Chapter One

A/n: This is going to be a kinda longfirst chapter, just a warning. The title, Let it Bleed, is subject to change. Still, I think it works. I swore I would never start another story while trying to finish another (oh, wait, two others), but I'm doing it again. Just noting that this is my second class citizen story.

Like my first Kingdom Hearts story for my one series, I have no plot for this. xD' It starts off with a girl named Katalin who is a Junior in High school that is struggling to decide her academic future. In the meantime, during the weekend, she goes out with her uncle and discovers her true fate in the middle of a forest at night.

Don't want to spoil anything, so just trust me that this will be good (but maybe not as good as my Two-sided heart series.)

'This poison's my intoxication

Broke the needle off in my skin.

Pick the scabs and pick the bleeding;

assumed that it was all in vain.'

-"Let it Bleed" by the Used

The thought had not struck her for a good year. Now that it was in her head, she felt immensely guilty. Her grandfather had always been so proud of her, and he always wanted to see her "do great things."

Well, he hadn't even made it to her graduation, she thought sourly as she cast her eyes past the glass and into the traffic jam. She was a Junior in high school, and he hadn't even made it through her Freshman year.

Wait, she sounded bitter. Maybe she was.

Ever since he had died, she hadn't felt the inspiration to do well in school. Freshman year had passed with good grades. Sophomore year, well... That was a time she wasn't fond of speaking of. Now at the tail end of her Junior year, she'd consider herself lucky if she passed Advanced Algebra.

"Why did this sub think that it's a good idea to take the extremely long way?" demanded the girl sitting directly beside her. This girl was tall and skinny and her long, wavy brunet hair fell all the way down her back. Her light green eyes were narrowed in agitation.

The first girl pushed her dirty blond hair away from her face. It was hot. Although she lived in a four season town, the seasons seemed to have settled into only two seasons now: Winter and Summer. The beginning of spring started off colder than winter and ended warmer than summer. Sometimes, if they were lucky, there would be a few average Spring days in between.

If they were lucky. Now, in the middle of May, the dirty blond and black streaked hair was sticking to her face and neck. And, as the girl beside her had said, the substitute bus driver had decided to take the longest route possible to their homes.

"Talk about annoying," agreed the blond without real heat as she sat up and further pushed one earphone into her ear. The Almost was blasting in her left ear, while her right stay clear in order to hear the brunette's words.

"Katalin," the brunette began, as if she were surprised to hear the blonde had been listening, "are you ready for school to end?"

'As if she even has to ask,' thought the blonde with a grim smile that only succeeded in perplexing the brunette. "Are you kidding me? ACTs finished, all learning done... If it weren't for the finals, I would just leave school right now, Larisa," theatrically sighed Katalin.

Larisa grinned, revealing perfect, pearly white teeth. Katalin found herself briefly jealous for she knew that Larisa never had to wear braces unlike herself. "I know how you feel, but we'll be seniors soon."

Another sigh from Katalin. "I don't even want to think about being seniors; I just want summer to come and quickly." 'Besides,' a small voice in the back of her mind began, 'What do I do once I graduate?'

Such thoughts had often been a struggle for Katalin. As a child, she had wanted to have numerous careers: writer, artist, musician, and, her favorite, ice cream man. Now with all the pressure on, she had not a clue.

Katalin slipped further down into her seat, just in time to be sucked to the floor as the bus driver sped up while making a turn. Larisa all but fell on top of her until the bus driver obviously realized that driving fast around curves wasn't too clever of an idea.

"Do they just give licenses to anyone?!" growled Larisa as she and Katalin pushed themselves back up. "I'm getting off on the first stop," she added.

"Oh, sure, punish me for the sub's lack of a brain. That's fine," drawled Katalin as she shook her iPod nano. The song that it switched to was, oddly enough, "The Night" by Disturbed. She only wished that the sun would go down and make her cooler.

After Larisa, as promised, departed the bus on the first stop, Katalin put the other headphone into her ear and allowed herself to close her eyes and drift.

XxxxxX

As she had hoped, she was transferred to a cool, dark place; it was not a place that she recognized. In fact, she had to blink to make sure the place was real. It was quite the strange place.

Katalin stood (for, some strange reason, she'd been laying on the cool glass platform) and hanged her earphones around her neck with the music still blasting. She ignored the foreboding feeling that the song that was playing, "Alexithyma" by Anberlin, gave the dark area.

The glass platform that she had appeared on was undoubtedly strange. She walked to the center to get a closer examination.

XxxxxX

Katalin was shaken awake by somewhat of a familiar face. A freshman who was the best friend of one of her friends was staring hard at her. "You were flailing in your sleep," he stated unnecessarily. "Were you having a hot dream about me or Nick?" Half of a perverted smile was on his face, that much Katalin could tell with her blurry eyes.

She pushed him away and sat up. "'Somewhere far along this road, he lost his soul to a woman so--'" Katalin turned off her iPod as one of Kanye West's songs started up. "Nope, not you, not Nick. So sorry," she added with a cruel smile at his slightly crestfallen face.

"Whatever. I was just trying to be nice... isn't your stop coming up?" The both of them ducked into the center of the aisle and stared through the bus's rather dirty windshield. Sure enough, they were coming up to the corner of Woodbury Road and Pauline Avenue.

Katalin maybe, maybe owed him for waking her up in time. And probably owed him for waking her from that crazy dream. Part of her was still curious what had been about to happen, though... "Thanks, Brian," she managed to murmur as the bus stopped at the corner.

The freshman beamed. "Anytime, baby."

"Not in your life, Brian," responded Katalin just as quickly as she stood up and disembarked from the bus.

XxxxxX

The dream had decided not to let her off so easily, she noticed. After dinner later that night, she decided to head off to bed. Almost immediately she fell asleep.

When her eyes slid closed, the dream picked up from where it had left off.

XxxxxX

The next morning, Katalin was shaken awake by her uncle. It was a form of being awoken that, she decided, was not suitable to her tastes. Her uncle was an extremely tall man, past six feet, and was donning his Pittsburgh Penguins hat and blue sunglasses. 'What did I miss?' wondered Katalin as her eyes were cast to her iPod dock. The numbers: 9:00 were flashing.

"What's up?" Her groggy voice didn't carry very far, so it was fortunate that her Uncle was hovering over her.

"We're going to breakfast, then we're going to the Nature Center, so get dressed," he announced with a large smile. Without acknowledging her protests, he left the room.

XxxxxX

Breakfast passed by slow enough, and Katalin wasn't make things go by any faster by picking at her food. Her dreams continued to confuse her, and, as a result, her appetite had been lost somewhere in between.

As if God himself was listening, she got a break.

"I'm sorry, everyone," a tall man wearing a nice white shirt and tie spoke from the center of the room. Katalin's eye sight wasn't perfect (that much was shown by the fact that she was wearing contacts), but she managed to squint and be able to read the man's tag: it said that he was the manager. "But we're going to have to close down." The manager was obviously distressed, losing a day's work.

Katalin's uncle demanded, "Why?"

With an apologetic glance sent his way, the manager replied, "One of my cooks discovered a large, black bug in the kitchen. We're going to have to have the restaurant inspected and sprayed."

Said cook was sitting off to the side whimpering. "It was so big. I used to live in New York and never saw anything that big. Those antennae," whined the woman as some nearby coworkers tried to calm her down.

Uncle glanced quickly at Katalin. "I guess we'll get headed over to the center now. It's a long drive, so we might want to get something on the way."

XxxxxX

Having finished his food, Uncle didn't want anything when they stopped at a McDonald's but insisted that Katalin have something. Her eyes quickly scanned the menu from her passenger seat. "I guess I'll have one of the salads..."

"Which one?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

Katalin waved him off. "I don't care, whatever, let's just get out of here."

(A/n: Just semi comic relief... because it's necessary. xD)

An hour or so passed until they arrived at the Nature Center located in a not-so-nearby city. It was, of course, located in the suburbs of said city.

Her uncle slowed down as they came to each speed bump, slowing the car down to fifteen miles per hour when no bump was in sight. They passed the gates; Katalin vaguely noted the closing time.

When they pulled into a parking spot, her uncle looked her up and down before noting, "We're going to wish we brought you bug spray."

Quickly, she looked herself over. She was dressed in jean capris that barely reached her knees and the spaghetti strap black top that ended at the middle of her thighs. A peace of quartz in the shape of a heart hung from the chain around her neck. "It's only spring, how bad can the mosquitos be?"

XxxxxX

Katalin found out "how bad" just a minute after stepping out of the car. By the time they'd settled further into the forest surrounding the center a few hours later, she grew accustomed to the feeling of bugs sucking her blood.

The loud slap of skin on bare skin alerted Uncle that she had yet to resist the advances of the blood-sucking insects. He chuckled as he stopped on the middle of a fallen tree and glanced back. "I suppose we should head back?"

Her body was covered in numerous red blotches from her shoulders all the way down to her ankles. "Maybe," she replied without amusement as her uncle turned back and walked toward her. The sun was still bright despite the fact that it was closing in on the ground. At least, that's what Katalin assumed since she couldn't see much through the thick trees.

Just as soon as he touched down on the ground before her, he cried out, "Watch it, Kat!" She turned on her heel quickly to see what wild animal was behind her.

There wasn't a wild animal.

As the chef from the pancake house described this morning, there was a big black bug with antennae standing just a foot or so from her. Its eyes were the size and color of tennis balls. Katalin took an automatic step back and walked right into her uncle.

The two of them tumbled past the fallen tree and into the small pit below. "Oh, God, I'm so sorry," groaned Katalin as she quickly pulled herself up and offered a hand to help him up. He took it and stood, towering over her. "What was that thing?"

"Maybe some undiscovered type of rat? Who knows. Let's hurry up and get out of here; I didn't like the look of its claws."

She silently agreed with him, but getting out of the pit wouldn't be as easy as getting in. Uncle gave her a boost onto his shoulders and back onto the ground above.

More of the bugs had joined the other. "We better hurry, there are even more!" 'For bugs/rats, they sure act like wolves or coyotes. They join in packs to hunt their... prey? Is that what we are?' Katalin huffed at the idea of being a prey to any bug other than a bee. For those, she sprinted off like no other.

Uncle climbed back up just in time to see more black bugs join the others. They scampered in from far away.

Small black and tar-like holes were around them, causing Katalin to wonder if they had poison dripping from their mouths or something.

This was not the case: more of the insects climbed out of these holes.

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph," whispered Katalin as larger versions of the insects clawed out of the holes.

"This is like something out of a bad sci-fi movie," murmured Uncle as he briefly grasped Katalin's shoulders and pulled her further away from the bugs. "They don't look very fast; we can probably outrun them. Go, Katalin," he pushed her, "Go!"

Katalin tripped slightly and ran right past the insects. She stopped several feet later when she realized that she couldn't hear another set of feet breaking twigs. Whirling around, she found her uncle trying to prevent the bugs from following her by brandishing a large tree branch. "Back off!" He snarled at them as he swatted.

"Uncle, stop, you don't know what they're capable of!" screamed Katalin as she ran back toward her father figure. She had never, in her memory, been so frightened in her life. Her legs felt weak as she ran back toward the insects.

She would gain no satisfaction out of knowing that she had been right; neither of them did know what the bugs were capable of. Until that instant.

One of the larger ones with long antennae that curled down its back dove into one of the sticky-looking holes. In the same breath, it reappeared behind Katalin's Uncle.

"Look out, Uncle! Turn around!" she screamed louder than before. The other insects looked toward her as did her uncle.

That was the funny thing about telling someone to "look out": they almost always turned towards you. And as her uncle looked at her, the large insect dug its claws into his back, causing blood to soak through his shirt. The insect plunged its claw into Uncle's back the next time, causing a horrified whimper to escape Katalin's mouth.

What it drew out was not a heart like the ones that students were made to dissect in Anatomy class. It looked like the hearts that children drew, and it was very pink. A second later, her uncle ceased to be. His body disappeared and the hat dropped off of his head.

Another black bug replaced him, but she tried not to look at it. Her feet automatically threw her forward, and she grabbed the fallen hat. Before any of the insects could attack her, she turned tail and ran.

Katalin dimly noticed that tears were sort of burning her eyes and spilling down her cheeks, but she never screamed. She was too surprised to scream. Maybe she didn't understand enough to scream.

The sun was getting too low in the sky; she could tell by the warm colors that were being cast around the forest. For the life of her, she couldn't remember from which way they'd come.

Masses of mosquitos were clinging to her skin and sucking her blood, but she didn't care. 'Th-that bug k-killed him.' It was the only thought running through her mind as she tripped over tree roots and rocks.

Wolf howls were beginning to echo in the air. For the first time in her life, Katalin found herself wishing that the animals had spotted a deer instead of her.

Fifteen minutes later, she bumped into a fence. It was a fence, she knew, to prevent wild animals like wolves from getting out at night when they were on the hunt. As she came to the locked gate, she wondered if they did the same for drunk teenagers that came into the forest with beers late at night.

She banged on the gate. "Hello, I'm still in here! Please, isn't anyone out there?!" No one responded to her screams; she was on her own. Her eyes quickly looked over the gate. Barbed wire sat at the top of the fence. These people meant business.

It was better to get torn apart by wire than being ripped to pieces by wolves and big black insects. Katalin couldn't force her large white Volatile shoes to even cling to the fencing. All the better for her, she supposed. She quickly unlaced them and hurled them over the fence before digging her toes into the holes between the fencing.

More of the black holes were appearing around her. Katalin climbed faster. She made it to the top of the fence and, while biting her lip, placed her hands on the wire. Blood dripped freely down her hands and dabbed the wire. Even more mosquitos rushed in around her to get in on the action.

While still biting her lip (and drawing blood from it, too), she put one foot to the top of the fence then the other. Red began to color her white socks. Finally, she hurled herself over the top of the fence, with the wire somewhat ripping her jean capris.

The bugs on the other side of the fence could not simply walk through it, Katalin noticed with some relief. She pulled her shoes back on and took off for the car before the bugs climbed under. Or did whatever it was they did.

More bugs were waiting for prey in the parking lot. About twenty of them had to be twitching around the lot. 'I don't have the car keys,' recalled Katalin with horror, 'Uncle had them.'

Walking into the parking lot would be asking for death anyway. Or maybe a fate worse than death, she wasn't really sure.

She took off in the direction of the river. Why? She had no clue, just out of instinct.

The lights in the Nature Center's building were off and there was no car in the parking lot aside from her uncle's.

Now she was heading to her watery grave. 'It's better than getting killed off by those bugs. Maybe I'll get eaten to death by mosquitos.'

As she closed in on the fence before the river, more of the insects appeared. By this moment, she had stopped becoming surprised with each new wave of the bugs. In fact, she resigned to the fact that they were going to kill her.

At least they'd kill her near one of her favorite sights.

She closed her eyes as the group of bugs came toward her. Katalin could hear the way their claws ripped up the grass and padded against the dirt.

The bugs never got to her. There was a short flashing noise and an abrupt weight in her right hand.

Her eyes slowly reopened. A large, key-shaped object was now being grasped by her fingers. Even in the dark, she could see the lack of bugs around her. 'This key drove away those monsters...? I don't get it.'

The key looked like a weapon, a very able weapon, at that. Red and white roses covered the key. The hilt was the shape of a rose's head and the teeth were shaped like dangerous thorns.

Something quite large made her lose her footing and tumble over the railing and into the dirty water. A large monster with a heart-like shape on it and a silver hat was standing where Katalin had been. As she plunged into the water, it banged its chest in victory.

She had just gotten this key-thing to help her...

... and now she was going to die.

No matter what, the key refused to leave her hand. She felt more things (definitely not fish with the force that was being exerted) attack her from under the water; Katalin was willing to bet it was more monsters attacking her. For what? She had no clue.

The key and the underwater monsters were dragging her down. She flailed the key in her hands along with her free left hand to no avail. She was being dragged under, under, under.

Her eyes closed as she resigned herself to the fact.

A/n: Please review! Not too much of an action-y first chapter. Well, better than the one in my first KH story, I guess. xD The second chapter's already started and then some, so... when I decide to finish it, it will come on here too.