Awakening of Light

by Autumnstar17

When a series of new worlds become connected, keyblade wielders Blaise, Soul, and Emily set out on a mission to defend them from heartless and seal their keyholes. But when remnants from the Organization start to show up in their way, the three girls are forced down new paths that they may not be able to come back from.

1. Dawn's Peak

Opening Theme: Goodbye Happiness by Utada Hikari

..:: The World That Never Was ::..

Bits and pieces of rubble crunched beneath three separate sets of boots. The nobodies stopped in a near straight line to stare up at the castle that was looming above them. Something about it was different. Not the darkness that seemed to engulf the entire structure - no, that was nothing new. It seemed… deserted. The place always had an air of hollowness about it, but this wasn't empty so much as abandoned. Left behind. Like a book that had been placed on a shelf and then forgotten about.

"Does this feel off to anyone else?" the first woman asked, her eyes shifting over towards her two companions. She had long, wavy brown hair herself and red-tinted eyes. Like the others was wearing a black coat.

The nearest to her shrugged. "Looks like home to me. Whatever that means."

"Hm."

The first of them continued onward towards the castle. Inside was much of the same. Unnecessarily high ceilings made the place feel even more empty and spacious than it already was.

"Xeymil. Look."

Xeymil turned her head towards her blue-haired companion. "What is it, Loxus?"

Loxus pointed out a wide glass wall towards the eternally night sky. There was something missing from it, however.

"Kingdom Hearts," Loxus explained. "It's gone."

So it was.

"Surely Xemnas won't be pleased," Xeymil muttered.

"I don't think we need to worry about him anymore," the third voice chimed in. Xeymil and Loxus turned to see Basilex coming back into the room towards them. She had short, messy brown hair and two different colored eyes - one gold and one blue - that would probably have been considered pretty were it not half as off-putting. "Or anyone else for that matter," Basilex went on. "The castle is quiet."

As she walked forward she undid her black coat and let it fall from her shoulders and drop to the ground. Beneath it was a dominantly white outfit with black accents.

Xeymil frowned. "Xemnas might not be here right now, but the dress code still applies."

"Don't you get it? He's not here, and I seriously doubt he's coming back."

"You can't know that for sure."

Basilex wrinkled her nose. She was just a foot or so away from Xeymil and Loxus now. "Oh, drop the unwavering loyalty act. It's pathetic. 'Sides, while we were off doing his busywork, a little birdie told me that that kid with the magic key was on his way over here. My guess is he got lucky and the Organization was having an off day when he finally arrived."

Xeymil swallowed. "What are you implying?"

"As I said, we needn't worry about Xemnas or any of the higher ranks any more." The corner of Basilex's lips rose into a cunning smile. Xeymil turned away.

"What does that mean for us, supposing you're right?" Loxus asked. "If the Organization is no more…"

"The Organization isn't gone!" Xeymil hissed suddenly, whirling around again. As she did so her fist cut through the air, around it the fingerless red gloves that she called her Jazz Hands. From these gloves a thin trail of flames followed her swift movement and then died away again. "Perhaps it's just time for a change in management." Xeymil tried to regain her previous composure, straightening again and letting her gaze shift from Loxus to Basilex.

"Perfect," shrugged Basilex. "In that case, I'll happily take my place as the new Number One."

Xeymil narrowed her eyes. "That isn't what I meant."

"No? Because I hope you weren't about to suggest we put you in charge."

"I'm not suggesting," glowered Xeymil, "I'm stating. Xemnas left me in charge of our last mission. By that same logic, out of the three of us, he would want me to follow in his footsteps."

Basilex let out a stream of laughter. "Oh, please," she sighed, her chuckling still fading away. "Xemnas only stuck you in a leadership position because of your willingness to play lap dog. He didn't care for or favor you any more than he did us. In case you've forgotten, our missions were primarily means of keeping us out of his hair and away from The World That Never Was as often as possible."

"He knew the keywielder was on his way here," Loxus chimed in. "Perhaps he was simply trying to keep us out of harm's way. We haven't existed all that long, after all."

Basilex snorted. "As if."

"What, have you been hanging out with Xigbar lately?"

Basilex glowered back at Xeymil.

"Look, it's no secret that you weren't fond of Xemnas," Xeymil's nostrils flared. "But if there's any chance that he and the others will show up again, I for one am not going to just throw away everything he was working towards. Nor disgrace his memory by standing aside while you try and wrongfully make yourself his successor."

Smiling wickedly, Basilex jerked her head to the side, causing her neck to crack. "Guess we'll just have to settle this the old fashioned way." Her eyes seemed to widen with manic glee. For supposedly being an emotionless being, she was incredibly expressive.

Xeymil adjusted her footing and brought up her balled fists, which immediately became engulfed in a mass of flames. "If you insist."

Loxus let out an exasperated sigh and pinched at the bridge of her nose.

Basilex drew her sword - a thin rapier doused in poisons - and pointed it directly at Xeymil. She waited, chuckling under her breath as she shifted her weight between her feet, faking movement in every direction. Xeymil ducked out of the way of a bluffed strike and into a quick somersault. As she was doing so, the nobody was already working on creating a tight ball of fire between the palms of her hands. When she popped up again Xeymil released this in Basilex's direction. The fireball whizzed past her opponent's face, warming it slightly. Basilex laughed in response to the heat and lunged toward Xeymil, matching the other's earlier acrobatics with her own before each strike in an attempt to catch her off guard.

The duel went on like this for another full minute or so. Xeymil continually twirled about, hurling blaze after blaze from her Jazz Hands in a variety of forms. Basilex meanwhile expertly dodged each of the other nobody's advances and slashed out with her sword at each opportunity as it presented itself. Her strikes were light, though from the look in her eye it was more of a calculated strategy than out of concern for her comrade. They back and forth for some time, each attempting to land blows and simultaneously exhaust their opponent.

After a while the both of them backed off a bit and began to circle one another, panting slightly. Basilex made a note of a thin cut now running across Xeymil's cheek. Xeymil either hadn't realized she'd been nicked herself or was making a point of not reacting to it. The heat from Xeymil's attacks had obviously damaged Basilex's clothing, but there was no sign of harm save for the smell of a few burnt hairs.

Their eyes locked, Basilex and Xeymil waited for another beat before they charged at one another for the next round. But they didn't get very far before being stopped by a pair of double-ended blue-tipped lances - a pair of weapons Loxus called Hurricane, although more specifically, the one in her left hand was Boreas and the right Notus. Each was positioned dangerously close to Basilex and Xeymil's throats.

"That's enough for now," Loxus announced. She had jumped between the nobodies and was currently poised with her weapons out at her sides. A strip of Loxus' shirt collar stuck out from beneath her cloak, covering her mouth entirely and thus making it difficult to always read her expressions. And the woman's vacant blue eyes did very little to help in this matter.

Xeymil drew in a sharp breath and let the fire extinguish from her fists. She took a step back and took the time to heal herself. But Basilex didn't look quite as willing to do the same. "We were just starting to get to the fun part, Loxus. She's barely even bleeding yet; you can't really mean to stop us just yet." While her blade was lowered, her arm was still tensed and ready to move at the slightest provocation. When Loxus did not immediately step aside, the manic smile began contorting into a scowl, seeming disgusted at the interruption.

"I am not one to pick sides," Loxus spoke, "and the thought of you taking one another out concerns me not in the least. However, it is a very real possibility that there are but three of us left in the Organization." The others no longer looked like they were on the verge of ripping out one another's throats, so Loxus held down her Hurricane. "Let's not do our keywielding friend any favors."

"How are we supposed to decide on the new leader then, huh?" questioned Basilex.

"I see no reason for us to appoint one," droned Loxus. The nobody turned her attention to the glass walls now and slowly paced toward them again, glossy eyes fixed out on the dark sky. "Together we are tasked with rebuilding the Organization. Finishing what Xemnas started… Kingdom Hearts…"

Basilex had tucked away her weapon at this point. She placed her hands on her waist now and cocked her hip out to the side. "Fine," she huffed. "But now if we're all gonna pretend we don't outrank one another, don't expect me to follow any bogus direct orders. I work for myself, and will help out only when convenient."

Xeymil looked vaguely annoyed by Basilex's response but didn't speak up on the matter. Instead she asked, "What about the grunt work? Collecting hearts?"

Loxus hummed for a moment, not turning to face her comrades. "We'll find a way," she said after a while. "And I think I know where we might start…"

..:: Keyblade Masters' Pavilion ::..

"So… Got any sevens?" asked one of the three women sitting around a table. There were cards in her and the others' hands, which is obviously what she had asked about. Her wavy brown hair fell over one shoulder and she shifted slightly to lean forward, the strapless pink dress she was wearing beginning to slide down slightly because it wasn't quite fitting properly. Or due to her bad posture on long game nights, one of the two.

The question was not well received, the other two women rolling their eyes. The one with short brown hair sighed heavily, one hand covering her blue eyes as she looked down to the star charm around her neck. She stayed silent; her partner, however, did not.

"Emily. For thousandth time, we are playing poker, not GO FISH."

The woman that spoke had a blonde ponytail and expressive green eyes and was dressed head to toe in varying shades of blue. The second looked over to her. "Soul, calm down. It's been a long night-"

"I am calm, Basil! Don't tell me to calm down." She crossed her arms in a huff.

"Blaise." The other corrected. "And it has been a long night, as I was saying, and I doubt Emily has much left to bet anyway so she was probably just trying to-"

"I was on a winning streak!"

"Yes, well-"

Suddenly, a flash of light. All three were transported from their poker table to the top room of a mysterious tower. Behind the sole desk in the room sat an old man in blue robes with an impressively long beard indicating he was a wise old wizard.

..:: Mysterious Tower ::.

"Master Yen Sid!" Soul and Blaise both addressed him, bowing their heads before looking back to him. Emily waved at him somewhat awkwardly, unsure of the cause of such formality.

Yen Sid seemed to ignore both of these things, and looked at the three the way one might look at three individuals about to be sent on a mission way over their heads due to no safer alternatives available that is surely bound to end with disaster and heartbreak as well as be fraught with misunderstandings and betrayal. But that would just be crazy, right?

"Masters Soul and Blaise, and young Emily, I have a mission for the three of you."

Oh.

Soul and Blaise stiffened slightly. Missions for trios of keyblade wielders rarely went well for those involved. Though, things rarely went well for keyblade wielders at all, really. Honestly, why did ANYONE bother with them? Nonetheless, they waited for his explanation tensely. Emily, meanwhile, had all the apprehension of a small child in a candy store.

"As I am sure you have heard, two wielders, Sora and Riku, have been tasked with reawakening the Sleeping Worlds." Soul and Blaise looked at each other from the corners of their eyes. Had they been told? It certainly seemed like new information. Other Masters rarely told them much of anything. Nonetheless, the wizard continued: "As such, I am in need of others to journey across new worlds that have entered the Realm of Light and become connected. Something is causing the barriers across these worlds to deteriorate even now, and it must be stopped."

"Of course." Blaise bowed her head as she spoke. "We'd be glad to, Master Yen Sid. Do you have any idea who or what is causing this?"

Soul remained silent but bowed her head as well, looking at Blaise out of the corner of her eye. Didn't she realize they were only being asked because they were the backup pawns? Emily hadn't even finished her training and was likely clueless about the other wielders, but she knew that Blaise was aware. Emily leaned back against the wall of the study, realizing at this point that no one seemed to have any interest in what she may have to say on the matter. Best to let everyone else talk it out and tag along with the other two.

"The most obvious suspect is Xehanort, but I presume him to be otherwise… occupied. You may be facing a new threat entirely. This is why I require all three of you. The mission is far too dangerous for anyone alone."

Soul scowled with her head still bowed. Vague, dangerous, and an unknown threat. Not only were they backup pawns, they were disposable backup pawns. Could the others really be okay with it? She and Blaise raised their heads in unison and briefly looked each other in the eyes. Soul was obviously enraged, Blaise's eyes holding determination and caution, but softened at Soul in an obvious attempt to calm her. She failed. Soul looked away, refusing to make eye contact with anyone else in the room. Blaise looked back to Yen Sid who simply nodded at them as a dismissal. The Keyblade Masters turned and left the room, making sure Emily followed behind them.

As soon as they left the study, Emily began excitedly blabbering about the mission. She had never been called on for anything like this before, and as such was quite excited at the idea.

"Oh, this is all so exciting, isn't it!" the young wielder breathed. "I'll finally get to go and explore other worlds! And with my two best friends, to boot! I'm so happy I could cry! Seriously!"

The masters did nothing to quell her enthusiasm and simply walked in silence, waiting until they were outside of the tower. Soul spoke as soon as the door closed behind them. "Basil, does anything about this seem at all suspicious to you?"

"Blaise. And suspicious? We're being asked to find the cause of the barriers between undiscovered worlds breaking down. The only suspicious thing is why he doesn't think it is Xehanort."

"That is exactly what I'm talking about, Basil! Why does he think Xehanort is busy with something else? This is exactly the sort of thing he has been doing for years, but all of a sudden when we get called in, his attentions are elsewhere. He didn't trust us to deal with Xehanort, but is willing to throw us at whatever else is doing this?"

"I'm sure that Master Yen Sid has good intentions. With an unknown threat, he knew he needed someone to investigate, and out of all the wielders he chose us. Besides, Xehanort likely doesn't know about us, and he definitely doesn't know about Emily. So it is best we stay off his radar. Especially after what happened twelve years ago to the last wielders that got his attention…"

Blaise trailed off, unable to look either of her friends in the eye. Soul seemed to have a retort on the tip of her tongue but just huffed and looked away again. Pushing the matter was obviously getting nowhere, and it was best to drop it. Emily however, was clueless.

"Um, who is Xehanort exactly? And what are we even supposed to be doing?" the girl blinked.

Blaise and Soul looked at each other in shock. They had been focusing on helping the younger wielder train, of course, but surely they hadn't neglected to tell her anything about the biggest threat to the worlds while they were doing so? They looked to Emily, hoping she was joking. The confusion on her face made it clear that she was, in fact, not. Blaise hid her face in her hands. "I KNEW we forgot to teach her something. God! How could we just never tell her about any of that? We're terrible at this - no wonder we get excluded so much!"

Soul was caught somewhat off guard by Blaise's outburst. Yes, it was a big deal and a ridiculous oversight, but surely she was overreacting? She awkwardly pat the other girl on the back in an attempt to console her. "There… there… Basil?" She paused, waiting for the other to correct her, but it never came. "Uhm. Shouldn't we… Be going off to the first world? We can explain everything on the way?"

The prospect of getting the mission underway seemed to snap Blaise out of her despair and she straightened her posture with her fists balled at her side. "Right!" She activated her armor with a quick smack of her hand against her upper arm, silver and purple armor appearing on her after the resulting flash of light. Emily and Soul summoned their armor as well, Emily's being pink and white and Soul's being blue and gold. The trio also summoned their keyblades, using them to leave the tower behind as they took off towards the first world in their journey.

..:: Dawn's Peak ::..

They landed together and dismissed their armor, looking around the world they landed in. It was a city as far as they could tell, and they were in some sort of plaza. The sky overhead was dim, cast in blues and pinks, appearing to be on the verge of dawn. It was warm and luckily, the area they landed in was deserted enough so no one noticed their arrival. Blaise was the first to spot a sign with a name. "Dawn's Peak?" She read almost in question.

"Guess this place is on a mountain." Soul observed, walking around the plaza and peering down the adjoining streets and alleys. "Not that it tells us why we were able to get here. Barriers don't just disappear for no reason. And I'm not seeing anything suspicious…"

"We literally JUST got here. A look around and we'll figure it out, I'm sure."

Emily yelped in surprise suddenly, realizing a heartless had appeared only inches away from her. She summoned her keyblade and swatted at it, making it disappear. Soul and Blaise had their keyblades at the ready as more began to appear. The three backed up against each other, watching as the swarm grew larger. "Well, I think I found the problem," Soul said flatly.

"Guess we'll just have to solve this little problem." Blaise replied. After a brief pause, the three all leapt outward at the same moment, each diving into a section of the swarm, swinging their keyblades and casting spells in an attempt to deal with them all. While individually the heartless were weak, all being of the Shadow variety, they did pose a bit of a challenge in such a large group. They watched each other's backs more than their own, bursts of fire and ice erupting for the tips of their keyblades to take out the enemies flanking the other wielders.

The numbers dwindled slowly, but with a fair amount of skill, endurance (more healing magic and potions than endurance but who was really keeping score?), and teamwork the plaza was clearing. Finally, Soul hurled her keyblade at the few remaining heartless between her and Emily, summoning it back to her as she panted slightly. "Is that… the last of them?"

"I think so. That was a pretty big horde though, especially in the middle of a town," Blaise replied, keeping her keyblade ready at her side in case of another wave. For a moment, it was silent. That was, until a red-headed woman began approaching the group, quietly applauding them. She was dressed casually - all in white, beige, and army green except for her fiery red hair that was piled up in a bun on top of her head - and had no obvious weapon on her, but the wielders didn't drop their guard.

"Impressive, I've not seen anyone able to deal with the heartless that well ever since they showed up," the woman said. "Which means… you must not be from Dawn's Peak. Probably something to do with those keyblades."

"You know about the keyblade?" Soul asked, shifting herself slightly in front of Emily.

"And about the other worlds, apparently," Blaise added, mirroring Soul's movement.

"No need to be so worried; I'm just a scientist. I research the heart and the keyblade. It

became a popular field of study once people began finding excerpts of the notes from Ansem the Wise." She paused, seeing them relax slightly. "My name's Willow. I work here with another scientist named Scottie, and if you three have a moment and wouldn't mind helping us out with something, I'd like you to come with me."

The trio looked at each other, Emily obviously much more excited and willing than the others. The Masters shrugged at each other before nodding to Willow. "I'm Emily! I'm in training to be a Keyblade Master, and these two are Blaise and Soul; they already passed their Mark of Mastery."

"Two Masters, huh? Well that explains why you were able to deal with that horde, probably took out most of the heartless in the town. Though from what I understand, they seem to seek out the keyblade. I'm going to have to ask you to follow me at a bit of a distance then. I'm not as well equipped to deal with-"

"Willow! There you are! Going out for five minutes my ass - you're out here on the other side of town!" another voice from across the square shouted. This time it was a man with messy and curly dark brown hair and green eyes so bright they were visible from a considerable distance. He also wore a monocle and a bright red shirt with a black cape, so it was possible that he was, perhaps, a bit on the eccentric side. Also, was that a crown on his head?

"Ah, seems we may not need to go back to the lab after all," Willow said, raising an eyebrow as the agitated man crossed the plaza to reach them. "Scottie, I've found some Keyblade Masters from another world. Possibly multiple other worlds, I didn't bother asking for a backstory, but they might be able to help us with that problem."

Scottie frowned. "You mean Pink running off with the gummi ship? Suppose we should ask someone to track her down. Though I STILL think that she'll come back on her own after she calms down."

"Maybe if you hadn't called her useless and thrown her out of the lab the second heartless started appearing. Then we wouldn't be defenseless."

"Um. Hate to interrupt, but you wanted us to help with something? I guess you want us to track down… Pink, was it?" Blaise interjected before the two spun off into an argument.

"Oh, yeah. Our friend is a sorceress and wanted to try to help us figure out how to stop the heartless, but she kept getting in the way of our research and someone may have blown up on her a little bit. So she stole our gummi ship and flew off to who knows where," Willow answered with a pointed glance at Scottie. She dug out her wallet and managed to find a photo of the sorceress. Sure enough it was the aptly named Pink, judging by the long pastel pink hair. She also seemed to be mostly wearing pink, so it wouldn't be too hard to spot her or confuse her for anyone else. "Here, take the picture. Just bring her, and our ship, back. We're worried about her on her own."

Blaise nodded and took the photograph from the other woman. "Can do."

Scottie shook his head suddenly. "You almost made me forgot - the reason I ran out looking for you! Willow, when Pink ran off she possibly didn't do a good job of sealing off the lab's entrance. I stepped away for five minutes - actually five minutes, not "five minutes according to Willow" - and when I came back in there were heartless had invited themselves inside and were helping themselves to our research!"

Willow's eyes widened in alarm. "They WHAT?"

"I fought off a few of them, but there were too many for me to handle by myself."

"Well, maybe if you hadn't chased off Pink this wouldn't be the case."

Scottie frowned. "Yeah, and if the sorceress hadn't run off they wouldn't have come in in the first place. I get it. Now, maybe instead of coming down on me you and your new friends could, I don't know, help out with the pest control?"

Willow looked from Blaise to Soul. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Lead the way," Soul answered.

Willow nodded and she and Scottie took off down the road that went further down the hill they were on. When they arrived at the entrance to the lab, the keywielders were surprised to see that the building had a cozy cottage-like feel to it, except that it was considerably larger than your typical cottage in the woods and, again, very much not in the middle of the woods.

Scottie went up to the front door and located a panel beside it, which is pulled open and punched a code into. The wooden doors pulled apart mechanically before the group.

"You sealed the heartless inside?!" Willow hissed.

"Well, I didn't want more getting in!"

Now that the door was opened more, they could already see three or four heartless running around.

"Ugh, they're like rodents!" Scottie wrinkled his nose.

Without further prompting Soul and Blaise got out their respective keyblades and took off inside of the lab. Emily scrambled to summon her own keyblade and followed after them.

"Well, like hell I'm just gonna stand here and let them destroy our workspace," Willow said. She moved aside part of her jacket and retrieved a coiled whip that was attached to her belt. The woman stepped inside the lab and flung it out it front of herself, stopping a heartless that was preparing to pounce at Soul from behind dead in its tracks.

Scottie hesitated a moment and looked over his shoulder before calling out "Leave some for me!" and charging into the fray.

Emily looked back at the people she'd just met with wonder as Willow continued to crack her whip at the heartless, knocking each of them back in turn. Scottie reached into a sword belt around his waist and unsheathed a long… stick? Emily cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. Suddenly the end of the stick lit up like a torch and Scottie gripped it with two hands and swung it like a baseball bat and a heartless that had leapt at him. Emily smiled a little and went back to bashing at the heartless swarm with her keyblade.

Meanwhile, Blaise and Soul's fighting seemed to be so in sync with one another that it was almost like a dance. "Blizzaga!" Soul shouted, firmly planting her feet into the ground and sending a wave of ice out at the four or so heartless in her line of sight. Blaise ran up ahead and jumped onto the wall, proceeding to run sideways alongside it just above the blast zone. When she jumped down again she hurled her keyblade across the air, smacking each of the temporarily frozen heartless. The Keyblade Master immediately whirled around in a circle and lifted her hand and her weapon was quickly returned to it.

Right as she finished her spin, Blaise swung her arms across her body, sending a heartless that Soul and knocked in her direction flying across the room and then into a puff of black and purple smoke.

It was hard for Emily to keep from getting distracted with stuff like that going on. Her moves were much less impressive and her spells less advanced in comparison. Rather, her specialty seemed to be dodge rolling, which she did often, even when it wasn't necessary. Emily tended to take less damage this way and always got out of catching enemies by surprise when she popped up again.

Also kicking. Emily was quite a fan of the roundhouse kick, although this tended to be even less useful.

Between the five of them, the battle didn't last all that long. Once all the heartless had cleared they regrouped at the center of the room, still panting to an extent.

"The excitement never ends," Soul mused. "One of the best parts of the job, I suppose."

"Oh, poor baby!" Willow whined, pressing her hands to her cheeks. "What did they do to you?!"

She was, of course, referring to the lab, definitely wasn't in the same state as when she had left it. They were currently in a large open space that had several closed doors attached it it. Tables and chairs and a few other pieces of furniture were turned on their side and scattered around the room were multiple stacks worth of paper and various beakers and other containers, some with their contents spilled out and/or shattered.

"Cleanup on aisle everywhere," agreed Scottie. "At least it's all still there and they didn't run off with any of it, as heartless have been known to do. Or that's the assumption. And hope." The man let out a weary sigh and hunched over the scoop up small stack of papers and threw them down on a nearby countertop.

"We can help with that too!" Emily offered, already scrambling to pick up all of the pages that were by her feet.

"Thanks, but you've already helped enough," Willow replied and took the papers from her. "Scottie and I will handle things here."

"You sure?" asked Blaise.

"Yeah. You guys just worry about bringing Pink back to us in one piece, alright?"

The trio promised that they would and left Willow and Scottie to clean up their lab.

"So what now?" Emily inquired on their way out.

Soul shrugged. "Well, we barely got here, so no sense in running off looking for Pink just yet. Right now our schedule includes hacking up more heartless and trying to locate this world's keyhole."

"Oh… Okay. And how do we-"

But Emily's question was cut short when something flew down at them from above, striking the pavement in front of the girls and making them jump a little. They could see now that it was a staff: long, wooden, and covered in dents and knobs. A thin vine coiled around it, out of which several blue and green leaves had sprouted. The top of the staff curled in around a small blue orb.

Emily blinked down at the staff, which was stuck at an angle in the gravel pathway right at her feet. "Um. Okay?"

"Now, this is curious," a stranger said. "Wix wasn't aware that there were any more wielders on the move. Or were you the backup trio, sent out on an insignificant task in a poor attempt to make you feel special like that boy that took down the Organization?"

They could see him standing atop a stone wall a good ten feet in front of and above them. The man was dressed in all black, but not an Organization XIII robe. Rather, it was more a black jumpsuit, covered by a knee-length cloak that wrapped around his shoulders. His hair was at a medium length, laying sideways over itself and then swooping up into a point, and orangey red in color. This also matched his moustache, which was thick and curled out to the sides.

Soul had obviously tensed up quite a bit at the phrase 'backup trio,' and noticing this, Blaise placed a careful hand out in her direction. Soul met Blaise's eyes, swallowed, and then turned her gaze back up at the stranger.

"No matter," he went on. The man lifted his right arm and at the same time the staff began to disintegrate right in front of them, only to rematerialize into his hand. "If there are wielders afoot, then that means there is fun to be had, and Wix shall waste no time getting in on it."

"Are… you called Wix, then?" Emily asked.

Soul's nostrils flared. "This guy's rubbing me the wrong way. If it's a fight he wants, then fine; I'm game. But I'm in no mood to stand around and chat."

"Soul…" Blaise warned.

"You're game?" the man - Wix, probably - replied mockingly. "In that case, then I do have a game for you, if you're up for it. Perhaps you've heard of it. You may ask me any question you like…" He paused to jump down from the ledge, landing in a crouch and then straightening slowly as if it were hardly a feat. "And I can only respond with another question," he finished his sentence. "But give me a statement, and I shall throw another back at you. But if I answer your question with a question, then you must ask another."

"But… is there any point system? How does one win go about winning?" Emily wondered aloud.

Wix tilted his head to the side slightly. "Do you think that all games are about winning?"

The girl shrugged. "I… I assumed so. Yes."

"That wasn't a question," he informed her. And with that the orange-haired man thrust his staff out in front of himself. A teal stream of crackling light shot out from its orb and struck Emily in her chest, knocking her over and a good couple of feet backwards.

"Hey!" Soul shouted. "Leave her alone!" At a moment's notice Soul's keyblade was in her grasp and the woman charged at the stranger, swinging hard with her weapon. He reacted by knocking his staff up against the keyblade, intercepting its strike.

"Wix was only obeying the rules of the game," the man told her calmly. He pushed both of their weapons down and to their respective sides.

"We never agreed to play," Soul growled at the man.

"And yet here we are," Wix shrugged.

Soul narrowed her eyes, hesitated briefly, and then lashed out at him with her keyblade again.

"Soul!" Blaise called out.

But Soul ignored her fellow keyblade master instead of trading blows with the man. After knocking their weapons against each other like a swordfight for a short while Wix jumped over Soul, flipping once in the air before landing on the other side of her. He turned and swung his staff. The orb began to glow and many tiny glowing green leaves materialized and began to circle Soul in a violent storm. The wielder held up her free arm and stumbled backwards, unable to see through the wind and magic leaves.

Blaise thrust a fire spell at him, nicking the man in his shoulder and causing him to turn his attention over to the second keyblade master. Blaise was already rushing at him, keyblade at the ready. Wix smiled crookedly and swung his staff out to the side. This caused the leaves he had previously conjured to stop what they'd been doing and now whiz in Blaise's direction, causing a series of papercut-like injuries as they brushed past her exposed skin.

Blaise cast a quick aero spell which engulfed her in a clear ball of wind. This successfully stopped any of the leaves from further attacking her. Now freed from the chaos they'd caused, Soul immediate started to attack Wix again.

Wix took another two blows to the chest and one to his shoulder before managing to send another teal beam shooting from the staff Soul. Soul rooted her feet firmly into the ground and was able to stop the stream from knocking her off her feet, but it did slide her backwards a ways and sent an electric jolt through her body that continued to pulse painfully throughout the attack and briefly afterward.

The man pulled back and then shot a similar beam in Blaise's direction. Blaise, however, managed to dodge roll underneath the beam and then ran close enough to the man to strike him with her keyblade.

The battle continued like this for another minute or two, during which time both Soul and Blaise were too engulfed in the fight to notice that Emily wasn't fighting alongside them. Finally Soul brought her weapon down fiercefully upon Wix's head and he burst apart in the form of many small leaves that fluttered down to the floor harmless. Soul and Blaise blinked in surprise at this and exchanged confused glances.

"Well, well. That was… unexpected, but for a trial run, I am impressed. You are both quite talented."

The Keyblade Masters lifted their chins to see that Wix was now standing atop the ledge again. But this time he had Emily at his side, a fistful of her hair balled in one hand and the glowing orb of his wooden staff pressed against her neck with the other.

"Let her go!" Blaise demanded.

"First put down your keyblades," Wix instructed.

Soul looked to Blaise, who took a deep breath before nodding once. Looking rather pissed off by the whole ordeal, Soul dropped her blade a little ways in front of herself and then Soul followed suit.

The man smiled crookedly at this. "You wielders are all the same. You pretend to be brave, and strong… but you're not strong, are you? Not really. No. You're weak - all of you. And do you know why that is?" He paused and waited for either of them to give him an answer. "It's because you care," he explained when no one would. "You care too much. And that will be your downfall. But it will be a slow and painful downfall. Wix will have his fun with you yet."

With that Wix removed his staff from its threatening position and gave Emily a hard shove off the edge of the wall in front of himself. Soul and Blaise instinctively dismissed their keyblades and dove to break Emily's fall. All three of them were knocked over in a heap over the concrete. By the time they had gotten off of one another and to their feet, Wix was nowhere to be seen.

"What a jerk," hissed Soul.

"I wonder what he wanted with us?" Emily asked.

"Who cares? We have enough trouble on our hands with the heartless situation. The last thing we need is some Organization XIII knockoff running around picking fights over nothing."

Emily sighed. "I just want to understand, that's all."

"As do I," agreed Blaise. "That man was a sorcerer. He ought to have been using his abilities to help fight the heartless."

"Not everyone uses their talents for good," Soul reminded her companion.

"I know. And it's a shame."

"Well, it keeps our job relevant," Soul grunted. "Suppose we haven't seen the last of that Wix guy either, huh?"

"No; I got a similar impression," Blaise agreed. "But there isn't much to do about it but keep up our game, which I should hope we were planning on doing as it were."

Soul nodded. "And so the quest for the keyhole to this world continues. Emily, would you like to lead the way?'

Her apprentice's eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly. "This way!" Emily let out and began bounding back up the hill's winding stone path as Blaise and Soul followed from a little ways behind.

"And if we don't manage to find this world's keyhole?" Soul asked her companion. "What then?"

Blaise shrugged. "We will eventually. Some keyholes take a little more work before they choose to reveal themselves. If that turns out to be the case with this world, then as soon as it's for the time being safe from heartless we can head out again and return later. We promised to come back with Pink anyway."

"A fair point."

Soul stopped walking suddenly. As soon as Blaise noticed she stopped as well and looked back at her fellow Keyblade Master.

"Is something the matter?" Blaise asked.

"Basil. I just wanted to say that… I'm glad I'm here. I realize I have a skill for coming off sounding ungrateful, but I mean it. You, me, Emily… out in the worlds and protecting them from heartless… It's what we're meant to do."

Blaise smiled back. "We shouldn't let Emily get too far ahead," she told Soul. "If and when she runs into the next clump of heartless we should be there for her."

..:: The World That Never Was ::..

"Are you alright?" Loxus asked.

Xeymil was standing several feet further down the balcony than her. The nobody was bent forward, leaning over the bordering wall, and seemingly staring quietly down at the nighttime cityscape below. She didn't seem to hear Loxus at first, and so Loxus came up beside her and said her name.

"Xeymil?"

Xeymil turned her head. "I had a dream," she said, red tinted eyes meeting Loxus' icy blue ones.

Loxus stared back at her blankly. "Nobodies don't dream."

"Well, then it wasn't a dream. A memory, perhaps. I don't know. I saw a little girl in pink, and she was with an older man. Much older, and wearing a robe. Perhaps he was her grandfather?"

"You needn't feel the obligation to share," Loxus told her.

But Xeymil went right on as if she hadn't heard: "Actually, I think he looked sort of like a wizard. Anyway. They were in this castle courtyard, or at least that's what it looked like. Everything was white and pristine… Anyway. They went inside and met these two older girls. Keyblade wielders, but not any I've heard of before. At least I don't think so. The old man spoke to them both, and I don't remember what he said - actually I don't think I could even hear what anyone was saying - but not long after he'd said it the two wielders began to bicker. Things were starting to get heated, looking just short of an actual battle, when they noticed the little girl in pink was crying. They both hugged her and then the man left…"

Loxus watched Xeymil with one eyebrow raised for some time as she tried to decide if she had quite finished. "Well, that's an interesting story," she spoke, deciding she had, "although I hardly see what point you were trying to make with it."

"That's just the thing!" insisted Xeymil. "It came totally out of the blue! I didn't recognize any of those people, or that place, but… something felt awfully familiar about it. Like I'd been there before, a long time ago."

Loxus shrugged. "It's possible. Our tasks within the old Organization had taken us to so many worlds."

"That's not what I mean. Like, I got the feeling I'd been THERE. At that moment, specifically. And was reliving it. Deja vu, or whatever. Do you think it means something?"

Loxus hesitated for several moments before responding. "I think you're looking too far into it. If this… whatever it was will prove to be a distraction from your mission, then it's best to not dwell on such things."

Xeymil's eyes met Loxus' for some time before the nobody finally let them drop. She placed her hands over the balcony's wall and leaned over it again, now gazing down at the moonlit cityscape below. Xeymil took a deep breath, exhaled, and closed her eyes.

"Things would be simpler if Xemnas were still here. At least, when he was, I never had any doubts about what we were trying to accomplish. About if we would succeed." Xeymil's eyes fluttered open once more. "I didn't ask questions because I never had any. And I was much better at following orders than figuring out the path ahead for myself. We all were."

"And yet you thought you were most suited to claim the position of Number One," Loxus reminded her.

"It's a power thing. Wanting power, maybe even deserving it… It's not the same as knowing what to do with it. But that's a thing you can get better at. I've never been doubtful of my ability to adapt. After all, I got used to being a nobody just fine."

Loxus looked out at the night sky with her thoughtfully. "Could be because you don't remember who you were before this life," she said softly. "This is the only life you've ever known. Makes adjusting considerably easier."

"You don't remember your previous life either, do you?"

"You already know that I don't."

Xeymil turned around so that her back was now leaning up against the wall. "Would it change things at all? If you did, I mean."

Loxus was quiet for a long time. She slowly paced up to the opened doorway back inside the castle and stopped. Xeymil waited patiently. After another couple seconds Loxus turned to face her again.

"I suppose we'll never know," Loxus said and then promptly dismissed herself.

"Yeah," Xeymil muttered after her, even though Loxus could no longer hear her words. "I suppose not."

But try as she might, she couldn't get the image of the little girl in pink out of her head. There was something very familiar about it all, and yet she was almost certain that she'd never met the girl before. And a part of her was relieved for this.