Battle that Never Took Place
To the unsuspecting wanderer, the World that Never Was emitted an eerie silence almost everywhere one looked. Over the empty streets, pathways, tunnels and skyscrapers loomed a single tall, pale white castle. From this castle the fifteen masters of this barren world ruled. This is the story of the beginning of their downfall.
It was quiet. Completely, utterly silent, as usual. From the pale castle dominating the pitch black horizon to the alleyways subjected to the same, there was absolutely nothing. At least, that's how it appeared from the ground. The skyscrapers told a different story.
From the tops of the smaller empty houses to the slightly taller buildings, a lone figure raced along the rooftops, never missing a beat or slowing down at all. Looking at his lanky build, it was easy to see it was male. He was clothed in a pitch black robe from head to toe, even had his hood pulled up to hide his face. Seemingly effortless, he leaped and skirted the buildings, gaining height with every building he landed on. Soon, he scaled the Memory's Skyscraper in the plaza, where the path to the castle could be found.
Upon reaching the top, he finally stopped to rest. He looked out over the zombie like city, not noticing the movements behind him. When he turned around, his gaze fell upon the soulless, silver beings known as the Nobodies. Quickly, he saw that it wasn't an ordinary troop of Nobodies. Mixed in with the lowly Dusks and Creepers, he saw a number of Samurai Nobodies as well as Assassin Nobodies.
He maintained an air of expressionless. No movement of his eyes, his mouth, even his body was stock still. It was almost as if he didn't even notice them. Neither the boy nor Nobody backed down or turned to flee. The boy's eyes followed the robotic movements created by the Nobodies.
The Nobodies began to move in closer, trying to force the boy to back up and force him off of the skyscraper, but he never budged from where he stood. Suddenly the Nobodies stopped, while the Dusks crept closer with erratic movements.
He eyed the Dusks closely, reading every moment they made. At the last possible moment, the boy vaulted over the Nobodies effortlessly, twisting in the air. While he turned in mid-air, his hood fell back from his face, revealing piercing grey eyes and spiky ebony black hair, streaked at one part with a pure white that was natural to him. He stretched out his hand and summoned his weapon, a massive silver key etched with gold and blue designs in the key and a circular sapphire hilt and guard.
He landed softly, rolling into his first strike, cutting down a Dusk that, if it had emotions or feelings would have definitely been surprised. He looked around him and realized he had landed in the midst of the miniature army of Nobodies. He rotated his body, swinging his Keyblade simultaneously. Every move he made was sound and purposeful: no move was made without reason. He was blocking, evading, or countering the Nobodies. From every swing and every slash, Nobody after Nobody fell and the boy lost himself to the fight.
Having been so caught up in the battle in which only a few Nobodies remained, the boy hardly registered something being thrown at him. On his backswing, it connected with the projectile and redirected it toward the other Nobodies. Meanwhile, he finished up his work, clearing out the remnant of Nobodies that surrounded him.
When he looked behind him, he saw another boy in similar black robes instead of Nobodies, he stopped. The other boy's blonde hair spiked even more severely and his deep blue eyes shone. He held out his hand and recalled his projectile, the Keyblade Oathkeeper.
"Roxas," the boy acknowledged, still tense from the fight he had just been in.
"You keep getting better, Xerian," Roxas noted, gesturing to the rest of the rooftop, which had been teeming with Nobodies. He smiled at Xerian. "You should be proud. You're almost as good as the Superior."
Xerian eyed the Keyblade still in Roxas' hand. "I'm just getting warmed up." As he said that, Xerian summoned Fenrir and Calibur, his two Keyblades. Fenrir was a Keyblade that looked like a pin tumbler lock key, the blade shiny like steel with bandages adorning the base of the blade. and the hilt was boxy and black. Calibur; however, was more sword than key. It was black and white and slightly curved. The blade and hilt was covered in thorns and in the center of the hilt was the emblem of the Nobody. Despite seeing the weapons, Roxas' smile never fell. "Right," he nodded. "It's my turn now." He held out his hand and summoned his Oblivion to complement the Oathkeeper.
Xerian immediately threw his mind into the battle, forgetting whatever he felt about Roxas. Simultaneously, Roxas rotated his blades to loosen his wrists. Xerian strafed Roxas warily, watching his adversary carefully. Soon, Xerian sidestepped into Roxas' blind spot twenty feet away but when he looked back he stopped. Xerian looked around wildly. Roxas was nowhere to be seen.
After trying in vain to find Roxas, Xerian closed his eyes. Instinctively, he twisted, allowing Fenrir to rotate around him and defend his flank. Roxas appeared as suddenly as he had disappeared, striking out with Oblivion but clashing with the waiting Fenrir instead. The force of the attack caught Xerian off guard and he was pushed back as a result. Roxas took that in stride and pushed on, rushing Xerian and attempting to keep him off balance.
When he saw Roxas, Xerian stepped forward instead of falling back to give himself any necessary space. That one step gave Xerian the momentum he needed to vault over Roxas and his next attack, landing precariously near the edge of the roof, facing Roxas' back.
Not a bit tired, Xerian watched Roxas recover. The smile that was etched on Roxas' face didn't falter, and now even Xerian was sporting one as well. "Is that all you've got?" Roxas asked casually.
Xerian's grin never faltered. "Nope." Roxas didn't reply, didn't give himself a chance to reply but rushed Xerian again, who instead of meeting Roxas in battle, flipped backwards off of Memory's Skyscraper.
Roxas didn't even look to see what became of Xerian's gamble, but wasn't up to letting him go just yet. He raced off of the edge in pursuit, and once he got over, he saw Xerian standing on the side of Memory's Skyscraper --, effectively breaking the laws of physics and gravity. Xerian smirked. "I have a few tricks still up my sleeves," he shrugged.
Roxas rolled his big blue eyes. "You play just a little too much."
"It's the only way to have fun," Xerian's grey eyes twinkled. Roxas smiled back and rushed his adversary, wildly swinging. Xerian took a step back, then sidestepped and dove for an opening between Roxas' twirling Keyblades. His movements sent him sailing over Roxas' head and he twisted to take advantage of him. To avoid what he knew was coming, Roxas rolled to the left, easily avoiding the strike that scored through the side of the skyscraper. When Xerian landed, he tried to sweep Xerian with Oblivion but Xerian jumped back to evade the blow. He swung at Roxas wildly and Roxas ducked under it.
The fight wore on without any deciding blows, or any blows for that matter. It looked more like an elaborate dance than a fight. Ever since they had left the top of Memory's Skyscraper they hadn't even locked Keyblades. Both slightly drained, they stood far apart from each other. Roxas, in desperation threw the Oathkeeper at Xerian. Xerian, in response, flipped to the right over the Oathkeeper and sped towards Roxas by slamming Fenrir into the ground and propelling himself through in the air, with Oathkeeper trailing behind to return to its owner.
Instead of immediately attacking Roxas, Xerian sped past him to throw Calibur at Roxas. Simultaneously, Roxas grabbed Oathkeeper from the air and again tossed it at Xerian, who was too close for either of them to be hit by their projectile Keyblades. Xerian unleashed a flurry with Fenrir, causing Roxas to forget about the returning Calibur. Xerian backed up as Calibur collided with Roxas' back and grabbed the returning Oathkeeper from the air and threw it into the fray, setting off a large explosion on the side of Memory's Skyscraper.