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A/N: Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "ANOTHER CHAPTER?! ALREADY?! She hasn't written this much since she started this thing!" Be thankful.

This chapter starts rather more suddenly than I wanted it to, and the plot developes REALLY fast after that. Even so, this was a LOT of fun to write and once I started, I couldn't stop. So yay! Don't forget to stop by NekoKingdomHeart for all your KTTK needs. And drink HEALTH DRINK!! For MANLY men like HARRY MASON!! YEAAAAA!! ...Okay, gotta stop staying up so late on weekends. It messes up my mind.

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Chapter 15: Nobody's Kingdom

The dog had had enough. Arthur gave a howl and wriggled free of Mia’s grip, leaping off into the bushes with his tail between his legs. Mia stood and prepared to make chase, but Halo grabbed Mia’s shoulder.

“Wait,” the young woman said softly. “He’s sensed something worse than us. If you go after him, you might get hurt.”

“How do you know?” Mia asked.

“Because he thought so,” Halo replied. “Animal’s thoughts are harder to understand than a human’s, but they have them, just like every living being.”

“Halo was always unusually gifted with psychic abilities,” Alucard explained, letting out a bark of laughter. “But worse than us? What could possibly be--?”

Again, Arthur howled, this time from somewhere more distant, but the sound was cut short quite suddenly. Loud cries of crows filled the air as they took flight from their roosts in a distant part of the forest.

“That sounded unpleasant,” Alucard noted calmly.

Mia turned on Alucard. “Come on! You have to help me find him!”

“Why? It’s just a dog.”

Halo ignored her father. “I’ll help. Your dog loves you, Mia.” She jumped. “Oh, sorry… You never introduced yourself, did you? I may have powers, but I try not to pry into people’s thoughts… It’s just sometimes things slip through…”

Mia shook her head. “I don’t care right now… Just please help me find my dog.”

Halo nodded and patted Mia’s shoulder. “Father…”

“Ugh. Fine. We’ll find the stupid mutt. I suppose I can’t refuse, can I?”



It didn’t take as long as Mia had expected to find Arthur, nor was it quite as bad as she thought it would be when she got there.

He was lying underneath an old oak tree, curled up and panting, right front leg sticking out at a strange angle.

“His leg’s broken,” Halo breathed, kneeling next to the dog and unzipping her sleeveless hoodie to reveal the turquoise tank top she was wearing. “Get me a twig or something. I’ll put a splint on it.”

“Hurry, Helen,” Alucard urged as Mia searched around in the dirt for a stick of proper sturdiness and length. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

Halo ripped the bottom of the tank top into a long ribbon. Mia looked over and spotted a stick that would probably do. She reached for it.

A black boot came down on the stick and snapped it in half.

Mia swallowed and looked up.

Standing over her was a tall man with long, straight, electric blue hair. His narrow eyes were yellow as a cat’s, and gave off an undeniable aura of cruelty and heartlessness that she had never seen on anyone else. An X-shaped scar ran across the center of his face, making him look even more annoyed. He was dressed the same way that Roxas was.

Mia backed up practically into Halo, trying to get away from the man who she knew by his dress was not a man at all but a Nobody--a Nobody from Organization XIII. Arthur snarled loudly and Alucard drew his gigantic pistol.

“Tell your pet to put the gun away,” sneered the Nobody.

“Pet?” Alucard repeated with a snarl. “Watch your words.”

Mia shivered. She didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire between these two. She wanted to flee, but she was frozen in fear of this guy. Her head roared with the same terrible sound that she had heard when her world had been destroyed.

A hand gripped Mia’s shoulder. It was Halo’s.

The blue-haired man’s eyes remained fixed on Mia. “I am Saïx,” he said. “Roxas told me about you… crybaby.”

Anger flared up in Mia’s chest and she sprang to her feet. “I’m not a crybaby!” she lied loudly, stomping her foot. “My name is Mia! And you can tell Roxas that when I see him next he’s going to regret even thought about coming to my world!”

The Nobody’s expression didn’t change, but she got the sense that he was smirking inside. “So… Rage is the key that unlocks your courage…” he mused. “Just like your key to unlock Kingdom Hearts… You would do well to remember that in the future.”

“What are you doing giving me advice?” Mia asked, a little thrown. “You freaks want to turn me into something like you! You just want me to get into Kingdom Hearts for you so you can… can…”

“Can what?” Saïx asked passively. “What all have your so-called friends at Radiant Gardens told you? What is Kingdom Hearts, and why does the Organization want in?”

Mia stared. She felt so stupid. These were questions she should have thought of before, but hadn’t. Why hadn’t she asked Leon these things when she had last seen him? Why hadn’t she asked Cid?

More importantly, why did she even have to ask at all? Why had Leon, Yuffie, Tifa, Yuko, Aerith, Vincent, and Cid left this gaping hole in her knowledge of her mission? Why was she going to learn this from… him?

“What is this thing on about?” Alucard asked, no doubt sensing Saïx’s lack of heartbeat.

“Perhaps you should be the one watching your words, abomination,” Saïx snarled in response, gold eyes flashing threateningly.

“Alucard, please, this is important,” Mia whispered.

The Nobody seemed to calm some. “I wonder, will she have an open mind…? How like that little brat Sora will she be…? Can she possibly understand a Nobody’s only wish…?” He paused. “Perhaps. So I will tell you.” Slowly, lifted his hand and pressed it flat against his chest. “All a Nobody truly desires… is to become whole.”

Mia blinked. “Whole?” she repeated.

“A Nobody is only the lingering body of a person,” Saïx explained, speaking almost as if reciting poetry. “Our hearts stolen away, all we are is half the person we were once. Our goal--the only thing we’re working towards--is the return of these hearts, taken by the Heartless. We are victims, child, just as you and your friends and family are.”

These words were spoken earnestly. His face was, for the most part, blank, but there was a sort of faint pain in his eyes. Just enough to make the statement believable, but not as much as someone with a heart would have.

“So… what does Kingdom Hearts have to do with it?” Mia asked.

“A Heartless’ eternal quest is to steal the hearts of others, and so make more Heartless,” the blue-haired man continued. “They are like a virus--blindly collecting hearts, neither knowing nor caring for the power of what they have. When a Heartless is destroyed, all the hearts they have obtained are released. These released hearts gather together, instinctively clinging to one another to protection, forming together into the magnificent citadel that we call Kingdom Hearts.” He extended his hands to her in a pleading gesture. “Mia… that is your name, correct? Have pity on us. Our hearts are there, in the Kingdom… We would become human again. That is all we truly want. Not to harm anyone, not to control the universe, not to become immortal, but to return to our former selves. We need your key to unlock our Kingdom Hearts… And yours.” His eyes slid down to Halo, who still knelt next to Arthur.

Mia and Alucard looked around at Halo and stared. “Mia, what’s he talking about?” Halo asked nervously.

“Her power has yet to awaken,” Saïx said to Mia, “but it is still potent. She will realize her destiny soon enough.”

Alucard frowned and looked around. “I don’t quite know what all of that means, and I don’t rightly care. However, I do know this… What you said just earlier, about not wanting to hurt anybody, was nothing but bullshit.”

There was a silence.

“You irk me,” Saïx sighed, as if dealing with a tenacious kid. “Allow me to clarify, then: I do not wish to hurt anyone, but if you resist, I will. Gladly. But don’t you have more important things to do than picking at my semantics? For example… saving your most beloved daughter?”

Alucard cocked his head. “Nicole…?”

“Yes. Axel should be dealing with her as we speak. And since she is the third… I suppose this presents a hard choice for Mia.”

Mia shivered. Neko and Halo were keyblade masters. If Axel was another Organization member, then… “Alucard!” Mia shouted. “You have to go help Neko!”

“So, they have succeeded in brainwashing you as they did Sora before you,” the Nobody sighed heavily. “What a pity.”

Alucard looked at Mia. “He intends to kill you. I cannot leave now.”

“That’s an order!” Mia barked. “GO RESCUE NICOLE, NOW!!”

Without further hesitation, the vampire dissolved into a huge flock of bats. Screeching, they milled about the area for a bit before blasting through the canopy as a group, leaving a hole through which the full moon shone brightly, casting a silver glow onto the Nobody.

“What the hell is going on?” Halo asked, standing.

“I’ll explain later,” Mia said, summoning her keyblade. “Or… you have my permission to read my mind and find out.”

The Nobody’s hand moved out to his side. “I fear she won’t have time for that.” Blue flame shot from his hand, forming into a huge blue blade.

Arthur stumbled to his feet but fell again with a whimper. Mia glanced at him, concerned. “Got any powers that would help?” Mia asked Halo, beginning to back away as Saïx began his approach.

“You’re the one with the… thing! What is that?” Halo said, backing off as well.

“My keyblade? Are you kidding? I suck… But you’re a vampire, aren’t you!”

“I’m psychic, not strong!”

“Great. So… uh, plan. When I say run, run. Run!”

The two girls turned tail and fled into the trees. Saïx chuckled and unhurriedly gave chase.