Unnumbered Files


I don't own Kingdom Hearts© or SquareEnix©


Chapter VII: I Remember

"How many times," Xemnas said, extending both arms, his laser-like swords appearing in his hands, "must I be betrayed?!? First Xaldin, now Vexen!"

"Superior, they were the weak-minded," Saïx said. "We would never betray you; not like those cretins did."

Zexion nodded. "Your power is back, Superior. We can now storm the Castle That Never Was and take back the Organization, or die trying."

"Cretins, are we?" a voice said, echoing.

Nine clouds of darkness flew up from the ground, and Axel appeared, followed by the others. Vexen and Xaldin were close behind him, glaring.

"That's a bit mellow, even for you, Xemnas," Axel said, smirking.

"You traitors!" Xemnas accused, pointing at Xaldin and Vexen. "Y-You're all traitors!"

"I believe we already know that," Xaldin muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Vexen said nothing. He noted how Zexion stood behind the Superior, and he sneered. Always the loyal one, Zexion was. Vexen's eyebrow rose as he noticed Zexion whisper something to Xemnas, take a step back, and vanish into a corridor of darkness. Vexen looked to Axel, and Axel merely nodded, proving he had seen Zexion leave, too.

"Sora's in danger," Axel whispered, so low even Vexen had a hard time hearing him.


"Freeze!" Sora yelled, jumping into the Castle That Never Was. He had entered from the most optimistic place in the galaxy, the Brink of Despair, only to find that it was empty. No Nobodies, no apparently former Organization members, nothing. Silence.

Stitch sniffed around, and lowered his four arms, where each hand had a small laser gun in it. He looked around, confused.

"They're probably up further," Sora said. He started walking, and Stitch followed silently.

Contrary to what Sora said, there was nothing up further. The ride up the Crooked Ascension went unbothered, and he made it all the way up to the Alter of Naught, and then back again to the entrance to the Crooked Ascension, where there was a tunnel.

The whole castle was dead empty.

Sora sank down next to a wall, muttering, "Now what?"

Stitch looked at him, then to the opposite wall. He scuttled over to it, and crawled up it. He jabbed his claws through the metal, and ripped a hole in the metal as easily as if it were paper.

"Sora!" Stitch called (though he pronounced it 'So-wah'). "Sora!"

Sora looked up and jumped to his feet, running to the hole that Stitch was now enlarging. Darkness seemed to reach out to try to take the light, but Sora could see a small pinpoint of light further in. He ran to it.

It was a tunnel. All he could hear was the low clanking of his feet on the metal, and the stead pit-pat of Stitch's claws and feet on the walls as he climbed in after Sora.

They reached a huge metal room, bigger than any Sora had ever seen. The room directly faced Kingdom Hearts, and Sora felt himself shiver under the heart-shaped moon's gaze. The room had computer monitors completely lining one wall. They flashed with unfamiliar symbols.

No wonder they were always able to find me! Sora thought.

He looked over all the screens. One was focused on the Pride Lands; he recognized it as the magical spot where the Gummi Ship would always land, in the Elephant Graveyard. There were two screens next to it showing the Stone Hollow and the Oasis.

The other screens showed each and every one of these areas, even the Captain's room on the Black Pearl. The Organization always had someone in this room, following his every move.

Stitch watched apprehensively as Sora brandished Oathkeeper and Oblivion, ready to destroy the computers so the Organization could never find him.

"Always the one to destroy, aren't you, Roxas?" a menacing voice said.

Sora started, and turned around to see a man he had never seen before. He was a bit shorter than the other members of the Organization, but he was wearing the Organization jacket. His hair was a bluish-grey, and his bangs completely covered one eye on the right side of his face. He had his arms crossed, and the slightest bit of an angry look on his face, though he seemed expertly trained at hiding it when people seemed to notice.

"W-Who are you?" Sora asked.

"Oh, my. It seems I have forgotten my manners," the man said. He glared menacingly, but then gave a formal bow, making the move as insulting as he could. He smiled evilly. "My name is Ienzo. Call me by my proper name. Zexion, former number VI in Organization XIII, the Cloaked Schemer."

"Uhh, okay…Zexion," Sora said uncertainly. He didn't want to tell this man anything, but Zexion scared him. He seemed so controlled and calm, while underneath Sora guessed he was so teeming with anger that anything Sora did would probably push him over the edge.

"I'm sorry, do I…do I scare you?" Zexion said, stepping forward, making the tone in his voice kind, but as mocking as possible. "As it should be."

Sora took a step back and held out Oblivion to Zexion's face. "Don't move," he hissed.

"I see Roxas still lives," Zexion murmured softly, eyeing the Keyblade. "Too bad. That means there's two of you I need to kill."

Sora started. "K-Kill me?"

"Are you stupid?" Zexion asked, unknowingly quoting Larxene. "Yes, kill you." He paused, and his eyes widened in realization. "Oh, you don't remember, do you?"

"Remember what?"

"Does 'Castle Oblivion' ring any bells?" Zexion said, leaning forward ever so slightly. Sora shook his head. "Marluxia? Larxene? Vexen? Axel?"

"I know Axel," Sora said in a small voice. "Who are the other people?"

Zexion laughed. "So it is true."

"What's true?!" Sora yelled, charging forward. Swiping Oblivion out, Sora's eyes widened as the blade went clean through Zexion. The man just stood there and smiled.

"C'mon, Roxas, I thought you were better than that," a voice from behind said.

Sora turned around to see Zexion standing there. The man grinned.

"It is true that you lost your memory," Zexion murmured.

"Lost my memory? How?"

"Naminé," Zexion said simply.

"Naminé? She's a friend, she wouldn't hurt me!"

Zexion did not reply. Instead, he stepped up to Sora, standing three feet from him. "Memories cannot be erased. It is impossible. No, what Naminé did after restoring your true memory was herd the memories of the events in Castle Oblivion into a deep realm of your mind, closing the door."

Zexion held up a hand and pressed it to Sora's brow, closing his eyes tightly and concentrating.

Memories of old flooded into Sora's awareness. He saw a woman with yellow blonde hair, with an antenna-like fashion in them, sneering at him while holding his friend Riku by the throat—though the memory told him it wasn't the real Riku. A man with bright red hair—Axel—smirked at him. In front of what he recognized as the old abandoned mansion in Twilight Town, he faced off against a man with long, blond hair. His name was never mentioned to him, but he had been murdered by Axel—he remembered, now, the fear.

Vexen, Zexion's mind muttered. Sora wondered why he was doing this for him.

So Axel could murder in cold blood. Sora would have to remember that. There lingered a memory of a man with disgustingly pink hair, and a smirk on his face that put Axel's to shame. He wielded a giant pink scythe, resting it on his shoulder. And then there was—

"Hey!" a voice shouted. Zexion's hand tensed up. "Leave him alone!"

Zexion took a step back from Sora to turn around, only to be hit in the spine by a sharp, red chakram. He uttered one cry and fell to his knees, trying to reach a hand back to cover the wound.

Sora, startled, looked up to see Axel, standing there with a menacing look on his face. He was spinning his other chakram in his left hand.

"Vexen didn't deserve it," Axel murmured. "However, you did."

Someone moved Sora out of the way as he saw a man with pink hair—Marluxia—and the Organization member named Demyx grab one of Zexion's arms each, and lift him up.

Zexion weakly smirked up at Axel, his eyes dimming. "Try to sympathize with him now, Axel." With that, his body fell limp in his captor's arms.

"Is he…dead?" Demyx asked.

"No, he's just unconscious," Axel assured him. "If he were dead, he would've vanished into oblivion by now." He waved a hand. "Take him to the Addled Impasse. Try to break him."

Then, Luxord's eyes suddenly widened and he shouted, "Sora!"

Axel quickly turned to see Sora run through the hole that was, for some reason, torn into the side of a wall. He could see a little blue creature dangling from Sora's arms.

"Sora!" he called after the brunette. "Wait!"

Without a backwards glance, Axel ran after him.


Sora skidded out of the hole in the metal and turned to his right, ready to run out of the castle. A voice called, "Sora! Wait!"

He ignored it, but Stitch tugged at his sleeve and pointed behind him.

"Please!" the voice called.

Sora stopped. Panting from the short run and from adrenaline rush, he turned around to see Axel running to him. He tensed, holding out his Keyblades.

"You forgot this," Axel said simply. He held out an arm, and a bright light flashed, forming a solid object which Axel abruptly dropped on the ground, leaving a resounding ring.

The Kingdom Key lay at Sora's feet.

Sora's breath caught and he lifted up the Keyblade. It seemed renewed. The dirt and grime that had accumulated on it ever since he got it was gone, revitalizing the blade and the gold that made up the hilt.

"Why did you do this?" Sora muttered suspiciously, not looking up.

"I can't use the thing," Axel said, smirking. "I think you'd make better use of it."

"But you stole it."

"And now I'm giving it back," Axel said. "You're welcome."

Sora looked at him apprehensively. "Why?"

Axel looked aggravated. "I already told you. I can't use—"

"Why are you helping me?" Sora shook his head. "Because you need me, right? I'm nothing more than a tool to you."

"That's not it," Axel said. "Not at all. You beat Xemnas. I have to pay you back somehow." He pointed at the Keyblade. "We even now?"

"No, I paid you back for risking your life to get me to The World That Never Was," Sora pointed out. "We were even until you gave that back." He sighed. "Now I guess I have to pay you back."

Axel smiled. "You don't have to, if you don't want to. I returned that out of my own interest." He rubbed his right eye. "Gave me a black eye."

"Oh, shut it Axel," an amused voice said, and Sora was surprised to see an apparition of Roxas standing beside him.

"Hey, Roxas!" Axel said, his grin even wider.

"Hey, Sora, despite what you may think, these guys really aren't so bad," Roxas told his other, ignoring Axel. "Well, Marly is kinda…weird. Demyx may act like an idiot, sure."

"Larxene may be evil," Axel put in, realizing what Roxas was going to say, "and Lexaeus may look like he could chop your head off…"

"Xaldin may seem rude, same with Vexen…"

"Luxord always seems like he wants to cheat you out of something, and even Xigbar can be hard to get along with at times," Axel said.

"Okay, so they're all idiots," Roxas concluded, grinning. "They're really not all that bad. Don't let Xemnas lie to you. They can feel. Why else would they be trying so hard to get their hearts back? Give 'em a chance."

Sora eyed both of them, then looked around to avoid their gaze. His eyes took him to look down at Stitch, who was being forced to watch the proceedings with no say.

"So-wah," Stitch said, nodding and giving his buddy a thumbs up.


Zexion groaned lightly, and opened his eyes. He heard Axel's voice echoing 'dungeon' through his mind, but this didn't look like a dungeon.

He was trapped inside a giant glass tube, with a perfect view of Kingdom Hearts. He noted the surroundings were that of Saïx's lair, the Addled Impasse. Scratches and burns in and on the metal were the only reminders of the battle between Xemnas's second-in-command and Sora.

He noted—with alarm—that he was in a different outfit than his Organization cloak. It was like the outfit Axel wore, but it was black with dark blue designs. He shuddered of the thought of his clothes being changed while he was unconscious.

He took a sniff of the air, but he could smell nothing. Zexion was never one to try to take advantage of a situation, so he just sat down and waited.

And waited…

With a flick of his fingers, a very bland looking book with the Organization symbol appeared, resting in his hands. He then proceeded to read, his original frantic breathing dying down so the whole room—well, the tube he was in—was utterly silent.

"Yeesh, do you ever not read?" a slightly muffled voice asked.

"Xigbar," Zexion murmured, and continued reading without looking up.

"I heard that if you tap on a fish tank, the fish don't like it," Xigbar continued. He rapped a knuckle in the glass, causing Zexion to grit his teeth. "Looks like it's the same for people."

"Nobodies weren't originally meant to be kept in large glass tubes, Number II," Zexion said.

"And here's the part where you say 'We were never originally even supposed to exist', blah, blah, blah," Xigbar said, waving his hand idly in a circle. He looked at Zexion as if he dared the short man to challenge him.

"As if," Zexion said with a smirk, which grew as he saw Xigbar's face flush.

"Listen here, you little bookworm," Xigbar said, pointing. "Be glad you're not dead." Too bad for Xigbar, he didn't have Axel's natural arguing skills. He couldn't get any ground.

"There were times in my life I wished I was dead," Zexion said. "I still accept it with open arms, but I'm as patient as always."

"You little… Larxene!" Xigbar called.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming, don't get in a fit, Braig," Larxene's always-familiar voice said, and the Savage Nymph sauntered into the room with her hands on her hips. "What does shorty want now?"

Xigbar grinned. "A death wish."

Zexion's eyes widened and he stood as Larxene grinned in a fashion that reminded him of Axel. With a snap of her fingers, the air inside the glass tube became charged, and soon couldn't hold the electricity, and a powerful electric shock coursed through his body.

With a rough yell, he fell back to the floor of the tube, small flashes of electricity playing along his arms, causing them to jerk involuntarily. He glared up. Looking down, his eyes saddened a bit at the charred remains of his book, His Lexicon, still smoldering on the ground (A/U: His Lexicon is NOT, I repeat—NOT the name of the book. We all know how Zexion loves his books; His Lexicon is like a term of endearment. Don't know what that means? Get a lexicon and look it up). He slammed his fists on the side of the glass, ignoring the pain.

"Uh-oh," Xigbar said, chuckling. "Fishy's mad."


The last chapter of this will most likely be the ninth chapter. I had wanted it to be the seventh, since it's my favorite number (I wish Saïx wasn't number seven. He scares me). But it will be the ninth, which is still good. I LOVE DEMYX!

So, the next chapter will be short.