Just for the record, Birth by Sleep is awesome for just being so damn good with linking the past to the present. I want to personally shake the hands of every member of the story-writing board or group or whatever they're called. Props to them, lots of props.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH HEEEEEEEEELP MEEEEEEEEEE!"

Demyx's loud cry for help started to fade after a couple of seconds. I shook my head to snap my mind back into focus over what had just happened. Looking around my previous guess was right, I found myself alone on the floor of a one-person bedroom. There was a single bed, nightstand, lamp, study desk, chair, bookshelf and what I recognized as a couple of music stands with sheet music scattered on the floor. Everything was in the shade of white or grey, not very colorful. I pulled myself off the grey rug and stood up.

"Just where am I?" I spoke to myself. I occasionally thought out loud. "And why did I just see Demyx with pancakes?"

My mental scratching was interrupted as I heard the door creak open slowly. My head turned and I saw a thin pointed white cone stretch into the doorway. Three more cones followed, opening the door wider with a hissing sound behind the door. Before I knew it, 4 lesser Nobodies had elegantly and quickly made their way into the room and had surrounded me on all sides. A couple of more old gears turned in my head to help me realize who or rather what had just surrounded me.

'Dusks?"

They all stood in place, slightly bouncing up and down with their zippered mouths and lithe limbs. These guys were tall, taller than the shadows at least. Their height was closest to my younger sisters who were just above five feet. My sense of scale for these video game enemies was again being challenged for the worse. My body tensed. Recent memories of battling Heartless in a less than elegant fashion made me nervous. If shadows were a challenge for me to handle, then how was I supposed to walk away from these things?

Something made me extend my left arm forward and with a flash of light the keyblade from before reappeared in my hands. I guessed my 'stay-alive' instinct made me move and I quietly thanked it for arming me. I gripped the handle tight with both hands and instinctively held it upright, pointing slightly forward. Back on Earth during mock-battles years ago I wanted to be the awesome looking kid who held his sword differently but growing up (or lack thereof since my friends and I still played with lightsabers for fun) I ditched the flair for practicality. These Dusks weren't my fellow padawans though, so a hit wouldn't be so easy to walk away from. I waited for them to make the first move, gulping down air and saliva in nervous anticipation. But oddly enough nobody moved, no pun intended. An eerie quiet dominated the room, not counting the various noises the Dusks were making. Were they communicating? Waiting? I found myself staring at the Dusk right in front of me. It swayed left to right slowly. It was almost hypnotic.

"I see no intruder"

My eyes went wide and I took a step back. It was almost the same thing as with the female disembodied voice, before I could actually hear her. I couldn't hear the Dusk speak but I could understand what it was saying, the words appearing in my head somehow. I took another step back, looking over my shoulder as to check if the one behind me was any closer.

"Stupid Demyx and his false alarms"

"Useless"

"He always eats all the fruit snacks too"

"And he always leaves only the grape flavored ones! I hate grape!"

They all started to twitch erratically with their zippered mouths opening before jumping into the air and wriggling out the open doorway. I stared blankly at their exit. That had left me all alone to once again to process exactly what just happened. My right eye gave a bit of a twitch but I shook my head to snap myself back to the moment. I gave a sigh of relief. I supposed not being attacked is always a positive aspect of any situation.

"Jeez…what the hell is going on here? My head hurts from all this" I muttered. I brought my keyblade closer to my eyes so I could get a better look at it. The Nobody themed weapon puzzled me. I really had no idea as to why I had it, other than the disembodied female voice somehow gave it to me. I mean it looked nice and having a weapon was good in all this madness but I still had questions. In an instant the keyblade disappeared from my hand in a quick flash of light. I didn't mean to put it away just yet but then again I didn't exactly know how I would've done that so I shrugged my shoulders and accepted it.

My main concern at the moment was figuring out where exactly I ended up from that not-so smooth trip. Putting two and two together from the run in with Demyx, I guessed I was in his room. I started to scavenge his room for clues as to where I was. I couldn't find anything amid his scattered sheet music. The desk was clean and his book collection consisted of what seemed to be music theory and oddly enough, various baking cookbooks. My eyes wandered over to the bed and I saw a pair of large drapes hanging beside it covering what I guessed to be a matching big window. I pulled the drapes apart and I was met with a black and azure colored night sky with…a giant heart shaped moon glowing in the distance. My jaw slightly unhinged and dropped open at the ominous moon floating out in space. Looking down I saw a white void that seemed to have no ending in a deep crater. In the sides of the window I could make out the dark outlines of buildings in the distance while white and grey towers were situated closer to me. More gears turned.

"The Castle That Never Was" I whispered, in a soft breath that left me speechless. Two and two had again smashed together to help me realize that I was just dropped in the stronghold of Organization XIII. That disembodied female voice just gained another question to her name.

"Well well, what's this? I never expected Demyx to actually have been right for once"

My eyes darted to the doorway. In its frame stood a man dressed in a familiar black coat with the hood down. The eye patch over his right eye and scar under his left eye stretching across his left cheek kicked my mind into high gear.

"Xigbar!" I gasped. The Freeshooter raised an eyebrow while giving a chuckle.

"Whoa, the intruder knows my name? Props to you for doing your homework but I'm late for my daily target practice so let's make this quick"

With a flick of his wrists his weapons appeared with a purple flash, his arrowguns automatically loading their ammunition. I saw a smile slowly creep across his face.

"Or" he paused. "Maybe you could substitute for my poor Snipers today. Those guys don't take too kindly to headshots so I wonder how you'll do" Another flick of the wrist and I instantly felt a sharp pain pierce my right arm, the force slamming my body against the window. I screamed in pain as I gripped the burning spot on my arm, a too familiar warm liquid dripping from my elbow. I could barely open my eyes as I saw Xigbar eye his weapons curiously.

"Hey that's not right. I wanted a headshot right off the bat. Am I off today?" he questioned himself. Giving a sigh he gave his weapons a twirl in his fingers before redirecting them towards me. "Alright that first one was a giveaway my man. I know you won't be feeling anything after this one"

Time seemed to slow down for me. I heard him pull the triggers this time and I could see the two light red projectiles rushing towards me. I willed my body to dive out of the way to attempt to dodge but in the first second of him firing my body wouldn't budge. Two more seconds and my body still didn't want to cooperate. The arrows were halfway from their mark and I kept screaming at my body mentally to move but nothing in me responded. Fear sank deeply into me heart as it was facing its death.

'Why in the hell can't I move? I'm about to be shot to death here!'

They were a yard away from my face when I felt my left hand open and relax. I felt it being slowly being guided away from my arm and outward towards the incoming arrows. It was as if I had strings tied to me and somebody or something was literally pulling my body to move. There was barely half a yard of space between me and the arrows with only my hand in-between the two. Slowly but surely time began to pick up the pace to its normal standard for me. There was a warm rushing feeling that flowed from my heart to my hand. The same flash of light began to radiate from my palm and suddenly time was flowing normally again. The sound of metal hitting metal sounded twice, followed by the sound of a Nobody groaning in pain and a window breaking. A cool breeze blew into my neck that made my body shiver a little. My mind slowly started to cooperate with my eyes as I saw Xigbar kneeling down clutching his left leg, his head down facing the ground.

"I see you're pretty fancy kid" he said through gritted teeth. "You do your homework and you don't go down so quickly. Got any other surprises up your sleeve?"

I flew over a potential pop-culture reference in my head that related to what he said but I quickly dismissed the thought as the soreness of my wound came back into my nerves. Gritting my teeth to bear the pain wasn't doing much for me I painfully accepted. My hand gripped around my keyblade handle that once again appeared out of the blue to save my skin. I was starting to become fond of its knack for appearing when I really needed it.

'Though I wish I could've gone without being shot'

I think its best that you jump now

I was startled when a worried, soft sounding female voice rang through my head. It wasn't the same voice from before, no this one was younger. Not too younger though, I was sure there wasn't a preteen in my head but at least a teen of some good age.

'Wait a minute, you're not the same voice from before? Who are-'

I don't think questions are the best way to save ourselves right now. He isn't going to let a bullet wound to the leg keep him down forever

My attention focused back on Xigbar. His breathing didn't sound labored by any means and he was beginning to pull himself back up. I looked out to the window and saw the fairly high two-story drop to the next available spot of solid ground. I gulped in nervousness, me always having a nagging fear of heights, before looking back at the Freeshooter and his weapons in hand. A couple of bruises versus multiple bullet wounds in various places? My choice was clear but I looked out the window feeling apprehensive. In the back of my mind I knew in theory all I had to do was bend my knees or roll forward upon landing to avoid shattering bones but that was all in my head. I was starting to feel sick.

Just remember to go feet first and I'll handle the rest

She answered my worried feelings directly. The cold night air continued to occasionally roll into the open window, sending a chill through me. I took a deep breath. I did have a better chance of surviving the fall than facing Xigbar myself.

'How'll you handle the rest exactly?'

Just trust me, please

There was a small pause before she spoke. I could hear confident determination in her tone, even though she was speaking quietly. I nodded my head.

"Okay, no more messing around. This time I'm not missing my mark!"

I turned around to see Xigbar standing. With a quick move he seemed to mash one gunarrow into the other one and held them together like a rifle, aiming down the sights. Quickly I gripped the bottom part of the window that had no broken glass left and swung my legs out. The rest of my body followed and I felt the cool air surround me as a small 'click' was heard behind me. The ground was rapidly approaching and my heart started to race. My keyblade disappeared as I heard a small laugh in my head.

You shouldn't worry so much

The familiarity of her words combined with her humorous tone that sent a wave of warmth through me. The next moment seemed to flow seamlessly, like clockwork. I felt the my feet hit the ground but my body hunched over to ball itself up, leaning forward and rolling twice before I stood straight up effortlessly. My mind was blank in wondering how I pulled that off without a hitch. Also I was surprised to find that a soft smile had made its way onto my face. The happiness was cut short when my mind snapped back to the wound in my arm. It continued to shamelessly and painfully make itself known to me. I'd never been shot before but this wasn't making the experience any more pleasant that I thought it would have been. My head started to feel light and my body swayed a little before I shook myself back to normal. It was still bleeding, drops dripping from my elbow.

'I don't suppose you can help me clean this up?'

There is one way. I think you'll be familiar with it

'Please, I'm all ears'

Say 'Cure!'

I rapidly blinked twice at those words in disbelief. "Say again?" I slowly asked. The swaying had come back and the blood loss was starting to show its toll.

I'm serious! Hurry we're not safe yet!

I straightened myself back up as best I could, almost tripping in the process. There was a giggle in my head but I ignored it. I placed my hand back on the wound and took a deep breath in.

"Cure"

Another warm rush started to flow from my heart through the arm I was using to heal. I could see it glow slightly yellow-green. There were also a few green leaves that had somehow appeared and were falling down on me. Two seconds later and the pain subsided to a minor soreness. Once the glow faded I removed my hand to see that the bleeding had stopped, the skin looking unscathed. I gave a sigh of relief and thankfulness.

'Thanks for that, I really owe you one'

You're welcome. It's the least I can do for both of u-Dive!

I didn't catch her last words but my body ended up flinging itself forward down the walkway. I heard three metallic objects hit the floor followed by small explosions. Sitting up I saw Xigbar with his faux rifle in hand, his feet planted sideways on the far wall.

"As if I'm going to just let you waltz right on out of here!" he shouted while reloading his weapon. "Deflecting my own attack, not very cool of you man. Time to pay you back in full!"

I scrambled to my feet and ran down the ramp, trying to run in zig-zags to make myself a difficult target. The idea of confusing the Freeshooter would've not had much of a chance for others but if Sora, or at least my controller could make him do it when I should be able too.

Just keep running, I'll tell you where to go

I was about to mentally and vocally shout out my concern about how she would know her way. At this point however, the fact that she somehow helped me avoid bleeding out and breaking bones had me silence myself. She seemed to understand my silence as consent as the arrows kept raining fast behind me.

I feel that this one was a bit shorter than what I usually update with but c'est la vie. Review please!