Moving On Chapter 2: Zexion, a kingdom hearts fanfic

Here's chapter two. Please R&R

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of the Final Fantasy games sob

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Chapter Two -- Zexion

In one of the many alleys of Midgar sat a young man, sullenly smoking a cigarette. He paid no attention to the other homeless people around him, or to the other people walking on the sidewalks. Dark bluish hair concealed almost half of his face and gave him an engimatic appearance.

Zexion finished the cigarette and threw it and the empty box away toward a dumpster. They fell just short, but Zexion made no attempt to pick them up. This whole town's already so trashed that I don't know why they are even trying to fix it. He rose and stretched. He had been sitting in the alley for almost two hours now, just sitting there and smoking. He didn't have much else to do. Usually, the former member of Organization XIII just wandered around town, performing odd tasks for a small amount of money.

Putting his leather jacket back on, Zexion headed out into the crowded streets. He walked quickly, not caring where he was going. It was almost night, the last light of the sun disappearing on the horizon. The streetlights all came on, or at least the ones that were working. The streets begant to empty. When the streetlights came on, it was a sort of warning in Midgar: it wouldn't be long before bandits were out to prey on those unlucky enough to be caught still outside. Zexion decided to head for Seventh Heaven, a bar that was run by a friend of Squall's. He would be able to stay there for the night. The bartender was a friendly and pretty young lady, a few years older than Zexion and she was always willing to give Zexion a bed, by virtue of his having been an informant for Squall.

Just over a year ago the governing body of Midgar had been split into two factions, each vying for total power. The Shin'ra Faction was run by Rufus Shin'ra, who wanted to help rebuild the city. Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart had been helping him with that goal. The other faction was the Desrain Faction, a new power company that competed with Shin'ra. The Desrain president wanted to restore power to the town using the techniques that Shin'ra had used some four years earlier that had caused so much trouble. They had even employed the power of SOLDIER to help them achieve their goals, despite the warnings given to Desrain by Rufus Shin'ra.

Zexion had been approached by Squall after an incident where Zexion had been attacked by two SOLDIERs. Squall had taken him to the Seventh Heaven bar where Zexion had recovered. Squall then enlisted his help to find other SOLDIERs who needed to be brought to justice. Feeling obligated, Zexion had agreed to become one of Squall's many informants. This had been a year ago and for six months Zexion worked as an informant. Finally, Squall's friend Cloud was able to expose the evil of Desrain to the people and the company was overthrown. Shin'ra ruled Midgar. After he was no longer needed, Zexion had joined the ranks of the homeless, despite the urging from Squall to stay. Zexion preferred to be alone however, making just enough money to buy food and cigarettes. Cloud and Squall had told him that if he had ever needed a place to stay, the Seventh Heaven was open to him.

As he thought about this, Zexion snorted. I don't see why they like me so much. A scream brought Zexion out of his thoughts and back into the present. He turned and looked to where the scream had come from. A small girl was standing in the middle of the street and a truck was heading right for her, its horn blaring. The girl seemed to be paralyzed with fright, though, and was not moving.

Zexion leapt into the street with the speed and agility of a cat and grabbed the girl a second before the truck hit her. He took her over to the far side of the street and placed her on the sidewalk. As he paused to catch his breath, the girl threw her arms around him in thanks. He pushed her away.

"Don't thank me, kid." Zexion muttered, "I don't deserve it." With that he turned and walked away. I don't deserve any praise or thanks after what I did. Zexion's mind flashed back three years.

He had just been defeated by Riku. In an attempt to escape and plan another attack, Zexion had cast a portal that would take him to Castle Oblivion. There, Zexion had run into Axel, Organization XIII's Number 8. With him had been the Riku replica made by Vexen. Axel had allowed the replica to attack Zexion. Zexion still remembered the rage and pain of that moment. Axel had double-crossed the double-crossers, killing Vexen himself. Now he was allowing Vexen's creation to kill Zexion. At the last possible moment, Zexion had created a portal to escape Axel and the replica. The portal had desposited the wounded nobody in the region surrounding the World That Never Was.

For a year, Zexion had to hide in the region, trying to avoid being spotted by Xemnas and Zexion's other former comrades. From what he heard, Marluxia, Laxaeus, and Larxene had all be defeated and it was assumed that he, Zexion, had been killed too. Zexion, however, had recovered from the wound inflicted by Riku's sword. He wouldn't have, if he hadn't been taken in by a small family living in the World That Never Was. The family consisted of a husband, wife, and an energetic little girl, around eight years old. They cared for Zexion and helped him recover. Then, Zexion had left to try and figure out what to do with himself, whether he should surrender himself to Xemnas, or try and start a new life elsewhere.

For a few months, he thought out what to do. He wasn't called the Cloaked Schemer for nothing. Zexion wasn't a great fighter, but when it came to plotted and planning a method of attack, Zexion was the best. He was half the reason that Marluxia had done so well at first in his rebellion against Xemnas, Xigbar, and the others.

Then came the day. The day Zexion heard a massive explosion and saw the center of Kingdom Hearts get blown out by some strange power. He saw the hearts falling. Hearts! Wasn't that what Organization XIII had been formed for in the first place: to get hearts? In a daze, Zexion had hurried over to the area surrounding the World That Never Was. The hearts were falling but as soon as they hit the ground they disappeared and heartless spawned. Zexion cursed, trying to get close enough to pluck a heart from the air. Then he could become whole again . . . He ran up and finally saw a heart he could grab. It was one of the last ones, floating gently down, a little slower than the others. Zexion reached up and grabbed it -- a second before a little girl had tried to grab it.

Zexion looked down shock. He hadn't even seen her come up, but her hand was outstretched, as though see had been trying to grab the heart too. Zexion recognized her as the little girl who belonged to the family that had helped him. Looking up, he saw her parents not too far away, trying desperately to grab one of the last few hearts that were falling. Suddenly, Zexion realized why they lived so unusually close to the city of nobodies. They were nobodies themselves, looking for hearts. Zexion looked down at the girl, not knowing what to say. Her mouth was open in surprise. Then Zexion saw despair fill her eyes. She let out a small cry and before Zexion's eyes transformed into a dusk, the most common type of nobody. Not far away, her parents also surrendered to their despair and agony and became dusk nobodies. Zexion had gasped with horror as they had transformed. Where the little, energetic girl had once stood, was now a souless, almost mindless dusk, swaying gently from side to side. Then it disappeared, along with the other two dusks that had once been the husband and wife who had healed Zexion when he was dying.

The young man now walked down the street in a bitter and melancholy mood. That little girl and her parents must have had a tremendous amount of character for their nobodies to have been essentially replicas of themselves. All of Organization XIII had been made up of powerful nobodies. The lesser nobodies, such as dusk and dragoons, served them. After Zexion had retrieved that heart, his nobody had been joined with his other, a young scientist named Ienzo and the two were made whole again. Zexion, however, had kept his nobody name. He didn't feel whole. He couldn't get over the way the little girl had looked at him after he had stolen her one chance to be whole away.

It was no good telling himself that it wasn't his fault, that he didn't see her. He had told himself that a hundred times over the past two years. It never made a difference. As far as Zexion was concerned, her becoming a dusk was entirely his fault.

Zexion started when he realized that he had reached the Seventh Heaven. He sighed and walked in. Tifa was doing the dishes and Aerith sat close by, talking to Tifa's adopted son, Denzel. With Denzel was Marlene, the daughter of Cloud's friend Barret. Cloud sat in one of the corners, polishing a part of his buster sword. Several patrons sat around the area, talking quietly and sipping various drinks, most of which were alcoholic.

Tifa looked up and saw Zexion walked in. She smiled.

"Hello, Zex." she said cheerfully. Zexion winced inwardly. Why do they always call me "Zex"? And why are they always cheerful around me. It's like they're trying to make me cheerful.

"Hey." Zexion said, "Do you have a room available?" Tifa smiled and handed Zexion a key.

"How's it going, Zexion." Cloud asked, placing the sword and rag on a table and walking over. Zexion lit a cigarette. Cloud made him slightly nervous. He had seen Cloud fight and it was brutal. Cloud could fight in ways most men would never even dream of attempting. His sword, when fully made, was massive and dealt plenty of damage. Zexion felt sure that even a glancing hit from that huge blade would send him flying and that he would be in no shape to fight back after he landed.

"I'm alright." Zexion said, exhaling some smoke. Cloud nodded. Zexion had never told Cloud, Squall, or any of their friends that he had once been a part of the infamous Organization XIII which had terrorized the worlds for over a year. He had no idea how they would take the news if he ever decided to tell them, something he didn't plan on doing.

"You don't look very well." Aerith said, giving him an appraising look. Zexion shrugged.

"Rough day, I guess." he said although he couldn't really think of anything rough about it. Tifa shook her head.

"You should find a place to settle down." Tifa said, "It's not good for you to just lie around town as a homeless person. You should find a girl and live your life." Zexion shook his head.

"Don't worry about me." he said, hoping that this would change the subject. Tifa, however, wasn't leaving it alone.

"But we do worry about you." she said, firmly, "Leon had plenty of informants during the Desrain incident, but they are all had homes to return to. You were homeless when Leon helped you with those SOLDIERs, and even now, you're still homeless. You were one of our best informants and we are greatly indebted to you. We want to make sure you are alright. You can't just live out of shelters all your life, that's no way for someone to live."

"It's what I deserve." Zexion muttered. Tife shook her head.

"I doubt that." she responded, "You need help and you refuse to help yourself. Therefore, it has fallen on mine and Aerith's shoulders to secure you a future." She finished this statement proudly and Zexion looked up, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. What are you getting at?

"What did you do?" he asked, preparing himself for something surprising and unpleasant. Cloud laughed.

"He doesn't trust you, Tifa." he said. Tifa reached down under the counter and brought up a sheaf of papers which she desposited in front of Zexion.

"You have been enrolled in the Balamb Garden Academy." she said, "You'll be studying english, literature, and military sciences!" Zexion was dumbfounded. He stared at the papers in front of him at a complete loss for anything to say.

"I . . . I . . . you . . . " was all that came out of the Cloaked Schemer's mouth.

"It's all be done." Tifa said, "We paid for it and tomorrow, Cloud will take you to the Twilight Town train station to board a train for the academy and I don't want to hear any complaints. You won't take care of yourself, so we need to do it for you!" With that, she reached over and pulled the cigarette out of Zexion's mouth. "And smoking's bad for you." she added as a sort of afterthought, depositing the cigarette in an ashtray.

"Why?" Zexion asked in a strangled voice, "Why can't you just leave me alone and let me do what I want with my life?" Aerith came over and sat beside Zexion.

"Because no matter what you might think of yourself," she said, "you are a good person at heart." Zexion stared at her in disbelief.

"Believe her, Zex." Cloud said, "Aerith's good at looking into people's hearts. If she says your good at heart, then you're good at heart!"

"I shouldn't even have a heart!" Zexion yelled. Tifa, Cloud, and Aerith looked at him in confusion.

"I was a nobody!" Zexion said, "I was one of the top members of Organization XIII! I don't deserve to have friends or be helped in anyway." He hadn't meant to say that, it had just sort of slipped out. The three stared at the miserable young man in shock. Aerith was the first to recover. She put her arm comfortingly around Zexion as he struggled with his violent emotions.

"Tell us what happened." she said. Zexion broke down entirely. He related everything that had happened, how he had helped form Organization XIII, how he had joined Marluxia in attempting to take over the order, how he had been defeated by Riku, and finally, how he had acquired his heart. After he had finished, he sat trying to suppress sobs. He had held his emotions in check for as long as he could remember and finally the strain had been too great. The confession made him feel somewhat better, but he was ready for Cloud or Tifa to throw him out of Seventh Heaven. Neither moved. Finally, Cloud spoke.

"About four years ago," he said, "We were fighting Sephiroth when he badly wounded Aerith. I thought she had died and that it was my fault. When something bad happened, you try and find a way that you could have prevented it. You shouldn't dwell on it like that. You should move on. Aerith helped me realized that it hadn't been my fault she had been hurt. You should also see that it isn't your fault that that little girl became a dusk. You didn't see her. It was unfortunate, but you shouldn't sit around blaming yourself for something you were powerless to prevent." Zexion sat quietly, breathing harshly. After a second, he lit another cigarette.

"It wasn't your fault." Aerith echoed Cloud, "I said that you were a good person at heart and I meant it and still stand by it. We won't shun you or try and arrest you. Any crimes you have committed I think have already been atoned for."

"So you're still going to Balamb." Tifa said in her usual friendly and business-like tone, "No more arguments." A small smile crossed Zexion's face as he shook his head.

"No more arguments." he repeated, "But tell Squall about me, about who I really am. He should know . . . " Tifa nodded.

"It won't matter to him you know." she said.

"He should still know." Zexion said, "I'm not much of a fighter and he helped me with those SOLDIERs." Zexion got up and threw away the cigarette he had been smoking. "I'm heading up to bed. Uh . . . thanks." He finished somewhat awkwardly.

Zexion climbed the stairs of the Seventh Heaven bar and found his room. Tifa always gave him the best room that she had. Zexion hardly noticed that tonight. The Cloaked Schemer was deep in thought. Why did you lose it like that, Zexion? You've always been so good at hiding your emotions. Today you broke down like a small child! What's wrong with you? The answer came immediately. It's because I have a heart now. Emotions are easy to control when you don't have a heart, but now . . . Zexion reached his bed and flopped down on it, looking around and thinking hard. I'll need to work harder to keep my emotions in check. I can't go and have another outburst like that, especially when I'm at this academy. With that, Zexion tried to get some sleep.

The next morning, Cloud drove Zexion to Twilight Town. Tifa and Aerith had wished him good luck and Aerith had given him some last minute advice about his emotions, things Zexion hadn't really wanted to hear but for some reason made him feel slightly better. Now he sat on the back of Cloud's motorbike, watching the rocky landscape melt away into green fields with Twilight Town looming in front of them.

Thanks for reading :)