Xion sat on the palm tree trunk, swinging her legs. The sun was barely rising; Xion loved watching the sunrise. In Twilight Town all she ever got to see was the sunset, every time she went to the world. Now, she could go all over and watch a hundred different sunrises. Sunsets were pretty too, but they reminded her of the end of a day, the end of another happy memory. Sunrises were better because they were the beginning of a new day, one that could be completely different from the last one. Xion really, really loved sunrises.
"Mmmm! Xion, you're back quick." Kairi hopped onto the trunk next to the other girl. "Pretty sunrise, huh? Where's Roxas?"
"To be honest, no clue. He disappeared just as we came back here. I love sunrises, don't you?" Xion leaned back, holding onto the tree for support.
"Yeah. They're beautiful. I really hope Roxas isn't about to pull a prank or something."
"Knowing him, he's probably already got one set up and is waiting for his victim to wake up."
"ROXAS!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!"
"I think we might be too late," Xion commented, leaning her head back. She and Kairi watched Roxas shoot out of Riku's house and down the beach. Riku ran out as well a moment later. "Wait…what…is Riku's hair…blue?"
"ROXAS! STOP RUNNING!"
"HELL NO YOU'RE GONNA KILL ME!"
"WHY SHOULDN'T I? MY HAIR IS BLUE!!!"
"IT'LL CAME OUT IN A SINGLE WASH!"
"I DON'T CARE YOU'RE STILL DEAD!"
"WHYYYYYYY? AT LEAST IT ISN'T PINK!"
"Note to self: never let Roxas near hair dye." Xion and Kairi didn't even bother looking at Sora. They were too busy laughing. "Is this like revenge for something? What did Riku ever do to Roxas?"
"ROXAS!!"
"HI RIKU! HOW ARE YOU TODAY?"
"WHY DID YOU DYE MY HAIR?!"
"REVENGE!"
"FOR WHAT?!"
Roxas stopped suddenly. Riku almost plowed into the boy. Before he could do anything, Roxas said something to him, arms moving. Sora couldn't tell what was said, but Riku calmed down. He looked away, then nodded. Roxas slowly made his way to the still laughing girls and Sora while Riku went down to the water to clean his hair.
"Roxas…" Xion wiped at her eyes. "Why…must you be so…mean to Riku?" She sucked in breath, face red from laughing so long. Roxas sat next to her and shrugged. Sora rolled his eyes. Roxas stuck his tongue out. Kairi sat up and watched with Xion as the two began taunting each other silently. They started to laugh again as the boys made all sorts of weird faces at each other.
"Keep doing that and your face will freeze that way," Riku remarked as we walked up, hair drenched but back to its normal color. Roxas and Sora immediately stopped whatever it was they were doing. "Interesting. Roxas, I'm not sure I want to know where you got that dye, so I'm not gonna ask. Zexion said he's going to drop by here once a week, and try to catch you two. He'll be coming in two days, if you want to wait to see him."
"Cool. We'll wait; I'm pretty sure I've found something he'd like to see." Roxas swung his legs, watching the sun. "Plus, I want to go talk to King Mickey. Ever wonder if there were other Keyblade users like us out there?" His blue eyes squinted at the bright rays of sunlight; his sand-colored hair shone and looked almost white.
"The King for sure," Sora replied. "I don't know. Never really thought about it, to be truthful. I think King Mickey might've once said all the other Keyblade users are dead or super old and don't fight anymore. Riku, what do you know?" He turned to the older boy, who was tugging at a lock of hair. Riku looked up, distracted.
"Huh? Well, I don't know. Ask around and find out for yourself. I am going to dry off and get dressed. See you wackos later." Riku shook his hair and walked back over to his house.
"Hey! Coming from the guy who dressed up as one of us? For fun? You're the real wacko here Riku!" The other boy didn't bother turning. He just waved a hand at Roxas and disappeared into his house. Roxas sighed and slipped off the palm tree. "Whatever. If he really wants to know, I got that stuff from Vexen's lab. I hope it doesn't have any ill side effects. Hey, let's go visit King Mickey now, before Riku really decides he wants to kill me."
"Roxas…why would you even use something Vexen made…?" Xion gave Roxas a look. "I can't even believe you went in his lab. That place…Vexen was a creep. I never liked him much." She hopped off the tree and spun around. "Kairi, Sora, want to come along?"
"Sure," Kairi replied, smiling. Sora shrugged. Xion smiled back and waved her hand. A portal opened while Roxas ran to get his pack. He ran back and slipped through the portal right before it closed. Riku left his house a moment after the portal closed, the others leaving him alone on the islands.
"Hello Roxas, Xion." King Mickey didn't seem surprised to see the four appear out of nowhere in his library. "The barriers are in place around Castle Oblivion once more; if you want to see Zexion now, you have to go to The World That Never Was first. I hope you two didn't cause a huge ruckus in the worlds you visited."
"No sir," Roxas and Xion replied at the same time. They all sat across from where the mouse sat reading letters spread in front of him on a desk. Sora caught a glimpse of one letter from where he sat; silver symbols covered the page in a circular pattern. King Mickey saw him looking, and shuffled the letters out of sight. He raised an eyebrow when the boy pouted.
"Anyway, we wanted to ask you whether there are any more people who can use the Keyblade. Other than you, of course," Roxas hastily added. He watched the King with an open expression, so much different than the way he looked almost two weeks ago. Mickey winced mentally, remembering how the boy seemed empty of life right before that final confrontation. Now, things were looking up once more. If only they could get Roxas to stop asking so many questions…
"Hmm? Other Keyblade masters and apprentices, you mean? Well, yes. There are still a few Masters hiding in the worlds. I highly doubt you will ever find them, however. The only ones still alive after that…well, they are very strong and very, very skilled. More so than myself. You three, however, are the only apprentices at the moment."
"Apprentices, as in, we are still learning how to fight with the Keyblade?" Sora asked.
"More or less, yes. Learning to fight, use magic, track, open portals, all apprentices learned those things. I wish you could have been born ten years ago, so that you could have seen the beauty of the Academy. Ahh," Mickey sighed, lost in memories from long ago. "Any one who looked like they could use magic or summon any kind of weapon was sent there to be trained. Most saw it as a place to train future Keyblade masters, but many others trained to become masters of magic and weapons. I once went there, along with Ansem."
"Ansem?! He was a Keyblade master?" Roxas yelled, outraged.
"Not quite, Roxas. He simply taught magic to students there like yourself. Why? Do you hold a grudge against Ansem? Do not forget, Xemnas and Xenohart did a lot of bad deeds in his name. He also stopped Kingdom Hearts and destroyed it, though it killed him to do so."
"Oh, a magic teacher. My magic teacher was evil," Roxas muttered. Xion giggled. "Ansem…wasn't he the one trying to put me back into Sora so we could become one again? Good or not, he was still trying to end my life. I can't help dislike him a little, even though if he hadn't done what he did I wouldn't be here now." He ran a hand through his hair sheepishly. "Although it's really Namine's fault I'm here. I wish I could've met her. Everyone but me met her at some point. Xion, Kairi, Riku, Axel, Sora…"
"But you did. In Twilight Town, remember?" Kairi gave Roxas a look. He returned it, confused.
"No, I don't remember that. I woke up in the forest, and before that, I…" Roxas trailed off. King Mickey intervened.
"That wasn't Roxas in DiZ's virtual world. That was the Replica of Roxas Namine had made. If it had been the real Roxas, he would have gone into Sora and not be here right now." And, the mouse added silently, the Organization would have been in a lot of trouble if that was the real Roxas. They were extremely lucky it wasn't. DiZ was also lucky that wasn't the real Roxas as well, or else he might have brought the entire mansion out in the woods down.
"Uh…moving on. Do you know any masters we can find and talk to, King Mickey?" Roxas asked, not understanding what Kairi had been talking about. And, he silently admitted, a bit afraid of what they had just said. If that had been the real Roxas…where would he be now?
"Unfortunately, no Roxas. I can try and contact one, but it might attract those we…don't want to meet at the moment. Beings of darkness, stronger than Heartless. And those who serve the darkness as well, they are just as dangerous. You would be best suited to run away from those like that at the moment."
"But why? It's not like the darkness can…" Roxas trailed off, suddenly realizing what the mouse must have already known. The dark couldn't hurt him, correct, but it could hurt his friends. Or seduce him to join them and attack the light, I.E. his friends. Mickey was afraid of what might happen in a face to face confrontation with the darkness and Roxas was alone. That would be very bad, the boy could see, very bad.
"Understand? Do not go looking for any Masters on your own. If they want to meet you, they will walk up and ask who you are." Mickey doubted they would ever end up in a world containing a hidden Master. There were only six left, if the letter from two years ago was telling the truth. And if it was, things were about to get very bad, for both the dark and light.
The prophecy will come true at last. One shall fall and the other shall rescue him while sacrificing himself.
"Alright, fine. Roxas, who's Vexen? Some kind of scientist on the Organization?" Sora turned to Roxas. "And why is it a bad idea to go in his lab?"
"Because before, if he caught you in his lab without permission, it was, well…let's just say you didn't want to get caught in there. I was opening a portal in the world me and Xion were in to go back to the islands, but opened it up to the World That Never Was instead, by accident. So I decided to return Marluxia's books, but I forgot where his room was. I wandered around, and ended up in Vexen's lab."
"And so you grabbed something Vexen made?"
"No, I slipped on something and accidentally knocked over a bowl filled with blue liquid. And my hand turned blue, so I figured it was like dye or something. Came off right away when I washed my hand too, so it couldn't have been really bad."
"So you put it in Riku's hair."
"Yes. For revenge."
"Revenge for what?"
"That's a secret to everyone but him and me, Sora."
"Roxas, please don't do that again."
"Why? It's not like Vexen's there to kill us for sneaking into his lab."
"…"
"Fine, I won't dye Riku's hair again."
"Thank you. And stay away from Vexen's room."
"Why? There's awesome stuff in there!"
"Hey, Roxas, do you think he has any more dye in there?"
"Maybe. Wanna check?"
"Roxas, no, Sora, if I find you with dye I will toss you into the ocean. The deepest part I can find."
"Oh, Kairi, come on. I promise to leave you alone. I'll just go after Riku and Roxas."
"Why me? And what about Xion?"
"She's with me, Roxas."
"Yeah. Us two against you two idiots."
"What about Riku?"
"He can get caught in the crossfire."
"Not nice Roxas."
"Fine. Riku is on his own team."
"Fair enough, I guess."
Mickey watched the four talk, amused. Everyone had matured since they first became involved in the fight against the darkness. He wondered what the other Princesses would say if Kairi returned to the Radiant Garden. Most of them probably wouldn't recognize her. Then again, everyone involved in this fight had changed one way or another, had lost something or someone because of the fight. The Heart Princesses wouldn't recognize each other after so many years apart.
"Are you four done talking yet?" Mickey asked. The teens all looked up and turned pink. Roxas and Kairi did, at least. They had been arguing about the best way to pull a prank on each other. "Why do you want to meet other Keyblade wielders anyway, Roxas? Do you want to fight them and see who's stronger?"
"No, but that would be fun. I'd lose for sure, I bet, if I did fight them. No, I wanted to see of they had any clue about where Nobodies go when they die. And if they do, if they would help me get to that place."
"Why?"
"Because I have…um, unfinished business, I guess you would call it, with some of them." Roxas twisted and looked away from the others. Only Xion would have understood that this was something he needed to do, just like the last two times. Just like the shell and that shadow, Roxas had to find the rest of Organization XIII. He had to talk to Axel, and find out why he never told Roxas anything, why he never truly trusted the boy. He had to know.
"I do too, now that I think about it." Everyone, including Roxas, turned to Kairi. "What? They kidnapped me, you know, and I want to know why. All they ever said was shut up and something about Kingdom Hearts. I want to know what they were planning to do with me."
"A lot of people have issues with the Organization," King Mickey cut in. Sora was beginning to look pissed. "No one knows exactly why they did the things they did, but I guess we can ask when Roxas finds them." When, he thought, not if. Sooner or later Roxas would find them, and set all the Nobodies free, so that they might roam the worlds once more. This time as actual people, not empty shells of someone else.
"Now, I have work to do, so you may stay here for a while if you want. Good day to you all." Mickey stood and left the room, giving the teens inside one last glance. They were all smiling, laughing, and talking to each other. None of them seemed to fell the darkness pressing in on all sides, trying to get at them and devour the light that so hurt it. The mouse shook his head, glad that they could be happy now, because they wouldn't have time for that later, if the latest letter from Inezo had anything to say about it.
Arton and his apprentice have escaped their bonds placed on them by the Masters. They left the Valley of Tears and departed from the Isle of Hatred. I do not know where they are headed, but no doubt they want revenge. You'd best prepare yourselves for a harsh battle with the last two wielders of the Erzo blade.
A/N: Feels good to be writing, er, typing again. I will try my hardest to never do this again. It kinda killed me to type up the chapters and not post them right away. I feel so bad T.T
