• A week had passed since my encounter with the strange man; I hadn’t seen Axel, Roxas, or Riku since and I didn’t know how to react to that. All four of them wore the same outfit, so they must be connected somehow, so if I saw one of the three boys who had been friendly to me, I would most likely see the man with the scar once more.
    “Hey, Lexa? You in there?” I shook my head, and then looked to Hayner. He was standing on the Struggle field, holding his bat by his side and giving me a confused look. I had apparently been spacing out, and it wasn’t the first time he had called my name. “Sure, yeah… what did you want?” His confused look quickly turned to one of concern, and he just shook his head. “It was nothing… just… you haven’t been the same. Not since that guy showed up. Lexa, you’ve got to get a hold of yourself.”
    “Yeah! You’ve been nothing but a zombie since!” I turned my gaze to Pence, who was pulling off a terrible zombie impression- holding his arms out in front of him, tilting his head to the side while his eyes had a hazy look, and walking toward me with stiff legs. “Pence. You make a terrible zombie, and I’m sure I didn’t look like that” I stated, rolling my eyes and giving him a smile just so he would stop. Olette on the other hand was giggling, obviously finding actual amusement in our friend’s odd behavior. “Pence, be serious here! Lexa, what I’m trying to say is that you haven’t been yourself, and I’m afraid you’re going a bit obsessive.”
    “And what makes you say that, Mr. Know-It-All?” I questioned, quirking an eyebrow. “Well, for one, you sit next to me in class and you’ve been doodling odd faces in your notebook- one of which looks like he came from my nightmares.” He was obviously talking about my picture of the man with the scar. I had most likely over exaggerated his features, giving him slight fangs and a scar that crossed his entire face. I was no artist, but whenever I wanted to draw something creepy, I usually succeeded.
    “Well I don’t ask you to look at my stuff… why were you looking at my notebook anyway?” I accused, only to see a slight shade of pink cross Hayner’s face, which he quickly hid by turning away. “Mr. Runnells was speaking too quickly, and I didn’t have time to copy down the notes, so I needed to see if you had gotten them.”
    “Mr. Runnells doesn’t have us take notes, Hayner.” I said, catching him in his terrible lie. “Anyway, you’re off the hook. Just let me take a small walk. I’m tired of just sitting here.” I stood up from the bench and jumped up to the Struggle field. Quickly passing Hayner before he or anyone else could stop me from going any further, jumped off the field from the other side and proceeded down the walkway. I need answers. I don’t care about this DiZ person, I just want- I stopped where I was, now just through the opening in the wall. “DiZ, DiZ… Was that the guy I had seen? The one who had held such malice in his gaze and voice?” I shook my head, ignoring the danger that might lie ahead, and proceeded forward and into the woods. Well, I don’t care for this ‘DiZ’, and I don’t care for his attitude! I want answers, and I will get them, one way or another! He can’t threaten me!
    With a look of determination, Lexa continued on, stopping only when the trees began to thin out, and she could see part of the old mansion which lay in shambles. “But do I really want to do this? Do I really want to know this stuff? What if I get an answer that I don’t like? Then what?” She was starting to turn back when something flashed in the corner of her eye. Looking back to the mansion, she saw nothing but the same weather damaged house. “No. I have to keep going!” With even greater resolve, she ran forward and into the clearing, only to find the gates locked. “No! This can’t happen! Not now! No!”
    With blunt force, she kicked one of the pillars, ignoring the pain that shot through her foot. Lexa glared at the mansion- it seemed as if it was mocking her. Another flash of color came across the corner of her eye, followed by a crunch, as if something was crossing across the grass behind her. She turned around, only to see nothing; nothing besides a strange light that seemed to grow larger and shoot toward her until she thought it would collide with her.
    “Get out of the way!” Something smashed into her, knocking her out of the way of the blast that narrowly missed her and crashed instead into the pillar, which shattered from the force. Lexa closed her eyes, imagining herself still in that position and shuddered. “Are you stupid?! Do you want to die!?” She opened her eyes to see emerald green eyes staring into her own. The same familiar red hair and triangle tattoos also entered her vision, and she realized she was staring right at the man she had seen so many days ago.
    He stood up without a second glance at Lexa, and instead turned to look at what looked like a giant green chameleon that was slowly appearing before them. “Wh-what is that thing?!” she asked, even though she didn’t want to know the answer. “Something that wants you gone and something I have to get rid of.” Axel answered, and flames started circling around him while large, spinning objects appeared in his hands from the flames. What in the world was happening?