The World that Could Have Been.
Risu frowned as the vehicle arrived. It was a halting, unpleasant end to the journey… the vehicle seemed confused by what it had come to, but Risu kept control of it and forced it to come in.
"Wow! This place is really weird." Sora poked more than his head up front, he practically climbed between the two of them as he tried to see through the clearer front dome. Riku didn't bop him though… he was too busy peering out his side of the vehicle.
"Hush. This is hard." Risu muttered as he carefully steered the Travel Happens. There was land here, but it was broken up into dozens of floating islands and there were fluffy clouds everywhere. It was hard to see… he was depending on the vehicle's sensors, but they didn't seem to be working properly. Or rather, the land wasn't registering as quite real. They passed by an island closely and Sora and Riku both stared at it. The landscape seemed to be shifting, changing from desert to mountains to forest as they watched. "This place is not good."
"What do you mean? You said that the vehicle put this place on the far side of the lands of light." Sora questioned Risu, and Risu grimaced.
"Sora, imbalance is often bad. It doesn't matter which way you go." Risu wasn't sure why he was so certain of that, but somehow he was. Sora hesitated, looking troubled.
"I know that the ultimate darkness isn't evil but… that can't be right Risu. Yen Sid said that if all the hearts of the worlds held no darkness, only light, the Heartless would finally go away."
"Then maybe Heartless are supposed to exist." Risu said casually, making Sora frown and Riku shoot him a dirty look. "Leaving that aside, this world has too much light and is verging on unreal. Be on your guard."
They finally pulled up at the largest island. It was as shifty as the rest of the World… except for the great tower that sat at the centre of the island. The vehicle vanished as they jumped out, and Risu stared up at the tower.
It could have been transplanted from his own world. The entire tower was built of what he recognized as Genabrex, a material he had helped invent. It was as clear and beautiful as glass, but stronger than steel and perfectly suited to making truly elegant buildings. This tower was a work of art. Too much so, in fact, to belong in his world. The outside of the tower was divided into panels, and each was a beautiful glass mural depicting scenes that ranged from the World that Never Was to Agrabah. They could very well be factual, but in Risu's world they would seem to have stepped from a forbidden story. Nothing like this could have gotten past the bylaw inspectors.
But it was beautiful, and all three of them stared at it for a long moment, absorbing the rich colors and fascinating stories. It was Sora who finally broke the spell with a sigh.
"Well, we can't wait out here all day… lets go!" He pulled them both forward, and Risu followed with a strange feeling of reluctance. Something was making him uneasy.
Inside the tower was a mosaic floor. All the stones were shades of blue, and Risu blinked as he realized they depicted dozens of faces. Then he swallowed as he recognized his own… and Sora and Riku. Maleficent was there but not Pete, and Sora pointed at another one.
"There's Axel! And there's… Marluxia, Demyx and Saix! But none of the rest of the Organization. That's kind of weird." Sora's eyes trailed over the pattern as he looked for faces he recognized, but then Riku found one before he could.
"There's Xehanort." He pointed at one face, then frowned. "But he looks different." Risu looked at it thoughtfully.
"He's smiling. Maybe that's it." From what they had said, he didn't think amusement had ever been Xehanort's natural mindset. Glancing around, Risu saw that the only other thing in this level of the tower was a great staircase leading upwards. Instead of a railing, though, there was a wall that curled around the staircase, blocking it in. Risu rubbed his forehead and squinted at it… the angles involved should have been impossible. It was a bit like looking at a computer show he'd once seen of a shape that couldn't really exist, and it was offending his mathematical mind. Finally he averted his eyes and walked towards the stairs.
"I feel sick." Sora said breathlessly as they walked up the staircase, and Riku grimaced.
"Me too…" Riku said, and Risu nodded. He had to pause to close his eyes. The walls on either side of the staircase were mirrors. So unless they kept their eyes on their feet, they were constantly seeing endless reflections of themselves on either side. And those reflections weren't… quite right. Risu's AI was doing its best to keep him functional, but it was having a tough time of it. Nausea and vertigo just kept building…
Risu fixed his feet on the floor, grimly climbing. But he had forgotten that his friends didn't have the benefit of an AI, and turned as he heard thumps behind him.
"Sora, Riku?" Sora was out cold, lying on his stomach on a stair. Riku was sprawled out over another stair, on his back, just barely awake. Risu knelt beside him, gripping his shoulders and pulling the younger boy into his lap. "Riku! Come on, you need to wake up."
"I can't…" Riku gasped out, his green eyes glazing over. "The reflections… endless…" Risu looked up at the mirrors and felt his grip on reality begin to fray. He gripped Riku's shoulders harder as his head whirled.
Mirror magic. This is mirror magic. He'd never considered that the mirrors could be magical because this kind of magic was insanely dangerous. Riku bit his lip until it bled, and tried to summon darkness to smash the mirrors, although that too was dangerous… but nothing would come, and what little he did get bled away instantly. No! But the reflections were endless, endless, he was falling into them…
Risu was unconscious before he slumped to the floor.
The darkness curled into a very tiny ball and tried to hide in non-awareness.
Mirror magic of this sort was something it had never dabbled in, but it knew a bit about it. Enough to want no part of it.
Hopefully Risu would survive with his sanity intact.
Risu sighed, shifting under covers, and opened his eyes reluctantly. It was morning, but he didn't want to get up just yet.
He felt… good. Very good. And something about that seemed wrong, but most of him didn't care.
"Love, are you getting up yet? Breakfast is almost done." Risu looked up, startled, at the smiling woman standing in the doorway. She was heart-stoppingly lovely, with long, silky black hair, pale skin and vibrant blue eyes that warmed with her smile. His heart skipped a beat as he remembered her.
"Coming, Dana." He heard himself say with a smile, but it was far off and distant as shock briefly cushioned his heart. He hadn't seen her in over twenty years…
Pulling himself out of bed, he quickly got dressed and walked out to the dining area. The little apartment they were living in was very nice… there were some nice prints on the walls, and the walls themselves were a gentle off-white with a few, richly colored accent walls. The furniture was actually wood, or wood synthetics and the home seemed warm to him. Nothing like his mother's home, or the shabby little crew quarters he had lived in for decades.
It was the kind of home he had dreamed of having, back when he'd had any dreams, and Risu walked to the kitchen table without consciously willing it.
"Daddy!" A little ball of white curls slammed into his leg, and he laughingly pried it off. It resolved itself into a small boy, perhaps five years old. "Good morning!"
"Good morning to you too, Raki." He said fondly, lifting the child up and setting him into his chair.
They were having waffles, and they tasted delicious… but Risu barely managed to finish the first one before his throat began closing up. The memories, the real memories were stabbing at him like knives.
"Honey? Are you okay? You're not eating." He looked up from his plate into Dana's concerned eyes, and managed an almost convincing smile.
"I'm fine, love. I think I just… need some air." He stood, smiling at her and pausing to ruffle the boy's hair. "I'll be back in a moment." She frowned at him, but let him go. Risu unerringly found the sliding door that led to the garden.
The garden, when he saw it, made him smile faintly. It was a very small indoor garden. Most worlds wouldn't have found it very impressive, but for his people this use of space was a great luxury. Stones had been carefully placed in attractive patterns, and lovely flowers were growing strongly in their beds. There was a bench in the centre of the garden, and Risu took a seat, staring away as he finally allowed himself to really remember.
He and Dana had both been newly graduated Demirene technicians when they met. Unlike many women, she hadn't cared that he had come from a lower caste. He had found her immediately attractive, and she had said that he had an aura of danger about him that called to her. Mutual attraction had clicked, and they had found they had far more in common than that. Common interests, common passions…
Even their differences had complimented each other. Dana had been more outgoing, and had pushed Risu into reaching out. She had also been more content with her life, and Risu had found himself sharing that contentment. It hadn't been a flashy, passionate romance, but it had been deep.
But outside matters had interfered. Flush with his newfound happiness, Risu had worked diligently to create a new and useful type of coupling mechanism for a new class of battlecruiser. He had thought it might win him a promotion to second class. He hadn't really understood, back then, that innovation was not encouraged… instead his superiors had seen him as a threat. Risu smiled sourly to himself, remembering his outrage when he understood. It seemed amazing that he had ever been so innocent.
Then there had been a citizen wellness test. He had tried to pass, he really had… but he had been a poor liar back then. Too many emotional reactions had come out under the AI's careful probing, and even the tiniest flash of hostility could be highly instructive to it. He really hadn't stood a chance.
Even knowing his scores, he hadn't really expected what came next. Over dinner one night, Dana had gently explained that she wanted to enter a contract and have children, preferably within the next ten years. And she couldn't really do that with a man who might be collected by the Mental Wellness centre at any time.
It had been a quiet end to a quiet romance. Risu had wanted to beg her, to promise it would be different… but he couldn't lie to her or to himself. Even then, he was who he was. That edge of danger had attracted her but it also made him… not quite right. And he had loved her, so he made himself wish her well and let her go.
It had felt like his heart was bleeding to death, and he took the first transfer he could, to the station over the Maelstrom. No one ever wanted to go there, so it was easy enough to get a spot, even for an undesirable like himself. But he would have gone anywhere to get away.
For almost a year, he'd avoided all interactions, taking solace in his work. But even the worst of wounds eventually scabs over, and after five years he hardly thought about it anymore. After ten, it was safely in the past and the wound no longer hurt unless it was pressed unexpectedly. And by then, he had learned to keep his heart cold and distant, so it was hard for anything to touch it.
But now he felt like his heart was being sliced open all over again.
I could pretend this is real. I could stay here forever. Risu closed his eyes, feeling the unshed tears burning behind them. He wanted to do that. More than anything, he wanted to do that… to live forever in this could have been. But if he did that, what of Riku and Sora? And Maleficent?
He couldn't. No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't be that selfish. Risu took a deep, sobbing breath and abruptly stood. He stared at the door on the opposite side of the garden, and walked over to it, slowly opening it.
Behind it a room of mirrors. Risu hesitated a moment, then finally walked through.
From the past that could have been into the present that was.
"Riku! Hold it right there!" Riku grimaced at the bright, youthful voice behind him.
How did he catch up to me like that? He wondered as he turned to face Sora. He didn't have the damn bird and dog with him… good. But he was flourishing his keyblade like a good little keyblade wielder. Meh. Riku suddenly blinked, and rubbed his forehead with a frown. This isn't right. This… this has already happened and Sora wasn't there. I got clean away. Wasn't Sora in the hold…?
"How did you get out of the hold so quickly?" Riku said, playing for time. He was on Captain Hook's ship again, about to leave with Kairi.
"There was a secret passageway." Sora said, and Riku frowned again. There HAD been a secret passageway. Captain Hook had finally admitted to it when Riku pressed him on if the hold was secure. And he'd sent a sailor to make sure it was blocked up before they put Sora and his friends there. "Now give me Kairi!"
"Hmph. Give her to you? I'm the one who spent the time to find her," Riku said derisively. "I…" Riku trailed off, unable to keep saying his lines.
And they felt like lines. This was the past, and this could have happened… but it hadn't. Why was he doing this? Risu. Risu and Sora and the Land that Could Have Been… I need to get out of here, but how? The past Sora had been saying something, but Riku hadn't paid any attention… until the younger boy suddenly attacked.
Riku parried effortlessly with the Soul Eater, and the battle was on. Sora's attack was fast and furious and didn't give him any time to think. He had to fight, and fight hard, just to keep the brunette off of him.
And then it happened. It was just a small thing. A pebble on the floor, an unevenness in the decking, or maybe just a simple moment of clumsiness. But Sora stumbled and Riku immediately took the opening, expecting it to be a feint, knowing it had to be a feint…
It wasn't a feint, and Riku felt the solid impact at the Soul Eater went home, staring into Sora's wide blue eyes. It was hard to say who was more shocked.
"Sora," he breathed as Sora coughed up blood. He yanked back his sword and dropped it, grabbing Sora's shoulders as the shorter boy swayed. "Sora!"
"Riku…" Sora said weakly as he slumped, and Riku held him tightly, kneeling down beside him as he eased Sora to the floor. There was so much blood on the floor, on his hands…
"Sora, I didn't mean it! I… I take it back… don't die!" Desperately, Riku tried to reach for the light but couldn't find it. "Sora!" Desperately, he held Sora close, the younger boy's head on his chest. Sora's eyes were glazing over, his breathing slowing.
"Riku, you have to… save Kairi…" Sora weakly gripped his hand. Riku's eyes filled with tears, even though he knew it wasn't real, it hadn't happened this way…
"I-I will Sora. I'll save Kairi…" Sora's head slipped back as his eyes closed, and Riku gently set him down.
It didn't happen this way. Riku thought, feeling sick, as he looked at Sora. He looked so peaceful, but the blood was everywhere. It didn't happen this way, but it could have. Just one stupid, careless pirate and this could have happened. The thought was absolutely chilling. Riku had thought of himself, and Sora as well, as being immortal. He'd never thought either of them could die. He knew better now of course, but when this could have happened he had been younger and hadn't spent years in the darkness. I have to get out of here. I have to find the real Sora and Risu. Standing and trying to ignore the way his pants were sticking to his legs, he walked to a far door and opened it.
Behind it was a room of mirrors. He walked through without a backward glance, grateful that his could have been had never happened.
Sora stood on the white balcony in the white castle, looking up at a blue heart in the sky. There were other figures on separate balconies, all looking up at the main one, where the heart stood.
Roxas. I'm Roxas right now. That wasn't right, he knew. He was Sora… but right now he was wearing the robe of Organization 13, and his hair was blonde. A hand clasped his shoulder, and he looked up at a familiar face, grinning at him.
"It's finally time Roxas! You ready for this?" Axel asked playfully, and Sora just smiled with a slight shake of his head as he wondered what they were ready for. "Aw, you don't seem excited. What, worried it won't work?"
"Kind of…" He murmured softly, spotting Xenmas standing at the base of the heart. He was smiling coldly, and something about it chilled him. It seemed like he was taking pleasure in what he was doing for reasons besides the obvious.
You're being paranoid. Sora tried to shrug off the feeling, and frowned. But this isn't right… is this what would have happened if Riku had never caught Roxas and brought him to DiZ? But what happened to Riku? Sora decided not to think about it. He couldn't really ask Axel, and something was beginning to happen.
The gathered Nobodies murmured as the light of the heart brightened. Sora glanced at the other balconies and recognized several familiar faces… Luxord, Larxene, Xigbar, Vexen… Saix was standing on the central balcony beside Xenmas. He was looked impossibly happy for a Nobody, and Sora felt an unnamed dread as he saw that soft, almost sweet smile on his face. He thinks his dream is coming true, but is it?
The heart flared brighter, and they all had to look away. Then the heart… vanished. But Sora could feel the radiant energy coming from Xenmas and a more solid feeling from the world itself. The World that Never Was… was real in a way it hadn't been before. And Xenmas was more real still.
"Superior." Saix knelt in front of Xenmas and bowing his head. Xenmas smiled again, and gently rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Saix." Sora said softly, drawing a curious glance from Axel. "Oh, Saix, no." Axel's eyes widened, and he looked up searchingly at the platform just as Xenmas hand tightened.
Saix jolted as if he'd been hit with an electrical shot, and his head jerked up. For just a moment, Sora caught a glimpse of the stark horror on his face.
"Why…?" Saix's question carried in the sudden silence, before his body broke up and returned to the darkness. The Nobodies were stunned for just a second, but that second was mostly fatal. Bolts of dark energy lashed out and several were obliterated before they could react. Then the rest understood what had happened.
Except in rare circumstances, Nobodies have no true loyalties to each other. They can't, because they can't truly feel the emotions that bind together friends and family. They had followed Xenmas because he was charismatic and power and, when you got down to it, what did they have to lose? With the cold logic of Nobodies, they all suddenly realized that Xenmas had never intended to give them hearts. Had never intended to share the power he gained with any of them.
Larxene and Xigbar attacked instantly, followed closely by Xaldin. It did none of them any good. Their attacks met shields of pure power, bouncing away, and blasts of pure darkness destroyed them. Only Xaldin survived, vanishing into a corridor of darkness.
Others tried to escape immediately. Vexen ran towards a corridor, but a bolt of pure fire slammed into him, and the Chilly Academic vanished into flames. Luxord made it into the darkness but Zexion didn't. And a few, a very few of the Nobodies couldn't react fast enough to be anything more than confused before they died. Demyx was desperately calling something to Xenmas when something sharp and almost invisible slashed through him.
Sora and Axel watched the scene unfold in horror, and time seemed to stretch as Xenmas sent a particularly power bolt of pure darkness at the one Nobody who could wield a keyblade. He called in both his keyblades and raised them but knew it was too little too late-
"NO!" Axel yanked him into his arms and whirled him around, taking the brunt of the attack across his back. It blew them both across the balcony, and Sora rolled over, staring at his friend. Axel was already beginning to vanish, his body breaking up and returning to the darkness. "Run Roxas." Axel gasped out, lifting a hand and creating a corridor with the last of his energy. "Run."
Sora ran, and felt the stone behind him shatter just as he touched the darkness… and fell into a room of mirrors.
Leaving behind the future that could have been.
