Falling for a Nobody

Chapter 8: The Sapphire Sorceress

Disclaimer: All rights to the Kingdom Hearts Franchise belong to Square Enix and Disney

AN: Took me a while to figure out the direction I wanted to take. All I'm gonna say is that this story is gonna start getting into KH1 and then COM and KH2. OH! And there was some confusion about the pronunciation of "Axuqa". It's pronounced "Ah-zoo-kah", and the "a" is pronounced like it is in the word "awful". Sorry if that's sorta confusing, but that's how it's supposed to sound. And the stressed syllable is the first one (if you don't know what that means don't worry about it). ENJOY!

Another morning. Another day. Another repetitious cycle of the inexistence as a Nobody. Axuqa apathetically rose out of bed, stretching her arms a bit. She glanced to see that Xemnas was still fast asleep. Not wishing to disturb him, the woman quietly entered the bathroom to take her shower. As the hot water raced against her skin, she couldn't help but recall how she turned into a Nobody.

Like all Nobodies, she once had a heart. A heart filled with joy, compassion, and even love. Yet the one person whom she directed the most of that love for was her dear friend Terra. The two had known each other before either one had even reached double digits in age, and were raised like brother and sister. Once puberty took control, however, the two began seeing each other in a different light. There were small hints here and there, but each saw the other as more than a friend. Aqua never made her move simply because she didn't know how Terra felt, and additionally, how Master Eraqus would feel if they became romantically involved.

Thus, the amorous girl suppressed her feelings, hoping that they would vanish by the time she was an adult. But when she grew into a woman under her Master's tutelage, Terra had become a man in the process. The two were only a year apart, with Terra being 20 and Aqua being 19 in the last days of their apprenticeship. The girl began having dreams about him. Although she cared for Ven like a brother, she saw the other as the man of her dreams. And yes, she dreamt about him…more than once.

Yet this attraction was completely mutual. Terra did his best to hide it, but he always found himself looking at Aqua in awe, admiring every feature of her body and personality. Once she had become a woman, Terra's goal to be a Keyblade Master stayed constant, but its motives were different. He hoped that upon receiving the status as a master, he could leave the world with Aqua and live somewhere with her. On more than one occasion, Terra's subconscious vividly imagined such a life in his dreams.

Two lovers…both with mutual attractions and dreams…

Both with a tragic destiny.

The two were now together once more…yet they couldn't feel genuine love. They couldn't feel emotion. They could pretend and try to create romance based on their memories of emotion. But as long as they lacked hearts, they would lack true love.

Axuqa intended to fill that empty void. For her five years since the day she literally became a Nobody in Xemnas's arms, Axuqa and the male Nobody had remained close and flirty, despite the vanity of their efforts to create real feelings. With Xigbar gone, Axuqa now took the place as Number II of Organization XIII. Her title was the "Sapphire Sorceress", and the element she specialized in was darkness. Cold, unforgiving, ruthless darkness. Ironically, the very element that took her heart from her now gave Axuqa power and the illusion of existence.

Soon though, Axuqa felt she would have a true existence, a true heart, and true love.


Fully dressed in a tighter variant of the black coat, Axuqa strolled into the castle's dining room. She spotted her friend Axel sitting at the table already.

"Morning, Axel," she greeted.

He smiled. "Good morning. How was sleeping with the Superior?"

She chuckled. "That joke never gets old for you, does it?"

He shrugged. "Why should it? I mean that IS what you're doing, isn't it?"

The woman shook her head. "Nope. We've never done that."

"Are you saying you two have never done that…or are you implying that Terra and Aqua-" he began to say.

"We have our memories, Axel, so no, they never did that either," she asserted. "And I would watch what you say around Xemnas. He doesn't appreciate it when people talk about me or our past like that."

Axel nodded. "Fair enough. I only say these things around you though."

She rolled her amber eyes. "Lucky me."

A dark corridor rose from the ground, revealing Demyx as it dissipated.

"Morning guys!" he cheerfully greeted.

"Good morning, Demyx," Axuqa replied while Axel just nodded to acknowledge him.

"So how did you guys sleep?" the blonde asked.

Axel smirked. "Axuqa slept VERY well last night I hear."

The woman glared while Demyx widened his eyes in surprise. "Wow…did you two finally do it?"

"Do what?" a deep voice asked.

Terrified, Demyx turned to see Xemnas standing behind him, his blue eyes filled with rage.

"Er…get a new mattress!" the man quickly explained. "I mean you've been complaining about that before, right?"

Xemnas held the glare. "I don't think I've mentioned that before."

"How long have you been there?" Axel asked.

The Superior crossed his arms. "Well that depends. How long ago were you making perverted innuendos about Axuqa and myself?"

Axel stared at Xemnas in shock. Guiltily, he hung his head. "I'm sorry, Superior. I was only kidding. What you do in private is your business and yours alone."

"Careful with how often you use your tongue, Axel," Xemnas said. "Sometimes you can lose something from overuse."

Ignoring the two men, Xemnas calmly sat next to Axuqa, lightly kissing her on the cheek.

"Morning," she said to him.

"You could have woken me up," he said.

"Sorry, I thought you were too sore from last night," she explained.

Upon hearing that, Demyx began choking on his drink. Struggling, he swallowed it, and noticed that the couple was glaring at him.

"She was referring to the SPARRING SESSION we had!" Xemnas barked.

"Oh…" the blonde muttered.

Aqua couldn't help but giggle a bit. Regardless of if the emotions were real, her memories gave her the illusion of them from time to time. Plus, sometimes pretense was far more enjoyable than reality.


Xemnas basked under the light of his artificial Kingdom Hearts. Axuqa calmly stood beside him.

"We've come so far thanks to you, Axuqa," he remarked. "Soon enough, our artificial Kingdom Hearts will be complete."

"It's a shame we were only able to start this a few months ago," Axuqa remarked.

Xemnas nodded. "I didn't realize how long it would take for me to gain the ability to gather hearts. And every day I live with the cost…"

He summoned the red ethereal blades at his side, no longer able to wield a Keyblade.

"Was it worth sacrificing your ability to use a Keyblade?" Axuqa inquired.

"Surely," he responded. "Since you can use the sacred weapon, there is no need for me to."

She smirked. "What if I try to overthrow you?"

He smiled, softly brushing her hair. "I don't think you'd want to. How could you betray someone you think you love?"

The woman held him. "Are you saying Nobodies can love?"

"Hardly," he responded. "The keyword is THINK. It is merely an illusion. Though considering our very existences are illusions…"

The Superior's face inched closer to hers. "…some things are worth the pretense."

He softly pressed his lips against hers, softly moving his gloved hands through her blue mane. At the same time, Aqua caressed the brown hair on her boyfriend's head. A dark portal erupted behind the pair, yet Xemnas ignored it, hoping the intruder would leave. Axuqa opened her eyes, noticing that Saix was watching them. Slowly, she broke the kiss.

"I think someone wants you," she muttered.

Groaning, Xemnas turned to Saix. "What is it Number VII?"

Nervously the Nobody stepped forward. "Forgive me for interrupting, my Lord. I'm simply here to give my daily update of our recon progress.

Axuqa patiently waited while Xemnas stormed over. "In that case, report."

"The Heartless have begun increasing at an exponential rate in the Realm of Light," Saix said. "Even at this moment, entire worlds are being devoured by darkness."

Xemnas was shocked. "Really? Is something stimulating them?"

"We're currently investigating that, my Lord," Saix responded.

"Return to your duties then," Xemnas commanded.

The underling nodded, vanishing into darkness. Grinning, Xemnas softly held the woman. "Now where were we?"

He realized she was distracted.

"What is it?" he inquired.

"Why does Saix seem so afraid of you?" the second-in-command wondered.

"Everyone has fear of me, and rightfully so considering my power over them," he responded.

"True…but Saix seems to have more than most," she added.

Xemnas sighed. "When I was an apprentice…back when I had no memory and my heart was under Xehanort's influence…I captured people from Radiant Garden to experiment on. These victims were exposed to cruel techniques and turned into Heartless. Saix's original persona, Isa, was one of those subjects."

Axuqa stared in horror. "What did you do to him?"

"We connected this machine to him that literally poured darkness into him," Xemnas said. "But I felt the darkness had to enter his skin…so the machine had a blade in the shape of an X, hence his scar."

The woman gasped in surprise, ignoring the fact that her horror was fake. "That's terrible."

He nodded. "I know. And if I could take it back, I would. The torture was unnecessary really."

The woman nodded. "And those experiments are the reason the worlds are in trouble now, aren't they?"

"Yes," Xemnas confirmed. "Once Kingdom Hearts is ours though, none of that will bear significance."

She smiled. "We can fix everything."

"Improve, not merely repair," Xemnas corrected.

Letting her false infatuation control her, Axuqa lost herself in his blue orbs, passionately kissing the man she believed to be her love.


A group of three kids calmly stared out toward the sea. One was a brunette with innocent blue eyes, another was a redhead with determined cobalt orbs, and the third was a boy with white hair and rare cyan eyes. The kids, known as Sora, Riku, and Kairi, were situated around a palm tree, looking towards the sunset.

"So, Kairi's home is out there somewhere, right?" Sora asked.

Riku nodded. "Could be. We'll never know by staying here."

"But how far could a raft take us?" Sora argued.

The other boy waved his hand. "Who knows. If we have to, we'll think of something else."

Kairi looked at the white haired child. "So suppose you get to another world. What would you do there?"

Riku mused to himself. "Well I…haven't really thought about it. It's just I've always why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there ARE other worlds. Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?"

Sora reclined on the tree. "I don't know."

The older boy nodded. "Exactly. That's why we need to go out there and find out. Sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go."

"You've been thinking a lot lately…haven't you?" Kairi said in realization.

The boy turned to her. "Thanks to you. If you hadn't come here, I probably would've never thought of any of this."

Riku smiled at her. "Kairi…thanks."

She grinned in response. "You're welcome."

Sora leapt off the tree, slowly walking across the bridge with Kairi and Riku. As they were walking, Riku held out something.

"Sora!" he called out to the boy.

The younger male turned, and saw an object hurtling towards him. He caught it, recognizing it to be a paopu fruit.

"A paopu fruit?" he inquired.

"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined," he explained. "They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what."

Realizing Sora was confused, Riku smiled. "Come on, I know you wanna try it!"

"What are you talking-" the boy began to say.

Then, Sora realized he was referring to Kairi. Riku knew that Sora had a crush on Kairi since the girl had first arrived on the islands. Dropping the fruit, Sora raced after Riku, yet the boy kept a steady pace ahead of him while laughing at his embarrassment. The two stopped in their tracks next to Kairi and the docks.

"Are you two done playing or what?" she asked.

Hoping Riku wouldn't bring it up, Sora nodded. "Yeah, let's head back."

Just as they were about to walk on the dock, Riku glanced at the Secret Place. Narrowing his eyes in confusion, the boy saw a hooded figure enter the cave.

"You guys go ahead…I'll catch up later," the boy promised.

"Okay, see you back at the islands then," Sora replied.

As the younger two of the trio entered their boats, Riku calmly approached the cave. He stepped inside, examining the drawings on the walls. Every piece of art inside had been created by himself and Sora over the years. The boy smiled as he moved his hand over a drawing of a castle. What truly captivated the boy's attention was not the cave itself but the mysterious object within. He traced the outline of the strange wooden door, examining its golden outline.

"It's difficult discerning whether a door is meant to be kept closed or opened," a deep voice stated.

Riku whipped around in shock to see the figure from before. The enigma was wearing a black cloak with the hood raised over his head.

"Who are you?" the boy asked.

"Are you seeking a title, a name, or perhaps a face?" the man responded.

The youth crossed his arms. "The last two sound fine."

The man removed his hood, revealing bold blue eyes and a mane of brown spikes. The boy widened his eyes in realization, recognizing the man as the same person who visited a decade ago. The Nobody smiled, pleased that the boy remembered his face.

"You…you're back," Riku said in disbelief.

"Forgive me, Riku," the man said. "I nearly forgot about my promise. I've had other matters to attend to unfortunately."

"I never got your name," the child said.

"Xemnas," he responded. "Tell me…would you be interested in forming an alliance?"