Chapter 7

Xigbar looked around, squinting at the white glow that surrounded him. He tried to turn his head, but nothing happened. Or nothing seemed to happen. He wasn't sure. It was all white. He brought his hand up to his and his breath caught in his chest. His hand and arm were free of scars. His hand swung to his cheek and the scar there was gone too. As a final check his hand swept across his face to where the eye patch was supposed to be. He winced as his finger brushed against his eye.

His eye started watering painfully and he rubbed the now red area. Tears leaked onto his palm. He lowered the hand and felt a drop running down his finger. He watched the clear drop fall from his hand toward the Light. As the drop landed, it turned dark red, the color of blood. He looked back at his hand and saw the red liquid that covered his fingers, flowing from small cuts and deeper slashes that spanned from his palm to his forearm. Pain lanced through his head and he fell to his knees.

His whole body now ached with cuts, bruises, and broken bones, just like it had back then. He looked at both his bloody hands, thinking of how long it had been since he had seen his own blood. The Light began to fade to Darkness. His head was speared with pain and he brought his hands up to his face. His body spasmmed from the pain as one hand connected with a deep gash in his cheek and the other with the tattered remains on an eye socket. His vision blurred and he swayed. Looking back up he saw the Light disappearing into Darkness.

"Are you there? Are you leaving me again?" His voice sounded hollow within the folds of silence. The Light was fading fast now, shrinking to a small window. It moved away from him into the Darkness, leaving him in Darkness. "Wait!" He threw himself toward the Light, straining to reach it. His hand was almost there, he could almost touch it, but it was still just out of reach. "Come back, please, just come back." With a final thrust he pushed forward, his hand penetrating into the remaining Light.

He was blinded as Light exploded from the bubble all around him once more. Squinting he put his hand in front of his face. As his vision returned he looked around, recognizing the place. It was the Alter of Naught, Kingdom Hearts hovering close by. Xigbar looked up at the glowing moon, dreading what was to come next. He had had this nightmare more than once, a constant reminder of his sin.

In the center of the Alter a portal grew. A black haired figure emerged, yellow eyes fixated on the moon before her. Dark Ikxare walked out of the portal toward Kingdom Hearts, her mouth twisted into a smirk. The body had been completely taken over now and no remaining sign of Ikxare remained. Two more portals opened before her, halting her approach. "Well, well, well. Looks who's come to stop me." Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

"We have orders to stop you, foul creature. And we have no intention of failing." Zexion opened his lexicon as he spoke, blue-gray bangs falling before his face as his began his spell. Lexeaus shifted his grasp on his gigantic tomahawk and charged forward, his face set.

"Aw that's too bad. Here I was willing to take you all as my underlings, but I guess now I have no choice but to kill you." Dark Ikxare laughed to herself, jumping away from Lexeaus' attack as she taunted the two Nobodies. Lexeaus attacked again, blade swinging through the air at Dark Ikxare. She kept dodging the man, instead making a jump toward Zexion. The short man broke his chant to dodge her attack, noticing too late the energy wave that accompanied the motion. The blow caught his side and he was thrown into the charging Lexeaus.

The two men shouted in surprise and tried to untangle themselves quickly and defend themselves as Dark Ikxare began her onslaught.

Xigbar wanted to move, to stop Dark Ikxare, but since this was a nightmare he could do nothing but watch the scenario that his mind imagined. Each time he dreamed this, the lines were different and the attacks were altered, but the end was the same.

A portal opened as if on cue and a fourth member joined the fight. Xigbar watched himself jump out of the portal, shooters firing crystals from different angles as he leapt around the platform. Dark Ikxare turned to face this new opponent, blocking his attacks with small bursts of energy. Lexeaus swung during the openings in Xigbar's shots and Zexion retreated a safe distance down the stairs, chanting once more.

Ikxare, still smiling, began talking as well to distract her attackers, "That was fast, is that fool back at the mansion dead already? I had thought he would have lasted longer and provided some amusement later, but no matter. No? I see, you just left him behind. How admirable, leaving your companion behind to die."

The attacking Xigbar was not one to take a taunt lying down and responded with his own sharp wit, "As if. I don't know what you are or where you came from, but it's time you figured out that you're going to lose this fight."

"But if you kill me, than Ikxare will die as well."

"What does that matter? We can't feel, so killing you both will take no time at all."

Dark Ikxare laughed as she dodged Lexeaus once more. Xigbar had paused to let his shooters reload and she took the opening. Her energy level spiked and she released a sphere of energy around her body, repelling all three men and stunning them momentarily.

As he watched his dream, Xigbar wanted to leave the vision and not watch what would happen next, but his mind had other plans.

Dark Ikxare jumped from her spot at the center of the Alter and slash at Lexeaus, throwing the large man down the stairs into a statue. She had then moved to the dazed Zexion and kicked him into the air, forcing him to drop his lexicon and halt his chant once more. She jumped into the air and pummeled the small man with a barrage of punches enhanced by energy waves. With a final blow to his stomach she sent him flying back down. He hit the ground hard, the tiles buckling under him as he shouted in pain. Lexaeus roared angrily and came charging up the stairs, swinging his tomahawk wildly. Dark Ikxare pranced away from the dazed Zexion beneath her foot and spun. She unleashed another burst of energy and the tall man was repelled back down the stairs once more.

Xigbar watched himself struggle to rise from the far side of the Alter. He watched as Dark Ikxare had used a burst of energy to reach him and dance around him, small shards of hardened energy in her hands.

Dark Ikxare halted her onslaught as the man finally found an opening to raise a shooter and fire off a round of crystals. She spun away back to the center of the Alter with a laugh, dodging his attack easily. As Xigbar had continued to shoot at her, Dark Ikxare had summoned more power and sent another burst of energy out. Zexion had struggled to rise from his personal crater but hadn't moved fast enough and was caught by the brunt of the blow. Xigbar was also caught in the pulse and crushed against the railing of the Alter, tile debris catching him across the face and wedging into his eye. Pain exploded and he slumped forward, blinded by the agony.

Dark Ikxare looked at the damage around her, smirk finally falling, "I had thought that you would have done better. How disappointing."

Xigbar watched from his vantage as the final act was set into place and the nightmare neared its end.

Dark Ikxare closed her eyes and prepared for a final attack, the blow that would finish the three men and cause them to fade. As she pulled in the energy, Xigbar stumbled forward, falling to his knees from the pain of her attacks, too broken to even lift an arm to fire at her. He knew that the next attack would kill them all, and that the other two members were too far to stop her if they had even been able. "Ikxare, I know that you're still in there, I know you can still hear me." He called out weakly, words slurring together as his vision spun.

Dark Ikxare continued to pull in energy from the Darkness around her, ignoring the plea of the man. Xigbar crawled forward, eyes fixed on the woman, voice wavering, "Listen to me, stop her. I know this isn't what you wanted, and I need you to fight her and stop her from doing something that you will regret. I know you can do that." He tried to rise to a standing position but his legs wouldn't cooperate and he ended up in a kneeling position instead. He opened his mouth to try again, but closed it as Dark Ikxare paused.

"No, you won't stop this. You had your chance to exist in control, now it's my turn. You will not interfere." Dark Ikxare started to argue aloud with a voice that only she could hear. Her voice grew from a quiet whisper to a shout as her form started to flicker as well, switching between her two sides.

Xigbar heard Dark Ikxare argue with herself and called out his own support, trying to drown out the voice in his head. His orders echoed in his mind: If she turns, kill her. No exceptions. Maybe if she beat the other form than Xemnas would turn away from this and let it be forgotten. Maybe she could go into hiding and be left alone. Maybe. No, his orders were orders. He had no choice. He lifted his arm, the shooter heavier than before as he took aim.

Xigbar watched from above now as the other beneath him lifted the shooter and leveled it at Ikxare. He watched as Ikxare gained control over her body for one last time and smiled. He watched as the Xigbar beneath him fired a series of crystals at her. He watched as they pierced her form in a dozen places. He watched as she fell back, the damage to her body too great for any chance at survival. He watched as the other beneath him fell forward as well, exhaustion taking its toll on his body, and crawl toward the fading woman.

Xigbar moved slowly on his hands and knees toward her, desperately trying to reach her before she was gone forever. "I'm sorry," he whispered, "Please forgive me, I had no choice."

"I know," her whisper barely reached his ears. "It's alright. I can be free now, I can be free from her now."

Xigbar reached her and pulled her into his arms as he looked down at her, his mind trying to remind him what he was supposed to feel here. Regret, grief, sorrow. But he felt nothing. He felt nothing as she reached up and touched his battered face, a smile on her face as her eyes focused on something beyond him. He felt nothing as she began to fade. He felt nothing.