AN - Namine is a scary individual. Don't believe me? Read on...
The dark corridor swirled and dissipated, depositing Marluxia into the room with his back to the wall. He held his scythe at the ready in both hands and quickly scanned the room. Seeing no immediate threats, he walked over to the middle of the room and tightened his grip on his weapon. "What happened?" he demanded.
Naminé sat in a small white chair, her hands folded demurely in her lap. A low table sat in front of her, upon which rested her notebook and a scattering of colored pencils. The sight of that notebook caused a small shudder to run through Marluxia's normally calm appearance. She was looking down at the closed book as if in a trance, not even batting an eyelash. Directly behind Naminé's chair stood Axel, staring intently down at the little girl. He held both his chakrams tight on either side of Naminé's head, his whole body tensed up to spring into action at the slightest provocation.
Larxene sat on the edge of a chair on the other side of the table, nervously tapping her daggers against her folded arms. She looked over as Marluxia approached and bit her lip. "We do know. She just stopped drawing."
Across the table, Naminé slowly raised her eyes and smiled. "…He's here…" she whispered.
"Sora, you're a good guy." Riku said, starting back down the corridor to the stairway. He paused and looked back over his shoulder at them. "I don't have to be real to see how real your feelings are. That's good enough."
"Riku!" Sora shouted, reaching out as if to stop him. But he just kept walking, not even once turning to look back as the dark hallway seemed to swallow him up.
"Riku…" Sora said again, sadness dripping from his voice. This should have been a happy time. They had just defeated the last of the Organization, Marluxia, and had sealed the door to the castle's keep. They had won and deserved to be celebrating, not splitting up. He knew that this Riku was just a clone, but his heart went out to him anyway.
They all stared in silence for a while, before Donald shook his head and turned to Naminé. "Can you put our memories back?"
"Yes." Naminé said after a moment. "Not remembering something doesn't really mean that it's gone."
"What d'ya mean?" Goofy asked, scratching his head.
Naminé tilted her head to the side, as if thinking about the best way to explain. "When you remember one thing, that leads to remembering another, and then another and then another. Our memories are connected. Many pieces are linked together like they're in a chain that makes up each of us. I don't actually erase any memories… just take apart the links and rearrange them. You still have all your memories."
Jiminy hopped up onto Sora's shoulder as he walked over to join the group. "So you can put 'em back together?" the cricket said hopefully.
"…Yes…" Naminé said, dropping her hand to her sides and looking at each of them in turn. "But first, I have to undo the chains of the memories I made on my own. After I've done that, I have to gather up the memories scattered across each of your hearts and then reconnect them. It might take some time… but I think it might work. No, it will work. I'm sure."
She smiled warmly at Sora. "It's my turn to look after you."
"All right." Sora nodded, smiling back. "We all really trust you." He was about to ask about what they needed to do next when Jiminy jumped in surprise.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, a shocked look coming on to his small face. "Wait a second! You said you'd have to undo the links of the memories you made. But that means…!"
A worried looks crossed Naminé's face fleetingly. "Yes. You won't be able to remember anything about what happened here."
"Not even you?" Sora exclaimed. Giving up his memories of Naminé, so soon after saying goodbye to Riku again… it made his heart feel like it was breaking apart.
"I'm sorry." Naminé apologized. "It's the only way, I'm afraid."
Naminé turned away from them and walked several steps towards the wall. She paused and seemed to be deciding something. "Sora… you have a choice. You can lose your memories of this castle and reclaim your old ones… or keep your memories here and give up the memories that you've lost."
"Do I have to… to choose?" Sora asked.
"Yes." Naminé said simply. She stayed where she was, obviously waiting for his answer.
Sora glanced at Donald and Goofy, but they were already staring back at him. They would follow his lead whatever he chose. But it wasn't as simple as choosing which memories he wanted. He was choosing which life he wanted to lead. The life he has or the life he had. Naminé… or the mysterious girl he could almost remember… Thinking had never been Sora's strength, so after several antagonizing moments of reflection he decided to go with what his gut was telling him. He looked up and stared pleadingly at Naminé's back, wishing this were easier.
"Make me like I was."
Naminé winced and tilted her head to the side. "…Is that your answer?"
Sora cringed. "Yes…" he said softly.
"I see…" Naminé whispered, and then seemed to steel herself and stand up a little taller. "So that's your choice… but I'm afraid…"
She spun on her heels to face him and her clothes seemed to blur. Her simple white shift flowed over her arms and down her legs like water. When it stopped she was wearing a long white gown made from something almost like leather. A zipper ran the length of the garment, down the front before curving to the left around her feet. The collar was slightly fluffed and turned into a hood at the back, with twin drawstrings handing on either side of her collar. The sleeves hung loose just above her palms at her sides. The article of clothing was striking, stylish, and undeniably an altered, white version of the Organization's cloak.
"I'm afraid I can't accept that!" Naminé snapped, he tone surprisingly cold.
Sora was shocked to his core, but tried anyway to get a grip on what was happening. "Naminé… what is this…?"
But Naminé wasn't listening. She bared her teeth and dramatically raised her hand above her head. Blindingly bright light coalesced in her palm like a small star before compressing down to the size of a grape. The light popped and revealed a small metal link, just under two inches in length, spinning slightly on its axis in her palm. It was spinning so fast that at first glance, it almost looked like there were two of them.
Naminé snapped her fingers on the link to stop its rotation and there were two links, joined together. She slashed her arm down across her body and the links seemed to blur as they crossed in front of her, leaving an afterimage just behind them. She pulled her hand up at the end of its arc and there were four links now, dangling weightless at the end of the swing. She slashed her arm across again and there was another blur, another afterimage, and now there were eight bands on the chain. She whipped it across again and the chain grew more, nearly a yard long now.
"You were supposed to choose me!" she shouted, leaning forward and diving across the distance between them. Sora reflexively crossed his arms defensively in front of his face and the world went white.
When it cleared, he was standing in the battle arena with his keyblade clenched tight in his right hand. He looked around the circular platform with its tall pillars and starry expanses in confusion, but the metal chain snapped into his upraised arm and knocked him back.
"Naminé, we don't have to do this!" Sora shouted as Naminé walked calmly into his field of vision, reeling in her chain calmly. He wished his friends were here to help him talk some sense into her, but they had disappeared like they always did during a battle.
"Don't worry, you won't remember it soon." Naminé promised, gathering up her weapon. "Now, how about something from your memories…"
She caught the last link in the pinky of her left hand and bent the next two links between her fingers like an upside down V. She slipped her ring finger into the next one and so on to her thumb, before slipped the fingers on her right hand through the top link on each cluster. Light played along the links as she slowly pulled her hands apart and the links seemed to blur and stretch. They took on a yellowish tint as they expanded, coming to wicked points as they separated. Naminé took up a fighting stance and held up both her fists, each of which clutched four daggers that looked just like Larxene's.
Naminé leaped into action, leading with a jab, swipe, jab combo, followed with a sweep kick at his legs. But Sora had fought Larxene just one floor ago and he responded mostly on muscle memory. He faded back just ahead of the punches and intercepted the kick with a sweep of his blade, catching her just under her foot and flipping the leg up and over. Naminé went with the motion, leaping awkwardly into a somersault and throwing a fist full of dagger at him on the descent. Sora ducked under the missiles and ran forward, expecting the flash of lightning that surged up from the daggers at his back.
Naminé touched down lightly and leapt back, tossing her other handful as her first quartet returned to her grasp. Relying on his practiced maneuvers from his previous fight, Sora batted the daggers out of the air and accepted the charge that surged up his arm so that he could get close. Naminé tried to get her arm up to stab him in the face, but he had already slammed his keyblade home in her chest.
He spun out of his swing as she arched away from him, an apology already forming on his lips, when the world went white.
Worlds. Not just connected rooms with similar themes but whole worlds, spinning in an endless space. And a ship, that he and his friends used to travel between the worlds. A deep jungle. A desert palace. An underwater city, a regal coliseum, and a land of scares. There were many others, and he fought and protected them all.
And there was one… a small island on a crystal blue sea…
Sora blinked as the surge of images faded. Caught off his guard, he couldn't control his spin and tripped over his feet. He fell into a sitting position as across the floor Naminé crashed to the ground on her side. The daggers she had been holding tumbled to the ground at her side and dissolved into her chain with a rattling hiss.
"Were those…" Sora started, but then shook his head and leaned forward. "Naminé, I don't want to fight you! Tell me what's wrong! Talk to me!"
"You had to make a choice, and you didn't choose me." Naminé said softly. She looked up sharply, tears streaking down her cheeks. "After all I sacrificed to help you, you would just turn your back on me!"
Sora held out his hand pleadingly. "I never said I wanted to forget about you! But there must be some way… some way I can get my memories back without losing anyone…"
"NO! You can't have both!" Naminé screamed through her tears, rising to her feet and clutching her chain tight. "And I'm not ready to give you up!"
She let go of the chain with her right hand and started to spin it around in her left. Starting at her elbow, the chain wrapped itself around her arm up to the wrist, where the last link snapped magically onto another and held tight. She let go of the loose end in her hand and threw her arm up so that it arched into the air. A quick jerk sent the loose links falling back to her hand, but they blurred and stretched, gaining a blue tint as they became spikes and descended. The spikes slammed home on the top of the blue shield that now encircled her arm. Naminé angled the shield before her face and charged forward.
Sora barely made it to his feet before they collided, the speed behind her charge driving them back several steps before he could disengage. He chopped twice, heavy overhead strikes designed to drive her back, but it had been too long since he had last fought Vexen and he had forgotten how solidly that shield deflected blows. His key bounced back without causing any kind of damage and Naminé pressed her advantage, slamming the shield into his chest. The breath was knocked out of him and Sora fell back, somehow managing to keep his feet.
He pressed a hand to his suddenly frost covered shirt and looked up in time to see Naminé swinging her arm in a pendulum motion. It took him a second too long to remember what that meant and as he dived to the side, his right foot was incased in a block on ice. Sora fell and clutched at his leg, blinking around to find some way to turn the situation around. There, dancing only a few feet in front of him, was a small green card with Donald's face on it!
Sora dived clumsily forward and snatched up the card, silently praising his good luck upon seeing the number nine in the lower right corner. He flicked it and in a flash of light Donald appeared and quickly waddled over to him, staff outstretched.
"No cures. Fire!" Sora said desperately, pointing at his frozen foot. Donald looked worried, but shot a small ball of flame as suggested. It hurt, but the ice shattered into vapor. Donald looked to the side and saw Naminé closing in on them, shield presented so as to protect her front.
"Vexen!" Donald shouted, not noticing Naminé's small form behind the weapon. Before Sora could stop him, he launched a large ball of fire directly into her path. The magic slammed into the shield and drove her stumbling back. Sora struggled to his feet as Donald faded away, his temporary magics spent. Knowing he only had this one small chance before her defenses were set again, he dived forward and stabbed his key past the shield and into her stomach. Naminé folded over the blow and her arm dropped, allowing him two more blows as she was driven back.
The world went white…
He had known great enemies, monsters who had wanted to drown the worlds in darkness. And he had known friends on those worlds, friends that had helped him drive that darkness back. The cryptic cat who had led him in the direction he needed, to prove a young girl innocent. The wild man, who could barely understand anything said to him, but knew what was really important. The puppet who, in the belly of the beast, found the courage to press on.
More and more faces and events pressing in. Aladdin setting the genie free. Ariel convincing her stubborn father to help. Hercules, fighting side by side with him in the arena. Peter Pan laughing in the face of pirates as he rescued those most important to him. Leon, Yuffie, Cid, and Aerith, his first new friends on his first new world…
And those on the island… Tidus… Selphie… Waka… Riku… and…
Naminé stumbled back out of reach but managed to remain on her feet. Her arm hung tiredly at her side and in a flash the shield became a chain again, which started unwinding from her arm with a hiss. "Why… why can't you just stay with me…"
Sora instinctively wanted to reach out to her, but he reigned in the response and held his ground instead. "These are my memories, aren't they?" He said. "My real memories. You said it would take time to get them back."
"You weren't supposed to get any of them back!" Naminé shouted, tears once again welling in her eyes. She caught the last few links of her chain as they slipped free and tightened her grip on them for strength. "Please, Sora. Can't you just give up on them, and stay here with me?"
Sora shook his head. "I might have once, but now… I have to know. This girl I can almost remember…"
"…that girl…" Naminé grimaced through clenched teeth. She flipped her chain around and caught the other end on her free hand. "If you won't willingly forget her, then I'll have to make you forget!"
She pulled the chain tight and kept pulling, snapping the chain in the middle so she was now holding two pieces, each about a yard long. She lowered her head so she was looking at the floor and started spinning them in a tight circle with her arms outstretched to her sides. The chains spun faster and faster, and the tips started to glow red. Soon the edges of the circles had burst into flames and Naminé pulled her hands out of the blurring shapes. But only for a second, as she quickly snapped her hands on the center of the blurs, halting the red chakrams spin instantly.
She jerked her head up and grinned with determination. "Here I come." she said, and dived forward.
Before Sora could react, Naminé threw the chakram in her right hand. It arched straight for his head, but Sora dipped to the side and let it glide harmlessly past. He brought up his sword to meet her charge but Naminé was gone, having used a quick corridor to warp behind him. She caught the fiery projectile and slashed at Sora's unprotected back, driving him to the floor.
He was quick to his feet again, sweeping his key at her feet to force her back. She gave the ground willingly, skipping back and launching the two disks to either side. Sora tumbled back just before they crossed with a clash of sparks right where he had been standing, continuing in their flight back towards Naminé. The girl caught the chakrams and held them at arm's length before her, summoning up a huge ball of fire which she sent skipping across the field towards him.
Sora called upon his own magic at the last minute, sending a burst of icicles to intercept. The fireball detonated, knocking him back into one of the surrounding pillars. Sora leaned against it and swung his arm back… over and through the empty space between the pillars. He froze and looked at his arm hanging over the abyss with surprise. Always before there had been an invisible barrier that had kept him from falling off. Why was it missing?
Not having any immediate answer, he shook his head and returned to the fight. He dashed, knowing he needed to get in close to do any real damage. A fiery chakram met him halfway across the field, slamming into his key and halting his forward motion. He dodged under its twin as it arced in from the side and slid the last few feet forward, coming up hard with his key. But Naminé was one step ahead of him, planting her foot on his rising key and using it to leap high into the air. At the apex of her ascent she caught her two weapons and held them apart, calling up a huge swath of fire. She released the flames in a wave that crashed down upon the field below her.
But Sora wasn't on the ground anymore. He had quickly risen to his feet as the flames were released and had run straight up the side of one of the columns. He leaped off as the flames past, turning over in midair and passing over Naminé's head. She saw him coming and raised the chakrams above her defensively, but Sora's descending key smashed through them. They separated, each falling in a different direction.
The world went white…
He blinked the morning sun out of his eyes and sat up slowly. The waves played with his feet as they gently caressed the shore. Sora yawned and lay back down, but a girl's smiling face was blocking out the light.
"Whoa!" Sora shouted, jerking back up and crawling to his knees. "Gimme a break."
"Sora, you lazy bum." The girl exclaimed, folding her arms behind her back. "I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here."
"No! This huge black THING swallowed me up!" Sora said. "I couldn't breathe, I couldn't..."
"Ow!" he shouted, as the girl gave him a light thwack to the top of his head.
"Are you still dreaming?" she asked, leaning forward
"It wasn't a dream!" Sora protested, but then looked down in thought. "Or was it? I don't know. What was that place? So bizarre."
"Yeah, sure." The girl smiled, walking past him to the water's edge.
"Say," he said, turning to follow her. "What was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up."
The girl giggled as she stared out to the sea. "I told you before, I don't remember."
"Nothing at all?" Sora pressed.
"Nothing." The girl remarked casually.
"You ever want to go back?" Sora asked, honestly curious.
"Hmm…" the girl thought. "Well, I'm happy here. But you know… I wouldn't mind going to see it."
Sora leaned over to a more comfortable position. "I'd like to see it too. Along with any other worlds out there! I want to see them all!"
Kairi turned to him and grinned widely. "So what are we waiting for?"
Sora snapped out of his trace at the last minute to see the ground rushing up to meet him. With finely honed reflexes he twisted his body in midair and landed in a crouch. He held the position for a second to regain his bearings and slowly looked up. Naminé sat on the floor with her knees out in front and her legs to the sides. She was staring down into her lap, where the chakrams had already dissolved into her chain which was strewn across her legs.
She fiddled with the links and a single tear dropped down upon the back of her hand. "You weren't supposed to remember her…" she said in a small voice.
Sora climbed to his feet. "I made Kairi a promise… a promise that I would always return to her." The words hit Naminé like blows, and she flinched from each.
"But I also made a promise to you." Sora said, stepping closer and offering her his hand.
Naminé looked up at him, eyes sparkling with tears. "…what?"
Sora smiled and held out his hand further. "You can come back with me. I'm sure everyone will like you. You don't have to be alone."
He waited for her answer as the silence stretched. "Please." He tried again. "We can all have fun… together."
Naminé met his bright-eyed gaze and lowered her eyes. She gripped her chain for strength. "Go back… to her…"
Sora took a step back from the icy tone in her voice. "Naminé… no…"
Naminé rose slowly to her feel, still not looking up. "You are supposed to be mine, Sora. Mine, and nobody else's." She suddenly looked up, determination radiation from her dry eyes. "I will not share you with anyone! If I can't be with you, no one will!"
Sora hesitated for a second, but then tightened his grip on his key and returned her intensity. "You tried to make me forget my promise with Kairi. I won't give that up! And now that I have all my memories back, there's nothing you can do to me!"
"Then how about something from my memories!" Naminé screamed, whipping her chain out to the side. The links closest to her hand snapped in place at ninety degree angles slanted slightly up, forming a thin column climbing up from her hand as they spun. When the shaft was about five feet long, she snapped it around, causing the trailing links to curve after the swing. The trailing links blurred and became large pink blade, nearly half as long as the green hilt.
"I was hoping you wouldn't use that one." Sora muttered, readying for battle. This time he met her charge with one of his own, meeting her in the middle of the arena with a clash. They immediately locked their blades, but Naminé angled the scythe down and in the stab at Sora from his blind spot. With a mighty shove Sora sent the weapon back and sidestepped, keeping to her left side and slashing upwards.
Naminé took the blow on her arm and leaped off, using the force of the blow to send her further away. She landed lightly and raised the scythe high above her head and to the left. With a grimace of effort, she slashed the weapon across herself in a great sweep. The air itself seemed to cleave away from the blow in an arc of power which tore across the field towards Sora.
Sora grimaced and accepted the blow, knowing he couldn't outrun it from that angle. He sent a burst of his own magic dancing after her in the form of a small line of lightning strikes. He kept pace with the lightning and Naminé, dodging to the left out of the magic's path, came right into line of his attack. He sent a series of strikes up, up, down, spin, and across, which she was barely able to defend from.
Desperate, she launched herself forward, hilt leading, and slammed into Sora's chest. Sora was knocked back on his feet and the pink blade descended upon him from above. He caught the blade on the edge of his key and tilted it to the left, sending it slipping away. He spun completely around, key leading, using his momentum to add speed to his strike. Naminé recovered from the parry and spun as well, turning in the other direction and closing in with her own not-inconsiderable strength.
In the end, it was the length of their weapons that made the difference. Sora's key was shorter and thus closer at hand, landing first. The blow carried enough force to drive them apart before her own strike could connect. Sora held his pose as she stumbled away, the scythe dipping down in numb fingers.
The world went white…
The girl blinked and looked around slowly. She was in a forest, thick with large oaks and blanketed in lush grass. Crickets chirped somewhere in the bushed she could dimly see in the fading light. The air had a cool, crisp taste that implied the imminent falling of night. The girl looked around her as if these things were new to her and might have stood there staring for the rest of the night had not a figure stepped out from the trees and approached.
The figure was dressed in an Organization cloak with the hood up to hide his features. He stepped briskly over to the girl and silently appraised her. She was slight, with a curling of blond hair and wearing nothing more than a white shift. After a minute he offered his hand and waited for her to take it. When she didn't make a move towards it, he dropped it to his side.
"You're feeling lost and you don't know why." The man said in a deep, melodious voice. "You have no home, no memories, no name. But I know who you are and I know where you belong."
"My… name?" the girl asked softly. "You know… who I am?"
"Well, it's not my place to give you your new name." the man said, lifting his hands up and throwing off his hood. Marluxia's trademark pink hair fell down to his shoulders and he gave it a shake, sending a slew of petals floating free. "But I do know who you are meant to be. Number Thirteen. Now take my hand and I'll take you to your new home."
The girl held up her hand but hesitated. "Will there be any… colored pencils?"
Marluxia frowned, eyes calculating through this new twist. "Colored pencils?"
"And drawing paper!" the girl said urgently. Her round eyes gazed up at him pleadingly.
"My, you are a talkative one!" Marluxia chuckled, and then reached down and cupped her hand in his. "I will personally make sure you get something to draw with. Now come, Thirteen; we are expected."
The girl smiled behind his back as he led her away between the trees. "You are wrong." She whispered. "I do have… my memories…"
Sora stumbled as the vision ended and turned to regard Naminé. "Those weren't my memories. Were those…?"
"Enough!" Naminé shouted, panting heavily as she tried to catch her breath. Her strange white cloak wasn't as pure anymore, marked her and there with tears and burns. She held one end of her chain in her right hand, the rest of the links trailing down to the floor in a huge pile. The chain was definitely longer, and Sora could only assume that it would continue to grow the longer the fight lasted.
"It's over, Naminé!" he shouted, gesturing with his key. "That was the last of them. There aren't any more members of the Organization left!"
"Aren't there?" she asked with a sneer, seeming to come into her second wind. "You don't know anything!"
She sent the chain up and spinning, and it once again started snapping together into a hilt. But this time the funnel kept getting wider, coiling in on itself over and over again. It finally stopped in the shape of a long bat, nearly as tall as Naminé was, which blurred and took on a metallic bluish hue. Then Naminé gave it a sharp twist and spikes appeared all along the edges, the weapon looking something like a cross between a great sword and a mace.
Sora gaped, momentarily taken aback. Who's weapon was that? He didn't have any more time than that to think on it, as Naminé swung the sword back, around, and up. The sword flew up into the air, carrying her along with it. Sora looked up at her in confusion as she angled the sword down and streaked back to the ground.
He dodged out of the path of her descent, but didn't expect the pale shockwave that appeared as she slammed into the ground. The shockwave slipped under his defenses and knocked him back, the breath blasted out of his chest. He dipped into his magic and surrounded himself in green healing energies as he tried to get a handle on this new strategy of hers.
Naminé went into a frenzy, slamming the ground repeatedly and sending more arcs of power rippling across the ground towards him. He retreated from them one step at a time, but the whistling of empty air at his back told him he was running out of room. Desperate, he leaped backwards over the abyss and slammed his key into the nearest pillar. The prongs at the end of his key bit into the stone and he used it as a lever to twist around the pillar and survey the scene. There, dancing just behind Naminé, a friend card!
He leaped from the pillar clear over the latest shockwave and landed running. Naminé, expecting another frontal assault, swung the sword around like a golf club. But Sora dodged wide of the swing and fell into a slide, shooting straight past her and scooping up the card. He stole a glance down at it and saw Goofy's smiling face above the number seven. Quick-stepping around to face her, he held up the card to cast it-
-and jumped back as Naminé flicked her chain at him from her free hand! The chain snapped his hand painfully down before he could get out of range and he winced. Sora looked down at his hand and back up, ready to fend off the ranged weapon as best he could, but the chain was gone. Naminé had both hands around the hilt of the sword and didn't appear to have altered her grip at all. Confused, Sora raised Goofy's card to cast it again and noted out of the corner of his eye that the number was a one, not a seven. Unsure of how he had gotten it wrong, he slipped the card into an inner pocket and slapped his hand over it. The cards he had collected rustled softly as they reshuffled themselves and, thus refreshed, he readied his stance to continue.
Naminé wadded in, swinging with abandon and not seeming to care for her own defense. Sora easily dodged the clumsy strikes and slammed his keyblade home on her chest. But she hardly seemed to feel it and chopped at his shoulder before he could get away. Shifting tactics, Sora flipped his key into his uninjured left hand and swept down, knocking her feet out from under her. He rose as she fell, slicing up into her back.
The world went white…
"Krixia." Xemnas intoned, leaning back upon his pedestal. "Why have you not been completing your missions?"
The entire Organization was there, arrayed in a circle upon their respective thrones. Krixia sat in the lowest, idly scribbling in her notebook and generally ignoring everything around her. Pencils of various hues were scattered about her chair.
"Oh man, ignoring the boss!" Demyx tittered, putting a hand to his mouth. "I don't think even I have the bravery for that!"
"I doubt you have the bravery for anything." Larxene said snidely, but a stern look from Saix silenced them both.
Siax turned his gaze to Number Thirteen. "Krixia, you have been asked a question by-"
"I don't like that name." Number Thirteen said, still not looking up. "My name is Naminé now."
Xemnas sat up straighter in his seat and glowered down at her. "I have given you the name Krixia, and it is the one you will use! Now stop drawing your silly pictures and explain why you have been shirking your duties."
"You talk too much. I don't like you at all." Naminé said softly, carefully pulling the page she had been working on out of her book. Upon it was a fairly passable sketch of Xemnas.
"You dare…" Number One demanded, holding up his hand threateningly. But before he could call upon any of his powers, Naminé gripped both ends of her drawing and tore it in half.
Xemnas grunted in shock, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. His arm started trembling violently, but he still managed to call up most of his ethereal blades before Naminé tore the two pieces of paper in half again. Xemnas arched back in his chair, trying and failing to form words. Small streamers of light and darkness started to flow off of him in spiraling waves.
Naminé continued to tear the pieces into confetti as the rest of the Organization watched on in silent horror. Xemnas no longer had any solid form, dissolving completely into his element and blowing away on ethereal winds. Within moments his chair was empty. Naminé smiled and wiped a few stray bits of paper from her lap.
Saix was the first to act, leaping from his chair and calling up his claymore with a thought. As he streaked down upon the girl, Xigbar also summoned one of his arrowguns into his right hand. He stood and took careful aim, preparing to let loose as soon as Siax's body was clear.
Naminé looked up and snapped her fingers. Chains suddenly filled the room, snaking their way up the pillars and shooting through the air like snakes. Saix was caught like a fly in a spider web, every limb lashed tight so as to render him immobile. One length of chain wrapped painfully around Xigbar's right arm just below the wrist and forced his arm up and away. Several of the other members who had been about to make a move settled back in their seats as the chains slowed to a halt and waited to see what would happen.
Xigbar looked to each side and, seeing no help coming, relaxed his grip on his arrowgun and allowed it to fade away. He held up his trapped hand in silent surrender and waited to be let loose.
Naminé turned from him to the one she had trapped in the center of the room. "And you?"
"You will pay for what you did, traitor!" Siax snarled, straining against his bonds and popping a few links here and there. Naminé smiled at his response and snapped her fingers.
The chains rattled to life, blurring with the speed of a chainsaw. Siax was simply torn apart, the pieces quickly melting to darkness as they were strewn about the room. The chains sawed Xigbar's hand off at the wrist and he fell back in his chair with a scream of pain, clutching at his missing hand. Everyone else in the room made moves as if to defend themselves or flee, but Naminé held up her sketchbook and started to calmly page through it. Through the maze of chains, no one in the room couldn't miss seeing that each page had a depiction of an Organization member on it.
Naminé smiled as each member slowly sank back into their seats and the chains rattled to a halt. "I'm in charge now." she said, as her cloak faded from inky black to shining white.
This latest memory left Sora more shaken than the last. It wasn't just how powerful Naminé appeared to be. It wasn't the number of Organization members he hadn't dealt with yet. He turned to regard her and held up his key in a respectable defense.
"You are the leader of the Organization!" he said, surprise evident in his tone.
Naminé had risen from the heap she had landed in and at his accusation, lifted an eyebrow at him. She was no longer breathing heavily and her chain was pooled in a large heap at her feet that nearly reached up above her knees. She gripped two lengths of it, one in each hand, and lifted them up before her.
"Of course I am." She answered, smiling like the Cheshire Cat. "It wasn't all that hard."
"Who are the Organization really?" Sora demanded, gesturing threateningly with his key.
If Naminé was in any way intimidated, she didn't show it. "Just a bunch of dead men who wanted their hearts back. But I don't need my heart. I just need you." She tilted her head and offered her hand to him. "It's not too late, Sora. Let me wipe your mind clean of your pesky memories and stay here, with me."
"No!" Sora shouted, backing up and getting ready to charge. "You've been in charge of this whole castle from the beginning, haven't you? Everything that's happened to me, my friends, Riku… you've been behind it all!"
"…That was the last time I'm going to ask." Naminé said softly, lowering her head to the ground. "Don't expect any more mercy from me!"
With a jerk, she threw her hands up over her head. The chains trailing from her fists arched into the air and kept rising, rattling faster and faster. Naminé threw her hands savagely down and the links stared streaming down as well, strangely not affecting those rising. Naminé threw her hands up a second time and let go, creating six vertical lines that clattered fast enough that they were a blur. Slowly, she reached out and gripped two of the columns, and the lot of them slowed to a halt. She was now holding a pair of wickedly ended spears, another four of which floated around her protectively.
Sora swallowed, deciding he would rather let her make the first move than charge into those hovering blades. Instead, he surrounded himself in more healing magic and dropped into a ready stance.
Naminé came on, the four spears floating at her side suddenly leaping forward. Unable to even think of blocking them, Sora hopped back and tried to run around them. But Naminé gripped the two she was holding at the end as the floating quartet circled around her, spinning in a tight circle that offered no openings. She thrust her hands down and all six spread flat, spinning around her like a disc. Sora took one hit to the leg before dropping down beneath it and calling upon his magic to shoot a fireball low over the ground.
But Naminé wasn't on the ground anymore. The fireball sailed harmlessly beneath her feet as she shot straight up into the air and hung there, all six spears aiming down. Some sixth sense caused Sora to dive into a roll just as they crashed to the ground all at once with the force of a lightning strike. Prone and stunned by the force of the strike, he was almost impaled by the second. Soon he was running around the arena pell-mell, doing all he could to stay ahead of the stabbing spears.
Desperate, Sora leaped as high as he could up one of the pillars along the edge and used it as a spring board to propel himself further into the air. He caught the closest spear as it dived for him and it bucked like a living thing, throwing him off. Fortunately, that was what Sora had wanted, as it had thrust him further into the air. He landed to the back of another spear but leaped off before it could shake him, landing for a moment on the top of a pillar. He back flipped off it, snapped off another spearhead with his key, and suddenly he was level with Naminé. She stared at him in shock from her swirling bubble of air, clearly astonished at his ability to get this high.
Sora's momentum carried him straight at her and he raised his sword to strike, but she grabbed a passing spear by the base and swung it sharply. A blast of wind slammed into Sora's chest and blew him back into the pillar he had leapt from, but not before he had thrown his own key. The spinning key was engulfed in flames as the second half of his technique activated, slicing through the protective shield of wind Naminé had created. With a thought, the key returned to Sora's hand and he controlled his fall along the pillar as Naminé plummeted.
The world went white…
The darkness swirled as Xaldin stepped out from the dark corridor and eyed the two figures in the small room's dim light. "Demyx is dead. She killed him."
"Demyx?" Luxord breathed, rocking back on his heels at the news. "Why would she kill him? He never does anything."
"Why bother asking?" Xaldin spat. "Clearly, becoming a nobody has driven her insane. I never liked the way she looked at me, with those superior eyes of hers. We have to put a stop to her once and for all!"
"I'm still not sure this is a good idea." Luxord mumbled. "I've never tried my hand at anything this big before."
"Not having second thoughts, are you?" Xaldin demanded.
"Of course not." Luxord said dismissively, though his doubts were still plain on his face. "My chips are all in the pot, just like yours. But removing someone from the time stream utterly…"
"That's why I'm here, in case anything goes wrong." Xigbar muttered, staring intently out the room's only window and rubbing his missing arm absently. He turned his intent gaze upon Xaldin. "She no longer allows any of us to go on missions anymore. If it weren't for the key bearer, the worlds would all be drowning in heartless by now."
"She didn't follow you, did she?" Luxord asked.
"She's in one of those trances she occasionally goes into." Xaldin answered. "As long as no one tries anything to grab her attention, she should remain like that until we're finished. Are you all prepared to begin?"
Luxord nodded and started to say something, but suddenly a chain snapped over Xaldin's shoulder and imbedded itself in Luxord's forehead. Luxord's head snapped back violently, his body going limp as he started to dissolve where he stood.
"Did you really think you could plot behind my back?" Naminé's voice drifted across the room. Xaldin turned about, but there was no one standing behind him. Instead, he noticed that the light in the room was brightening.
"Come on. Together, we can still…" he started as he spun back around, summoning up his lances. But Xigbar had vanished, leaving him alone in the room. It was now as bright as high noon and the light revealed that all the walls were covered in a layer of chains. The links started to rattle and shift as Naminé's mocking laughter filled the air.
"Coward!" Xaldin shouted, letting the air carry up his lances in a defensive ring about him. "Show yourself, witch! I'll take you down on my own!"
The chains fell off the walls like an unending sheet of rain…
Sora touched down lightly and hopped off the pillar, watching Naminé's descent warily. The girl managed to control her fall at the last moment, flipping over and landing in a crouch with her head down. The six spears each thudded into the ground about her and immediately dissolved into piles of chain.
Naminé barred her teeth. "I will not lose! This is not the end of my plans!" She held her arm out to the nearest pile and the chain slithered across the floor and up into her hand. The other piles flowed up and over her hand, piling them into a huge ball and beginning to blur together. The shape grew longer and thicker, curving back along the top and forming points and a thick head near the pommel. When the shape finally took on a distinctive shape, she was holding this truly enormous tomahawk-like ax over her shoulder.
"No more talk, huh?" Sora sighed as she charged him down. She lifted the huge weapon over her head and brought it down one-handed straight at him. Sora grinned and held his key up to block, confident that she couldn't have put much force in the blow and that he could turn aside such an unwieldy weapon with ease.
He was wrong.
The tomahawk slammed into his keyblade with the force of an avalanche, crushing his blade onto his shoulder and driving him down. Somehow he miraculously managed to keep on his feet, but the force drove him ankle deep into the floor and shattered the ground about him. Two slabs of stone on either side of him reared up and it took him a moment to realize that they were being controlled and not another result of the powerful strike.
Sora couldn't move away from the incoming boulders, pinned as he was under the still crushing weight of the ax, so he tried something desperate. He released his key and threw himself forward, attempting to grab Naminé by the waist and throw her aside. Released from its obstacle, the tomahawk smashed into the ground and buried the keyblade just as the twin slabs of earth closed about them, just behind Sora's toes. Naminé lost her grip on the embedded weapon as his momentum carried them tumbling away from the rubble.
Naminé slashed at his unprotected face with her nails, loosening her grip on her enough for her to slip away. She dashed over to the pile of loose rock and ripped the tomahawk out of the rubble as if it weighed only a couple of ounces. A large chunk of stone was caught in the crock of the tomahawk, and a flick of her wrist sent the boulder careening towards her enemy.
Sora held out his hand and willed the keyblade to it, hoping that it had somehow managed to survive being crushed. As fortune would have it, it appeared in his hand just in time for him to slam the massive projectile aside and over the edge of the arena. He turned back to face her again, but his legs almost buckled beneath him and he swayed dangerously to the side. That last strike had taken more out of him than he had thought. He needed to end this quickly.
As Sora charged ahead, Naminé slammed the tomahawk deep into the ground. A series of stalagmites taller than either of them started ripping out of the ground in a line, heading right for Sora. He dodged to the side as they exploded past, but the line turned and appeared to be following him. Sora ran full out, noticing a green card dancing on the other side of the arena. He scooped it up as he ran past and frowned to the number two below Donald's visage. Tucking the card into his inner pocket, he swerved and charged to the center of the arena, where Naminé waited.
She saw him coming and raised the tomahawk above her head, slashing it violently down as he closed. But that was what he had hoped for, coming to a complete stop just before the strike and diving to the left. The weapon raised a great stalagmite from the ground as it connected, shielding Sora from sight for a few seconds and coming right into the path of the trailing stream of stalagmites.
The two juts of rocks collided and shattered each other apart, spraying bit of blinding gravel in all directions. Naminé stumbled out of the blast radius, wiping the grit from her eyes and dragging the giant ax after her. Taking advantage of her momentary blindness, Sora diving in another roll right up behind her and came up slashing. The blow slammed into her back and she arched around it, dropping the ax from her numb fingers.
The world went white…
Lexeaus swept his weapon in a wide arc before his chest, catching six Soldiers and Shadows on the blade and throwing them clear from the stairway. Several more nobodies were still blocking his path to the top, but he crushed each of them in turn as he charged to the top. Within moments he had mashed the last of them into darkness and stood gazing at the view from the very top of the Castle That Never Was.
The sight before him would have made his heart sink if he still had it. Heartless coated every structure like a layer of black paint. The tower directly to the left of this balcony was suddenly struck by a truly impressive lightning strike as Larxene's fight intensified. Several other swaths of fire towards the base of the castle revealed where Axel was making his stand, but there weren't any other indicators for the other's locations.
Ahead, directly in the center of the balcony, Naminé sat on a small bench and looked down upon the fighting. She had her notebook open on her lap and was drawing idly at a picture of some kind of building. A small chain lay curled at her feet, along with clear grooves in the ground indicating it had been used recently.
"We have to get out of here!" Lexeaus shouted, abandoning his usual gruff silence in his urgency. "There's no way we can hold the castle against all these heartless!"
"In a moment…" Naminé said, flicking open her book to another page. This picture showed an Organization member, but his right arm had been scribbled out. She began to jot something down below the picture.
"We don't have time…" Lexeaus started, but a huge claw slamming onto the edge of the balcony interrupted him. A Large Armor clawed its way onto the balcony and Lexeaus raised his weapon and charged it down.
Behind him, a dark corridor suddenly opened right before Naminé. Xigbar appeared from it as it faded away, his remaining arm raised and holding his freshly emptied arrowgun. He blinked in surprise and looked around rapidly before realizing where he was.
"What happened?" He asked. "How did I get up here?"
"I wanted to ask you something." Naminé said softly, rising to her feet and clutching her notebook to her chest.
Xigbar growled and gestured down at the raging battle. "Right now? Perhaps you haven't noticed, but the entire castle has been overrun! None of this would have happened if you had allowed us to fight them before this!"
"The heartless are of no importance." Naminé said with a dismissive wave. "I wanted to know if there were any others in that little rebellion you tried to form."
Xigbar stiffened and focused upon her for an endless second. He suddenly flicked his hand and reloaded his gun, simultaneously warping directly behind her and pressing his gun to her head. But he wasn't faster than she could draw, as she scribbled something down into the notebook right about his image's head.
Lexeaus crushed the Armor's head and shoved the quickly disappearing body from the balcony. He turned around as saw the two of them standing still as statues, his gun still pressed to her forehead. He started to walk over to them and Xigbar lurched to the side, turning fully to face him.
Xigbar's eye was staring blankly at nothing and him mouth was open slightly. He shuffled forward as if he couldn't remember how to put one foot before another. He stumbled past Lexeaus and started slowly down the stairs, which even now were quickly becoming over run by darkness.
"We're finished here. Come." Naminé said, opening up a dark corridor and beckoning him to follow. Lexeaus paused and looked back once, but the heartless had already pulled Xigbar's unresisting form down into the swarm.
Naminé tumbled across the floor, skidding to a halt on her side. Her tomahawk spun after her, trailing links with each bounce as it careened along the floor. It dissolved completely just before reaching her, the huge pile of chain spilling a few loops over her legs and side as it ground to a stop. Naminé clutched at her stomach with both hands and glared at him from over the pile.
"Just give up, Naminé!" Sora shouted, waving his key threateningly in her direction. "It doesn't matter whose weapon you use, none of them are capable of taking me down! Surrender!"
"Me… surrender?" Naminé said softly in disbelief. She climbed slowly to her feet and dipped both hands into the pile of chain, dragging out the two ends. "You think you've defeated me? I can't lose! I am the Superior!"
Naminé threw her hands out to the sides dramatically and the chain went insane. The two ends shot out straight from her hands to the side as the pile at her feet exploded into motion. Sawing chains arched through the air in all directions for a moment until first one, then several, then dozens ran vertically in a line. An equal amount of chains started weaving through the vertical lines, forming a checkerboard pattern of links that split the arena in half. The links started to blur and bubble, becoming square shaped distortions that ebbed in such a way as to make Sora sick to his stomach. Behind the barrier, the two links in Naminé's hands had become pillars of red light that she held with the balance of swords.
"I'll show you who's number one!" she screamed, charging ahead for a quick second before disappearing in a strange blur. Before Sora could puzzle out what had happened, Naminé was at his side with both swords crossed before her chest. He slashed at her out of instinct but she had already blurred away, appearing several times at odd angles around him. He spun, trying futilely to keep his eye on her, and she suddenly rose from through the ground below him in a spin. The blades cleaved into his legs and threw him into the air, where Naminé suddenly was. She slammed the weapons down into his chest and he barely got the key across to block them in time.
Sora landed in a crouch and sprang back up immediately, but Naminé just held her hand out casually in his direction. A translucent, checkerboard wall of nothing solidified in his path and he rebounded off it, falling back to the ground and glaring up at her floating form.
She held her arm out again and jagged black tendrils shot forth, twining their way through the air all around him. Sora blinked in confusion, but his instincts proved themselves again as he spun around and intercepted Naminé's sudden charge at his back from nowhere. She didn't seem to mind being shunted aside, speeding around him in a quick circle and leaving a small red bar floating in her wake every step. Sora leaped into the air as the circle was completed and the bars shot forward, exploding into each other just below his feet. Before he could come down from his leap Naminé slammed into him from his blind side, black tendrils surrounding them both as she came in swinging savagely.
The keyblade reacted oddly to the black streamers, repelling from them like metal from a magnet and carrying him higher into the air as he returned her ferocity blow for blow. They crossed swords dozens of times every minute as they climbed into the top of the arena, each dealing as many hits as they received. The air was filled with the sharp ringing of their weapons colliding. Naminé kept up vanishing and striking at odd angle, but Sora countered by spinning like a top and proving just as unpredictable as his adversary.
At the apex of their ascent Naminé appeared directly over him and dived straight down, blades leading. Sora responded by throwing his key into her path and setting it alight with his magic. The fiery projectile exploded in her face but she barreled on through it, screaming her defiance. He summoned the keyblade back to his grasp just in time to intercept her charge crosswise and they plummeted to the ground, locked together.
"We'll both crash!" Sora shouted, trying to kick his way clear of her and alter his descent.
"You might." Naminé spat right back, hooking one of her blades behind his head and pulling him too close to escape. "But with these powers, I'll just go on through the floor. This is the end!"
Sora struggled, but he couldn't squeeze out from the burning blade pressed into his back. He knew he was low on cards, having spent too many of them on combos thus far, and locked this close to her he didn't have time to refresh them. And all he had left for magic were ice and…
He opening his eyes wide and called forth his lightning with all the strength he could muster. The magic gather along the ceiling and stabbed down in a powerful bolt, racing to hit them just before they would have met with the ground. Naminé had no time to escape as the energies surged through them both, splitting them apart and spinning in different directions. Sora went along with his spin, accepting the initial shock of landing on his shoulder. He tumbled and would have gone right over the edge if he hadn't come up against a pillar.
The world went white…
"What is so special about this place?" Zexion asked, looking around. "There's nothing here."
Naminé had to agree. She and the six survivors of her Organization stood upon a simple dirt road flanked on either side with bright green grass. The path led up to the lip of a great chasm that appeared to be bottomless. There was nothing here, not for miles around, but Naminé knew it was just what she had been looking for.
She flipped open her notebook and stared intently at the castle she had drawn there. It was oddly shaped, pieced together from the disjointed memories her somebo… that girl, could almost remember of her hometown. The first link of her chain appeared in her hand and she pressed it into the page, concentrating fully in the task.
She could tell by the gasps of those around her that her undertaking had been successful. She looked up from the blank page to see the castle of her drawing perched precariously upon the ledge at the end of the path. She smiled and motioned for the others to follow her up to path to the front doors.
"Is this supposed to be our new base?" Vexen asked, pointedly not taking any steps forward. "Why have we come out here? Why did we abandon the Castle That Never Was?"
Naminé turned and regarded him. "That location had been betrayed, by Xigbar and the traitors still left amongst us." She noted from the corner of her eye that Marluxia and Larxene shoot a worried look at each other and filed it into her plans.
"But for what purpose did we come here?" Vexen demanded, apparently emboldened by the fact she was actually answering her questions. "Ever since you assumed command you've had us do nothing but wait. We are nowhere near close to regaining our hearts. What do you hope to accomplish? What are you planning that you can't tell any of us?"
She looked down from the small rise she stood upon at her few followers. Zexion and Lexeaus were hovering close to Vexen as if to offer him support, while the others were leaning away and trying to avoid her eye contact. Naminé regarded the first three and the smile left her face in a flash.
"I will be taking my rooms in the top of the castle. If I see any of you three above the ground floor, I will kill you. Now be silent or you won't make it to entrance."
Vexen gaped at her, but wisely didn't say a word.
"As for why we are here…" Naminé continued, turning around and making for the top of the path. Behind her, the six powerful beings fearfully followed in her wake. "I'm waiting for someone…"
"This whole castle… it's fake." Sora said, climbing unsteadily to his feet. He was battered and torn, his left arm almost definitely broken in the fall. His clothing still smoked slightly from the lightning strike. "Everything that has happened here… has just been a trick to bring me to you."
"You… belong with me…" Naminé said, pulling herself to her feet. She was also injured, her fine white cloak ripped and seared, but a fierce light burned in her eyes and her gaze fell on him. "I'm the real one. Not that girl… that shadow that dares to be my other half! You are… mine."
Sora reached up a hand to slap against his pocket, refreshing his cards, but paused. Instead he reaching into the pocket and pulled out the cards, casting them aside in all directions. As they fell they blurred, becoming little pieces of notepaper with crude drawings of keys and spells on them.
"None of this, these cards, this castle, none of it… was ever real." Two cards caught his eye as they fluttered apart from the rest. The smiling faces of Donald and Goofy created from crayon caused a sudden stab of worry to pierce his heart. "Where are my friends?"
"You won't need than anymore." Naminé promised coldly. "I disposed of them as soon as you entered my castle. I am the only one you will ever need." She suddenly dashed forward, trailing a chain from each of her hands.
"They were my FRIENDS!" Sora screamed in grief and anger. White light exploded from his keyblade, driving Naminé's charge to a halt and filling the room with its blinding energy. The light faded as quickly as it appeared, its job complete. For the illusion had been banished.
The battle arena had been interposed upon the room at the top of the castle. All the surfaces in the room had gone translucent and several of the lower levels could be seen through the floor. But between the floors ran lengths of chain, crisscrossing the entire length of the castle. The pillars were each truly comprised of streams of chain that flowed up and down endlessly. The ceiling itself sagged down as the light faded, revealing itself to be a huge web of interlocking chains.
In the middle on the ceiling was chained a man in an Organization uniform. His arms and legs were lashed many times over, and a thick band of them were tightened around his chest and throat. The man looked like he was barely alive, his skin drawn tight against his bones and his dull blue hair hanging lifelessly over one eye. Power in the form of small bluish streams appeared to be constantly being drained from his hands into the chains binding him.
Zexion weakly lifted his head and gasped for breath. "… help… me…"
Sora looked down from the unpleasant sight and glared at her in pure hate. "I am going to put a stop to you." he promised, dropping into his fighting stance and praying he had the strength to back up his promise.
"Really." Naminé asked, cocking her head and stepping slowly forward. She started to swing her chain idly in her hand. "Do you really think I've been fighting you for real? Do you think I'd use the weapons of those weaklings if I really wanted to defeat you? I've been trying to take you whole… but if you really want to fight… then I'm not holding back any longer!"
She slashed wickedly with her left hand and the chain extended link by link to reach him. Sora tried to raise his key up to ward, but it snapped around the length of the blade before he could moved it and pulled it up and to the side. The other chain whipped out faster that thought and snapped into his wrist, breaking it with a sharp crack. The keyblade was pulled from his bleeding hand and tossed to the side.
The chains whipped around as he clutched at his broken wrist, driving him back against the wall. Sora's cry of pain was choked off as one of the chains wrapped tightly around his throat and closed it off. Behind him he felt the chains in the wall ripple out and surround his arms and legs, but the sensation felt like it was coming from very far away. He felt himself being lifted into the air as the chains wrapped him into a steel cocoon.
The last thing he heard before darkness closed in on him was Naminé whispering into his ear. "And now… you are mine…"
"Urg…" Riku muttered, slowly returning to consciousness. "Where am I…?"
He looked to either side and his brow furrowed in confusion. He lay floating in an endless plain of grey, absolutely nothing stretching out as far as the eye could see.
"Stay asleep." A voice suddenly said, echoing across the emptiness.
Riku jerked upright. "Who's there?"
"You should remain asleep." The deep voice continued. "Here, between light and dark."
"Between… what?" Riku asked, looking around in confusion for the source of the voice. "Wait, the King! Where's the King? Together we closed the door to darkness. After that…"
"You came drifting here by yourself. You did not have the strength to overcome the darkness. Or… maybe you were close to it."
"Hmph." Riku huffed, unimpressed by the accusation. "As if I'm some kind of demon."
The voice chuckled. "Turn from the light. Shut your eyes. Here blanketed by the darkness, sleep is safety. Sleep is eternal. But…"
Light suddenly burst in front of Riku's eyes and a small blue piece of paper popped into existence. Upon it was a crude drawing of a strange castle. The card started to spin around him in a lazy circle.
"What's this?" Riku asked.
"It is a door to the truth. Take it and your sleep ends, as you take the first step toward the truth. But know this: the truth will bring you pain. With you still go? There is no return to the security of sleep."
Riku looked down and contemplated the options before him. After a moment he looked back up and picked up the card by its corner. "This seemed like a boring place to take a nap anyway."
"That was very well said, Riku." the voice said. It sounded almost like the speaker's voice was getting light, or perhaps just closer.
Suddenly the card blossomed into light, blinding Riku to the world around him. But he held the card tight as he was drawn into it and away from here.
Riku opened his eyes and quickly took in the room about him. It was cavernous and grand, like a church's cathedral. Everything was white, the only source of color emanating from a large golden door set on a small rise at the other end of the room. Standing on that rise were two men, each wearing an identical black robe. The larger of the two was well muscled and had short orange hair that shot back from his head in waves. The giant appeared to be sizing him up like a farmer at market, judging his worthiness. The other was much slighter and had a shockingly spiky head of red hair that stood out at all angles.
"Where am I?" Riku asked, warily walking over to the two men. "Who are you?"
"Us? We're nobody." The smaller man said with a laugh, holding out his hand in welcome. His voice echoed in the empty room and Riku realized that it was the strange voice that had led him here. "But we need your help, to rescue an old friend of yours…"