The Resolve of All

Chapter 9: Tragedy Strikes

"XION! Where are you?!" Roxas shouted as he searched the train station at the top of the hill. "Maybe she's up on the Clock Tower... Yeah definitely!"

Roxas decided to climb the steps physically up the tower. She just had to be there, she just had to be...

He rounded the corner and saw there on the ledge... with her hood up... Xion.

"Xion!" He relieved. "There you are. You had me really worried."

As Roxas approached Xion... she did not heed his presence...

Roxas wanted to embrace her, but he grew concern for her and changed his mind by just sitting down right next to her.

"Where have you been?" The spiky blond inquired.

"Roxas..." She finally spoke. "There's something I need to tell you..."

Play the Vector to the Heavens Battle Theme on a second tab.

Xion let down her hood to reveal her face to Roxas...

She looked the same...

But her eyes were glazed over... there was no light within them at all...

And yet tears were rolling down her face...

She stood up... gazing at the sunset like they both had done so many times before...

"I... I'm not a real person..." She confessed.

"What...?" Roxas was dumbfounded. "Xion, what are you talking about?!"

"I'm a replica..." She admitted.

"A what?"

"A REPLICA!" Xion shouted. "A PUPPET! A DOLL! A FAKE!"

"You're not a fake!" Roxas stood up and grabbed her shoulders to make her face him. "You're Xion, a beautiful and unique girl, who is real to me and no puppet in my book!"

"You... don't care...?" She questioned.

"It doesn't change anything for me... I still love you... and I don't care that you're a replica." He consoled.

"You should care..." She turned away. "And you shouldn't have come here..."

"Why not?" Roxas reached out but she backed away. "Come on!"

"...I really can't." Xion sadly said. "Roxas, you need to leave before I..." She trailed off.

"Xion…?" Roxas grabbed her shoulder, but she was still in a daze. "XION!"

Xion then stepped away from Roxas and she slipped out of his grasp... and she walked off the ledge and onto this air... Yet, she didn't fall from the tower either... like she was standing on some sort of invisible platform.

Darkness began to steam off of Xion and storm around her, like she was trying to contain an awful power from being unleashed. She clutched her head in distress and Roxas could only watch on in horror as his girlfriend summoned her Keyblade and pointed at him...

Xion spoke, but her sweet voice was distorted and corrupt. "...Are you ready Roxas?"

"Please... Xion... I can't fight you..." Roxas pleaded.

"Then this will be a lot easier for me..." Xion darkly stated. "After you're gone... Drex and Lea will be next..."

"NO!" Roxas responded as he summoned Oathkeeper and Oblivion. "I'm going to wake you up Xion! I swear it!"

"But don't you see? This is why I was created!"

Then Xion enveloped darkness all around them, they were both engulfed in the black abyss...

It was so dark...

And so cold...

"Xion! Xion where are you?" Roxas called out for.

Then he saw her! She looked normal enough...

He ran to her...

...as fast as he could.

He embraced her... But it was only an illusion...

Yet as soon as he did that, the darkness around him faded again and he was back on the invisible platform which was in front of the station. Roxas turned around and saw in horror what was there.

It was Xion! She must have been at least fifty feet tall and clad in this large armor. She had two enormous blades in each hand, and her face was completely covered up. Xion was ready to fight...

"Xion..." Roxas whispered.

Then suddenly a young man appeared on Xion's shoulder, and he had a very smug grin on his face...

"Roxas... we meet again..." He smirked.

"MARK! What did you do to Xion?!" Roxas demanded.

"Nothing you can fix..." Mark sneered. "Xion has returned to her true purpose and that is having her strings pulled by the Organization..."

"Not if I can help it!" Roxas bellowed. "I love Xion, and I won't let that happen to her!"

"I'm sure you will try..." Mark smirked. "But know this... will you be able to do it? Free Xion from my clutches...? The only way to do that is to destroy her."

"NO! SHUT UP!" He yelled.

"Ha! So now you see... No matter what happens next... I will be victorious on this day. The Organization will at least be rid of one nuisance..." Mark declared. "Xion... Kill him."

Mark then teleported away into darkness, and he left Roxas to contend with the monstrous Xion.

But Roxas dismissed his Keyblades and looked on with tears in his eyes at his corrupted girlfriend...

"I'm not going to fight you Xion... not if destroying you is the only way..." He cried.

Xion then combined her two giant swords into one and performed an explosive Magic Hour attack! Columns of light randomly jetted down from the sky at the speed of light as Roxas just stood there; ready to accept his fate...

Xion saw what Roxas was doing... and behind the armor, her eyes widened at the fact that he was not fighting back at all.

No! She can't do this! She has to stop right now!

But then it happened...

And the realization was too late...

Everything was just too much!

There was so much pain...

...so much agony...

...so much sorrow.

"ROXAS!"

The light was intense... so bright and so inviting... but then it got cold... so cold... and everything fell apart...

Then a hand reached out... it was so close and yet so far... too far to reach...

"I'll...miss... you..."

And then he was gone...


"What was that!?" Lea questioned when entire town shook violently.

"Up there!" Mona pointed.

The three of them gazed on in worry and concern as the Train Station at the top of the hill was brightly lit up with an intense light.

"It might be Roxas and Xion!" Drex realized.

"Let's go!" They said in unison as they made a beeline for the station.

When they made it to the top, the three of them looked on at the scene. It was Xion... alone... bawling and screaming 'Roxas'...

She was on her knees, staring at the ground where he had disappeared...

Then she looked up to see her friends and she was scared... scared for them... of her.

"Xion! What happened?!" Lea exclaimed as he, Drex, and Mona tried to approach her.

The raven-haired girl responded rather violently as she got up and stepped away from them, not even bothering to look any of them in the eyes...

"No... I-I c-couldn't control..." She trembled with regret and grief. "I couldn't control the power... and he... he..."

"Xion... where's Roxas at?" Drex worriedly inquired.

"Stay away from me!" Xion yelled. "Just stay away! ...It's for you own good!"

"Xion... what happened to Roxas?!" Lea demanded.

She cried some more. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

"No... No way..." Lea denied as he shook his head.

"Xion...why?" Drex said depressingly.

Xion then summoned a dark corridor and ran into it as fast as she could and she disappeared into the darkness... This only left Drex, Lea, and Mona in shock.

"No Xion! Come back!" Lea pleaded.

"Let's go!" Drex ordered the two, wanting all three of them to follow Xion.

As they made their way to the dark corridor, it suddenly closed off behind Lea, cutting him off Drex and Mona!

"Lea!" Drex reached out but the pyro was gone as well. "Where did they go?!"

"How should I know?" Mona questioned.

Then to both of their surprise, the entire Clock Tower and Train Station area were surrounded with barriers which meant that enemies were approaching.

"We don't have time for this!" Drex stated in frustration, getting ready for the usual horde of Heartless or Nobodies.

"I'm sure you'll make time in your busy schedule..." He coldly spoke as he teleported out of another dark corridor in front of them. "You know... it wasn't exactly hard to track you two down."

"Skyler, back off!" Mona exclaimed as she and Drex summoned their Keyblades.

"Hmph... Mona... how could you bring yourself to help this degenerate?" Xylersk inquired. "I'll give you one chance to make this right for you..."

"Do you really expect me to go back to Xehanort?" She challenged.

Play the Rinzler Recompiled Battle Theme on a second tab.

"No... I don't. But if I must...I will break every bone in your body if that is what it will take..." Xylersk declared.

"You won't lay a finger on her!" Drex growled.

"Drex, I can handle him..." Mona comforted.

"I won't let him hurt you..." Drex replied.

"Oh, what's this?" Xylersk sensed. "Is that spark of romance? How interesting..."

"Do you want to fight?!" Mona dared him. "Then let's fight!"

"So eager..." The purple-haired man responded.

"Mona... I'm sorry... but..." Drex apologized.

"For what?" Mona asked.

"For this."

Drex suddenly summoned another dark corridor behind Mona, and he spun around and used an aero spell to blow her into the darkness, making her leave this world for safety...

"Drex!" She called out to as the corridor closed shut behind her.

"I'm sorry Mona... but this is something I need to settle on my own..." Drex turned back to face Skyler...

"Very good... Now she won't interrupt us like last time." Xylersk smirked.

"Last time was different!" Drex firmly held his Keyblade in his hand. "Last time, I didn't lose my friend Roxas. ...Last time, I didn't have friendship AND the love of a girl by my side! ...And last time, I held myself back because I thought I could save you! But I see that you've stepped too far into the darkness... and you've only become a shadow of your former self!"

"...There he is... there is the monster that destroyed our home..." Xylersk taunted. "Those words that you speak of... cut deeper than any wound your Keyblade can inflect. ...But what you say of me, also applies to you!"

"You can't trick me with your mind games..." Drex assured him.

"Can't I?" Xylersk continued. "You shackle your heart to your past... you can't bring yourself to sever the ties to your mistakes and your worst nightmares. You use your own guilt as your punishment... but even from where I stand... that's not enough!"

"You think I had this coming to me?" Drex responded.

"Of course, justice will be served for that world and its people, and I will see it through by destroying you..." Xylersk proclaimed.

"This isn't justice..." Drex shook his head. "This is vengeance... Your mind has been clouded by Xehanort's darkness! He magnified your anger and hate for his own ends!"

"No, he gave me strength... to do what needed to be done..." Xylersk stated.

"So, do you regret any of this then?" Drex inquired.

"...Not yet..." He darkly replied as he summoned his falcata energy swords.

"Then I guess there's nothing else left to say..." Drex stated.

"It seems so... I hope you're ready..." Xylersk darkly said.

"...Let's go Skyler."

The purple-haired man leaped up into the sky and fired multiple shots of darkness at Drex, who was below. Drex effectively block and deflected all of his energy attacks, and he was ready when Skyler came back down in a Quick Biltz motion.

Drex blocked and countered Xylersk's move and successfully landed a blow on his shoulder. He staggered back; impressed by his increased speed and skill, and he fired a firaga spell at Drex. The brunette dodge-rolled out of the way to avoid the fireball, but it obliterated the glass doors which led inside the Station.

Xylersk then made familiar motions with his hands and he used his telekinesis to pick up the shards of glass into the twilight sky above them. The purple-haired man then made it rain down sharp broken glass on Drex. He wasn't going to play any cat-and-mouse this time so he created a shockwave of energy to disintegrate the shards into harmless dust.

Xylersk then dashed at Drex once more and he collided with him. His Keyblade against his energy swords, so just like before, these two were equally determined, but now this time there was going to be a victor.

Drex was about to overcome Xylersk in strength when the latter created a pool of shadows beneath him to disappear into. Drex looked around the Station to find his opponent. Surely, he would not retreat...

Then he spotted him, up on the Clock Tower on the highest ledge... Drex ran for it as Xylersk fired energy beams at Drex from above this time.

Drex dodged and weaved as he ran his way up the Clock Tower. A literal vertical climb for him, but he finally made it to the top. Then the two of them had a duel on that ledge.

Xylersk made a bold thrust with one of his swords and Drex effectively evaded it and disarmed one of his swords. Frustrated, Xylersk made another drastic horizontal swing, but Drex ducked and his opponent was left wide open...

Drex reaped this opportunity with the maximum effect and he thrust his Keyblade into his abdomen...

"No..." Skyler whispered.

Drex then added insult to injury and pulled his blade back out and returned the roundhouse kick to Xylersk head... knocking him out of consciousness...

Xylersk's body swayed for a moment then it fell off the ledge of the Clock Tower, and he was to meet his fate down below...

But at the last possible second, Drex grabbed Skyler's hand, preventing him from falling any further...

Skyler's body was dangling from the tall Clock Tower, and the only thing keeping him from falling for his death was Drex's hand...

If he let go... Xylersk would be gone... for good.

But if he pulled him back up... we don't know...

"What should I do?" Drex asked himself.


A/N- Xion couldn't control her power and made Roxas disappear by accident... Will she ever forgive herself? Will Lea and Drex understand? What about Mona, will she and Drex reunite? And what do YOU guys thing Drex should do with Skyler...?
Let him go?
Or pull him back up?
Vote in your reviews and you guys may decide his fate...