. They looked up at the cliff where Leon still stood, waving.

Vincent raised a hand at Leon in return and glanced back at Mia. He opened his mouth to say something, second-guessed himself, then finally managed to mutter, “You’ve got a long way to go, but you’re not as hopeless as I thought you were.”

“I hope you’re willing to stake your life on those words.” The voice came from all around them. It was deep and chocolaty, but it gave her goosebumps. She grabbed Vincent’s arm.

Vincent went tense, and she didn’t think it was because of how clingy she was being. “You,” he growled at the air. “I remember you. What are you doing here?”

“Ah, you must forgive me. You may remember me, but I’m afraid I haven’t seen you before that I can recall…”

“Show yourself!” Vincent roared.

Mia’s attention was attracted to the cliff opposite to the one Leon had been standing on. Twelve figures appeared, all cloaked in black, all standing in a line.

“Organization XIII,” Vincent growled. “How did you find this place?!”

There was a silence. Obviously they were keeping mum about their sources. Mia stared at the figures, imposing against the midday sky, and gripped Vincent’s arm tighter. He pulled his arm free and then whipped his cloak around her, holding her tightly to his body and half-hiding her with the torn red fabric.

The protective gesture was not lost on the figures. A couple snickered and she could practically feel the center figure sneer at them. “So, that must be the newest Keyblade Master.”

“She’s cute,” said one to the center figure’s left. His voice was course. Sounded kind of like a smoker. “Probably not much else to her, though.”

A couple nearly doubled over with laughter. Mia found herself searching for a word dirty enough to convey all the rage and frustration she felt but was usually too nice to express. She tried to break away from Vincent and charge at them. His grip was too strong, however.

The center figure stood back and snapped his fingers. “Ah… Vincent Valentine! Now I remember you. You were the failure.”

“Shut up,” Vincent growled.

“You were the one that—”

“SHUT UP!!!” He drew out his gun and fired a single shot.

The man disappeared in a burst of darkness. The other eleven followed suit, their spectral laughter still hanging in the air.

Mia looked at him without a word. She didn’t think saying anything was wise at the moment. She just wrapped her arms around his stomach. He looked down at her and, sighing, patted her shoulder, arm still around her.

“Looks like… looks like it’s over,” Vincent said, obviously trying to regain his calm. “Let’s get back, tell Leon what’s happened.” Slowly, he released her and headed off along the cliff.