Princess of the Keyblade

By:Khgirl08

Khgirl08: Hey!

Ellie: Hi!

Khgirl08: What? Why are you here?

Ellie:Making sure you don't make THIS story as bad as the last one. You know, the one NOBODY reviewed?

Khgirl08: -rolls eyes- whatever, Ellie. Just get on with the disclaimer, would you?

Ellie: Khgirl08 does not own Kingdom Hearts or any other big names in this story. She does own me, though, so you'd better beware!

Khgirl08: -muffles Ellie- Just ignore her and enjoy the chapter!

"Are we there yet?"

"Almost, Ellie, we're almost there."

"I still don't understand why you can't just tell me where we're going, Mother. Why won't you tell me?"

"Ellie, we don't have time to argue right now. Just hurry, please."

A sudden pop, and a figure in a dark cloak appeared in front of the pair.

"Now, now, Rebecca, you didn't actually think you would get away that easily, did you?" he chuckled in a sinister voice. "We have unfinished business, if you remember."

Rebecca drew herself up, seeming much taller than her petite 5'0. "I have no business with you, sir. I am trying to take care of some things that should have been attended to many, many years ago, so if you would kindly step out of the way..."

The man chuckled again. "Of course I will, if you promise to come with me without a fight. Otherwise, I'm afraid we may not see eye to eye."

Rebecca laughed lightly. "I see. So this is what you choose." She turned to her teenage daughter, who was trembling at her side. "Elizabeth, you must go. Now."

"What? Mother, no! I won't leave you!"

"Allow me, Rebecca." The strange man whipped a stick out of a pocket of his robe, but Rebecca jumped in front of her daughter.

"No thank you, sir. Elizabeth, I'm not going to argue with you. I'm sorry."

"Mother!"

Rebecca conjured a stick from the waist band of her skirt and turned to her daughter. "Ellie, I love you."

Suddenly, the girl was in a black room, with no light except for that which radiated from a sword, a shield, and a staff that were displayed on three separate pedestals. "Hello?! Mother, where am I?"

Choose one... Choose your destiny...

The strange voice was oddly comforting, and the girl thought it important to obey. She walked straight to the majestic sword; it seemed to give off an aura of strength that far surpassed her own. as soon as she picked it up, she fell into a black hole of nothingness.

"Ah!" Ellie jolted awake, her sheets clinging to her sweating body and her eyes wide with fright. That dream again...She shook her head to clear it and blinked the remnants of sleep from her eyes. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she savored the last memory of her mother, however bittersweet and confusing it was. Just under two years ago, her mother had dragged her to the middle of the woods, and some strange man had appeared. Her own mother had turned on her and rendered her unconscious, and both her mother and the man had gone when she had come to. When she had found her way back to civilization again, the citizens of Maple Brook had organized a search party. For two straight weeks, the party had come back empty handed before they were finally forced to acknowledge the fact that Rebecca Mason had simply disappeared and would never be found. Ellie's grandmother had moved out of her modest apartment to keep her granddaughter company in the large house the Mason family had owned for years.

Ellie had been forced to move on with her life, even as the rest of Maple Brook gossipped behind their closed doors that she was the most pathetic thing they had ever known. The poor child, they whispered, having both parents mysteriously disappear like that. Eventually the memories of her mother's disappearance had faded away into a back corner of Ellie's mind, but then the dreams started. Around the previous Christmas, a year and a half after she officially became an orphan, she had dreamt of the curious events, and ever since then, she couldn't stop dwelling on her parents. Every brief reprieve from the strange dreams, every time she tried to forget them, they came back to haunt her, like a ghost seeking revenge.

Ellie blinked hard, successfully stopping the tears forming in her emerald eyes from streaking down her cheeks in tiny rivulets, and pushed her sheets off of her legs. She swung her legs over the edge of her bed and looked at the digital clock on her nightstand. It was blinking midnight, meaning the power had gone out again. Probably another storm offshore... she thought as she stood and stepped lightly to the large picture window across the room. When she opened the blue curtains, she was almost blinded by bright sunlight and a cerulean sky. Or not.

The city of Maple Brook was displayed before her. The mothers were just dragging their families out the doors of their houses and apartments for a day of excitement and thrills at the local mega mall or the seaside markets, whereas the businessmen were already making their ways to the downtown area, where they would "strive to improve the economy of Maple Brook", or find new ways to exploit each other out of another couple hundred munny. The sidewalks were filled with elderly couples walking their dogs and teenagers on skateboards displayed their talents on the side streets, laughing at one another whenever they wrecked.

All in all, it was a beautiful scene, but it was so... boring. Maple Brook was such a small place, and no one Ellie knew of had ever ventured farther than the woods that bordered three sides of the city. She longed to explore the limits of the world, but had yet to actually leave and do so. Ellie sighed and tore her gaze away from the window just in time to see her bedroom door open. "Oh, Grandma Abbie! I didn't realize you were already awake. It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"

"Yes indeed! It is a gorgeous day, and you know what that means... Time to go to the market!" Looking and acting far younger than her seventy two years, Abigail Swallow was nothing like other grannys. Her twin feather gray braids and the laugh lines around her twinkling green eyes were the only things that gave away her advanced age. "I won't be gone long, Ellie. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that Robert called for you earlier. He said he'd be over sometime this morning, so you might want to get dressed soon. I love you!" With a flighty wave of her hand, Abbie was off. Ellie waited until she saw the bright red convertible roar into the distance before she opened her wardrobe.

"What to wear, what to wear..." Ellie often talked to herself when no one else was around, like many other people, but she also usually answered. "I think the shorts will work for today if I wear a tee shirt with them." She pulled a pair of short light blue jean shorts and a bright green shirt out off of their hangers. Quickly changing from her pajamas into these clothes, Ellie couldn't help but notice how thin she was. "This is ridiculous! I'm almost seventeen years old, but I look like I'm ten!" Like her mother and grandmother before her, Ellie was very petite. She barely hit the five foot mark, and she had to have extra small clothes for everything. Sometimes they still hung from her tiny frame. "It's not like I don't eat, but I can't gain weight! Agh, where'd I put that hairbrush?" Twirling around, she spotted the stray brush on her nightstand, a few strands of her long flame colored hair tangled in the bristles. "Aha! Thought you could hide from me, did you?" Ellie laughed and scooped the brush and a hair tie up before approaching the vanity beside her wardrobe. "I think just a ponytail will do the trick for today."

When her hair had been swept into the simple style, it swung past her shoulders in straight, gleaming locks. Her bangs were not so easy to deal with; they were to long to clip back properly, but way tooshort to be pulled into the ponytail. Sighing, she swept them behind one ear and studied her reflection in the mirror. Her brilliant green eyes sparkled in the natural sunlight, and her shirt made the color pop. Her bright red hair was accompanied by the traditional pale skin of a redhead, and her cheeks and nose were lightly dotted with freckles. Her cheekbones stood out just a little bit, but Ellie thought that they made her look skeletal. Underneath her shirt, her ribs were still showing, and her waist was incredibly tiny. She had no hips to speak of, and her bony knees jutted out ridiculously.

"Stop being so stuck on yourself, Elizabeth; we all know you're gorgeous. You don't have to brag about it!" That was what the girls at school always told her. She had yet to understand what they were talking about; first of all, she wasn't stuck on herself. She just didn't really talk to very many people at her all-girl's rich school. Secondly, she wasn't gorgeous; the other girls were all blond, tan and curvy, and they had long legs that peeked out from underneath their uniform skirts and made the guys in town drool. They were the gorgeous ones. "What guy would want to date a walking stick figure?" she muttered before standing up and leaving her room. When she reached the stairs, she noticed that none of the other clocks were unset; her grandmother must have already reset them.

The kitchen was bright and tidy as usual, but Ellie gasped when she saw the grungy figure reading the newspaper at the table. "Who- who are you?"

The figure jumped to his feet and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Rebecca, baby; I thought you knew I was coming today. Don't you remember your old friend?"

"Er... No? And I'm not Rebecca."

"Excuse me? I think I know who I'm speaking to, and your name is Rebecca Swallow!" the man's dark eyes flashed dangerously, and Ellie barely had time to step aside before he was flinging himself towards her.

"No, I'm not! Who are you? And how do you know who my mother is?"

The man grasped her arm and his dark eyes bored intensely into her own. "Nice try, Rebecca! Look, I know last time we met didn't end so well, but that's the past, baby, and this is the present! We have the whole future ahead of us, and I still want to sweep you off your feet and take you outta here!" Before Ellie could react, the man had pushed her up against a wall while his eyes began to glow slightly yellow. Ellie's mind went fuzzy for a few seconds before her attention snapped back into gear.

"Get out of here!" she shouted before squirming out of his grasp and jumping away. "I am not Rebecca Swallow; I'm Ellie Mason, and you are not welcome in my house! Now go, before I call my boyfriend!" Ellie wasn't completely making up the boyfriend; Robert was a boy, and her best friend, but they weren't dating by any means. Yeah, maybe she felt a little something for him, but he thought of her as "one of the guys, only better."

The man stared at her for a moment before the yellow gleam faded from his eyes and he stood up straight. "I see. You want nothing to do with me. Fine." He spun on his heel and exited through the kitchen door. Ellie breathed a sigh of relief and sat down at the table, holding her head in her hands. It was true that she was almost a carbon copy of her mother, but everyone in Maple Brook knew that her mom hadn't been seen for almost two years. Besides, her mother would have been thirty eight in August, and Ellie was practically seveteen. Her mother didn't look old by any means, but she didn't look twenty one years younger at all.

"Hey Mason! Whatcha doing?" Ellie shrieked as a pair of warm hands began to massage her shoulders and neck. "Alright! Forgive me, didn't mean to hurt you!"

Ellie sighed in relief and turned around in her chair to smile at Robert. He stood at six foot three, and was extremely handsome. His body was all hard muscle and tan skin, and his big blue eyes twinkled at her beneath his gentle curls of longish dark brown hair. He was grinning, too, and his white teeth sparkled. "Sorry, Robert, I didn't hear you come in. I didn't mean to scream, but I just had a little scare."

He stopped smiling and walked around the table to sit across from her. When he folded his hands on the table and looked at her from underneath furrowed eyebrows, Ellie could barely contain her laughter. He looked just like his father, who was the only lawyer in Maple Brook and her 'adoptive' dad. "What happened? Tell me everything. You don't scare easily, Mason, so this must have been pretty bad."

Her smile faded, and she stared straight into his deep blue eyes. "Well, when I came downstairs this morning, this man was sitting here at the table, reading a newspaper. He stood up and kept calling me Rebecca, and insisted that I was definitely Rebecca Swallow. He kept saying how I should remember him, and that I should have known he was coming. He pushed me up against that wall, and told me how he still wanted to sweep me away from here forever."

Robert started slightly, but Ellie paid no heed. "Right after his eyes turned all yellow and weird, I told him off and got away from him, and then he left."

Robert shook his head as he stood up and opened the window that faced the street. Ellie couldn't help but stare. He had been around her for as long as she could remember, at first as an annoying older brother type figure, then as a face in the grade above her at elementary school, then as a best friend. She wasn't sure just when she had fallen in love with the eighteen year old boy, but she had fallen hard. "He took off about five minutes ago, but I didn't hear a car."

"I didn't see any strange vehicles from my place, either." He lived right across the street from her family, which probably explained why they were so close. "I wasn't necessarily looking for anything weird, though, so I could have missed him."

"Who knows? I'll probably never have to see him again, anyway. So, what are you doing today?"

Robert turned his sapphire eyes back to her. "Not too much, at least not outside. There's a storm blowing in during the next hour or two, according to the radar, and it's going to be a doozy."

Ellie frowned. "Darn. I was hoping we could go out to the cave."

"Well, maybe we can, if you don't mind getting drowned." The twinkle in his eyes betrayed his laughter, even though his mouth was grim.

Ellie laughed. "Of course I don't mind drowning! What better way to spend the afternoon?" Even as she laughed, a loud rumble of thunder drifted through the open window. The visible sky was still blue, but the sun had faded away and the huge maple trees in the yards were beginning to bend in the stiff wind.

The pair looked at each other for a split second before sprinting to the rear of the house and hurtling onto the screened-in back porch. The sky over the main part of the city was almost black, and the calm waves that had been lapping onto the beach just minutes ago were churning with white foam and sending the families of picnickers running for their minivans. Lightning was beginning to dash across the distant sky, but the long seconds between the flashes and the rumbles of thunder told that the storm was still several miles out to sea. Nevertheless, the roads coming from downtown were clogged with the cars and vans trying to make it to the safety of their homes before the storm hit.

Robert whistled through his teeth. "This is another one of those times when I'm thankful that I live on a really big hill with minimal flooding, and that my dad works mostly out of our house."

Ellie nodded and shivered as the wind picked up a notch and the air cooled considerably. "Brr! I think we need to get inside before the storm does hit." He nodded and rushed through the screen door, holding it open for Ellie while she slammed the heavy wooden door behind her.

"How long is it going to last, Robert?"

"The last forecast I heard said that it would continue until sometime tonight." Robert looked around and scratched his head. "Hey, where's Abbie? I thought she was going to be here all day."

Ellie groaned and slumped into an overstuffed chair. "The market! Grandma Abbie was going to the seaside market today. She should have been back by now!"

Robert sat on the arm of her chair and nodded. "Yeah, she should have been back by now, if she were anyone but Abbie. She's probably taking the absence of the crowd as a free for all shopping extravaganza. Don't worry, Mason, your grandmother is fine. She'll be home before the storm hits our hill, easily."

The two friends sat and waited in silence even when the rain began tapping out a rhythm on the roof of the old house. When the soft rapping grew so loud that Ellie couldn't hear her own thoughts, however, she couldn't sit still. "Robert, she's not home yet! Maybe her car stalled, or maybe she wrecked in the storm, or maybe she got washed out to sea, or maybe she got kidnapped, or maybe she-"

"MASON! Shut up!" Ellie blinked in surprise at Robert's outburst, especially considering that he looked more like he was laughing than exasperated. "Thank you. I know you're worried about Abbie. So am I, but we can't go out in this rain. Think about it logically; your grandma probably just pulled into someone's driveway and asked for shelter until the rain died down enough that she could see. If she's not back ten minutes after the rain dies down some, I'll help you look for her. Okay?"

Ellie nodded and jumped as he put one arm around her shoulders and squeezed her into a hug. "Look, Mason, I've gotta get out of here. Mom and Dad are probably freaking out. Do you want to come over and stay with us for a while?"

Of course I would... she thought to herself as her mind conjured up an image of the two of them sitting in front of his massive fireplace, wrapped in a blanket while the storm raged around them. She shook her head rapidly to clear it and coughed. "Um, I think I should probably stay here until Grandma Abbie comes home. I don't want her to worry."

Robert nodded and tugged her ponytail. "Alright, then. If she doesn't get back once the rain has stopped, call me and we'll go find her. Later!"

Ellie followed him to the front door and watched him dash across the waterlogged street, arms covering his head in a feeble attempt to keep the rain from pelting him. When he reached his front porch and shook himself off, she shut her own front door hastily, not wanting him to see her staring at him.

The storm kept up its relentlessly driving rain all day. Ellie tried to read, watch TV, cook, even clean to get her mind off of her worries, but she couldn't concentrate on anything without thinking of her grandmother. When she finally gave up polishing her school shoes for the third time, the pounding on her roof died down to a steady drizzle. She ran to the front door and stood for several long minutes, waiting for the cherry convertible to come roaring up the street.

When the road remained empty, Ellie pulled on a pair of old boots that were lying by the door and made her way over the half flooded street. A soaking wet Robert met her at the door. "Nothing yet?"

"No. Robert, we need to find her as soon as we can. I can't lose her, as well!"

"Calm down, Mason. She's fine, I promise. I'll be right back." He turned around and disappeared down the hall. Shivering, Ellie stared up at the steel gray sky, trying to stop the tears in her big eyes from spilling over.

"Hey, squirt, are you ready?" Robert's father, Edward, was standing in the doorway, the bright yellow raincoat, boots, and hat contrasting with both the dark clouds and the sad smile on his face as he looked at Ellie. He had been close to Ellie's mom when they were children, and had become close friends with her father before he simply disappeared.

"Let's go." Ellie turned and tried to run down the sidewalk, but Edward put his hand on her shoulder.

"Wait just a minute! We're going to drive downtown and search there first. Robert has already walked the local streets, and he didn't see anything. His mom won't let him come with us this time, though; she doesn't want him to get sick, apparently."

"Fine, but let's hurry, please!"

One silent car ride later, Edward was parking in front of his office. The streets were filled with litter and pieces of wood, and there was no sign of life in the downtown area. Ellie jumped out of the car and turning in circles, looking at the darkening sky and up and down the streets for a red convertible.

"Ellie, listen to me. I'm going to make sure my partners' offices are okay, and then I'm going to start searching the other buildings on this block for anyone. You need to go a couple blocks down and circle around to see if you find Abigail or anyone else. Make sure you search the alleys and side streets. When you think you've covered enough ground, come back here. Do you understand?" Edward stood and stretched.

"Yes, I understand, Edward. See ya." Ellie sprinted down the sidewalk. By the time Edward entered his offices and screamed, she was too far away to hear him.

"Hello? Grandma Abbie? Edward? Anybody out there? HELLO!!" Ellie's cries were answered only by the echo of off the empty streets. She had been on the sidewalk by the car for a good fifteen minutes, and had yet to see anyone. "Edward? Where are you?!" This isn't right... Edward said that he would be searching these buildings around here, but I haven't seen him yet, and that must have been forty five minutes ago. "Hello?!"

"Elizabeth, there you are." Before Ellie could spin to see who was talking, she was surrounded by eight black, twitchy bug-like creatures. A man in a black hooded robe appeared in front of her, sending cold chills up and down her spine. "Now, then, why don't you just give up and come with me? I'm telling you right now, it would be in your better judgement not to fight me. Take a look at the ones who did..." The man gestured to the bugs that surrounded her, and with a gasp of fright she suddenly realized that she recognized one of them as one of her classmates, and another as one of the skateboarders from the morning. And that was...

"No, not Edward! What have you done to him! Put him back, put all of them back to the way they were!"

"No can do, Elizabeth; they've become Heartless, and nothing can change that. Now, maybe if you come with me, you can figure out a way to save them. But until then, there is no help for them."

"That is not true." The man in the hood grunted as Ellie turned around to see her grandmother standing on the sidewalk, looking as if she had been there for hours. "You and I both know that only one thing can save those poor citizens now, and that is Kingdom Hearts." She turned abruptly and was gone. Ellie spun around, looking for her, before she appeared right next to her granddaughter, her braids swinging wildly in the wind. "Ellie, this is not your place." Abigail pulled a stick from her pocket, and Ellie felt a sickening jolt of deja vu when she found it shoved under her nose. "Dear Ellie, I trust you to save us all. I'm just too old, and your mother... She needs saving, as well. Go now, and prepare yourself for the journey." Before Ellie or the hooded man could add in a word edgewise, a bright flash of light sent the girl flying backwards, and she landed on her butt in the middle of her own street.

"Grandma Abbie! Grandma Abbie, no! Come back! GRANDMA!!" Ellie pulled her knees into her chest, her eyes squeezed shut while tears poured down her cheeks, mixing with the rain that had begun again. No... Not again... I can't be alone...

"Mason!" A pair of strong arms wrapped around her. "Everything is going to be fine, it's okay. I'm here now."

Ellie turned and threw her arms around Robert's neck, splashing puddle water everywhere. "Robert, you don't understand! Your dad... Grandma Abbie... I couldn't..." Her attempt to explain what had happened was cut off by a hiccup, followed by more sobs. He held her until her sobs turned into sniffles and she stood up shakily.

"Can we go inside? The second half of the storm is starting." She half ran out of the street and into his house, Robert right on her heels.

"Hold on." Robert opened the closet door right next to the front door and pulled out a blanket. He turned back to the sodden Ellie and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Now you won't die of pneumonia before you explain what happened, and how you appeared in the middle of the street." He led her into the large, cozy library and pulled two overstuffed chairs in front of the roaring fire. "Sit."

Ellie complied, sinking into the back of the chair and pulling the blanket even tighter around her, as if she was afraid that it, too, would disappear. When she finally began to talk, it was with a tremor that was typical of someone seventy years older than her. As she recounted every detail of the strange attack, Robert's eyes widened with shock and confusion. She didn't weep at the end of her tale, but she lost herself in the flames of the red hot fire before her, wishing she could get behind the grate and throw herself into it's depths rather than live with her heart in pieces.

"So, Dad is gone, as well?" Robert's voice wasn't stricken with despair or accusation, but it was demanding. Ellie, not being able to muster up her voice, simply nodded. From the corner of her eye, she saw him stand up from his chair and walk behind her. She jumped as he put his hands on her shoulders and bent down to talk to her. "Obviously somebody wants you, though I can't imagine why anyone would." Her serious expression broke down slightly, and Robert smiled. "However, we've got to get you out of here before they do get you. So, let's get going."

"Where can we go, Robert? They're everywhere, they've gotta be."

"Anywhere we can. Maybe if we get out of Maple Brook for just a little bit, they'll go away, and everything will be back to normal." Ellie heard his voice crack slightly, and she turned around in the huge chair to see a single tear running down his cheek. "Everything will be okay. It will be like a dream, like it never actually happened."

Ellie stood up and went around the chair to wrap her arms around him. A bolt of lightning struck nearby, and the lights flickered and went out as she touched him. They stood in total darkness for several seconds before Ellie found any words. "Robert, please tell me that your fireplace is powered by electricity."

"Um, no, it's the old fashioned kind."

"Then, why did the fire go out with the rest of the power?"

"Good question." Both friends started when a scream from the second floor pierced through the murky, silent silence. "Mom!"

"Oh, was that your mother? You'll forgive me; she's already been turned into a Heartless. Pitiful woman." A third voice rang in Ellie's ears, and she suddenly felt dizzy. She was vaguely aware of Robert trying to shove her behind him, trying to protect her, while shouting at the voice, but something had come back to her memory. Something that should have been long forgotten.

"No! You won't do this to them. Haven't you done quite enough?!"

"No. I don't think I have. I want the girl, and I won't leave without her."

"Becca, take Ellie and go!"

"What?! No, Ryan, I won't leave you! I can't!"

"You can, and you must! Now go! Just remember that I love you!"

"Ryan... I love you, too."

"No, wait- Daddy! Come back!"

Ellie screamed the last part out loud, bringing her back to her senses. The man who had just spoken was the man who had made her father leave, almost fourteen years ago. The man had attacked Ryan Mason and made him fall to the ground, while the three year old Ellie reached one tiny hand out to him from her mother's shoulder as they fled. Ryan had looked back, winked and smiled at her before tackling the strange hooded man, and that was the last Ellie had seen of her father.

Robert was trembling with rage as the man neared the friends. His hood was down, and she could now see his cold blue eyes, like ice chips, and his white-blond shoulder length hair. He was smiling evilly. "Well, well, it would appear I have found my quarry. Unfortunately, there seems to be something in my way." The accent in his voice was an unfamiliar one, and it almost made her scream again. She was beginning to have more flashbacks, and the room was spinning around her as she tried to remain conscious. "Whatever shall I do?" He laughed and leaned against a bookcase.

Robert turned around and shook Ellie's shoulders roughly, clearing her head. "Listen, Mason, you've got to get out of here. I don't know where, but you've got to run while I hold him off. This guy isn't someone for you to mess with."

"But-" Ellie looked into Robert's deep blue eyes and saw the panic and anger that they held. She blinked back a tear and nodded. "Be careful, Robert. You're all I have left."

Robert smiled softly and shoved her backwards. "You too, Mason."

Ellie turned and began to run to the other library door, the one that led to the kitchen. Instead of leaving like Robert had told her to do, however, she merely stopped when she reached the kitchen and listened at the door with bated breath. Robert was muttering something to the blond man, who was laughing.

"What gave you the idea that you could stop me? Boy, you don't know what kind of power you are dealing with. Why don't you join me instead of being another casualty? Especially since your death would be for a meaningless cause. We don't want to hurt your little friend, we only want to use her for a bit, and then she'll be free."

"Psst! Ellie, what are you doing out here, eavesdropping like a common criminal? You should be in there, fighting like the girl you are!" Ellie spun around to confront this new voice, but no one was there. "Hehehe, you aren't gonna find me. I'm your friendly spirit guide. Name's Axel. Got it memorized?" Ellie spun around again, and Axel sighed. "Look, Princess, I'm in your head. No one can hear me but you, because I don't exist anymore."

What?!

"That's right! You're a fast learner. Now, get back in there and fight!"

Ellie suddenly found herself throwing open the door and sprinting back to fight alongside Robert. Her moment of reckless bravery was short-lived, however, because when she rounded the row of bookcases that stood in her way, she saw that Robert was on one knee, and the man was standing over him triumphantly.

Before Ellie could do anything, a vortex appeared in the floor beneath him and he vanished in a purple-black fire. "No! Robert, you can't leave me!" Ellie saw the room spinning around her once more; she collapsed to her knees this time, her eyes shut to steady herself. "ROBERT!"

The stranger was suddenly pulling her up by the elbow, almost dangling her off the floor. She felt the the tip of something jab her in the neck, and opened her eyes to see the blond man yelling something, but she couldn't, or wouldn't, understand what he was saying. She had just lost the last fragments of her broken heart, for Robert was surely dead, as were her parents and her grandmother. A single tear trailed down her cheek, but she didn't notice it. Her whole body was numb and unfeeling. Until the man smacked her face, whipping her head sideways.

"You little wench! You will pay for his escape!!" He pulled her farther off of the floor, taking the pressure off of her neck and grabbing her hair to make her look him in the eyes. "You belong to the Dark Lord now, Princess, and I'm sure he won't mind if I punish you a little first." He dropped her to the floor and looked at her harshly. "You've already become more trouble than you're worth." He kicked out at her leg, but she moved just in time. Her breathing became haggard as she stared at the man with murder in her eyes.

"Well, I am SO sorry to have caused you trouble, sir," she said, her tongue dripping with malice. "You took my father, and my mother, and my grandmother, and now Robert."

"Actually, I had nothing to do with your mother or grandmother, and I certainly didn't want that boy to escape. Someone helped him. Who that someone is, I have no idea." The man's eyes twinkled with amusement.

Ellie stood up and took a step back. "Either way, you helped to tear apart my life, and you will be the one to pay!" A sudden surge of energy flowed through her body; she jumped into the air and threw her arms into the air. An large, ornate blade appeared in her hands. She swung it down to hit the man, but he disappeared. When she landed, she looked around warily. When she didn't find him, she relaxed. Moments later, a portal opened beneath her feet and she fell into darkness.

Khgirl08:Well, then. I'm finally done and ready to post! Who knows when the second chapter will be done? Review, even if you absolutely hated it, because I still want to know! 'Til next time!