A remake of a short story I've made in 2014, I'd thought it be a good idea to fix it up since I've had improved in my writing over the years...sorta, not to mention the new games that came out, including KH3.

~The following story takes place during the events of 358/2 Days~

Neashi Tamiki, a streetwise individual who lives in Sunset Hill, Twilight Town, in truth she once lived on the Destiny Islands before the Heartless attacked, because of that experience she lost her memories of her past life as a human. That's right, she's a humanoid Nobody who lost her heart and her memories of her friends, she can't remember their faces nor their names...but, it's slowly started to come back to her. and since her heart and will was strong, she can live on as a Nobody, why she knew that? You'd know when you spent a whole year in Twilight Town.

During the time she had no memories, she was nursed back to health by the two old women who runs a foster home across town, she was also nicknamed "Midori" due to her green hair, even after she got most of her memories back, she still allowed them to call her by that name out of respect for her caretakers. But it didn't last long, her caretakers soon notified her of her "relative" and that they want her to return home. In reality, however, it was just a trap that she couldn't escape from, to lure her into a scheme, a Project lead by the mysterious and cryptic [Mr. Pere Noel].

All of that was three months ago.

She had just returned from her job at the garage, where she had to push cargo to it or fix vehicles. She lived in a two bedroom apartment picked out by the so-called "relative", though she uses the second bedroom for her paintings and drawings. Needless to say, this arrangement was done to prevent bystanders from getting involved. She kicks off her shoes by the door and walked into the living room where she can just lie on the couch, she fell on it faced down on a pillow...But just as she was about to drift off to sleep...

"...Beep beep beep, beep beep beep...beep beep beep, beep beep beep..."

She looked and saw that her laptop was beeping like crazy, to be frank, it didn't surprise her one bit, mainly because it was no ordinary laptop, it's used to make contact with her and vise-versa, and now she has to work with that person; [Mr. Pere Noel].

"Ugh, what now?" she groaned as she sat up to grab the laptop, she leaned back and opened it to find that it's has been on for hours, the screen was just a picture of a red circle in the center.

"Hello, [Fifth Pierrot]. Did I catch you in a bad time?" The voice in her laptop said using her code-name as a light red line in the center of the circle moves when he speaks, it was all distorted to hide his/her identity, but a name like [Mr. Pere Noel], Neashi can tell that he's a man.

"What do you think?" She said with irritation in her voice, "I just got back from my job at the garage, I'm tired, I smell, and my back is killing me and you had to pick this exact moment to bother me in a time like this? What more could you want with me?!"

The man with a distorted voice chuckled, "My apologies, friend, it's just that I'm calling to tell you I'm not going to be bothering you like this anymore." Hearing this, her face turned from irritation to confusion, asking:

"What?"

"I'm saying that your no longer under my thumb anymore."

From hearing that, Neashi let out a sigh of relief. "Well, it's about time." Finally, after all the dirty work she went through, from stealing from rich people's homes to killing rare Heartless to trying to interrogating Powerful Nobodies residing in downtown Twilight Town, she was free, "After everything you have done to me, I can finally take a break." She laid on her couch in a relaxing position.

"Indeed... however."

She perked her head up. "However what?"

"That doesn't mean your off the hook."

She jumped up, "What!? I done everything that almost got me arrested because of you!"

"That was just Phase One of our deal, but I have other businesses to attended to so I couldn't be bothered with you, luckily I have another "Intern" who is VERY eager to meet you."

"Another Intern?"

"Yes, there is more than one member going on with this charade, each going by different titles and taking on different roles...In this case, the one you'll be meeting is named [Fourth Shadow], you are to go to Sunset Station and wait for the Dusks, they will take you to the nobody territory of "Long Shi City" in Land of the Dragons, you are to meet with him in at 6:40 on the dot."

Land of the Dragons, she had heard of that world multiple times from the Dusks, but she was too angry to think about it. "Are you kidding? I'm still doing this shady business? And now you're gonna get one of your interns to boss me around? You're a pathetic coward and a tyrant!" She yelled before punching the laptop screen with her fist, causing injury to her hand. Neashi winced in pain from the cuts and busted knuckles. "Ngh...Dammit...Curaga." Neashi called out, green colored vines and yellow flowers started to swirl around her hand, healing her injury.

"...I must say...you have a lot of brute strength, Pierrot." [Mr. Pere Noel] said suddenly, Neashi was baffled on how the chat can still operate despite having a busted screen. "So long Fifth Pierrot...we'll meet again another time...Until...hen...play nice...with...Fou...ha..do..." The laptop shorted out, never to be used again. Neashi sighed irritably, she took the busted laptop and threw it in the garbage in the kitchen in a rage. As she was cooling down, she looked up at the clock on the wall and saw that she only has an hour and thirty-five minutes left, knowing that she too is a Nobody, talking to other Nobodies wouldn't be much trouble.

"Well...if I gonna meet this [Fourth Shadow] dude, I might as well start cleaning up.", She said as she dug through her closet to find clothes for the said world, most of it, however, is just clothing from Twilight Town. "Ahh, these will do." She grabbed out a pair of black thick high-heeled boots that reach her ankles, a pair dark grey leggings, a dark green turtleneck dress that goes down to above her knees, and a black leather coat with buttons.

Later-

She got to Sunset Station as planned, just 15 minutes till 6:40, the sun has already gone down but the sky was colored in a lovely shade of cerulean blue. She sat on the bench and waited for them to arrive, she checked herself in her phone's camera to see if she looked alright, finding that she's wearing brown eyeshadow and her trademark lip piercing in the form of rings. Just then a corridor opened up and a white slim hand beaconed her to come with it, Neashi knew who's hand it belongs to, she got up and entered the corridor. As expected, the one that beaconed was the Dusk that [Mr. Pere Noel] mentioned, how was he able to tame Nobodies? Never mind that, her thoughts were interrupted when it threw a black cloak at her.

"Hm?" She looked at the cloak with curiosity, "What's this for, I'm already wearing a coat?" She asked, the Dusk started hissing. To people, Dusks sounds like they're hissing, but in reality, they're actually talking, mainly to other Nobodies. "To protect me from Darkness?" The Dusk nodded, she looked at the cloak again, she just shrugged and threw it on her shoulders as they continued on through the corridor, they kept on walking for a few minutes until she saw a pale red light at the end. Upon entering through it, she became stunned, mouthed agape. There were buildings built alongside a mountain, covered in bright electrical lights and paper lanterns, and is populated with both Lesser and Humanoid Nobodies, this is one of the Nobodies' Territories [Mr. Pere Noel] talked about; "Long Shi City".

"Whoooooa." Neashi said in amazement, she's practically in another world outside Twilight Town; Land of the Dragons, she had heard this world is really ancient, though this spot is both a mixture of ancient and modern culture due to the Nobodies coming from outside of this world, surprising that no human had found this area. Everywhere she looked filled her with delight, the buildings, lights, clothes, and the delicious smell of food in the air, she can also see that the Humanoid Nobodies having a good time...or at least they're acting like it due to having no hearts.

"My goodness, this place is beautiful!" She said in a bright tone, Neashi is quite a sucker for art of any kind, including architecture. "OOF!" She bumped into the Dusk she was following, the Dusk had stopped in front of her for some reason, "Sorry, what's wrong?" The Dusk then turned itself to the left and pointed at a nearby ally. In the ally was a red gate-like door with letters she couldn't understand, is that an entrance to a garden or a brothel? There's only one way to find out, she started walking to the door. The more she got close, the stronger the scent becomes, and scent that filled her with two feelings: delight and hunger, she sniffed the air as she got closer, "...Mmmm, something smells really good.". As she would have thought, the Dusk led her to a traditional Chinese restaurant, but why here?

There was a young woman, wearing an orange short-sleeved Cheongsam with red lining, was waiting at the gates, she looked at Neashi, "Your name, young lady?"

"Huh? oh, Neashi Tamiki."

The woman looked at the list in her hand, "Ah yes, his Lordship reserved a booth for both of you, he's waiting for you right now, please follow me." She gestured inside, what does she mean by "Lordship"? Was she talking about [Fourth Shadow]? Oh well, at least she'll have something to eat, she did as the woman told her to and followed her into the place, the whole restaurant is crowded with more Humanoid Nobodies, there also seems to be a bar ran by another Dusk, only this time it's wearing a velvet red vest with a black bowtie. The decor of the place was as breathtaking as her walk through town...though the only thing that stood out was the Nobodies' symbol hanging on the wall near the kitchen, colored in gold.

She kept on following the woman until they got an empty private booth in the other room. "Was someone supposed to be here?" Neashi asked.

"Oh yes, he must be in the restroom or something, but I'm sure his Lordship will turn up soon." She answered, "In the meantime, you can take your seat, your food will arrive soon."

"Oh goody." She said with some enthusiasm in her voice as she took her seat, as mentioned before she enjoys art of any kind, not only in architecture but in culinary as well. A few minutes had past and nothing seems to had happened yet, didn't [Mr. Pere Noel] mention that his intern was supposed to be here? Neashi then put her phone away as it was gonna die soon, so she's left with no distraction, but was quickly taken out of it by the waitresses carrying food around, erasing her troubles.

"Looks good, huh [Fifth Pierrot]?" Neashi jumped when someone said that. Neashi turned and saw a man across the table from where she was sitting, the most notable features of his appearance is the fact that he's wearing a black cloak with a hood over his head, covering his face.

"How'd you know my name, Nobody!?" She asked in shock, she couldn't believe that she's sitting with a member of Organization XIII, a group of the most powerful yet dangerous Nobodies in existence, the very rulers of all Nothingness.

"Should be no surprise to you considering that you're a Nobody yourself." He said changing the subject. There was awkward silence between, Neashi didn't know how to respond to that.

She gulped, "Alright, listen... as much as I like to talk to one of the rulers of all Nobody-kind, I was actually waiting for someone important." She said while trying not to look nervous.

"Let me guess, is it: [Fourth Shadow]?" The cloaked man answered.

"Yeah!..wait, how'd you know that?" She tilted her head to the side. "And how did you know my name?"

"Heh heh heh." He let out a dark chuckle as he leaned forward on the table, before answering: "It's your turn to guess."

Neashi looked at him with confusion in her eyes, though hidden she could've sworn that he smiled at her under his hood, after moments of thinking, her jaw instantly dropped upon realization of who he is.

"You're [Fourth Shadow]?!"

"Bingo!" He said pointing at her nose.

"All this time I've been working with Organization XIII?!"

"Mayyyyybe." He replied in a voice that makes him sound childish, "However, what's going right now is just between us and the Organization and it's extremely private so try to keep it down, will ya? We don't want any bystanders listening for us." Neashi, though shocked at first, quickly calmed down and nodded quietly, she shifted herself on her seat to got conformable and asked:

"What does Mr. Pere Noel want with me?"

"Why, to take part in the [Project: Pere Noel] of course." He replied with a laid-back smile, his arms were also raised up to his head. "It's a project financed by our leader, Lord Xemnas, The Superior of the In-Between."

"[Project: Pere Noel]?" She asked, she lowering her head as if ashamed, she then let out a soft chuckle before raising her head with a look of disappointment. "Having a title like that makes it feel like I'm a lab rat to the Organization." She said with a half-hearted smile.

"Ok ok." he said waving his left hand, "Maybe that have came out the wrong wa-."

"Oh no, I like the name, but from what [Mr. Pere Noel] put me through, I can't show respect for him nor the project." The man sitting across from her frowned for a bit, it's as if what Neashi said offended him, but then he grinned and laughed it off. "I'd be pretty mad too if I was used as a tool, but the sad part that we don't have any Hearts to feel that way."

"Figures." She rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, are you aware of the roles that the Project does?"

"Well...I performed some decent missions that almost got me arrested, and I learned about a butt load of Heartless I thought that never existed, that's all I know."

"Good Good."

"But isn't that job for the Organization? I mean I heard they only allow thirteen in the group."

"Hehehe, I thought so too, however.." He leaned forward on the table resting on his elbows. "A while back we'd received a 14th member, that and we lost 5 of our members during their stay at Castle Oblivion...some in which are said to be traitors, and [Mr. Pere Noel] thought it would be wise to secretly train new recruits into the Organization to see if they're more worthy than our late comrades."

"Is that so?" She asked.

"Absolutely." Just then a waitress, wearing a green Cheongsam with yellow lining, came with a big plate asking:

"Who ordered the Stir Fry Chicken, Pork Dumplings, fried rice, and a side of Baijiu and Green Tea?"

"That's us!" Fourth Shadow called out to the waitress, she placed the food and drinks on the table.

"Here you go, your Lordship, enjoy."

"Thanks." After the waitress left, he noticed Neashi setting her sight on the pork buns with eagerness in her eyes, mouthwatering and all. "Dig in, Pierrot, I ordered it for both of us."

"Well don't mind if I do." She complied as she grabbed one of the buns and started eating it.

"So as I was saying, he's secretly recruiting Nobodies outside of Organization 13 into [Project: Pere Noel], in hopes that one of the few recruits are the most suitable comrades to join our fold." He said sipping on Baijiu. "Or at the very least replace the ones we lost." While setting up her plate for the rice and stir fry, she raised an eyebrow and asked:

"And your point is?"

"My point is that its sort of like a contest except for more beneficial reasons, some of the Members, myself included, are tasked to observe you guys." Neashi was quite interested in what the hooded man was talking about.

"You're friends are on board as well?"

"That's right, right now its just the two of us, and we too go by codenames just like you and [Mr. Pere Noel]." He explained as he made himself a plate as well. "I go by [Fourth Shadow] as you already know, and Saix, the Organization's Second-in-Command, is [First Santa Clause]."

"Going for a Twisted Christmas theme huh?" She joked, but then her grin faltered when something came into her mind. "...Who is [Mr. Pere Noel] anyways...is it your Boss?"

"I'm not telling ya, we're keeping his identity confidential." He responded in a more serious tone. "If I did tell you, both of us would be dead by now." Neashi then formed a very mischievous smirk as she leaned back on her seat, lifting her left hand to her chin and gesturing it like if she was about to let out a laugh that only a noblewoman can make.

"Hm hm hm." She laughed through her nose, the hooded man was quite surprised by her change in attitude, it's as if she has mood swings, she then spoke again: "I never knew you were scared of your own bosses to not spill it."

"...As if I'm scared." He rebuffed, he looked like he was forming a sneer underneath his hood. "You're not planning to stick around with the project just so you can get [Mr. Pere Noel]'s identity, are you?" He said tilting his head to the side, Neashi then lowered her hand and continued talking, this time in a more serious tone.

"...It stupid, yes, but he abducted me from the foster home that nursed me back to health, made me look and act like a complete fool, not to mention that I almost got arrested because of all the heists I had to do for him, that in turn caused several criminals to get their hands on me just to do more heists... even as a Nobody, I felt my first emotion from all this...rage...therefore I plan to get close to him, and have my revenge on him, he deserves punishment for what he did to me..." She was silent for a moment, but then looked at him in the eyes with another smirk, saying: "...and besides..." She leaned forward to his hooded face, she had just noticed that he has a very jagged scar across his left cheek. "...I can tell that you may be the type of guy who enjoys some good entertainment."

She leaned back on her seat, still giving him that smirk. From hearing all of that, the hooded man formed a Cheshire cat-like grin towards the green-headed tomboy and began to laugh loudly, "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! I like your attitude, Princess, you have what it takes to be a formidable comrade and a foe...however." He said as he removed his hood, revealing that he not only possesses the aforementioned scar but also an eyepatch over his right eye, his other eye was colored in a golden yellow, he also has prominent cheekbones, upturn eyebrows, and long black hair with grey streaks tied into a ponytail, judging by his appearance alone, its possible that he could be old. "...Don't think I'm gonna go easy on you, as the Organizations Freeshooter, I promise you that I'll won't hesitate to rain hell on you if you even try to get close to the Project's founder...buuuuut I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt in tracking him down."

"So that's gonna be your entertainment?...trying to prevent me from knowing too much?"

"Yep." He said, still grinning. Neashi thought about this for a moment, she then looked at him with determination in her eyes.

"Very well, Let the games begin, [Fourth Shadow]." She stuck her hand towards him, "Shake on it?" He took her hand and started to shake it vigorously. "Y'know I never actually got your name." She said after they stopped.

"I go by many names, mostly insults or nicknames, I'm called Xigbar." He answered. "And yours?"

"Neashi Tamiki." She answered back, immediately she noticed that he frowned. "Does my name offend you?"

"No...its just...I felt like I heard it somewhere before...". His answer left her confused, have they met before? Later in the evening, once they're done with the food they ordered, Neashi looked over at the check and asked:

"Do you have any munny to pay for all this?"

He looked to her with a mischievous grin and answered: "As if." And as a result: Neashi was left to pay for the food, losing the munny she needed for a new art book she had her eyes on. Indicating that he's already giving her a hard time on the very first hour.

END

*Long Shi City is a fictional city I created, it's based on the real-life cities of Dali, China and Jiufen, Taiwan, and it translates to "Dragon" in Chinese.
**Baijiu is Chinese white wine
***Pere Noel is french for "Father Christmas" or "Santa Clause", the project and code names are deprived from the criminal organization under the same name from the Vocaloid song series: The Evillious Chronicles.