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Here you are Aya, as promised.
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“Mom! I’m going out to feed the horses!” Lacey yelled from the front doorway. Her blonde hair fell in her face as she bent to tie her shoes.

“Okay, but don’t be too long! Breakfast will be done in a couple of minutes!” her mother yelled back at her from the bedroom.

Lacey pushed the screen door open. She stepped out into the cool, morning air. She took a deep breath, smelling the aroma of cut grass and dew. She loved the mornings; they were peaceful and quiet.

Unfortunately for her, this morning was going to be a little different.

The loud whinnying of horses could be heard from the barn. Every now and then, a loud was heard. Something was in the barn with the horses!

“Damn, sounds like another critter is loose in the barn. Must be that raccoon again,” Lacey mumbled irritably to herself. She walked back to the house and grabbed the shotgun that was propped up against the wall. When you live on a farm, you learn quickly that its good to have a gun nearby, in case a coyote or raccoon wandered into your barn.

Lacey slowly crept up to the barn door and cocked her gun. She pushed the door open and peeked inside. The horses were still making a fuss, but nothing seemed to be there. She trotted up to one of the horses.

“There there girl, there’s nothing to be scared of. The critter already ran off,” Lacey whispered soothingly to the horse, stroking its long face. Despite her efforts, the horse refused to calm down.

Then, a quiet shuffling noise came from a dark corner of the barn. Lacey looked over, and her eyes grew large when she saw what was lurking in the dark. It reminded her of a large, black ant. Only this “ant” crouched on two legs and had glowing yellow eyes the size of tennis balls. It had sharp claws and antennae that swiveled wildly.

Lacey screamed and fired her gun at the creature. It dodged the bullet by laying flat on the ground. It looked like a long, flat shadow as it skittered toward the barn door. It ducked behind the door and out of sight.

“What the hell was that!?” Lacey thought frantically. She ran to the door and looked for the black creature. She saw it darting off to the woods. Lacey didn’t even bother closing the barn door as she chased down the creature.

It didn’t take too long to get to the woods. It was more like an island of trees surrounded by pasture and corn fields than a forest though. There weren’t many places for something like that to hide.

Lacey breathed heavily and her hands shook. She couldn’t find the odd thing anywhere. It seemed to have escaped. Lacey sighed in relief.

“Lacey!” her mother called from the porch, “What’s going on out there!?”

Lacey spun around, “N-nothing! It was…just a raccoon in the barn!” She couldn’t tell her mother what it really was, she’d never believe her. Lacey was just about to jog back to the house when she felt a sharp claw knock the gun out of her hands. The wind was knocked out of her as she was pushed onto her back.

The creature had retuned. And it wasn’t alone.

She was surrounded by a sea of glowing yellow eyes, all staring hungrily at her. The one that had knocked her down jumped onto her and began to dig at her chest.

The last thing lacey remembered before she blacked out was the sounds of her mother’s screams and a painful sensation. It felt as if the black creature was tearing out her heart.

---

Darkness. Lots of darkness. Then, a small glimmer of light appeared.

Lacey sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her head felt like it had been hit with a rock, and her whole body ached.

“Damn that hurts…” she muttered to herself, rubbing her pained back. Her eyes began to focus. She was extremely surprised by what she saw.

It was a large city, filled with multicolored lights and tall buildings. But even with all the light, the city seemed very dark, like something was choking out all the lights. Lacey looked up at the moon with awe, it was shaped like a giant heart.

“Well, I’m not gonna get anywhere by just sitting here…” Lacey said to the darkness. She began to walk around the eerie city.

As she wandered, she noticed something odd. All the buildings seemed to be empty. No matter where she looked, the places were filled with furniture and other various things, but no people. She finally came to the steps of an extremely tall skyscraper, and threw herself down with a sigh.

“What’s up with this place! Its huge, but there’s no people…its giving me the creeps!” She shivered with fear and wrapped her arms around her body. “Maybe its all a dream. Yeah! That’s gotta be it! I’ll just pinch myself until I wake up!” Lacey began pinching her arm in an effort to wake herself.

“You know, keep hurting yourself like that and the Superior will get mad at me for bringing damaged goods into the castle.”

“Gah!” Lacey screamed, jumping. She whipped around to see who had spoken to her. A few feet away stood a tall man wearing a black coat. The hood was up, so she couldn’t see his face.

“W-who are you? What is this place?” she managed to stutter out.

The man laughed. “The name’s Xigbar, little missy, and you’re currently in The World That Never Was.”

“The World That…Never Was?” Lacey whispered, puzzled, “What kinda name is that for a city?”

“One for Nobodies, like you and me,” Xigbar said, stepping closer to the confused youth.

Lacey quickly stood up, her face flushed, “Hey! Who are you calling a nobody!”

“Geez, you’re a feisty little dude aren’t you? No need to shout.”

“But you just called me a loser!”

“No, I called you a Nobody.”

“It’s the same damn thing!”

Xigbar sighed and rubbed his concealed head with a gloved hand. “Okay, now I’m starting to get a little ticked off. Anyway, my job is to bring you back to the castle. Be a good little girl and follow me.”

“Like hell I will!” Lacey dashed off into the ghostly city.

“Damn,” Xigbar muttered, “New recruits are always a pain to bring in. Jallxian, Leyxsha, think you can handle bringing her in?”

Two new shadows appeared from the darkness. They both looked female, but their faces were also concealed by a black hood. One was taller, but she fidgeted nervously with her fingers. The other was shorter, but stood with an air of confidence as she put her hands on her hips.

“No problem,” the shorter one, Jallxian, said, “How hard can it be, right Leyxsha?”

“Umm…well…” Leyxsha mumbled, twiddling her thumbs, “I guess…as long as there’s no fighting.”

“Oh geez Laylay, what’s wrong with you!? You’re as bad as that Demyx kid! We really need to introduce you two sometime…” Jallxian huffed.

“I-I’m sorry! I’ll…try hard,” the nervous Nobody said, sagging her shoulders.

“Alright 15! Lets go grab the newbie!” the short Nobody shouted excitedly, running off into the darkness.

“Oh my…I think this is going to get messy…” Leyxsha sighed, following her.

--

Lacey panted as she leaned against the cold, stone wall of one of the empty buildings. “I think…I managed…to give him the slip…” she gasped, struggling for air. She slumped to the ground. Lacey laid on her back, enjoying the coolness of the concrete. One of her arms laid across her chest. That’s when she noticed something odd. She sat up and put a hand on her chest. Then she tried her neck, and then her wrist. Lacey gasped.

“What’s wrong? Can’t find a heartbeat?”

Lacey jumped and looked toward the sky. On top of the building she was laying next to were Jallxian and Leyxsha.

“W-who are you!?” she yelled.

Jallxian whistled and turned to face her companion. “Boy, she doesn’t look much older than me. What do you think Laylay, fifteen, maybe sixteen?”

“I-I dunno…maybe,” Leyxsha said, turning to Jallxian.

“Hey! I asked you guys a question!”

They both looked back at Lacey. “How rude! Here we are, trying to take you to the Superior, and all you do is yell at us!” Jallxian said hotly, crossing her arms, “You are a very annoying Nobody.”

“There you go again! Quit calling me a loser!” Lacey yelled, stomping her foot.

The short Nobody began laughing wildly, clutching her sides. Lacey gave her a confused look, not understanding what was so amusing.

“God, how dumb can you get,” Jallxian giggled, wiping a tear from her eye. She jumped down from her perch, her hood falling back in the process. She had short, frizzy looking hair that just went past her ears. Her grayish blue eyes shone excitedly in the ghostly light. “Hey! Aren’t you going to help too?” she asked Leyxsha.

“Umm…I think you’ve got it covered…” she said, slumping.

Jallxian huffed, “Grr, like hell I’m gonna let you just stand there! I outrank you! Get your a** down here!”

The nervous Nobody groaned and jumped down as well. Her hood fell back, revealing brown hair that reached her waist. Her green eyes looked frightened behind her silver glasses.

“Alrighty then, newbie, your coming with us,” Jallxian said darkly. Her hands shimmered for a minute and blue and white gauntlets appeared on her hands. From these gauntlets extended 4 curved blades, giving her hands the appearance of cat claws.

“P-please come quietly,” the other Nobody said. Her hands also shimmered, but they formed what looked like wooden police batons that laid against the sides of her arms, just reaching past her elbows.

“Gah!” Lacey shouted. She did what any sensible being would do when cornered by dangerous strangers; she ran for her life.

“Aww, come back! We’re just gonna ruff you up a bit!” Jallxian sighed, “Hey, you’re the fast one. Go get her.”

Leyxsha groaned, but did as she was told.

Lacey looked back a few minutes later and saw nothing. She half laughed, half panted. “Man, these guys really suck!” she thought happily, “If I keep running, I’m bound to lose them! Then I can go back home!”

“Do we have to keep running like this? You’re going to get tired…”

“Eep!” Lacey whipped around and saw Leyxsha standing almost on top of her. “How the hell did I not hear her!?”

Lacey whipped back around to try to make her escape, but found the nervous girl standing right in front of her!

“Huh?” Lacey blinked. “Gah! I’ve got to do something!” she thought frantically. Then her foot tapped against a metal pipe lying on the ground. She quickly grabbed it, closed her eyes, and swung it wildly at her assailant. She heard a clang.

“Ha! I got you!” she shouted happily. But her happiness soon turned to fear as she saw the bent pipe and the wooden weapon raised above the girl’s head. Her weapon had dented an iron pipe!

“Crap,” Lacey moaned, backing away.

“I think its about time the newbie took a little nap…” a voice whispered behind her. Lacey felt a sharp pain in her back, like she’d been scratched by something sharp. Then, the world began to spin and grow dark. Lacey fell to the ground with a dull thud.

“Oh my…I think you used too much poison this time Jallxian…” Leyxsha sighed, crouching down to look at Lacey’s limp form.

“Nah, she’s just a lightweight,” Jallxian said, her claws disappearing from her hands, “Now hurry up and help me carry her back to Xiggy.”

“That’s Xigbar,” Leyxsha said, grabbing Lacey under her arms.

Jallxian groaned and lifted Lacey’s feet, “I can call him whatever I want! No old man’s gonna boss me around!”

A shadowy portal appeared behind the two Nobodies. The stepped through and disappeared into the night.

--

“Oh Xiiiigggyyy!” Jallxian called, “We’ve got the newbie!”

“About time you showed up! Superior was about to chew me out,” Xigbar said. He had his hood pulled back.

“Whatever,” she said, dropping Lacey, “Now, why don’t you carry her back to the castle.”

“As if! You expect me to carry her!?”

“Well we did bring her back while you just stood here like an idiot!”

“Umm…I can help you if you want Xigbar…” Leyxsha said quietly, twiddling her thumbs.

“Nah, I got it,” Xigbar sighed. He threw Lacey over his shoulder and headed for The Castle That Never Was. The two female Nobodies faded into the darkness through an inky black portal.

Lacey groaned. She shook her head groggily and tried to move her body, but her limbs refused to move. She began to panic.

“Ah, so Sleeping Beauty wakes up. If I wasn’t so afraid you’d run off, I’d let you walk to the castle yourself.”

“P-put me down!” Lacey said, blushing slightly. She hated being carried.

“No can do dude.”

Lacey yelled enough swear words to put a pirate to shame. Xigbar had to admit, he was impressed by the girl’s vocabulary. Seeing that was getting her nowhere, she settled to silently seething as she watched Xigbar carry her up a long ramp to an enormous floating castle. Lacey had to admit, the sight of this strange castle was amazing.

Xigbar opened the large front gate and stepped inside. The room was large and white. It had platforms connected by short stairs that led up to another large doorway. And in this doorway stood one of the most frightening men she’d ever seen. He had long, spiky silver hair and orange eyes. His height made him seem even more imposing.

Xigbar gently put Lacey down, helping her stand on her feet. She was still a little weak from Jallxian’s poison.

“Superior, I’ve brought the new Nobody,” Xigbar announced.

“I see. Welcome, Lacey Jordan, to The Castle That Never Was. My name is Xemnas, but you shall refer to me as Superior.”

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There, all done!

…

Now I will pass out in bed, hehehe.