PSA:
This fic is meant to be read with Winter Cabin Conundrum.
Please read up to and including Chapter 21 to understand this chapter.
ALSO: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SPOILERS UP TO CHAPTER 21, SO IF YOU HAVE NOT READ UP TO THERE, DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER.

Mars: Okay, this one's my fault.
Axel: It's always your fault, you're the writer.
Mars: I don't mean real life circumstances, I had this finished a while ago, but I didn't upload it and I forgot about it.
Navi: Okay, this is a continuation of the last chapter so it's still Roxas' point of view.

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters belong to Square Enix.

Winter Cabin Elucidation
Part III – Roxas (Part 2)

It was a scary thought, but I couldn't help but think that Ienzo was right. From what Sora told us, there was probably just one or two killers at a time, but now there's at least three, maybe more. But these are people we go to school with, I never would've imagined any of them being pushed to murder.

But I couldn't worry about that, I had to focus on getting Sora back to normal. Everyone was ready so I opened the door and let them all out first. But before I left, I took a moment to honor the dead.

"Don't worry," I quietly said to them. "We'll make this right."

I went out the door and locked it behind me. I figured from that point on, taking the dead back here won't matter since we're all die anyway. And even if we don't, we'll start all this over after tomorrow. That's when I started to wonder how long it would take for us to end this time looping. According to Sora, this is only our third time through, but what if we don't save him? How long would we be stuck in this cycle, experiencing our deaths and our friends' deaths over and over again?

I had to shake off these thoughts. Right now, I had to be confident, I had to find a way to save Sora. We went up the stairs to the third floor, it was empty and the library was still open. We went inside the library and we were about to go into the library when someone stopped us.

"Where do you think you're going?" Braig shouted from down the hall.

We froze, Braig was unpredictable at this point, so sudden movements could've caused him to shoot. He started to approach us while pointing his firearm at us. I could tell Axel wanted to speak up, just to get Braig away from us. I wanted to stop him, but I couldn't think of a way without getting shot.

"Sora's causing trouble you know," he said.

Braig stopped, "So what?"

"Don't you wanna stop him?"

Without warning, Braig shot Axel in the shoulder where Saïx had already shot him earlier, "That's exactly what you want me to do!" He started walking again, "Tell me where he is and I might just let you live!"

We all knew that wasn't going to happen. We looked at each other, at a loss for what to do. We thought that this is how we would end the cycle here, without figuring out how to save Sora.

That's when we heard someone come from the stairs behind Braig.

He turned around, "There you are!" He started walking toward this new person, "It's time to finish this once and for all!"

I was hoping that it wasn't Sora, that it was Luxord or someone. But who was left?

We heard Braig shoot, his shot being deflected and finally we saw something black go through his body.

Sora practically tossed Braig's body off his sword to the side. He was almost inhuman, just walking toward us with that dead look in his eyes.

Aqua took a martial arts stance, "Get inside."

"Wait," Kairi put her hand on her shoulder to stop her. She stepped forward, "Sora?"

"Kairi, what are you doing?!" I cried. It looked like she was trying to get herself killed.

"He's in there somewhere Roxas," she told me.

"The darkness turned him into a zombie Kairi!" Axel shouted.

She ignored us, "Sora! It's Kairi!"

He stopped.

He actually stopped.

"I know you're in there somewhere," she continued, walking over to him. "The darkness hasn't taken you yet."

It looked like it was working. Maybe we could get Sora back to normal in this cycle and he can tell Xion how to end all this! All hope wasn't lost after all.

Then, in a flash, he sprinted over to Kairi and stabbed her in the chest, she was killed instantly. He laid her down on the ground and took his sword out and started to approach us again.

We had to think fast, one wrong move and he could kill us. Ironically, it was less risky than getting away from Braig.

"Get inside," Aqua said again. "I'll distract him, you find a way to end this."

I was about to stop her, but her plan was the only way we could get away. As she ran toward Sora, I pushed Axel and Ienzo inside the library and closed both doors as quick as I could. When I finished, I felt the weight of what I did.

I left Aqua for dead.

And in that moment, I felt the weight of all the deaths I experienced, maybe even some I couldn't remember. How many times have we died so far? How many times do we have to die before this ends? I slumped to the floor.

"Roxas, what's wrong?" Axel asked.

"I can't take this anymore," I told him. "How many times do we have to go through this? Especially now that Sora's a serial killing zombie?"

"He may not be a zombie for much longer," Ienzo said.

"How do we know? What if there's never—"

"On the contrary," Ienzo interrupted. "What Kairi just did may be the key to saving Sora." He went deeper into the library while still talking, "As foolish as her attempt may have been, it was a good idea."

Axel and I followed him, "What?"

"Trying to get in contact with his heart. Currently, it is shrouded by darkness, but we could clear that darkness."

"Great!" Axel exclaimed, "So how do we do that?"

Ienzo paused for a moment, "I have no idea."

My jaw practically dropped, "What."

"Before this, I didn't think that something like this were possible," he explained. "So I didn't bother reading into it. I suppose now is a good time than any."

"Preferably before Sora comes and kills us," Axel quipped.

"In case you haven't noticed, this is a very rare situation," he started looking through the shelves. "This could take a while, could I ask you two to guard the door so I won't get killed before I find it?"

I looked at Axel, his shoulder was bleeding. I didn't know if he could fight off anyone.

He noticed how worried I was, "I'll be fine Roxas. It's just a scratch."

"Doesn't look like it," I pointed out.

He tried to roll his shoulder, but it hurt too much.

"Alright," he said. "It's as bad as it looks, but someone has to slow down Sora."

He started to head out of the library, but I stopped him, "You're not leaving?!"

"I got a bad shoulder, I can't defend Ienzo like this."

"But you can't!"

I wouldn't know what to do if I saw Axel die. We've been so much together, even if it were only temporary, I wouldn't know what I'd do if he died.

"Roxas," he pulled me out of my thoughts. "This is bigger than us, you have to defend Ienzo until he finds a way to save Sora." He turned to leave, "I'll be seeing you." Then he just left and closed the door behind him.

I must've stared at the door for ten minutes, hoping that he'd come back and we could face this together. But he didn't come, he wasn't going to come. I was on my own now. That was the first time I admitted to myself that I was scared. It might've been the darkness eating at my heart, but I didn't care. We could've all ended up dead for good at the end of this if we did something wrong.

I wondered how Sora was feeling through all of this. Here I was scared for my life in this cycle, Sora remembered all of it. I think the weight of everything helped the darkness eat away at his heart.

"Axel! Roxas!" Ienzo called out.

"I'm here," I ran over to him. "But Axel went…"

"Okay," he said after I got quiet.

We were silent for a while. I tried to think about something else, anything else. But it wasn't any use, all I could think about was how hopeless the situation was.

"Roxas," Ienzo spoke up. "What if we were looking in the wrong place?"

My face went pale, "What."

"A thought occurred to me, would Xehanort have the foresight to remove all books regarding this matter from the library?"

He had a point. Xehanort was a smart man, he wouldn't keep his plans in the library out in the open. He would keep them locked up in…

"His room!" I realized. "If this was his plan, he'd keep the material up in his room!"

"That's where we need to go," Ienzo said. "What we're looking for has to be there, I can almost smell it."

"What're we waiting for?" I was about to run out when he stopped me.

"Wait," he picked up a book. "I'll make sure we can get there."

He cast some sort of spell. It must've been some kind of foresight spell, I wondered why he didn't use it before. I understood why after he was done, he nearly passed out.

"We need to hurry," he panted. "Sora is about to corner Axel in the dining room."

Without thinking, I helped Ienzo onto his feet and out of the library. We went up as quickly as we could to the top floor. We were able to get into Xehanort's room without getting interrupted. Inside were Riku, Vanitas and Xehanort's bodies. As much as I wanted to get rid of them, I had to lock the door behind me so Sora couldn't get in.

Ienzo went to a huge bookcase, "Now we can get somewhere." He looked though some books for a few minutes when his face lit up, "I found it."

"How to cure Sora?" I asked.

"The book we need, I can find the answer here."

Suddenly, someone started to pound at the door.

Sora was here.

"Hurry up Ienzo!" I got ready to fight. "Tell me what I need to know before Sora kills me!"

He frantically looked through the pages and the pounding at the door got louder. My heart started racing. I was going to die, there was no doubt about that, but I need the information to take with me to the next cycle. I was ready to remember whatever Ienzo was about to tell me.

"I found it," he said. "We'll need the whole cycle to do it though."

Whole cycle.

"His heart will have to be opened up and exposed to light, figuratively, of course."

Opened and exposed to light. So that meant Kairi.

"He'll have to die immediately so the corruption won't affect him."

Kill him so the corruption won't affect him. Wait…what does that mean?

I couldn't ask because Sora burst in through the door and came at me with his sword. I fended him off as best as I could, but I couldn't concentrate on fighting him. I had to concentrate on remembering the key words.

Whole cycle. Opened and exposed to light. Kairi. Kill him so the corruption won't affect him.

I managed to cut him on the hand and I let my guard down.

Whole cycle.

That's when he recovered and stabbed me in the chest.

Opened and exposed to light.

He pulled his sword out.

Kairi.

I fell onto my back.

Kill him so the corruption won't affect him.

He stood over me and my mind went blank except for one word.

Kairi.

The last thing I saw was his sword coming down on my face.

Mars: Ienzo dies soon after.
Axel: What a surprise.
Mars: Anyway, since you're reading this, I might as well tell you that the next chapter to Conundrum will be going up soon.
Axel: Really?
Mars: It's complete and ready to go live.