#Act 1: Forgotten ##Chapter 1: Arrival in the World That Never Was --- *"Hey, newbies! Get up and get ready. The Heartless could be here at any moment."* said the young woman in blue and white clothing. The shadows seemed to be reaching out towards the group almost as if they were living. Then, as if from thin air, three Shadows... no more, more kept coming from the shadow. By the time the shadow receded, eight Shadows were standing in front of the group staring with their bright eyes at the Nobodies. It seemed as if they might pounce at any moment but they never moved from their position and only.. stared. It was as if they were waiting for commands. Gail ran towards the nearest heartless and punched at it.. only for her gauntlets to make contact with a man's hand instead of the body of the Heartless. *"Tsk, tsk girl. Don't you know? You should never pick a fight unless provoked. Then again, that is what you do after all.. pick a fight. You were just itching to kill that poor Shadow. Just hoping that maybe, just maybe, it would the heartless who has your heart. It isn't surprising that you want to be a Whole again. Who doesn't?"* said the figure, an obvious male as one could tell by his broad shoulders, as he lifted Gail and threw her back towards the group. Gail land with a resounding thump which caused dust to rise up in a large cloud.. By the time Gail was standing once more, the male was gone but his voice wasn't. *"Be careful Nobodies, we don't want you dying do we?"* answered the voice of the male. As the voice faded away, the eight Shadows moved towards the group of Nobodies. They acted as one as they slinked slowly across the ground. As if on command, the Shadows leapt towards the group hoping to catch them before they could draw their weapons. Gail was up on her feet before the Shadows had noticed it and managed to punch one as it was falling towards the group. Two Shadows moved as one to attack Gail as the one she punched stood back up and grappled onto her. The other five Shadows moved to attack the others, though tentatively after seeing Gail punch one of them already.

**"The heck is a Heartless?"** Turning her head and eyeing the shadows, Ruko's eyes widened somewhat. She'd had nightmares about monsters before, and considered this to be a sort of disappointment. "They look like little blobs of ink, how am I supposed to be scared of something stupid like that...?" She seemed disappointed, considering this dream to be a dud. At least until she saw one of the people around her, a woman, charge at one planning to strike it down with some cool-looking gauntlet. She considered this to be interesting, and blinked as the woman was stopped by a man that had seemingly came from nowhere. He spouted off some nonsense about being Whole again, and these 'Heartless' possibly having her heart. Which, in her mind, made absolutely no sense whatsoever. As she tilted her head to the left out of confusion, the woman was thrown back with ease, not landing far away from where the girl was standing. Too much to the right and it might have been a bit dangerous. Though that wasn't on Ruko's biggest list of concerns, as the man seemingly disappeared and then commented on them being careful and not dying... After he just tossed one of them. Jerk. She didn't have time to get too irritated about it, though. As the little ink-blobs were getting closer, and seemed to not be friendly. She was momentarily distracted by the woman who punched one, but soon had her own issues as one of them was, in fact, coming strait at her. As she glanced up she let out a gasp of shock as she had nothing to defend herself with; She ended up tripping and falling onto her backside, quickly holding her arms up and clenching her eyes shut. After a second or two of not being dead, she heard a sound. As if it had clawed something, that wasn't her flesh. She opened her eyes and noticed the bat in her hand, and the shadow that had scratched against it before landing on the ground. There was, of course, no time to feel any relief; She quickly stood, gripping the bat tightly in one hand as the shadow approached. _'F-Fair enough, dream. You scared me.'_ She thought to herself, not planning on letting it get away with such a crime. She was quick to take a swing at the shadow, though stumbled as it sank into the ground and went under her, appearing from behind. It lunged at her just as she caught her footing, Ruko glancing back as she put her other hand on the bat before turning on her heel and swinging the bat around, connecting it with the shadow in mid-air. She felt somewhat victorious as it was knocked a fair distance away, but it was short lived as it got back up. "Y'want some more, huh?! C'mere!" She ran after that one individual shadow, angry with it after it managed to scare her. She kept a firm grip on her bat, as she closed the distance between her and the stupid-looking monster. There were more behind her with the other folk, but this one was important to her. She'd ensure it regretted trying to pick a fight with her.

"The Heartless!? Here!?" Sky jumped in surprise. This was not good; had things really gotten so bad that the Heartless had managed to invade _here_ of all places? If this place wasn't safe anymore then was anywhere-'wait...where the hell _am_ I?' Once his initial shock had ended, Sky discovered something unsettling; he had no idea where he even was. 'Okay, not good. So I'm apparently lost. What's the last thing I can remember?' scanning through his memories, he found something even more unsettling; he only had one memory 'why...why is that all I can remember!? The day that...Jin gave me that Rail Cannon" almost as soon as he thought the weapon's name, it suddenly appeared on his arm "Gah!" unprepared for it, the sudden weight pulled him down to the ground...and out of the way of one of the attacking Heartless Acting on instinct, Sky turned around and fired his weapon at the small black creature, blowing it away 'heh, I guess this thing really does work. With the Rail Canon in my hands, the Heartless don't stand a chance.' It was then then he realized yet another thing that he had forgotten 'wait..._just what the hell are the Heartless_!? And why do I want to kill them...aside from right now which would be because they're attacking me. Come to think of it, who's Jin? I know we were...are close, because of my memory...but other then that I got nothing. Also, how the hell did the Rail Cannon appear on my arm, is that one of it's abilities? GAH! I just can't remember!' Getting back up to his feet, another Heartless jumpped at him at him "FUCK YOU!" he cried out as he swatted the lightweight thing away with his cannon

"Heartless? Damn, here I am just wanting five more minutes of sleep." He mumbled lazily as he slowly stood up and yawned. He glanced at the black things, they were watching the group. He was perplexed, were they suppose to be afraid of the black creatures.? Were they suppose to fight the seemingly harmless Shadows? "They look harmless enough, mind if I go back to sleep?" He asked out loud as he looked around. A woman who was wearing a pair of gauntlets was interrupted by mysterious figure who seemed to appear out of thin air when she attempted to attack the Shadows. As the mysterious man began talking, Xeal's chest began to ache. It felt to him as if there was something missing, something integral to his very being. "What the hell, what's going on?" He muttered to himself as the aching began to fade. Xeal felt the ache disappear and be replaced they a heavy weight in his hands. As he looked down towards his upheld palms, he noticed two knives that previously weren't. "That's weird." He said as he looked around at the others. Two of them seemed to have formed weapons quite like Xeal's had while the rest seem to be stunned by the appearance of the black figures. Xeal glanced at the black creatures, Heartless they were called, as one of them danced and jerked about wildly. The Heartless flattened into the ground as if was a real shadow and advanced towards Xeal. As soon as it was in front of Xeal, the Heartless jumped up into his face as it were taunting him. "Holy shit!" Xeal yelled as he swung his blade blindly at the airborne Heartless. The blind swing was a direct hit and sent the shadow flailing backwards until it hit the ground and rolled away. Xeal noticed another shadow jump at him from behind. He spun to slash his blade at the shadow, hitting it directly in the gut. "Okay, let us play some more." He grunted as he readied himself for the shadow's counter attack.

Ellis blinked her eyes open, bringing up a hand to rub the shadows from her mind. Apparently this only gave them life. She looked around to find herself in a lifeless world, save only for a handful of people, and shadows that took a shape of their own and danced in nonexistent wind. _Heartless._ The word echoed in her mind when the others said it. She didn't have time to wonder why the name made sense to her. A shadow had taken advantage of her disoriented state, and leapt onto her back. Needle-point nails dug into her skin and she gritted her teeth. On instinct, she reached behind her to take the shadow on her hands, and flipped it off her back. Its nails dragged along her back and shoulders, tearing at flesh and staining her clothes red as blood leaked from her. As the disoriented shadow tumbled over the ground, Ellis took the opportunity to glance around and take stock of the situation. There were several other people, some fighting shadows, some still getting their bearings. One stood out to her though… the woman in blue fighting three of the beasts. She knew what was going on. She had answers to questions Ellis didn't yet have time to think on. She was drawn out of her thoughts when the shadow regained its footing and pounced on her. In the next moment, there was a new weight in her clenched fist, and her body acted on its own. Taking the double-bladed staff in both her hands, she held it up to block the shadow and threw it back again. The staff cut through the air, spinning and slicing at her unfortunate enemy. The tears on her back stung and pulled, but Ellis had no time to tend them, or ask the blue woman her questions. She'd have to deal with this creature first.

*"Hey, newbies! Get up and get ready. The Heartless could be here at any moment.”* Rhea narrowed her eyes and placed her hand on her hip. *Newbies?* She was standing at the rear of the group, watching the wavering shadows closely. She observed eight small, hunched over creatures with yellow eyes and small antennae materialize from the darkness. They remained stationary, not advancing; their only movements were their subtle twitches. Their lifeless eyes remained locked on them. For a name as menacing as Heartless, these little guys didn’t look too scary. Before anyone had a chance to react, the girl at the head of the group dashed forward, her gauntlet raised, ready to strike. Faster than their eyes could see, however, a man appeared in the woman’s path, his hand effortlessly stopping her punch. The man, whom Rhea didn’t recognize, mentioned something about finding the Heartless that contained her heart, and about becoming Whole again… Her fist unknowingly clenched when she heard this. The man then lifted up the girl and threw her back violently toward the group. Rhea couldn’t help but smirk. *Who’s the newbie now?* she thought. Her snide thinking were cut short, however, when the five Shadows that weren’t on the girl at the head of the group began to charge for the others. Being at the rear, Rhea had enough time to summon her weapon. Calling her weapon forth was something she was still getting used to, but it was becoming more and more like an instinct now, coming to her aid whenever there was danger. The chain attached to her sickle rattled as she grasped it in both of her hands, letting the sickle hand a few inches by it. She twirled it around slowly, watching one Shadow that was approaching her slowly while the others engaged in their own battles. “Why the cold feet, little guy?” she muttered. “Don’t be shy now.” The Shadow took a few more tentative steps toward her, then suddenly sprung up high into the air. Rhea had slightly anticipated such an advance and she swung her sickle upward, knocking the shadow the shadow on its side. The blow wasn’t hard enough to knock it off course, however, and it came down on her, scratching her on her left arm. Biting her tongue and trying to ignore the unusually sharp pain from just a small scratch, Rhea jumped backward defensively then rushed forward at the creature. This time, she held the sickle at its handle and spun herself around, giving the end of chain some momentum before smacking the shadow off to the left. Not stopping the moving chain, she twirled around again and struck the shadow from the top. She then pulled back the chain and held onto it. “You’re a tough guy, huh?” she said, a little out of breath. The scratch on her arm throbbed.

Raita opened his eyes. "Hey, newbies! Get up and get ready. The Heartless could be here at any moment." Still waking up, the dark haired male known as Raita sat up. Sitting on the ground or floor, he looked around at the unfamiliar area. There were others nearby. People he didn't know. Where was he? What was going on? Briefly he remembered something about finding a weapon of some sort. The weapon had seemed like it was almost part of who he was. But he couldn't remember it very clearly. The world around him was moving, something important was going on, but he was still trying to wake up completely. As he eventually began to stand, he noted the strange shadow forms. _What's going on...?_ A mysterious man had appeared and said some words, before leaving. Soon everyone else nearby began to defend themselves from the strange shadow forms. "Heartless" Was that what they were called? Looking around and standing, Raito watched the battles going on nearby and eventually stared at a single Heartless in the distance. Raito and the Heartless exchanged a long, cold stare. Raito swallowed some saliva, sweat forming on the side of his face. The two stared at each other, and Raito blinked, unsure what to do. _Is this my enemy? Maybe this is a misunderstanding._ He looked around at the others nearby who were fighting off the Heartless that were attacking them. He then looked at the same Heartless across the distance - but it wasn't there. Without a weapon and confused and afraid, Raito stumbled back a step, before eventually seeing the shadow form jumping at him in a high tackle from above. Surprised by the creature jumping towards him, Raito could only stare in surprise and fear.

The first idea that sparks across the now once more function brain of the sleeping (?) warrior lying fallen on the ground is _''Get...up''_ With a jolt, and a skip the warrior rises from the ground, instincts replacing clear thought, as he picks up his massive O-Dachi and swings it straight down at a small heartless crushing it and cleaning it in half before it had a chance to react. Only after the intimidate danger has been silcesed by the blade of honour does the man replace himself over the furious beast that lives with in him _''...What...am...i?''_ A single phrase spoken in disbelief and without any sense of emotion, trying to recollect itself. Trying to pin down something...but all he has is one solitary memory. Something about a field...flowers...training...his sword...But nothing ells. No context, no logic, no what before or what after. Another heartless appears, almost as quickly as he cut down the other, So...Ghost...yes that was or is his name...Ghost quickly swings his sword backwards splashing the thing in-front of him easily. Finally he looks around....So much people here, and so much spread in both styles and weapons. And yet seemingly all fighting the shadows...his friends? Did he know them before...whatever happened that lead him here? He doges from one of the heartless as it hides in the floor before he has a chance to hit it back. It sneaks over to a girl, who uses a baseball bat as her weapon and sneaks up from behind. However, before it has a chance to stab her in the back with her claws, his sword crushes once more this foe. _''Where are we?''_ he asks the girl in the middle of the fighting

**Gail** Gail struggled with the Shadow as it clawed at her armored forearms. It took her a few seconds to gather herself and force the Shadow off. The other two Shadows had already changed their focus to other who, to Gail's surprise, were up and actually fighting back against them. As Gail stood back up, the Shadow she had been fighting faded into the ground and moved to attack her from behind. Noticing this movement, Gail swung a fist back and slammed it into the head of the Shadow as it attempted to hop on her back. The Shadow flew a few feet before rolling on the ground to stand back up. As Gail moved to close the distance between her foe, a few more Shadows slid from a nearby alleyway and joined the battle. The injured Shadow rushed once more while the six reinforcement Shadows went to fight the new Nobodies. Gail was surprised at how well the newbies were fighting. Then again, if threatened Nobodies could respond surprisingly well. The injured Shadow, who Gail had already decided would be her foe, jumped as high as it could only for its attack to meet Gail's armored forearm. Gail responded by grappling the Shadow and slamming it into the ground. Unbeknownst to Gail, another Shadow had focused on her and clawed at her back as she eeked the life out of her foe. Three large scratches ran down Gails back as she forced the new enemy back. *"Damn it! We are going to be overwhelmed if we stay out in the open any longer. We need to deal with these guys and get out of here."* Gail muttered to herself as she punched at the Shadow which had injured her. The movement caused her to cringe and gave the Shadow enough of an advantage to be able to dodge the attack slash Gail's leg as it rolled by. Gail kneeled down from the pain as the Shadow readied itself to attack again. Gail knew she was vulnerable but couldn't let the others know so she rolled out of the way of the Shadow's pounce. As Gail recovered from the roll, the Shadow had closed the distance. Yet, the Shadow had gotten too close to Gail allowing her to slam her fist right into the side of the Shadow's head. The Shadow slid across the ground until it was able to get a grip on the ground. It wasn't long before Gail was able to stand up, though it caused some wincing from the pain of both her injuries. The new foe slid across the ground quickly before circling around Gail. She was unable to focus on one specific spot where the Shadow was at. This continued for a few seconds before Gail simply punched the ground. Though she missed the Shadow, it caused the Heartless to jump out of the ground in order to attack the unaware Gail. Gail had planned for this to happen so she side stepped the attack and upper cut the Shadow as it fell. The foe Heartless was lifted into the air by the force of the upper cut. The Shadow landed against the wall of a nearby building as Gail kneeled down from pain.

Skidding to a halt, Ruko stared down the Shadow in front of her with determination. "Come on! You picked a fight, and you're gonna get it!" She irritably yelled at it, noting it's slow steps as it slowly began to circle her. She turned along with it, not letting the Shadow leave her sight as she didn't want to find out exactly what kind of damage it could do. She sighed as it sunk into the ground and, once again, seemed to be heading to try and get behind her. "Not this crap again. Don't you know anything more original?" She questioned as she decided to just turn and face it; Only to see it wasn't there. "... Huh?" She blinked, confused. She didn't see it, and it threw her off. A sudden feeling on her leg caused her to look down and notice it's small, shadowy hand clutching her leg, with it's head peering strait up under her. This caused her to squeal, before stomping on it's head. Forcing it back into it's puddle-like form, where it shifted back to getting behind her and reappearing. She turned again, this time, even more mad than before. "Damn it! Enough of your stupid games, you've REALLY pissed me off!" Charging at the Shadow, Ruko brought her bat upwards, and gave it a good, direct hit in between those stupid yellow eyes it had as she brought it down. The Shadow's head was knocked strait into it's torso, making it have a less-than-alive appearance until it's head slammed into the bottom of it's body, before coming back up. It's head popped back into place, though it was dazed, leaving it defenseless. Ruko, not done with it, kept wailing on the Shadow with her bat with unrelenting anger. "This is what you get! Nothing tries sneaking a peek at me!" She shouted, before delivering one last swing that smashed the entirety of the shadow into nothing but a dark mist that quickly faded. She stood there, catching her breath. As she tried to calm herself, she couldn't help but laugh a little. "Alright, this dream's pretty awesome. I haven't got to vent frustration like that-" She paused, one of her eyebrows raising up. "Ever." She finished, skeptically staring at the bat in her hand. "Weird... What's with me? I can't remember anything, like I've got amnesia or something." She grumbled, feeling confused. "Even if this is a dream, I ought to be able to remember everything from the real world." She sighed, only being able to recall a few swings of the very bat she held, and hitting a single ball. "Tch. Who was throwing that ball, anyways? I can't remember..." She closed her eyes, trying to think real hard about it. Leaving herself exposed in the process. It was then, she heard a sudden sound from behind her; Causing her to turn and see the remains of a destroyed Heartless behind her as it faded, and a man standing there. Her eyes were wide, as she listened to the few words he spoke to her; A question about their location. Honestly, Ruko wished she could answer that clearly. "Dunno," Ruko answered, cautiously eyeing the man. "But wherever we are, it's nothing but confusing. I mean, between that weird guy saying we don't exist, and then sicking these stupid little blobs on us so we have to fight for our lives... I don't know what's going on." She shook her head, before putting on a more confident face. She laid her bat over her shoulder and looked about at the ongoing battle, while also being wary of not getting surprise-attacked by another Heartless. "No point in sitting around! It'll be pretty difficult to figure this mystery out if we end up dead, so let's go smash the rest of these freaks, huh?!" She looked at the man with a grin, edging him to help her finish the job. Not that she didn't believe the others couldn't handle themselves, but more hands were always welcome, right? Plus more of those shadows were showing up... _'More heads to knock off! Awesome!'_ "C'mon!" She called to the Samurai, running forward with her bat in hand. Planning to claim a few of these new shadows as her kills so nobody else got to hog all the glory. It'd really suck to be considered bottom-tier in her own dream, after all.

The bladed staff in Ellis' hands was the only thing familiar to her, and she clung to it like salvation. It cut through the night air, ringing as it swiped and slashed at the Shadow. At the moment, it was the only friend she had. The world was strange, monsters grew to life in front of her, and alien voices shouted and muttered around her, filling in the white noise in Ellis' mind. Her weapon and the stinging pain in her back were the only things she had to ground her. It was with some satisfaction then, that she plunged her blade's wicked tip straight through the shadow's chest, and it dissipated into tendrils of black smoke. Her satisfaction was lessened somewhat when three more Shadows scurried out from the ground and formed a line in front of her. Ellis gritted her teeth in frustration. She glanced around to see the people around her all involved in battles of their own with the Shadows. The things seemed mindless, but they didn't go down easy… not to mentioned they seemed to spring from the shadows all around, and there was no telling how many would come. Ellis weighed her options. The thing she wanted most was answers; where she was, what the monsters were, _who she was_. It seemed to be the same for the others, and the only one among them who might have an idea was the blue woman. But they were likely to be overwhelmed if more Shadows sprung forth, and Ellis wouldn't get her answers if she was dead. A new thought struck her, illuminating like a flash of lightning at midnight: _the hooded man_. The one who had thrown the blue woman and laughed. His cocky attitude was irksome, but if nothing else it meant he was privy to information others weren't. If Ellis could find him… he seemed dangerous and it was a risk, but then again, so was staying here to fight a battle she _might_ make it out of, to speak to a woman who _might_ have her answers. Her time to think was over. The three shadows leapt at her and Ellis swung her weapon in a wide arc, knocking them back. They tumbled to the ground, dazed, and Ellis took her opportunity. She jumped back, turned, and ran. Ellis didn't know if she would even _find_ him, or if he would be more likely to attack her than the Shadows, but if it was a lost cause then she'd figure out what to do from there. It was preferable to the seemingly endless fight she was running from.

Sky smacked a couple more Shadows away as they pounced at him again "there might be a lot of them, but they don't fight very smart. Look for the patterns in their movement!" Just after having said that, one of them rushed over to his leg and slashed at it "GAH!" he kicked it away, firing a couple shots at it when the small creature hit the ground. "Okay, somebody tell me that these things don't have poison in their claws, because one of them just got me" Just then, two more jumped at him, this time however he shot at them in mid air. While he was no expert marksman, they're movements in the air were simple enough that he was able to hit them, sending them both flying with the force of the attack "okay, another thing; these guys are extremely light" another Shadow rushed at his legs. Ready for it, Sky stomped on it. While it didn't seem to do much damage, it did stun it long enough for him to pelt the monster with cannon shots until it died "I'm not sure how much it hurts them, but you can send them flying by just kicking them" Despite his lack of memories, Sky found his current situation strangely familiar. Once he pushed aside the shock and anger of missing all but one of his memories, he found that his actions came quite natural to him 'so based on that one memory, and how this feels like second nature to me, I'm pretty sure that I did a lot of fighting before I lost my memories...so...there's that'

Rhea bit her lip, still keeping her eyes locked on the little Shadow that had left her arm feeling more like it had suffered a second-degree burn than a little scratch. She swallowed the pain momentarily and attempted to use her gradually worsening anger to sharpen her focus. Her sole goal was to finish it off as quickly as possible. Then, the Shadow did something that Rhea had been too busy to notice the other Shadows were doing. Out of nowhere, the Shadow’s body became two-dimensional as its entire body melted into the earth. Rhea gasped and instinctively threw the blunt end of her chain out toward the living shadow, but it uselessly clanged against the ground, leaving the Shadow unscathed. The Shadow sensed this moment of vulnerability and rushed forward her, still flat. With a grunt, Rhea tried to bring her chain back as fast as she could, but by the time it was back in her grasp, the sneaky Heartless had slipped underneath her feet and behind her. Rhea had only the time to turn ninety degrees before the Shadow sprung forward and latched itself onto her bare calf. It didn’t scratch her, but just the monster’s touch burnt with malevolence, even coming from such a small creature. Rhea stared down at it for a fleeting moment, and it looked back up at her, without any expression whatsoever. Inside those glowing yellow eyes, Rhea saw beyond just the manifestation of darkness… She saw another incomplete being, just like her. They had that in common… though this Heartless was incomplete in a way that was different from how she was. She smirked at the irony. Heartless was a misnomer. In reality, she was the one who lacked a heart. With her free leg, she kicked at the Shadow’s fingers so its grip loosened. She then kicked her leg forward, sending the Shadow sprawling into the air. Instead of using her typical mid-range attacks, Rhea gripped her sickle at its handle and jumped up into the air as well, right in front of the Heartless, and sliced straight through it using the sharp end. Instead of reforming, the Shadow burst into a puff of glittering purple and black smoke before eventually fading away. Good thing, too. Rhea would’ve thrown a tantrum if that hadn’t finished it off. She landed gracefully on her sandaled feet and let out a small sigh, fixing some loose locks of hair. “Pity. I was hoping for a little more entertainment.” Saucy as always, despite the pain in her arm that was beginning to rear its ugly head again. She grit her teeth and dropped the chain from her right hand to place it over the wound. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed one of the group running away. She didn’t even know them, but she couldn’t help but feel a little betrayed as well as bitter. Just then, another group of Shadows came from a nearby alley to reinforce their comrades. Rhea shut her eyes and forced a smile. “Y’all are really testing me today.”

Most of the people nearby seemed to be faring well enough in battle. Some of them were wounded, but things were looking up for them all until reinforcements arrived. The odds were yet stacked against them again. Of course, Raito was not aware of any of this. Nor did he know that one of the group had ran off on their own. The Heartless that had lurched into the air towards Raito landed hard against him, clawing at his head. Falling on his back on the ground, Raito put his arms up in front of his face to shield himself from the Heartless. The Heartless clawed at his head and torso, Raito fending off each blow as best as he could. The creature didn't seem particularly strong to him, but Raito was still simply unaware of what was going on, as the claws grazed against him. Realizing that his adversary was not particularly strong, Raito pushed away one of the Heartless' attacks and sent a punch of his own. The creature moved to the side to avoid it and sent another attack toward Raito, which Raito, in turn, blocked. However, other claws appeared on Raito's shoulders, pulling him back. Three more Heartless had come and were helping their comrade. Outnumbered and off-balance still while on the ground, the Heartless began to pull Raito away. He continued to struggle to break free from their hold.

Xeal tried to stay focused on his own fight, but seeing those nearby being injured distracted him. Watching the people that were wounded from the same things that he was fighting scared him. He did not know what exactly what these things were capable of, but if other people were getting injured by these things, what would that mean for him? Unfortunately, Xeal payed the price for being distracted. The Shadow attacked when he was not paying attention. It had sunken into the ground and attacked him from behind, clawing his back. Xeal stumbled but regained his balance right before the second Shadow jumped into the air in order to reach Xeal's upper body. Xeal reacted instinctively, he plunged his blade deep into the Shadow's belly. The beast immediately exploded into a black dust that disappeared and was replaced with a pink heart that floated away into the air Xeal then noticed the other shadow had sunken into the ground and headed straight for him. He readied his blade and waited for it to reveal its self. As soon as the shadow came up out of its flattened state, Xeal hurled his blade at its head. The shadow could not defend itself as the blade flew though the air and hit its mark. It smashed into the head of the shadow and sunk beep into its head. It immediately dissipated into puffs of black smoke. Xeal ran and grabbed his fallen blade and watched for more of the Shadows.

The girls empty response filled Ghost with....something. He did not know. Despair? He would not truly know if the feeling he felt right was despair, since he no longer had frame of reference, but still that was the closet word he could put on this empty hollow shell of an emotion. It was quite confusing for him, since he had....he thought...been a man of some discipline. Even for that very very lonely memory floating in his head he seemed to be a warrior of a true and noble calling yet the one recourse he truly card about was no unavailable to him. As the girl he spoke to charged deeper in to the fray, he started to zone out. He just stared up in to the sky, watching it, loosing track of the fight...no he lost more then just track of the fight. He lost track of everything However, one can not be feeble minded on the field of war, as he quickly noticed, with a damn Heartless ripped his ankle. As he stooped being zooned and launched back in to the reality of the situation he grabs his no-dachi and quickly slashes the heartless away. The strange thing is, it didn't rip where his komono or even slightly scratch it. It just hurt through it. Strange autonomy on these creatures of darkness. A quick roll on his back he now resumed to fight, this time however once again he wish why. What where they all doing here? And...wait He quickly sees a man being dragged of by the shadows, black and white hair on a very young body. Clearly if Ghost had no propose himself anymore, he would have to make a new one. _''BANZAI!!!!''_ he screams as he started to charge through the hordes of critters that stand before him and the boy, knocking them over as he ran with his long sword as a massive shield. His screaming voice hiding his own fear and insecurity as effectively as his fighting style. As he got closer, he jumped smashing two with a single fall of his sword. Quickly he scatters the heartless before without saying a word drags the boy up from the ground to his feet, looking at him somewhat coldly

**Gail** Gail watched as a member of the group, a female, seperated from the group. She felt as if she was paralyzed, unable to move or say anything to the girl to stop her from wandering off. The World That Never Was might be somewhat safe but it is hard to tell what would be wondering the streets when the Heartless were attacking. Gail's wounds were now covered in a thin layer of scabs. Though she could move once more, Gail would be nearly unable to battle for much longer with the wounds she had sustained from the Shadows. As she stood back up, more Heartless appeared as if they could smell the blood. Though the Shadows had only recently arrived, it seemed as if they had already been in battle before. Two of the Heartless were missing arms which had yet to grow back and a third one seemed to be a bit on the small side, almost as if it was crushed. If any more kept coming they would be overwhelmed. **Mika & Ronny** "Hey, don't you think we should help them Mika?" said Ronny as he peered through a window at the group of nobodies. They were surronded by Heartless and it seemed as if they were in a pinch. "Help them? The last time we helped somebody they tried to steal all of our food. Remember that?" replied Mika to Ronny, her chef and best friend. Despite how much she wanted to help them, Mika couldn't risk them turning on her. If even one of the Nobodies turned on her, it would end with her thrown out of her own apartment building and out on the streets whenever the Heartless attack. Then again, those nobodies were in the same position. "Fine, let them in. But make sure you keep a close eye on them, we don't need any of them stealing from other people. **Gail** Gail was readying herself to punch a approaching Heartless when she noticed a door opening on a nearby building. **"Hey, get your people over here. You will be safe inside."** yellled a man from the door way. Gail was wary of the man and the building but what choice did they have. Gail turned her head over towards the group and yelled over her shoulder at them. **"Hurry into this building guys. It is most likely a safe place away from these Heartless."** Gail says as she runs pasts a few Heartless towards the building. She stood at the door and waited for the others to get there. More Heartless were coming from the shadows and converging on the group. **Ellis** Ellis felt as if she had been running for a few minutes before the street made a ninety degree turn. When she looked back, all she could see was an endless row of buildings, all of which seemed to go into the sky itself. As Ellis made the turn in the road, she felt a cold chill go down here spine. In response, she turned around to seethe mysterious figure standing there as if he had come from thin air. *"You shouldn't go chasing ghosts girl, you never know what you might find if you do. Yet, you came searching for one anyway and you found it. So now what, what are you going to do now that you have found me? It is answer you want isn't it? Too bad, you would have gotten them sooner if you hadn't chased a ghost."* cried out the man as, with the last words slipping out of his mouth, he lunged forward with a sword aiming for Ellis's heart. Before the man got a chance to hit Ellis, a mysterious woman appeared from the air and intercepted the blade with a shield. *"Run girl, before it is too late. I might not be able to hold him off for long, get back to your friends."* the woman whispered as she pulled a knife out of a sheeth on her belt and went on the offensive. This was Ellis's chance to get away or stay and see if she can learn more while they were fighting.

Ellis stood frozen, bladed staff held in front of her like a shield, as she stared at the two people in front of her. The woman's bright coat was like a shock of blood in the night, flowing around her. _"Get back to your friends."_ Was that who those people had been? Ellis' friends? She didn't think that was the case, especially now since she'd more or less abandoned them to the Shadows. Plus, the night air stinging her as it brushed the gashes running across her back served as a reminder as to why _that_ might not be the wisest idea. Apparently having the hooded man answer her questions was no longer an option. Oh, he knew her answers all right, but was apparently hostile enough to try and kill her on sight. But who was this new woman? She was dangerous enough to hold the man off, but at the very least didn't want to kill her. Ellis knew she needed allies here… and if the man wouldn't answer her questions, maybe the woman would. The crash and clang of blades dancing off of each other snapped Ellis out of her own mind. Decision made, she dashed forward, bladed staff in hand. Dodging around the woman, Ellis jumped and landed her feet on the alley wall, and pushed off, her weapon's blade glinting in the neon light as she forced the staff between the man's sword and the woman. The collision reverberated up Ellis' arms and she gritted her teeth under the force of the man's strength. She glared up at him, shoved the sword away, and spun her staff above her head in preparation for her next move.

"Ahhh!!!" Xeal yelled as he rolled under a shadows attack. He had no idea that he was being attacked until the very last second, all of a sudden a shadow had appeared in front of his face and then BAMM, he was in another fight. Xeal quickly slashes back at it, knocking it away. Xeal had to admit, the little guys were persistent, before he knew it, 5 more shadow's came out of the darkness behind the one Xeal just fought. Xeal sighed audibly at the sight, he did not want to fight all of these shadows. But Xeal took up a stance and readied himself for the shadow'a attack. Two shadows immediately sunk into the ground and the other four made a mad dash for Xeal. The second the started there attack, Xeal knew that he was outmatched. He was stupid to think that he could take on 6 shadows by himself. Xeal immediately turn tailed and ran, hopping that someone would help him out. As he ran, Xeal noticed a door being opened and a mans voice yelling. Xeal could not really hear what he had said but the woman with the gauntlet reiterated what the man said for them. Zeal made a b-line for the door and pushed passed the woman. One inside Xeal placed his hands on his knees and took a deep breath. " That...was not a good experience." He said out loud.