Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix and Disney.
(Anyone who has read 'Herutsu no Oukoku' can skip this little note.)
To those who haven't read the first story "Herutsu no Oukoku", you don't have to (unless you really want to). Basically, in the first story I rewrote the events of the first game only I had Kairi, Demyx, Namine, and Axel traveling with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Axel and Sora were searching for their best friends (Roxas and Riku) and Demyx and Kairi were searching for a way to get home. At the end of the story, it wasn't Sora who lost his heart protecting Kairi; it was Namine.
That's about it.
For this one I'm hoping to break away from the game and do my own thing, although there will be some scenes that I include. (particularly toward the end)
Kioku no Kusari
Chapter 1: Cloaked in Darkness
He felt as if he were floating in a sea of darkness. All around him was a cloying, freezing blackness that allowed no room for anything else to be seen; not even himself. He tried to speak, but nothing came out. He stained to hear anything at all that would give him comfort or at least an idea as to where he was, but there was nothing.
He revised his opinion. It wasn't a sea of darkness, but a sea of nothingness.
Ghosts of images - of people and places - began to drift past. There was a young boy with brown hair playing by himself on a beach. A dark cave with scribbled drawings. And then a woman sitting in the dark crying. A young red-haired boy with a golden furred puppy. A trio of kids sitting around in a small room.
The images began moving faster until they were whipping past him in a blur. Then they stopped and faded away. He found himself once again surrounded by the cold nothingness.
The gentle sound of waves washing up over a sandy beach soon reached his ears and a pinprick of light appeared on the horizon, growing larger the higher it rose in the sky. Shadowy tendrils lifted him into a standing position as warm sand rose up under his feet and slithered between his toes. Sand and water stretched as far as the eye could see, broken only by the cloudless blue sky.
"Where… am I?" He asked. His voice had a light, child-like quality to it with a sandpapered edge. "Who am I?" He closed his cerulean blue eyes in thought, trying to picture anything that had to do with who he was or where he came from.
"Roxas!" A flicker of red dashed before his eyelids. "Wait! Come back!" Sad green eyes briefly came into view.
"Roxas." He repeated, finding the sound of the name odd coming from his own lips. He opened his eyes and stared straight ahead, confused. "Is that my name?"
A new image appeared on the edge of the water. A little boy with light, golden-brown hair sat with his feet in the water. Tears rolled down his cheeks as other ghostly forms walked by, laughing and talking and paying no attention to the small boy. That was until a boy with red hair ran up to him, his sandals sliding in the sand.
"Hey, the last train will be leaving soon! You should go home." He said.
The blonde boy looked up at him, fresh tears pricking at his eyes. "B-but I don't know where I am! I don't know how to get home."
"Well here, I'll help you." The redhead said, holding out a hand.
The blonde sniffed and wiped his nose with the back of his hand before letting the redhead help him up. He continued to cling to the hand even as they began to walk away from the water, but the redhead didn't seem to mind.
"So, do you know your street?" The redhead asked.
The blonde nodded. "Uh-huh, Destiny Lane."
The redhead blinked in confusion. "Destiny Lane?" He repeated. "I've never heard of that. Is it in Sunset somewhere? Or maybe Sunrise?"
"Nuh-uh." The blonde shook his head. "It's in Destiny Islands."
The redhead frowned. "I've never heard of that place. We'll have to go ask my mom if she's heard of it. You can stay with me until we find your home! I can share all my toys with you! It'll be like a sleepover!"
"I- I've never had a sleepover before." The blonde admitted, looking up at the redhead. "Is it fun?"
The redhead nodded. "Lots and lots!" He said happily.
The blonde beamed up at him, his blue eyes lighting up. No sign of tears remained aside from a slight redness around his eyes. "So, uh, what's your name?"
"My momma always says its rude to ask for someone's name and not give your own." The redhead remarked, not unkindly.
The blonde blushed and looked down at the sand. "S-sorry. I'm Roxas."
A loud roaring drowned out the redheads reply and the older Roxas turned around in time for wall of water to crash down onto him, filling his mouth, ears, and eyes with salty ocean water. He thrashed around, struggling to get to the top so he could breath. He tried to yell for help, but as soon as he opened his mouth the water rushed in, choking him.
"Roxas!" Someone called his name. "Hey, Roxas! Wake up, man!"
Roxas gasped as his eyes snapped open. He was back in his room and there at the foot of his bed were two of his friends, Pence and Olette. The brunette girl was looking at him nervously and was biting her lower lip. The rounded brunet boy was looking at him in awe.
He looked up and there was Hayner leaning over him with a murderous scowl on his face and a bruise forming on his cheek.
"What the hell is with you, man?" Hayner demanded.
"What's wrong?" Roxas asked, confused.
"You just punched Hayner clear across the room!" Pence exclaimed. "I've never seen anything like it!"
"I hit him?" Roxas asked. "But… how? I was asleep."
"It must have been some dream you were having." Pence said. "Too bad about your mirror, though."
Roxas looked across the room to see his fractured reflection in the broken full-length mirror. "Yeah, too bad…"
Heavy boots clunked against the stone floor and the noise bounced off of the walls, creating an echo. A black cloak clung to the being's thin form, showing off a feminine figure. She paused outside of the kitchen to watch three of her drunken allies as they held their weekly drinking contest before she moved on.
'Idiots.' She thought, rolling her icy blue eyes. She eventually reached the library and walked in, slamming the door behind her. Looking around, she saw only her silvery-blue haired ally sitting at a table reading a huge book.
"Mnexina." He greeted with no obvious emotion in his voice. "Your mission went well?"
Mnexina pushed back her hood and flipped her darkened blonde hair out from under her coat. "As well as expected. I've already reported to the Superior."
"Hn." Zexion closed his book and stood, easily tucking it within his cloak. "There's something you should see."
If Mnexina was at all interested, she didn't let it show. "I have two free hours." She told him.
"That's more than I need." Zexion replied. "I left it in my room."
Silently, the two left the library using a portal and reappeared in Nobody's Hall where the bedrooms were. Starting at number two, the door numbers went all the way down to number thirteen. A few of the doors were broken or blocked off from the members that had already been defeated by the keyblade wielders.
Zexion opened the door numbered six and walked in. Mnexina followed and shut the door behind her. The silence stretched on while Zexion looked around the room. Then he nodded.
Mnexina broke the silence with a sigh of relief as she flopped down onto his bed. She began peeling off her gloves. "This place is so gloomy. It's almost a pity that Marluxia isn't still around. At least then there was a bit of color, even if some of those plants were really creepy."
"If he were still around then the rest of us would be gone." Zexion reminded, sitting down beside her. "You weren't there at Castle Oblivion." He raised a hand to touch his right shoulder, recalling the pain of having Riku's keyblade rip through the flesh.
"Does it still hurt?" Mnexina asked.
"'A Nobody feels no pain'." Zexion quoted from his readings.
"Bullshit." Mnexina growled. "Does it still hurt?"
Zexion hesitated a moment and then nodded.
"Coat off." Mnexina instructed, leaving no room for argument. "Now."
Zexion frowned. "It'll be fi--"
"Take it off or I'll do it myself." She threatened.
"Fine." Zexion grumpily muttered, removing his hand from his shoulder to grasp the zipper and pull it down so he could shrug off the top half of his coat.
Mnexina frowned when she saw that the only thing covering the wound was a mere few layers of gauze. She carefully removed the thin layers, ignoring Zexion's protests. She gasped when she saw the black vapors drifting up from the wound.
"You're fading!" She whispered in shock. "Why didn't you tell me? Does the Superior know?"
"I knew you'd worry too much. And he does know."
"Then why the hell doesn't he do something?! And he's still sending you out on missions!"
"Easy ones." He said, picking up the gauze. "He's saving us, don't you see? He'll send us out on small, pointless missions and save us until the very end and try and use us to wear down the keyblade master."
"We're all expendable." Mnexina muttered, her eyes narrowed in anger. "We're just tools to him. Unpredictable ones, but tools never-the-less." She slipped her hand into her coat and withdrew a bottle. "Hold still. This may sting a little, but it'll help." She squirted some directly onto the wound, taking some pleasure in the range of emotions that crossed his face.
"Damn," Zexion groaned when she began massaging in the salve.
Mnexina chuckled. "Feel better?"
Zexion didn't bother to answer and instead leaned into her touch. It wasn't long before he found himself drifting off to sleep. The next thing he knew, Mnexina was shaking him awake and his shoulder was freshly bandaged.
"I have to leave soon." Mnexina said, capping her bottle and slipping it back into her coat. "That stupid virtual Twilight Town takes forever to hack into. Diz was nothing if not thorough. The bastard."
Zexion chuckled. "I bet Roxas isn't helping matters."
Mnexina shrugged. "I don't know yet. I haven't gotten to go in and talk to him. I just needed to go in and find the weakest part of the program so I could take Roxas there and be able to break him out. It may be more difficult than I thought."
"How will you approach him? You know he'll run if you just jump in there and try to whisk him away." Zexion said.
"I know." Mnexina said. "I'm going to put myself in that silly white dress my other wore and appear around town a bit before I actually approach him."
"Sounds smart. Will it work?"
"We'll find out." She said, standing. "I'll be out there for as long as I can. If Diz finds me then I'll be back early."
"You're as thin as a rail. He won't find you."
Mnexina paused in the middle of pulling on a glove to lightly smack Zexion's arm. "That's mean." She teased. "You hurt my feelings."
"We're Nobodies." Zexion said mechanically.
Mnexina simply waved off the statement as she conjured up a portal and stepped through. "Doesn't mean we don't feel." She said as it closed behind her.
Roxas sighed as he fell backwards onto his bed. He closed his eyes for a moment and marveled over the softness of his blankets and the sound of the soft whirring of his fish lamp. "Man, what a day." He muttered tiredly. "I punched Hayner across the room in my sleep, everyone around town blames us for stolen photos, I get into a fight with Seifer and then end up chasing that strange white… thing, and to top it all off, I pass out in front of that creepy old mansion and Seifer and his gang find me and snap a photo." He weakly lifts his hand and bangs it against his comforter.
"Sounds rough."
Roxas sat up quickly and looked around the room. Seeing nothing, he began to lay back down. That was when he caught sight of a red-haired guy sitting there in his room.
"What!" He yelped, jumping out of bed. When he did that, the ghostly form vanished, leaving him all alone once again. His looked around the room frantically, searching for anything that looked the slightest bit out of place. He groaned in frustration when he saw nothing else. "What the hell is going on?" He asked.
There was no reply.
He lay there for a few minutes and then got up and slipped on his shoes. Grabbing his short-sleeved jacket, he left his room and went outside. He looked up and down the street and then picked a direction and started walking.
'Who is he?' He wondered, recalling the red-haired boy from his dreams. 'I feel like I should know him and that he should be here with me. But I don't can't even picture his face! Just those green eyes…' He sighed and stopped walking. "What is happening to me? Why can't I remember?"
Again, there was no reply. Not that he expected one. In fact, he was relieved to get no reply.
"Excuse me?"
Roxas nearly jumped a foot in the air, but controlled himself enough to calmly turn around and face the person talking to him. It was a pretty, young girl dressed in white. "Can I help you with something?" He asked, finding it weird that she was out at that time of night.
"I got a little turned around." She said sheepishly. "Could you point out the direction of the Sandlot?"
"I can take you there if you'd like." Roxas offered.
She shook her head. "No, that's okay. I don't want to take up much of your time."
"It's no problem, really." Roxas said, looking around. He pointed out a path with steps that was just across the street. "The road to the Sandlot is right over there. Just follow it and you'll be there in no time."
The girl smiled and thanked him before going on her way.
Roxas watched her leave. It wasn't until she disappeared around the corner that he realized that he forgot to get her name. "That was odd." He murmured. 'Maybe I'll see her tomorrow.'
He continued along on his walk until he came to the Usual Spot, where he fell asleep on the couch.
Roxas could hear voices at the end of the path he was walking down. He ducked behind a tree when he reached the top of the dark hill and watched as five people, a dog, and a duck fought the small army of heartless that surrounded them.
"Get out of the way, Axel!" A brunet boy yelled at the red-haired fire wielder.
"You're the one in the way!" The redhead yelled back. "You move!"
"No, you!" The brunet pushed him out of the way and swatted away a Shadow as it leaped through the air toward him. A circular, spiked weapon flew through the air and ripped through the heartless and then returned to Axel's hand.
"Heh, what would you do without me?" He bragged.
"I'd be a lot better off, that's for sure!" The brunet said angrily.
"Why don't both of you shut up and argue over who's better than who when we're done fighting!" A blond boy interrupted, rolling up a ball of water and then throwing it at the heartless. "We're kind of outnumbered right now, if you hadn't noticed!"
"Anyone have a plan?" The girl in white asked.
Roxas rolled his eyes. 'How about less talking and more fighting? That might help you not get killed.' He stared at the redhead for a moment. 'Axel... I wish I could help you.' He shook his head to clear it of those thoughts. 'What am I thinking? I don't want to help them. They're the enemy!'
"Kairi, watch out!" Axel yelled, spotting a heartless sneaking up on the pretty auburn-haired girl.
Roxas felt a twinge of jealously shoot through his chest as Axel ran over to help Kairi. He brushed the feeling aside, telling himself it was nothing he should be concerned about.
Kairi spun around, hoping to block the attack with her keyblade. Instead, the heartless's bladed claws sliced right through her long hair. The long braid landed with a 'pllmmph' sound, but she didn't let it distract her from continuing to fight. A lone tear fell down her cheek at the loss of her hair.
'I feel... kind of bad for her.' Roxas couldn't help but think. He clenched his fists and turned away. 'Watching them makes me ill. I don't care what the Superior says; I'm leaving.' He walked quickly away from the battle and summoned a portal to take him away.
"That boy... why does he look like me?"
"I met Roxas."
Zexion stared at Mnexina for a moment, trying to compute what she was saying. Then he yawned and tried to close his door, but she blocked him from doing so.
"It's three in the morning." He groused, narrowing his eyes. "Can't this wait?"
"No." Mnexina said, shoving past him.
Zexion rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and shut the door before turning around. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the younger nobody with his one uncovered eye.
Mnexina took her customary seat on his bed, but instead of looking him in the eye, like usual, she stared down at the carpet. "Zex…" She looked up at him with a confused expression on her face. "I think Roxas has a heart."
Zexion frowned. "We've been over this. Nobody's do not--"
"I know!" She interrupted. "I know we don't have hearts! But I think Roxas does. He feels different from the rest of the program; warmer."
"That's because Diz managed to convert his body into data and send him into the computer."
"But I didn't feel that way."
"What are you suggesting?"
Mnexina hesitated a moment, biting her lower lip. "I think… I think that Roxas is a Somebody, not a Nobody."
Zexion gave a frustrated sigh and uncrossed his arms before he joined her on the bed. "That's impossible. Roxas is Sora's Nobody. If Roxas were a Somebody, then Sora would be the Nobody. We would know if Sora was a Nobody, because it would have been him that Xemnas brought here."
"I guess you're right." Mnexina murmured. "It's just kind of weird if you think about it. Hey, Zex?"
"Don't call me that."
"Sorry, Zexion."
"Better. So what are you thinking now?"
Mnexina fisted her hands in the white dress. "When did Sora lose his heart?"
"You'd have to ask the Superior that." Zexion said. "But not now. It's too late. You know how cranky he gets when you wake him up too early."
A hint of a smile appeared on Mnexina's face. "Trust me, I have no desire to see Xemnas in his pajama's again. Although the 'mansex' that Xigbar sewed onto the butt is very entertaining. Did he ever find out about that?"
Zexion chuckled. "Not yet."
"Hmm…" Mnexina stood and walked over to the door. "Maybe someone should let that little piece of information slip to him."
"And they call me the Cloaked Schemer." Zexion remarked. "You're even worse."
Mnexina chuckled as she opened the door. "Good night." She said as she left.
'Come to the old mansion.'
Roxas panted as he dashed through the forest. Behind him, bizarre white creatures swirled around in confusion patterns, chasing after him. In one hand he held a large key, which he used to beat them off when they got too close.
He stumbled over the roots of the trees as he weaved around them, hoping to lose the creatures. One darted in front of him and then zoomed toward him. "Back off!" He yelled, swinging the key at it. The key easily sliced through it, leaving a few bubbles floating in the air.
Roxas continued on, doing the same to any of the white creatures that got in his way. Finally he found himself at the gate in front of the mansion. "Don't call me here and then lock me out!" He yelled angrily.
"Roxas, use the keyblade!"
He looked past the gate to see the girl in white - Naminé, she said her name was - standing on the front porch, urging him on.
"Hurry!" She yelled, before she turned around and ran into the building.
"Key… blade?" Roxas asked, looking down at the oddly shaped weapon. "I guess that makes sense." He lifted it up and pointed it to the lock on the gate. "Okay, lets see what you can do." He closed his eyes and willed the keyblade to unlock the gate.
"So, you're really leaving?"
Roxas paused and lifted his hands away from his body, ready to summon his two keyblades at a moment's notice.
Mnexina stepped out of the shadows, her icy blue eyes burning with rage. "You can't leave the organization like this! Not now! They'll kill you!"
"Let them come." Roxas said carelessly.
"Come back with me. Whatever it is that's bothering you we can work out together!"
"No. I'm doing this on my own. I have to find out who I am."
Roxas opened his eyes and was surprised to see that the gate was open. He glanced back to see three white creatures chasing after him. 'Nobodies.' His mind supplied.
Instinctively, he dashed through the gate and barreled through the front door of the mansion, tripping over the threshold and falling over. The door slammed shut behind him as he got to his feet and looked around, taking in the crumbling state of the once-beautiful place. He found his eyes drawn to the staircase on the right and began walking toward it before a similar pull directed his attention to the staircase on the left.
"Roxas, this way!" The girl in white called.
Roxas looked back over to the right stairs in time to watch her disappear into a room at the end of the short hall. "Wait up!" He called, running up the stairs.
His keyblade faded away as he ran down the hallway and then through the door. He stopped and looked around the room, blinking his eyes at the brightness of the sun glinting off of all the white. His eyes landed on the girl sitting at the table.
"Hello, Roxas." She said with a soft smile.
"Uh, hey." Roxas greeted unsurely. "How do you know my name? Who are you really?"
"My real name is Mnexina. And I know your name because I was at the Struggle Tournament yesterday." She said. "Now I have a question for you."
"Okay." Roxas said, sitting down at the other end of the table. "What is it?"
"What do you think of all the weird things that have been happening around town?"
Roxas stared at her in surprise, his mouth hanging open for a few seconds. "You noticed too?" He asked. "I thought I was the only one! My friends keep giving me weird looks whenever I try and talk to them about the weird things going on."
"What would you say if I told you that this whole town; that everything you know isn't real?" Mnexina asked.
"But that's crazy." Roxas said, confused. "It doesn't make any sense."
"Tell me, can you remember what your teachers look like?" Mnexina asked calmly. "Or even what Twilight Beach looks like? What about what you did just last week? Or the whole summer? Don't you think it's odd that all you can remember are these past six days?"
Roxas opened his mouth to tell her exactly what his teachers looked like and what he'd been doing all summer, only to find out that he couldn't remember. He frowned and try to think back to what he had been doing even the day before the whole mess started.
"You don't remember, do you." Mnexina stated, not unkindly.
"No… I don't."
"Roxas-" Mnexina stopped talking when the air around her rippled and distorted. She stood, her eyes changing from her Somebody's sky blue to her own icy blue. "Not this time, Diz!" She yelled. "Roxas," She looked over at him. "Do you trust me?"
"Huh?"
"Do you trust me?!"
"I guess-"
"Follow me." Mnexina said, running over to him and grabbing his arm.
The two of them raced out of the room and when they got to the stairs, Mnexina shoved Roxas ahead and summoned her weapon - a glistening silver chain - and swung it into the distorted area as her clothes morphed into her usual black cloak. "Back off!" She yelled, tugging back on the chain when it caught on something.
The distorted area popped, much like a large bubble, and sent Mnexina and Roxas tumbling down the stairs.
Mnexina quickly slung her chain around her waist and then grabbed Roxas's hand and pulled him out of the mansion and out across the front yard. In the woods, they dropped behind a bunch of bushes to take a quick rest.
"What was that?" Roxas asked. "What's going on?"
"That was one of Diz's programs that are designed to get rid of any intruders; like me." Mnexina said. "Diz is the one who trapped you here in this virtual world. He believes he can use you to awaken the keyblade master."
"And can he?"
Mnexina hesitated. "I don't know. I would rather not find out. To awaken the keyblade master would mean your disappearance, and I don't want that. Let me make a deal with you; you can come with me out of this place and we can go somewhere safe to talk, or you can stay here until Diz figures out what to do with you. It's your choice."
Roxas thought about it for a minute. "Is there a real Twilight Town?"
Mnexina nodded.
Roxas stared at the ground for a moment and clenched his fists. "Alright, I'll go with you. But only if we go to the real Twilight Town."
"Deal." Mnexina said automatically. She held out her arm and summoned a portal. "Hurry. Diz will have noticed that."
Roxas nodded and rushed through. Mnexina was quick to follow, making sure to scramble the portal as it closed behind her.
'Good luck in finding us now, you bastard.' She smirked triumphantly, imagining the look on Diz's face at his discovery of Roxas's disappearance. 'Mnexina, two; Diz, zero.'
End chapter 1
Next chapter we go visit Kairi in her world. In chapter 3 I'll be jumping back over to Mnexina and Roxas and hopefully get a chance to introduce the rest of the organization. So, the odd chapters will be spent with the "bad guys" and the even chapters will be with the "good guys". At least, it'll be that way for a little while. The way my plans are so far I'll end up splitting away from the pattern.