Here I am with another update! I have a lot of homework to finish before my Christmas Break ends and so I'm posting as much as I can before school starts up again. Lots of art projects to finish...whew.
Thank you to pottergurl16, NinjaSheik and Xynlake No. XV for reviewing chapter 6!
Remember, reviews are much appreciated. Keep 'em coming if you want another update ready and waiting tomorrow morning. :)
Not too much later, the mission was completed and the two friends were sitting at the ledge of the clock tower in Twilight Town with their sea-salt ice cream in hand. It had become tradition for the three of them--Axel included--to sit down after work and just relax as the sun went down.
Lately though, it seemed as if either it was only Roxas and Vilixa, Axel and Roxas, Vilixa and Axel, or just one of the three on their own. It was a rare treat when all three of them could sit together and chat, but with Axel in Castle Oblivion, both Vilixa and Roxas were fearing the worst.
"I hope he's okay," Vilixa sighed. "What'll we do without Axel?"
"Hey," Roxas shrugged. "I'm positive that Axel will be just fine. We've been over this, remember? He's the strong one."
Vilixa just nodded and nibbled on her ice cream.
After a few seconds, Roxas spoke. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"
"Um," Vilixa responded unsurely, "I guess so."
"Why don't you use your Keyblade?" he asked. "I mean, if you have it, then you must be some kind of warrior, right? Or at least, you must've been back when you were whole."
Vilixa's red hair fell over her eyes and she let out a small sigh. "I don't think I was like that when I had a heart," she said truthfully. "I think...maybe that this Keyblade has a different purpose than yours does. I mean, if they were meant to do the same thing, then why don't they look the same?"
Roxas thought to himself for a moment. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But do you think you can collect hearts with that Keyblade? Because if you can, then you might as well, right?"
"But..." Vilixa responded, "I don't like the idea of resorting to violence. If you think about it, Roxas, every Heartless that we destroy, we release the heart of someone who was taken over by the darkness. With every heart lost, that's a life lost that we're trying to use selfishly for our own benefit. I don't like the feeling of being incomplete, but I don't want to get my heart back if it means wiping out thousands of lives to do it."
"I..." Roxas mumbled, "I never thought of it that way." He sighed and said, "But most of the people who lose their hearts to the Heartless just become dusks anyway. Do you really think that those Nobodies could turn back into real people?"
Vilixa bit into her ice cream again and shrugged her shoulders. "I honestly don't know. I don't know a lot of things, Roxas. But I do know one thing...if there is a way that we can get our hearts back without having to jeopardize the hearts of so many others, I'm going to find it."
She stood up to leave and began to walk away. Roxas called out to her, "But Vilixa, Xemnas says that--"
"I don't trust him," Vilixa said hastily, turning to the blond. "I don't know what he's planning, or even if this Kingdom Hearts thing is real or not, but I know that he's up to no good. I-I don't even know if this Organization is set out to do good or evil or not."
"Hey," Roxas stood up, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Everything we do benefits the Organization, and all we want is our hearts back. How is that a bad thing?"
Vilixa's shoulders slumped, feeling a bit dejected. "I don't know," she answered truthfully. "But I don't have a good feeling about this whole Kingdom Hearts thing."
She opened a portal with her hand and walked through, returning back to the Gray Room. Saix stood by the tall, glass windows that overlooked the rest of the castle and turned when he saw Vilixa leaving to return to her bedroom.
"How did you manage on your mission?" he called as she was walking away.
She bit her lip and lied, "It was just fine."
"Good," Saix answered. "I'll have more missions ready for you tomorrow. Now that you and Roxas have realized the full potential of your Keyblades, we can collect hearts at a doubled rate just as we had intended."
Vilixa nodded weakly and scurried away to her room. When she got there, she slammed the door and leaned her back against it, staring out at the heart-shaped moon that hung outside her window. Almost glaring at it, she summoned her Keyblade in her hands. The more she examined it, the more serene and delicate it seemed.
"You were never meant for destruction," she spoke, making it disappear again. She looked back up at the moon and sighed. "Kingdom Hearts," she muttered. "So maybe it'll get our hearts back...but at what cost?"
She laid down on her bed and pulled the dull gray covers up to her chin. Her eyelids felt heavy and drooped to a close, her mind slowly drifting into a deep sleep.
Review! PS. Chapter 1 has over 100 reads. Yay!
