Chapter 4 - What are they?

Rain... there was always rain outside...

It wasn't called the land of eternal rain for nothing, for the heavens wept in their eternal sorrow over a land long ago abandoned.

Between the tall dark mountains, the mountains that stretched as high as they were to comfort the weeping sky, laid the ghostly city of Burmecia.

No living creature had been there for decades, the dragons had long ago died without their masters and the city that once housed the great legendary paladins was now in ruin. Everything except the glorious castle, which still stood tall, casting its shadow over the houses that were all levelled with the earth.

Within its solid walls of stone, there was now finally... life.



Almost two years had passed since the first creature dressed completely in black had stepped inside the ancient building, and now the castle was once more lively.

Its inhabitants looked like humans, some of them more or less than the other, but they all carried a secret. Every single one of them lacked something utterly important...

they had no heart.



In the highest tower, there was always light.

Even after nightfall when all of the so-called "nobodies" had went off to sleep, there was light there.

In that tower there lived a woman, their leader, and her only name was "Empress".





The royal room, high up there in the highest tower, was lit up by a single candle.

The white little candle burned with a dying flame that flickered in the wind from the open window. Bravely the weak flame fought the brutal wind, desperately wanting to extend its lifetime.

Suddenly, when all hope seemed to have faded and the flame was about to give up, the tip of another candle touched it, moving the flame to a new home.

"Bravely fought, my dear..." said a woman's voice as graceful fingers placed the candle down in another candlestick.



The woman moved away from the candle, sliding towards the window, it barely looked like her feet touched the ground.

She was swept in elegant dark clothing, a long dress that covered all of her legs, which made her feet invisible, and the fabric lay gracefully around her female curves making her confidence obvious.

Her blonde hair fell over her bare white shoulders and down along her curved spine, and in the wind from the open window her whole figure seemed almost like the one of a goddess.

The woman sat down at the windowsill and threw her golden glance out at the rainy sky. Her eyes were like candles, like flames that flickered in the wind and fought to extend their given time.

She stared out of the window like that for a long time, but she never seemed to look at anything in particular.



Suddenly there was a knock on the door, but the woman didn't even turn her glance at the interrupting sound.

"My empress?" She heard the dark voice of a man call at her from outside and gave a slight sigh.

"Come in most beloved..." she said silently, and the door opened.

In stepped a tall man dressed completely in black.

His skin was dark, and his hair was white and long, falling down along his back.

"My dearest Xemnas..." Empress said as she turned her glance away from the window and over to Xemnas, the man who was once the superior of Organization XIII.



"What is it that you want now?" her voice came as a seductive purr, but Xemnas didn't seem to even react.

"I was just informed that 'the others' are..." the former superior wasn't allowed to finish his sentence before the Empress interrupted him.

"Isn't it odd, my Xemnas... how rain is born from the heavens only to die, smashed to the earth, seconds later..." she had moved her golden glance out of the window again, observing the dark sky above her.

"My empress, please listen" Xemnas replied, slightly annoyed with the empress' indifference towards him.

Before he could continue, Empress turned around and arose from her sitting position in the windowsill.

"I already know that, my beloved" she said, her voice as seductive as before.

She moved towards a standing mirror beside the bed.

Xemnas observed her as she moved, as she gracefully swept across the floor and as she stopped in front of the mirror meeting her own reflection.

"So she told me..." as the four words left the Empress' red-painted lips she stretched out a slender arm and brushed black nails against the mirror's reflecting surface.

Her delicate painted lips curved into a smirk, exposing fangs that were usually hidden.



"And now, we must make our first move"



(extra points to everyone who knows the city of Burmecia xP)



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



The king had led them into a small room that somehow resembled an office.

He didn't say a word but went directly to searching through the drawers of a desk that stood in one end of the room, obviously looking for something.

Misa was the last to enter through the door, right behind Goofy, and she immediately closed it behind her and took position in front of it.



"You may already know about an organization called 'the others', or what Sora?" the king asked and looked up from one of the drawers.

Sora looked at him for a while before he nodded.

"Yeah, sort of" he replied and scratched the back of his head.

The king went back to looking through the drawers.

"Good, very good" he said, not looking at any of them.



Misa had moved from the door to behind Donald, she twirled a long lock of hair around her index finger and underneath her bangs she was looking at the little king, just like the rest of the group.

Sora moved his glance towards the girl a few times; he didn't know why though, and in fact he didn't care.

"Ah, here it is" The king suddenly said and pulled a strange looking remote control out of a drawer.

Sora looked at it curiously, wondering what it might be able to do, and so did everyone else.



"We do not know much about 'the others' ourselves, but we can at least tell you this" with this the little king pushed a button on the strange remote, and a figure appeared in the opposite end of the room.

Sora, Donald and Goofy jumped backwards in surprise, but shortly understood that it was just a hologram.

The figure was dressed in black, the exact same uniform that Sora had seen the young girl, Yoru, wear a few days earlier. This figure however, seemed to be male.

"The others' is a group of nobodies much similar to the group you knew as Organization XIII," The king said, pushing another button, which made the hologram of an even more familiar figure appear beside the first one.

This figure was dressed in the uniform of Organization XIII, a uniform that Sora, Donald and Goofy never thought they would have to see again.

"However, they do not share the same goal, and they have different leaders" the king continued.



Sora turned around and faced the little king, who stood at the desk.

"Wait a minute! You mean-" he started out and looked at the holograms again "you mean organization XIII is back as well?"

King Mickey nodded slightly.

"In a way, but they are not Organization XIII anymore" he answered.

Sora turned his glance towards the king again.

"Then what are they?" he asked, "If you mean we went through all of that the last time just to have to beat them all up again..." obviously he didnt know how to finish.

The king jumped down from the desk and walked over to where the other four were standing.



"We don't know much, as I already told you. We dont even know if they're the same members as before" he said "but figures in that exact uniform have been seen all over the different worlds, so we have reason to believe that the Organization has been resurrected somehow"

Misa had just observed the holograms during the whole conversation, from the 'other' member, to the 'organization' member.

She seemed distant, as if she was thinking of something completely different.



"Let's go back to 'the others" The king said and removed the hologram of the 'organization' member.

Sora went back to looking at the hologram, even though he was still thinking of organization XIII.

"We don't know how many they are, neither do we know who leads them or what they want," he said.

Sora sighed, obviously there wasn't much information to gain, and so he started to doubt the importance of all of this.

"But they are dangerous. They do not use heartless to collect hearts, nor do they control other nobodies. They do everything themselves"

Holograms of both Heartless and weaker nobodies appeared as the king spoke.



"The others' are already creating fear and chaos in some of the worlds, and since they're all very powerful, it's hard for normal humans to oppose them or protect themselves against them" the holograms disappeared before the 'organization' member's hologram reappeared again.

"The former Organization XIII has on the other hand done nothing yet. It's as if they are waiting for their opportunity to strike" with this, the last hologram disappeared again.



Sora looked at the king, who had moved back to the desk to put the strange remote control back into it's drawer.

"What do you want us to do about this, your majesty?" he asked and put his arms behind his head, in his usual manner.

"We're probably off to another adventure," Goofy said, somewhat happily.

King Mickey smiled at them all,

"That's right Goofy" he said "I want you to find out more, and defeat them once and for all".

Sora stroked a victory pose and grinned happily.

"All right! We're off to kick some Nobody-butt!" he said, obviously ready for another grand adventure.

His other two friends both did their victory poses as well; Misa however was still staring at the wall where the holograms had been.

"You will take Jiminy with you. He'll report back whatever you manage to find out" the king continued, "He'll wait for you in the Gummi ship whenever you're ready to leave"

"Let's leave right now!" Donald said and was about to run out when Sora stopped him

"Wait a sec!" He said, making the duck stop in his tracks "I promised Kairi to return as soon as I had spoken to the king".

Donald mumbled something none of them could hear, and crossed his arms while looking at Sora grumpily.

"Aw, come on Donald!" Sora said, "It wont take long. Just a quick visit to Destiny Island and were off again!" the cheerful keybearer tried his best to convince his friend, but it was no use.

"It'll take us a long time to get there! Even if a warp hole seems quick, time flies everywhere else!" Donald said, stubborn as he was "And by the time weve gotten there it'll already be past Sora's bedtime!"

"Donald!" the King said interrupting the argument, and all eyes, except for Misa's, were turned to him.

"Go back to destiny Islands now. You can leave at sunrise tomorrow, if time is a huge problem for you"

Donald jumped and waved both his hands in front of him, in an attempt to cover up what he just said.

"No-no-no! It's no problem at all!" He said, "I just wanted to leave as soon as possible"

King Mickey, Sora and Goofy all laughed at their friend, who was about to lose his temper again.

"It's alright" the king said, smiling at all of them "But I wanted to talk to Misa before you left"



Everyone turned their attention to the girl, who was still staring at the wall where the holograms had been.

She didn't seem to notice, and once more her eyes seemed to lack pupils.

"Misa?" Goofy asked, trying to get the girl's attention, but she didn't react.

Sora went over to her and lightly shook her shoulder,

"Misa?" He said, but there was still no response.

"Misa!" he shook her shoulder more violently and the girl's completely silver eyes turned their glance to him.

"White..." she whispered, making Sora let go of her.

"What?" he asked, confused at her strange behaviour, and the fact that the word had nothing to do with... well, anything at the moment.

"Everything is white... always..." as she spoke her pupils returned, and she looked at the group in front of her with confusion.



"W-what?" she asked, "Do I have something funny in my face?"

Everyone else stared at her strangely.

"You just said something was always white" Goofy explained to her.

She looked at him, obviously confused.

"No, I didn't" she replied and looked at the rest "Did I?"

Both Sora and Donald nodded.

The silver haired girl looked at her hands, and then put her right hand to her forehead rubbing her palm against it.

"I...I really can't recall..." she whispered.

King Mickey walked away from the desk and over to where Misa stood.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll remember eventually" he said and smiled at her.

Misa couldn't help but smile back; the king was so cheerful it was almost impossible not to be happy around him.

"Misa, I have some questions I want to ask you" he suddenly said "Is that alright?"

The girl nodded, she couldn't see how some simple questions could possibly hurt.



"First off, do you remember where you come from?" he asked.

Everyone looked at Misa now; Sora had great interest in the answer considering he had wanted to know from the moment he first saw her in Destiny Islands.

Misa twirled a lock of hair around her index finger again.

"I... I dont remember" she answered silently.

Sora gave a sigh in disappointment, but continued to pay attention.

"What can you remember?" King Mickey asked, trying to get something about Misas origin out of her.

She closed her eyes and stopped twirling her hair; she was probably trying her best to remember anything.



"There is only..." she started making Sora almost hold his breath, and making Donald think she would say 'white' again.

"Only Destiny Islands..." She said "That... and rain"

It wasn't much, and again she left Sora disappointed with the answer.

"Also..." she continued, drawing everyones attention closer to her again "there are... sky-blue eyes"

Before Sora could sigh, the king continued.

"Very well, you remember something at least" he said and smiled at her.

"Now... from what I've heard I can see that it's still no use asking you my other questions"

Misa bowed her head, as if saying she was sorry, and immediately started twirling a lock of hair around her finger again.



King Mickey turned to the rest of the small group.

"Thats all the information I could give you" he said, "Now, you better get going"

Sora stroked a victory pose again and grinned happily.

"Then what are we waiting for guys?" he said, eager to start a new adventure,

"Let's go!"



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



They were all seated in the Gummi ship again, heading for Destiny Islands.

Jiminy was already writing notes in his journal, Donald kept his eyes on the "road", Goofy was just... goofing around like always, and Sora was actually talking to Misa, or more like rambling on about how cool it would be to go on a new adventure, to the only person who was willing to listen.

Misa sat on the floor, since this ride was much calmer than the previous, and she wasn't at all nervous this time.

"Sora..?" Misa suddenly said, interrupting Sora in the middle of his rant.

"Huh? What?" Sora replied looking down at her from his seat.

"Can you tell me... about your adventures?" she asked, her silver glance aimed directly at Sora's blue eyes.

The keybearer blinked, and then his face cracked into a happy grin.

"Honestly? Do you want to hear about it?" he said happily.

Misa nodded "very much..." she replied silently and tried to smile back.

"Alright!" Sora said, and proudly started to tell her about his adventures.

The girl listened carefully, and with great interest to everything he said, she was even too busy listening to Sora's story, to even notice it when they went through the warp hole.





When they landed on Destiny Islands shortly after, Sora hadn't gotten longer with his story than to when they first visited Wonderland.

Misa and Sora went out of the Gummi ship, leaving Donald and Goofy behind because they had agreed to do so.

It was already dusk, and in many of the houses the lights were already out.

"I'm gonna go talk to Kairi again" Sora suddenly said when he and Misa had been walking for a while.

"Okay..." Misa replied, not looking at him.

"Go home and get some sleep Misa" he continued "and then meet us in the Gummi ship tomorrow, alright?"

The silver haired girl nodded, still not looking at him.

"Then I'll tell you more about my adventure, and well go see another new world" of some reason, it seemed like Sora wanted to excite Misa, or at least make her smile, but it was no use.

"I'm looking forward to that Sora..." she replied distantly "Goodnight..."

Sora didn't know what more to say; neither did he know why he wanted to say more or why he wanted to talk to Misa in particular.

"Goodnight Misa" he just replied and looked at the girl as she took a left turn and was gone.



Sora noticed he was already close to Kairi's house, and now he hurried up a little.

He knocked at the door as soon as he got there, and waited impatiently for his childhood friend to answer it.

Soon he could hear running footsteps from behind the door, something that sounded like a tumble, and shortly after that someone slamming their hands onto the door-handle and the door opened.

"Sora!" The young redhead shouted happily as she saw him.

"Hi Kairi" Sora replied and grinned in his usual manner "I told you I'd return, right?"

Kairi giggled and smiled back at him.

"I knew you would return this time" She said joyfully.



They stood like that, just smiling at each other for several minutes; no words were needed in this moment.

"You should stop doubting me" Sora suddenly said "You see, I always keep my promises"

Kairi giggled again.

"I know Sora" she said "I know I can trust you"

Sora scratched the back of his head, realizing he didn't know what more to say, and Kairi just stood there, looking at him in exactly the same way as she had always done, waiting for him to speak.

"uhm..." He started "so, tomorrow I'll start searching for Riku again"

Kairi looked down at the mentioning of Riku's name, the subject seemed to sadden her a bit.

"I'm sure you'll find him Sora" she said as she looked up at her friend again.

"Yeah... we'll leave at dawn, so..." Sora didn't know how to continue, it was sad to leave Kairi behind again, but after all it was for her own safety.



"It's okay Sora" she said, and put on her usual smile again, the smile she always used to cover up other unwanted emotions.

"I know you'll come back. And when you do, Im sure you'll have Riku with you too"

Sora nodded, and gently placed a hand at the redheaded girl's shoulder.

"I promise I'll return with him" he assured her and grinned cheerfully again, "dont you worry about that for a moment, Kairi"

The girl smiled happily at him.

"I wont" she replied and gave a slight giggle, "Now you should head back home and get some sleep, before I kick your @$$ all the way back there!"

Both of them started to laugh, and Sora showed his obedience by giving her the reply "Yes ma'am!" before he got on his way.

When Sora had almost got passed the gate which led in to Kairi's little garden, she called after him, making him look at her again.

"Sora! You better remember this!" she started "If you don't come back, I will hunt you down and I will kick the living shoot out of you!"

Sora laughed and put his hand to his heart,

"It's a promise! I'll never forget!"



Then he headed home, leaving Kairi with a smile at her lips and with a heart full of hope.



As soon as he got home, he threw himself onto the bed and stared up in the roof.

Tomorrow... tomorrow was the first day of a new grand adventure.

He wondered where they would head first, who they would meet there.

Thought about old friends and worlds he had saved before, with their help of course.

Then, all of a sudden as his thoughts again drifted to Riku and Roxas, he fell asleep.



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



*With Misa*



Misa opened her eyes, finding herself surrounded by white trees that seemed to glow against the dark sky above her.

She sat up; feeling how the ground was so soft, yet cold, looking at the falling white patterns which came from the sky.

Where was she? She had never seen this place before, but yet it was so familiar...

Slowly she got up to her feet and looked around, there was only white trees, nothing more beside white trees and the darkness.

"Hello?" she called out, "anybody there?"...

There was no answer.

She asked again, more loudly this time, but there was still no answer.

She looked around again, desperately trying to find life in this place, this place witch held such a familiar scent, this place full of feelings she couldn't remember to ever have felt

"Anyone...?" she whispered, closing her eyes, listening...

There was only silence there, but the silence was also familiar to her, it was a comforting and pleasant silence.

She sat down again; sucking in the feelings that the place gave her, only gentle and good feelings...

the place was indeed beautiful

Then her heart suddenly jumped and she opened her eyes once more, sat up and looked around.

She had heard nothing, but something felt so strange.

"who's there?" she asked, moving silvery strains of hair away from her eyes.

Nothing...

There was no response...



She sat silently on the white ground, waiting for something to happen.

Suddenly she saw a figure moving between the white trees, a figure all dressed in white.

The silver haired girl got up to her feet and started running towards the mysterious figure.

"Wait!"

The figure didnt react.

"Please! I just want to talk to you!"...

There was still no response.

She was getting closer, close enough to see that the figure was human, a human girl dressed in a white long dress, and with long blonde hair flowing gracefully behind her.

Misa's heart did a jump again, and she felt strangely nervous as she approached the mysterious girl in front of her.

Then suddenly, the girl stopped, making Misa stop as well out of pure surprise.

"So you came..." the girl said, still with her back to Misa.

Her voice, it was also so familiar, like an angel's sweet voice that resounded in Misas mind, the most beautiful sound she had ever heard.



"You returned to the white gardens..." she held out a slender arm, holding a pen between her fingers, a pen with red ink dripping from it, leaving small traces of the drops on the white ground.



The white gardens... so that's what this place was called.

Misa couldn't manage to get out a single word, she tried to speak but there were no words.

"You don't have to speak..." the girl in front of her continued and slowly turned around, facing Misa, who fell to the ground in shock.

Where Misa had expected it to be a face, there was nothing!

No eyes, no mouth, not even a nose...

The silver haired girl wanted to scream, but even if she opened her mouth there was no sound.



"You've forgotten me..." said the voice, which still came from the other girl.

"That is why you can not see it..."

The girl moved her graceful hand up to her empty face and placed the tip of the red-inked pen where her mouth should have been.

Misa supported herself on her elbows, shivering on the ground.

There was nothing ugly about the girl in front of her, but the emptiness... it was the emptiness that frightened her.

Because something inside of her told her that there was something beyond beauty that usually resided where the emptiness now was.

Something seraphic and indescribable...



"Give me my first letter... and I will give you this part of me" the voice said silently as the girl sat down in front of her.

Misa didn't know what she meant, nor did she know what to say or how to say it, it was as if she had forgotten everything... how to speak, how to walk, even how to think...

The girl in front of her didn't move, the pen still pointing at the place where her mouth should have been, steady and immovable.

Neither of them said a word, neither of them moved, and Misa didnt look away from the girls empty face even once.



Slowly, swimming inside of the ocean that was Misa's mind, a tiny sound came lurking, a tiny letter that wanted to get out, and pass Misa's delicate pink lips.

"N..." was the only sound that left her, and immediately the girl in front of her started to draw.

With red ink she drew on her fair skin, first an upper lip, then the lower, and so her mouth was placed.

Shortly after that the drawn lips parted, and took in her first breath of air, and drawn lips suddenly became real lips.

Beautifully curved lips, pink like the blooming sakura-flower, the ends slightly pointing up into a lovely smile.



"Correct" the girl said, for the first time moving her lips as she spoke.

Misa couldn't help but stare at the new feature in the once completely empty face, those beautiful pink lips that spoke to her with the voice of a goddess.

The girl moved her elegant left hand over Misa's cheek, caressing it, gently like if she was touching porcelain.

The silver haired girl closed her eyes at the sensation, felt how her heartbeat got faster, and the strange feeling inside of her got even stronger.

"Tomorrow night..." the girl whispered "when tomorrow night comes... I want you to tell me what 'N' stands for..."

Misa opened her eyes again, seeing how the girl had started to fade.

"We'll meet again... right here..." the girl's lips curved into an angelic smile once more, and as Misa tried to reach out and touch her...



She woke up.

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