Organization XIII Recruits story: Chap. 3 Alone
Everyone was gone. She had thought they were strong enough to take on the keyblade wielder and his friends but he proved her wrong each time he took a member. And she witnessed them taking the last one, the leader of the Organization, Xemnas. It was strange how he reached out for her as she disappeared into a dark portal he created at the last minute. And now no one was around to answer the questions that she had since she joined.
Sitting in a white room with large windows that stretched from floor to ceiling, was a young woman with long light pink hair wearing a black double zipper trench coat with a long black dress underneath, her knees pulled up to her chest. She had no idea how long it had been since everyone in the Organization disappeared. The plants growing through the cracks of the white castle, some blooming flowers, were all her doing and not a thing of passing time.
She had thought the keyblade wielders would come back for her as they caught a glimpse of her as she vanished in the corridor. But no one came. It could have been days, weeks, possibly years, Xia had no idea. The whole time she stayed in the castle, feeling broken. She thought she had hated Xemnas for treating her like a child and yet she yearned to see him again as well as everyone else. The pink haired Nobody stared out one of the large windows to the sky where their Kingdom Hearts used to be. The only company she had were her special nobodies, half woman half flowers with vines for legs and petals for hair who giggled and would help dress her or brush her hair.
Today was another day to sit and stare into space, not even her Nobodies could cheer her up right now. Everything was silent that the sudden sound of a door creaking startled the girl as she struggled to get to her feet and summoned her weapon. Could it be the keyblade wielders after all this time coming back to finish the job? A shock of blonde hair poked out first, then a very familiar face. The one who showed her around the castle when she first joined. "Demyx!" she shouted and ran to him, practically tackling him almost to the floor. "Woah, hey…Xia? Xia you're alive too?" he stammered.
"What do you mean 'alive too'? I never died. But you… I heard what happened to you. How are you here?" she asked as she let him go to stand back up. "I…honestly don't know. But I'm not the only one." He replied and grinned as he held open the door. Another blonde appeared, one she had only known for a short time. But his appearance didn't bring a smile to her face as she saw the weapon he held in his hand which only brought back memories. "You! It's all your fault they disappeared! You took everything from me!" she shouted and suddenly clashed her weapon against the keyblade the boy held.
"Xia wait, it's me, Roxas!" he shouted back and Xia briefly paused in her upset spurt to see it was the truth. "What-how? How is this possible?" she breathed. "I'm just about as clueless as he is." Roxas said, gesturing to Demyx. "There is one other person we found. He's…outside." Demyx added. Xia glanced out the door and went past the two while disappearing her weapon. At first she quickly walked but it turned into a sprint until she was just outside the castle. Sure enough standing there was a silver haired man with dark skin, at first facing away then slowly turning towards her.
'There she is alive and well. Why don't you run to her? Hold her? Be glad you can see her again?' a voice spoke in Xemnas' mind, almost taunting him as he stood in place. It was Xia who ran up to him. "You're…back. You and some others. I thought I lost you!" she cried out and a single tear fell from the corner of her eye. "Why did you not tell me anything? Why did you lock me up? We're safe now so please tell me!" she shouted when he said nothing and simply stared back. 'Isn't this what you wanted? To have a heart to tell her how you truly feel for her? Or rather the girl she used to be?' the voice spoke again.
Without a word he turned his back on her before opening a Corridor. "Follow me." He said simply and stepped inside. Xia at first stood stunned before deciding to obey. They stepped out on top of Memory's Skyscraper and the pink haired Nobody immediately had a headache. "Why are we up here for?" she asked as she slowly walked up to him. Xemnas closed his eyes and was silent.
"I said you would never forget," Xemnas said, his voice trembling slightly. It seemed strange to see such an ordinarily-collected man so distraught. "I told you... I told you that you would be safe. I failed you." He turned away from her, pulling away from the embrace. "Out of everything," he said almost in a growl, "above all my successes, all my gains... That is all that matters. And you do not even remember."
He paused and finally turned her way. "Didn't you ever wonder why you seemed drawn to me?" he said angrily, though the anger seemed more directed at himself. "Didn't you ever wonder why you liked me, without ever having met me before? Didn't you ever wonder why I meant so much?" He suddenly grabbed her shoulders, staring into her eyes for answers. Xia stared wide eyed back. "I… want to remember. I do." Why was he suddenly like this? He never showed so much care towards her before unless… all those times he held her back to keep her safe.
She had always been loyal to him. Despite their small quarrels, she stayed by his side. Xia felt she needed to and never understood why. Suddenly Xemnas let go of her and backed up, teetering near the edge. "S-Stop..." He raised his hands, held his head and groaned. "S-Stop... Be... Stop being... Stop being... Stop being..."
A wall sprang up before Xia, a transparent rainbow-coloured wall that. As Xia brushed against it to try and get to Xemnas, it sent a powerful surge of energy through her body and hurled her backward. "Nothing is real," Xemnas laughed to himself. "I never would have thought that nothing could be so perfect..." He was on his feet in an instant, and spun to face Xia, his cloak billowing out behind him. "Do you know what I am, Xia? Do you even know what you are? I've asked myself, so many times, why we are still alive." He stepped toward Xia once, then again, slowly approaching. He walked through the transparent wall, causing it to shimmer gently as he did so. It vanished behind him.
"I know the answer." Xemnas said.
Silence took the roof of Memory's Skyscraper, and Xemnas just smiled darkly at Xia. He did not seem to be himself-the gleam in his eyes was something more malicious than what he usually showed. Rain began to fall, and matted Xemnas' hair to his forehead.
"We aren't."
Xia slowly got up from the ground and groaned as her head snapped towards Xemnas. The rain soaked her quickly as she merely stared at him with widened shaking eyes. "Xemnas? W-What's the matter with you?" she asked in a stammer. Xemnas laughed in a loud bark. "Xemnas!" he laughed. "Xemnas! That name means nothing to me anymore. Something has a name, Xia. Everything has a name! Am I a part of everything?" He doubled over, clutching his stomach and cackling like a madman.
"I am nothing! Don't you understand yet? Nothing and everything are but one!" He let go of his stomach and thrust both of his arms out to the sides. A strange sort of light gathered around his hands and expanded, encompassing the both of them. Still cackling, Xemnas cried, "I am everything!" Xia flinched from the brightness and when she opened her eyes she found them encased in some kind of dome of light. She could barely see out of it and had a feeling others couldn't see in very well.
Back at the castle, Roxas and Demyx had been searching for Xia and Xemnas. One minute they saw her rush to him outside, and the next they were completely gone. Something else felt off as well. Despite searching the castle top to bottom, no other Organization member could be found. It was possible they all might have been outside the castle so after quite a long time of searching they went out. But right as they reached the entrance, a portal opened nearby and both went into hiding.
Figures stepped out, multiple of them and not wearing Organization XIII cloaks. A young boy with his own blue cloak, a demonic looking shadow following him, an elven woman, and a werewolf. Or more like a wolf man. "I feel the energy was last here." said the boy, running his fingers through his ginger hair with a sigh. The shadow flew in front of him, somehow making an arm to put to an imaginary chin. "Yes, I sense it too. It must be close. Let's search outside." He said when he paused, seeing Demyx shift from behind a pillar.
Demyx gave a small yelp and hid away, glancing at Roxas. "Who are those guys?" he asked, worried that they would come over. Which they were currently doing. Roxas shrugged. "No idea. They don't look to be from around here at all." he replied and decided to come out. "H-Hi." He greeted and all stared at him. "A being from this universe it appears. But definitely doesn't contain the energy." The shadow spoke as it inched closer to Roxas, getting right up in his face. Demyx slowly popped out as well. "I'm here too!" he called out as Roxas froze up from the shadow getting really close.
"Yes yes, we sensed both your presences. You're not terribly good at hiding." The shadow retorted and flew back to the young boy. "Don't mind him. I'm Jake, this is Eve, Diego and you've already met Shadow." he said, gesturing first to himself, then the elf woman, the wolf man, then the shadowy figure. "This is kind of an emergency so we don't have a lot of time to chit chat. You ever heard of a being called the Dimension Keeper?" he asked though had a strong feeling they didn't.
Not to his surprise the two blondes shook their head. "Dimension Keeper? What is that?" Demyx asked. "It is a being who possesses the power to keep balance throughout the worlds of their universe. Every universe has their own Dimension Keeper. But this universe's Dimension Keeper seems to be… well broken is the best we can describe it. Whoever they are, they are not whole and it is starting to cause a shift in balance in the worlds and if not fixed, could be chaotic. How the universe managed to stay safe so far is beyond us." Jake explained.
He pointed the elf girl again. "Eve is the Dimension Keeper from my universe. With her around we can sense the presence of other Dimension Keepers. Though since the one here is broken it is hard to get an exact reading." He added, "If you don't mind, we could use your help finding them. We believe whoever it is they are around here somewhere." Roxas and Demyx glanced at each other, wondering just who it was they were sensing but since they too were looking for someone, perhaps helping them would lead them the right way.
"Sure, we'll help you. I'm Roxas by the way. And this is Demyx." Roxas said pointing to himself then Demyx. "Then it is settled. Let's leave the castle." Jake said and everyone followed him outside.
Back at the top of Memory's Skyscraper, Xia was on her knees and against the wall of the strange dome barrier covering herself and Xemnas. She was staring with fearful eyes and shaking body at the man before her. Xemnas never stopped chuckling, laughing, almost giggling with a disturbing glee; but, still shaking with silent laughter, he shot a glance sideways, down off of the skyscraper. A group of people, unimportant to Xemnas but a nuisance nonetheless, were approaching, Xemnas knew. Best to get this over with before they arrived.
"We will not be alone for much longer," Xemnas snickered. "Come, Xia. I must show you the most amazing thing. I'm sure you'll love it." He stepped toward her, but stopped suddenly. The light flickered violently, but did not fade. Xemnas's eyes went impossibly wide, and his jaw fell open as he stared blankly at Xia. He took a clumsy step back and sucked in a sharp breath. When he next spoke, he sounded more like himself, though he didn't have his usual confidence and arrogance.
"N-n-noth...N-noth-th-thing... M-m-m... X-X-Xia, y-you... D-d-don't... P... Puh... Plea... Please, X-Xia... Get... Get.. G-g-get aw-w-way..."
Hands shaking, Xemnas slowly raised them to his head and hunched his shoulders, looking down as he held his head.
"W-wh-why... N-n-n... N-now...?" he whispered. "I-I-I wasn't rea... ready..."
The next sound he made was a loud, barking laugh, which sounded almost eerily like a scream from deep within himself. Just as the sphere of light had flickered before, now it shone with a new, almost blinding intensity. For a moment, nothing outside the sphere was visible to them, and nothing inside the sphere would have been visible from the outside.
Xemnas burst into peals of mad laughter, dropping his hands from his face but not straightening his posture. When he spoke, he could barely get his words out, he was laughing so hard.
"Xia-what-what do you think-what is going to happen?" He broke off, cackling for a few seconds before he continued. "Do you think we'll all find hearts?" He snickered viciously at this. "Do you think we'll all become normal again? Do you think everything will just turn out with a happy ending?" He howled with laughter. The light around them seemed to be pulsing, and every pulse brighter than the last. Even Xemnas was squinting slightly, now.
In a flash and a soft swirling of wind, Xemnas stood directly before Xia, his face less than an inch from her own. He smiled, baring his teeth in such an aggressive manner that it suggested he mght be about to bite her.
"Do you think," he whispered, barely suppressing the waves of high-pitched laughter that surged within him, "that any of us will ever die?"