Author's Note:
This one took a bit longer due to Real Life-restrictions, but now we're finally here. :D


III. What to do with a grave mistake

The armoured warrior tumbled back, pressing his right hand with the Keyblade still in it on the front of the left shoulder. He trembled heavily, quietly moaning in pain and yet still frantically struggling to remain upright, as well as keeping himself between Roxas and the boy lying on the floor.

What in all the worlds is wrong with this guy? I only touched the kid's shoulder. I just want to see what he's got. It's not like I wanted to harm him. And what does this guy mean by "Haven't you hurt me enough" or "don't invade my heart"? Isn't the boy lying there the manifestation of this other heart…or…is there a third?

His thoughts swirled and his head hurt. The armoured Keyblade wielder stiffened again and hurled his Keyblade at Roxas.

Now he could see why the blade seemed odd to him before. Not only was this model a tad shorter than any Keyblade the young blond knew so far, its form also suggested that it was designed specially to be wielded in a reverse grip, like the armoured warrior did.

Now's my chance to end this unnecessary fight!

Roxas switched Oathkeeper to a backhanded grip himself, intending to use the blunt end to knock down his adversary without further serious damage and hopefully get a chance to end the fight, while he readied Oblivion to block the incoming blade.

Just as Roxas was about to slam it down into the platform as his eyes widened in surprise. It split just as it touched the Oblivion's blade, transforming into several light beams.

What's this? It transformed…

"Aaargh…." The light beams flew away in all directions, two slamming directly into Roxas's chest, which sent him flying backwards.

One scratched his left arm, ripping the black coat and another one bounced off the guard of the Oblivion, striking his upper right thigh and burning a hole through the coat there.

The boy wasn't really that damaged, as the offensive capabilities of the wounded heart were greatly diminished. By throwing him backwards and ripping his coat the light beams had already used up most of their available energy, resulting only in some minor bruises.

Roxas slammed hard on his back, seeing stars for a moment and losing grip of Oathkeeper.

Uuuh…why do I actually feel that pain? Is it the memory of pain that I remember? What kind of attack was that?

Clenching his teeth and using the Oblivion as a support Roxas got up again, ignoring the painful bruises the light beams had caused on his skin.

It hurts, but still, the force behind that attack was overall weak, laughably weak…

Summoning Oathkeeper back to his other hand, Roxas shook his head rapidly to get rid of the dizziness.

The armoured warrior had used the time Roxas needed to recover to close the distance between them, having his Keyblade already back in his right hand.

Damn, going into close range battle again! You moron.

"Back off man, I don't want to harm you!" Roxas shouted.

"Why would I believe someone who has done nothing but hurt me?" The wielder started a wide horizontal slash.

"What? Are you crazy? I think you're mistaking me for someone else." Roxas jumped back, dodging the Keyblade slash.

"Stop it! That stab in your shoulder was an accident!" Blocking another strike, Roxas tried to hook his other Keyblade with the warrior's one, hoping to trap it between his two blades.

Somehow anticipating it, his opponent pulled back, raised his free hand and fired a Blizzard spell.

"Magic? Ghh…" Roxas dodged aside. The warrior fired another chunk of ice and then closed in again, swinging his blade at the black-coated youth another time.

Roxas swatted the ice away with Oathkeeper and then took another step back to avoid the next Keyblade strike.

It's getting problematic. For whatever reason that guy won't listen. He's in no better shape than the weird clone-kid and if this goes on I won't be able to avoid hurting him.

Swinging his Keyblade from the right again, the trembling warrior tried to force Roxas to the edge of the platform but this time Roxas acted. He smashed Oathkeeper up, meeting the other blade full force, throwing his opponent off balance.

Using the advantage, he pushed Oblivion forward, intending to smack the knuckle bow into his opponent's left side, on the sensitive part just below the ribs. Frantically trying to regain balance the warrior shifted his body a bit and Roxas lost his aim.

The guard missed its intended target, instead the blade slit the other wielders left hip.

Oh no…

Another heart wrenching scream of agony pierced Roxas' ears, the armoured wielder tumbled back, shaking wildly.

"Uaah…nnngh, no…I…I lost concentration, my energy…" Dropping his Keyblade, the armoured figure clutched his injured shoulder with one hand and the cut on his hip with the other, collapsing with a low stifling cry.

Alarmed, Roxas pondered rushing up to him but seemingly too late.

What? He's disintegrating? It can't be…

It wasn't until the armoured wielder started to disappear in a golden-white light that Roxas finally noticed a key feature of his suit.

That armoured guy's shoes…! Wh…armoured sneakers? Just like the one…agh…no. What have I done? It can't be…oh holy crap no…why didn't I notice earlier? Why didn't I understand earlier what happened? Why do I only remember now…?


Twilight Town, Day 17.

"Now, Number XIII, Roxas, the Key of Destiny, show me your progress with the Keyblade, as it is of crucial importance for us that you know to handle it well."

"As you wish, Lord Xemnas." The young blond charged in, slaying Heartless after Heartless, concentrating on Emblems and mostly ignoring Purebloods.

Starting from the Station Plaza, Roxas fought all the way down to the Tram Common with Xemnas, the Superior of the Organzation, following close behind, monitoring his performance.

After reaching the break in the city wall, Roxas took the opportunity to quaff a potion.

"An adequate performance so far, Number XIII. Or rather, for someone only 17 days old I should say it's remarkable. You're a worthy asset to our cause." Xemnas seemed satisfied to a degree.

"Thank you, Lord Xemnas." Roxas bowed his head a little, as Axel had instructed him to do when speaking directly to the Superior.

"Very well, there's one task left for you to complete, on the other side of the wall, in the forest." Xemnas pointed with his right hand through the break.

The young blonde nodded and turned to cross through the breach. On the other side an even greater batch of Heartless awaited: Shadows, Neo Shadows, Darkballs, Soldiers, Surveillance Robots, Minute Bombs and an oddly colored Large Body.

Roxas's eyes widened. "There are so many…"

Xemnas stepped forward two steps, now standing by Roxas's side. "Indeed…seems a tad strenuous for you, Number XIII. Do you see that big red-colored Large Body? That is actually a Mega Body, a very rare kind of Heartless. Only very strong hearts become such a beast. This one is the main goal. To get rid of the others, this time we'll go in together, you take the Emblems while I annihilate the useless Purebloods."

With these words Xemnas spread his arms out, red energy blades flashing from his palms. Roxas readied his Keyblade, storming off and slicing three Soldiers in half with one stroke. Xemnas did not run, he floated, and seemingly effortlessly eliminated the Purebloods regardless of type each with one stroke of his blades. A Soldier approaching him was round-house kicked in Roxas's direction, who impaled the flying Heartless on his blade, releasing the captive heart inside.

Now Xemnas had reached the Mega Body and began to batter it with his weapons, driving it back to the trees, then out to the clearing before the old mansion.

Several minutes later the Heartless were history.

Roxas finished the last Emblem Heartless, a Minute Bomb, with a fire spell before turning his attention to the main goal as well.

The Superior seemed to have already wounded the big Heartless severely, backing it off against the wall of the old mansion.

Instead of killing it, Xemnas suddenly pulled back and turned to his youngest member.

"Ok, Number XIII, Roxas, finish it off and release its heart for us."

"Yes, Superior." Roxas raised his Keyblade, aiming for the death blow.

Yet a mere second later he found himself under a barrage of attacks, the Heartless lashing out wildly at him, driving him back.

"Uuuh…" Roxas was driven to one knee. The Mega Body trembled and yet wildly attacked again.

Xemnas showed no sign that he would assist. "Number XIII, did you mishear my order? Finish off that Heartless, just one hit should be enough."

Recovering from the surprise, the Key of Destiny started to endure the attacks, jumped over the Heartless and slammed his Keyblade in its back, eliminating it.

"Here we go…the mission is a success Number XIII. Now I can be sure you'll be of use for us."

"Uh…Lord Xemnas? I don't quite understand…why did that Heartless suddenly become stronger?" The young Nobody had an expression of real puzzlement on his face.

"I'm relieved you ask, unenlightened little new-born. It's actually a quite trivial but important lesson. That Heartless didn't become stronger, it's a psychological phenomenon shared by all life forms, may they be humans, Heartless, Nobodies or animals. It's called desperation and the unending will to continue to exist.

"If a life form is already wounded and then cornered with no way to escape, it will start to frantically defend its life with a ferocious determination. Of course this is futile in most cases, as no real power boost is obtained and once the opponent recovers from its shock, like you did a few moments ago, the doomed and cornered existence is destined to fall.

"Remember this when you fight already injured opponents, to prevent surprise attacks."

Roxas' facial expression scrunched up in thought as he tried to comprehend what Xemnas had just explained.

Xemnas however turned around and opened a Corridor of Darkness. "Think carefully about it, Roxas…it can come in handy later when you understand the concept."

With this the Superior walked into the Corridor, leaving a brooding young blond behind.


it was the one and only mission I ever did with Xemnas, so I should have remembered this occurrence.

He stumbled two steps backwards, lamenting what a grave mistake he'd made.

Oh crap…I'm such an insensitive idiot, letting my frustration get the best of me and the one who paid for it was this poor wounded heart that I literally trampled over.