Chapter II: Enigma
Hi again, everyone. I really appreciate the new reviews that I've received!
Xathe: Let me do the disclaimer this time! I'm the main character.
Me: Umm… ok.
Xathe: The Key to Darkness does not own Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix or anything from Walt Disney even though he dreams about owning it… poor sap.
Me: Thank you, Xathe, for that… insightful disclaimer… -.-'
[Song Inspiration: It's My Life by Jon Bon Jovi]
Enjoy Chapter Two! -KtD
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Day 155
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Xathe steps out of his dark corridor and looks around him, hoping to spot the Organization imposter somewhere. He had to be somewhere! Xathe's mission was to hunt this idiot down and destroy him. Xathe was very confident that he could accomplish this goal... but the first part was going to be difficult.
"This mission... is going to be a lot of fun, isn't it...?" Xathe exasperates. To his surprise, he only takes a few steps before feeling a dark presence enter his senses. A slow, devious smirk slips across his unseen lips.
"There you are, coward..."
...
Xigbar steps out of a dark corridor formed in Beast's Castle. This was where he was assigned to go for his mission. He wasn't excited about doing a mission in the place... but he knew it was his duty. That was enough to get him pumped for a mission.
He looks down and thinks for a minute, "Oh, right. I was sent here to eliminate the infestation of Neoshadows. I guess I should get on that..."
Xigbar looks up and walks towards the entrance to the castle. The castle was quite large... but nowhere near the immensity of Organization XIII's Castle. Their Castle was practically a whole world. I mean... if you don't count the city below it. The city didn't exactly count as the Organization's property anymore though, considering the growing population of the Heartless there.
Xigbar hears footsteps coming from the entrance to the courtyard, which he was in. His eyes squint in suspicion as he turns around to find the intruder. Both Xigbar and the intruder had hoods covering their heads and faces, so neither could identify each other.
The intruder summons a sword and gets in fighting position. Whoever this guy was... he wasn't friendly.
"So you wanna fight, huh? Come and get some," Xigbar taunts.
The mysterious intruder growls as he charges at Xigbar, showing that the fight was on. Xigbar chuckles before he flips upside down into the air, defying gravity as he does so and summoning his arrow-guns.
The imposter leaps into the air with his sword drawn out to strike. Before he does so, Xigbar teleports behind him and blasts him in the back. The pain of the blast forces a yelp out of the young intruder's throat before he crashes into the concrete steps that lead to the Beast's Castle door.
Xigbar flips right-side-up and lands lightly on the ground. His eyes follow up the steps to the imposter, who has now stood straight and faces the door.
"Enough of this nonsense. Reveal who you are, imposter," Xigbar snarls.
He hears a familiar chuckle from the boy before he turns his head in Xigbar's direction, "How 'bout you reveal yourself first?" The voice was even more so familiar.
"As if!" Xigbar spits, firing another blast from his arrow gun. The boy dodges and the blast hits the door knob of the door behind the boy, shattering the lock on it. The door instantly swings open, to reveal the inside of the Castle. Both turn to the door and then to each other. Xigbar glares and rushes at the door. The boy does so as well, running in and disappearing in the shadow of the other door.
Xigbar flies in the door, only to meet the end of a sword with his face.
The boy appears in front of Xigbar as Xigbar is thrown back away from the door and hits the floor at where the steps end. He is put into a daze and doesn't notice the mysterious boy standing above him.
The imposter leans down and pulls Xigbar's hood off to find out who he is. As Xigbar regains his senses, he notices the boy to be shocked at seeing Xigbar's face. "What's... the problem?" Xigbar growls as he picks up his arrow guns and gets to his feet.
"Number II..." The boy gasps.
"What? How would you- Never mind this!" Xigbar shouts, shooting the boy in the chest.
The blast throws the boy away and against the steps once again. The boy scrambles to his feet and runs through the door again. Xigbar chases him, but before entering the door, he kicks open the other door so full light illuminates the room before him. It gets dead silent...
"Where are you...?" Xigbar whispers, walking in and keeping a steady finger on both triggers. He waits... for any type of movement...
A couple small footsteps are caught in Xigbar's hearing and he instantly fires both guns at the source of the sound. The purple blasts light up the dark corner of the room and he watches a Neoshadow fade into the air from his shots.
"Well... at least one of them is dead..." Xigbar chuckles. His laughing is put at a halt when he hears the boy walk down the steps at the end of the room. Xigbar's eyes follow up to where the steps were heard and, as he expected, he sees the imposter.
"Enough of this charade... just surrender and I can promise the minimum punishment..." Xigbar shouts up at him. 'The "minimum" being death...' he snickers inwardly.
The boy shakes his head before summoning his sword again and rushing at Xigbar at full speed. "Or you can just... you know... attack me..." Xigbar sighs, before following the boy's actions. They run at each other, ready to strike the other down.
They get within meer inches from each other's throats... when the end of a large Claymore is shoved in between them. The sudden separation startles them both and they jump back and away from it. Xigbar looks up to see the Claymore in the hand of Saix. Saix interrupted the fight?!
"Saix? What in the world are you doing?!" Xigbar snarls. Saix turns to him and glares before turning to the imposter. His Claymore drops to his side and he uses his other hand to beckon the mysterious boy.
The imposter's head drops in shame before his weapon disappears and he approaches Saix. What was going on?!
"Why did you fight Xigbar, Number XV?" Saix asks, trying to keep his calm.
"Number XV? You mean to tell me that I was fighting the newbie, the whole time?" Xigbar gasps. This was... a surprise... for the lack of a better word.
Saix looks at him with question before looking to the ground to contemplate the events that transpired.
He suddenly smiles in realization of what most likely happened, "It appears... that you both thought that the other was the Organization imposter. When XV found out that you were Xigbar... he tried to run, didn't he?" asks Saix.
"Yeah... he did..."
"Well, it seems to me that, when you chased him down and then taunted him... you got his fire going. That must have been why he continued to fight, even after he knew who you were," Saix explains. This all made sense but... what the hell?!
Number XV... or "Xathe", as Xemnas once called him, looks up at Xigbar. His expression was hidden under his hood... but Xigbar could guess that it was probably either disgust or pride in himself. Both made Xigbar want to shoot him back down to earth from Cloud 9. He didn't like this new member... the guy just sent a weird vibe down Xigbar.
"This mission was an error... return to the Castle, immediately. Today's missions have now been cancelled for tomorrow," Saix demands, disappearing into a dark corridor. Xathe does the same, followed by Xigbar. Xigbar still had a look of suspicion when he disappeared though.
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Riku watches the three Nobodies disappear into their dark corridors. He sighs in relief when they're gone.
"So... they're looking for me? Then looks like my performance isn't going too bad, after all," Riku chuckles, walking away from the scene. "I just need to be more subtle for now on. If I'm being chased... then I will have to stay hidden from Organization XIII."
With that, Riku walked away from the confusing scene.
Day 160
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Xemnas stands at the top of the Castle That Never Was, staring up at Kingdom Hearts in longing. But soon his thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a dark corridor opening behind him. He smiles at knowing who it is. "Xathe... welcome."
Xathe stops and takes his hood off, "Hello, Superior. I bring news of my progress."
"Yes... I heard..." Xemnas sighs in disappointment. The whole scene was explained to him by Saix, after it happened. Xemnas wasn't... happy... about the mix-up.
"No, no. I'm here to report something I discovered before the big mix-up," Xathe explains.
"Ah... so you found something before the fight happened?" asks Xemnas.
"But of course. I discovered a strange scent of Darkness illuminating from a person who was hiding there, at the time. I visited the scene today, to check for the scent. I wanted to be sure it wasn't just a large Heartless..."
"And what did you discover?"
"It wasn't a Heartless. It would seem that the imposter knows we're hunting him down, and now he's on the road," Xathe answers. "Basically... he's going to be travelling to a lot."
"Hm... and where might he be, as of now?"
"Your guess would probably be as good as mine, sir..." Xathe trails off.
"That does not assist me, then. Be on your way... and I ask that you don't report anything else you find, unless it's the imposter, himself. Is that understood, XV?" Xemnas orders.
"Y-Yes, sir..." Xathe stammers. He turns around to walk away but then Xemnas speaks up.
"Oh, and Xathe..."
Xathe turns back around to look at him.
"Don't forget... your identity cannot be revealed to anyone, until you find the imposter."
Xathe nods quickly, "Right. I won't forget." He quickly opens a dark corridor behind him and rushes into it. The portal instantly fades away, leaving Xemnas to his thoughts.
"That boy needs to learn, soon, that Organization XIII only accepts total success. Half or quarter-way success isn't acceptable..."
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Later that afternoon, Xathe walks down the hallway of The Castle That Never Was, cursing himself again and again for not finding the imposter, yet.
"What is wrong with me? I shouldn't be having this much trouble with finding a damn imposter! This guy should be an amateur compared to me. Hmm... I wonder... is it a problem with me... or an underestimation of the imposter?" Xathe contemplates aloud, to himself.
He was becoming agitated and impatient. Patience isn't, and never was, a stronghold of Xathe's. Perhaps he just needed to learn...
His thoughts are interrupted by the sight of a black-haired girl gazing out the window of the grey room. It was quite obvious that she was deep in thought...
'Wait a second... isn't that the girl who ran into me a few days ago? Yeah, that's her. She is... Number XIV. Right. I think her name's... Shelby... or Sheen... or something like that...' Xathe talks to himself. He decided that he would approach her... against Xemnas' wishes.
"What are you doing? Xathe asks, stopping a few feet behind her.
She was apparently too absorbed in her thoughts to hear Xathe's footsteps, "Eep!" she shrieks, putting a hand over her mouth as she spins around to see who came. Xathe raises an unseen eyebrow at her. She sighs in relief to see that it was just the mysterious boy she ran into the other day.
"Sorry. I didn't expect you to be there," she chuckles.
"That's fine... but I asked you a question..." Xathe adds.
"Huh? Oh. I'm just... thinking. You know..." she states awkwardly.
She was starting to make Xathe a little uncomfortable with talking to her. Wasn't it bad enough that he was even in the mood to say anything to her at all?
"Okay... say, what's your name, again? I didn't quite catch it, the last time we met."
She looks up at him and smirks, "Well... the last time we met, we didn't exactly have a graceful encounter. It was only a couple words..." she chuckles, again.
Xathe sighs, "That wasn't really the answer I was looking for..."
"Oh. My name's Xion. What's yours?" she asks curiously.
'Xion! That's what her name was! Ha... I impress myself sometimes...' Xathe boasts inwardly. "Umm... sorry. I'm not allowed to tell you... or anyone..."
Xion raises an eyebrow, "Why not?"
"Orders. You can ask Xemnas, if you want. I really don't feel like going into any detail about it, " he rubs the back of his head.
"Okay... was the hood an order, also?"
Xathe just remembered that it was over his head. Funny that he forgot in the first place, considering how hot he always felt with it on. "N-No... it's for my own reasons..."
Xion looks down, "Oh. Alright then... well, I have to go. It was nice meeting you," she smiles before walking away. Okay... that was a little too awkward for her taste...
What was that weird vibe that she got when they were talking? Whatever it was... it didn't feel right. She was curious to find out who he was... but she just hoped that he wasn't like the others. Who knows... maybe he's the kind of person that she wants to be friends with?
She hoped so. There was one thing that was for sure though...
"That guy is a real mystery..." Xion says to herself.
So, how do you like it so far? Feel free to review and let me know how it is so far. But keep on reading!
I believe you will like this story, but if not, let me know what you think could be changed to improve it! I'll catch ya guys, later.
Peace out. -KtD