There was nothing but silence in the outside battle area. Xed dismissed her two remaining Keyblades and bent down towards Roxas, extending a hand to help him up. Roxas took the hand and let her help him up.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Roxas and Xed looked over at Xemnas, who was clapping slowly, with an impressed smile set on his face. Demyx nodded and started clapping wildly.
"WAY TO GO XED AND ROXAS!" he yelled. Axel clapped as well.
"That was AWESOME!" He shouted. Soon, everyone was clapping and cheering and whooping loudly for the two Keybladers. Xed and Roxas smiled and started laughing softly, panting hard for breath. They had been fighting so hard; they hadn't even realized they had grown exhausted.
"Roxas?" Xed said softly.
"Yea?" he replied.
"You can let go of my hand now."
Roxas looked down to see that his hand was still holding hers. He pulled his hand away quickly and looked in the opposite direction, blushing slightly. Out of the corner of his eye he could've promised that she was blushing too. The two of them walked out of the gate and joined the others, where they received pats on their backs and praise.
"That was amazing!"
"How'd you do that, Xed?"
"You guys both fought really well!!"
"Roxas, that was really awesome how you blocked all of those attacks!"
"Where'd you learn to fight like that?"
"That was seriously one of the best fights I've ever seen!"
"Hate to say it, but you two were really good!"
Xed and Roxas could only smile at their compliments. Xed turned towards Roxas.
"Roxas, you're a really amazing fighter!" she said. Roxas felt himself blush slightly. He scratched the back of his head, smiling.
"What are you talking about? You were the amazing one!" he said. Xed rolled her eyes and smiled.
"I've faced a lot of people, but you are pretty much the only one who's put up a good fight." She smiled again. "You actually were a challenge." Roxas smiled.
"But how'd you learn to fight with 14 Keyblades? And when did you get a Keyblade?" Xed shrugged.
"I don't remember when I got it, but come on, Roxas." She said, shaking her head. "I create weapons, and I've got to fight with them to see if they serve their purpose. I get a lot of practice." Roxas nodded.
"You design Keyblades too?" Xed nodded, smiling widely.
"Sure do!" she said.
"Can I see?" Roxas asked.
"Sure!" She said, blushing slightly. Once again, she had sounded much more excited than she wanted to. The two of them started walking towards the castle, Axel and Demyx following them. Everyone went off to do their own thing. Saix walked up to Xemnas.
"That was rather impressive." Saix said. Xemnas crossed his arms.
"Very." He said. He had a look on his face, as if he were deep in thought. Saix noticed this.
"I know that look." He said. "What're you thinking about?" Xemnas smiled slowly, slyly.
"Nothing worth mentioning." He said. "Yet…"
Back in the Weapons Workshop, Xed had pulled out a large sketchpad and handed it to Roxas, who held it up so that Demyx and Axel could see it. He started to flip through it. While they were looking, Xed was working on what was to be Vexen's new shield.
"Xed, these are awesome!" Roxas said. Demyx nodded, smiling.
"Really cool!" Axel nodded as well.
"Sweet!" Xed smiled. Roxas looked up at her.
"Have you made all of these?" he asked. She shook her head.
"Not yet; I've made most of them." She walked away from the shield and walked over to a nearby shelf. She pulled out a medium sized dark blue colored box. She walked back over to the guys.
"These are the ones I've made." She said, opening the box. Axel, Demyx, and Roxas' eyes widened as they looked inside. Inside the box was roughly a hundred Keychains, of all different sizes, colors, and designs.
"Woah…" Roxas said. "Can I hold one?" Xed nodded, and set the box on the desk. Roxas pulled out a long, gray chain with a Silver Star charm at the end. Xed looked over at him.
"I call that one Shattered Star." She said, returning to her work on the shield. "Attach it to your Keyblade." Roxas summoned his Oathkeeper Keyblade and hooked the Keychain to the end. His weapon immediately changed to a shiny silver color, with a cluster of silver stars as the blade. Axel whistled.
"Wow." He said. Xed smiled, not looking up from her work. Roxas unhooked the Keychain, and his weapon turned back into its regular state.
"What's this?" Demyx asked. Everyone looked at him. He was still looking at the sketchpad of Keyblades. His eyes were skimming a page entitled 'Organization Keys'. Xed walked over to him and looked at the page. She smiled and blushed, slightly embarrassed.
"Oh, those are some Keyblades I designed after you guys. I based them off your weapons and elements." She said sheepishly. Immediately, Axel and Roxas rushed over to look for which Keyblade represented them.
"Oh sweet!" Axel said. "Mine's called Flaming Furry! That's awesome, got it memorized?" Xed smiled.
"Cool! I like mine!" Demyx said. "Dance of Defeat. I liked it!" Xed shrugged.
"I like it too, but it's designed so you play it like a guitar. And I can't play the guitar." She said, looking at the ground. Demyx put an arm around her shoulder.
"Hey, I can teach you!" he said. She looked up at him.
"Really?" Demyx nodded.
"Yeah! It'll be fun!" he said. She smiled.
"Okay!"
"Hey Xed?" Roxas said.
"Yeah?" she replied.
"Where's my Keyblade?" Roxas has still been looking at the page, looking it over and over, but still hadn't found his yet. Xed blushed again, this time a little more noticeable.
"Well…your Keyblade is…special…" She said, sounding embarrassed. "Yours is different than everyone else's." Roxas cocked his head.
"Why?" he asked. Xed shrugged.
"I don't know, when I was designing these, I just felt that yours should be…special." She said. Roxas blushed. He had no idea why. Xed then went back over to the shelf where she had pulled out the other Keychains, and pulled out a small glass case. She walked back over to them.
"These," she said, placing the case on her desk, "Are my most special, and most dangerous Keychains." Axel, Demyx, and Roxas nodded. She looked up at them. "If these fall into the wrong hands, there'd be trouble. So no telling anyone about these, okay?" The three of them nodded again. She smiled. She opened the case, revealing about ten Keychains. Roxas looked at them. One of them had a Heartless emblem on it.
"What's that one?" he asked, pointing to it. Xed picked it up.
"This one is one of my most dangerous Keyblades. It is a perfect replica of the Keyblade that can release Hearts." She said, almost a whisper. "One stab with this, and you're on your way to darkness, no doubt about it." She said. Roxas shuddered slightly. That Keyblade…the one she was talking about…he'd seen it before in a dream… Xed then picked up another Keychain and handed it to Roxas.
"This one is your Keyblade: Devoted Hearts." She said, smiling. Roxas looked at it. The chain on it was a mix of dark purple and bright gold. At the end was a Heart, half purple, half gold.
"You can put it on." She said. Roxas nodded, and placed it on his Oathkeeper. There was a flash of white, and when it cleared, Axel, Roxas, and Demyx gasped in unison.
His Keyblade was now a silver color. On one side of the blade were dark purple wires, swirling into heart shapes. One the opposite side was the same thing, except with gold wires. The blade itself was a swirled silver heart, with gold and purple intertwined in it.
It was stunning.
"This is…amazing…" Roxas said breathlessly, holding the Keyblade out at arm's length to examine it.
"Why's it so special?" Axel asked. Xed looked up at him.
"I designed it to be twilight." Everyone cocked their heads in puzzlement.
"Twilight?" Demyx asked. Xed nodded.
"You see, twilight is a perfect balance of dark and light. It's connected so closely that there is no void, but is set apart so that they never mix. The perfect balance." She said, smiling. Axel nodded.
"You know Roxas," Xed said, walking up to him, "you can keep that…" Roxas' eyes widened.
"Really?" he asked excited. Xed nodded.
"Yep. For 89,000 munny." She said with a smile. Axel, Roxas, and Demyx turned towards her; their mouths open in surprise.
"89,000???" Axel said. Xed laughed.
"Yeah, I make money off of selling my weapons." She said. "That, and charging money for fixing them."
"How come you didn't charge us?" Roxas asked, unhooking the Keychain from his weapon, still holding it in his hand. Xed shrugged.
"I'm not sure…I guess I didn't want to. It's not often I don't charge money. But you guys just seemed…" she shook her head, at a loss for words. "I'm not sure."
"Well, we should get going, so that you can finish your work." Demyx said. Xed nodded.
"See you later!" Axel said, walking out of the room, Demyx following him. Roxas handed the Keychain back to her. He was sort of sad to have to part with such a magnificent weapon.
"Hey," Xed said softly, sensing his disappointment. Roxas looked up into her soft, faded gray eyes, and at her warm, smiling face. Roxas smiled back.
"You know, one day," she said. "You might get that Keychain from me." Roxas shook his head, smiling, as he walked out of the room. He stopped in the doorway and turned to face Xed.
"And when will that be?" he asked. Xed chuckled softly.
"When you have a Devoted Heart…" she said. He smiled and closed the door behind him.
But, he thought,
I already have one.
