Chapter 9: Light Within Darkness
Day 94
Xion got up out of bed and left her room. 'Being partners with Roxas has been getting along fine, I don't know what I was so worried about...' She met Roxas waiting outside of her room along with...Saïx.
"Lord Xemnas had summoned us." Saïx uttered.
Roxas nodded silently and beckoned her to go with them.
OoO
Organization XIII gathered upon the Altar of Naught where the light of Kingdom Hearts shone the brightest. Xemnas stood on the ledge with his arms raised to the heart shaped moon.
"The time has arrived," Xemnas announced. "Look to the skies!"
"There hangs the hearts of all hearts—Kingdom Hearts—shining down on us at last! See the countless hearts that have gathered? Hearts full of rage...hate...sadness...and bliss. There in the sky hangs the promise of a new world. My friends! Remember why we have organized—all the things we hope to achieve! The strength of the human heart is vast. Soon though...we will have gained power over it! Never again will it have power over us!"
Xemnas turned to the Organization members who were marveling at the fruit of their efforts. "Do not stray off the path I've given, for soon, you will each regain what you've lost. That is all." He walked past the members and down the steps, everyone else followed suit.
Roxas went up to Xion as she was making her way down the steps. "All those hearts we've been collecting really did pay off!"
"I know. I feel like I'm a part of something larger."
They entered the Gray Room as the nobodies were getting settled down. They saw Axel lounging around on the sofa and ran over to him. "Axel! You're here, we never see you in the Gray Room!" Roxas exclaimed.
"Saïx must really be working you hard." Xion added.
"He sure is. I think he's lighting up the load now, so that's cool."
"You're really not as upset about it as I'd thought you'd be."
Axel kicked his legs back on the seat and rolled his head back. "No use in getting upset. When you tick the guy off, you don't wanna be anyyyywhere near him. Back in the day, when me and him first 'joined' the organization, he was a completely different person. Got mad at everyone and nearly destroyed half the castle in a fight with Xigbar."
"Whoa really?"
"Absolutely not. Stop telling these kids your absurd lies." Saïx gave the three nobodies their respective missions.
Axel groaned. "When are you gonna lay off the missions already?"
"You heard Lord Xemnas, don't stray off the path he's given us, and that includes doing missions."
"Whatever you say." Axel got up, after reading the paper, he crumbled it up and threw it on the floor. "Wonderland again...so, where are you guys going?"
Xion and Roxas looked at their own reports. "Beast's castle...we haven't been there in about a week, right?" Xion said.
"Yeah, I wonder how things are catchin' up there?"
"Beast's castle..." Axel muttered. "Ooooh that old castle with the little dancing tea cups?"
"That's the one, but we haven't seen any tea cups yet."
"Maybe you will this time."
"I hope so, um, ice cream later on?"
"Of course. You two play nice now on your mission, alright?"
They walked away from Axel and into the depths of darkness where they landed on the balcony of Beast's castle. The world was covered in a blanket of snow and surrounded by howling, bitter winds.
"Things sure did change," Roxas said. "Let's get inside, it's pretty cold."
"Hold on, look at that!" Xion pointed at a young woman running across the snow covered bridge.
"Is that the same lady who yelled at us the first time we came here?"
"I'm sure of it."
Soon, Beast came padding after her.
"Now that he's going too, this is the best time to kill those neoshadows."
Xion and Roxas ran inside, instantaneously, a gang of heartless dragged themselves from the darkness. Among them, a few neoshadows were thrown into the mix. Roxas readied his keyblade and Xion readied a spell.
"Magnera!" Xion yelled.
The heartless clumped together, Roxas lit his keyblade on fire and threw it at the heartless. The keyblade circled around , killing most of them upon impact, then finished with a burst of flames before returning to Roxas' hand.
"That was awesome! Look how much you've improved!" Xion praised.
Roxas rubbed the back of his head. "It was nothing...I mean, look at you, magnera?! I just learned how to use magnet."
"I've had some practice."
"Oh, that's right, you go to Vivi a lot after we have ice cream. Is he still getting in trouble for looking like a heartless?"
"Not lately."
"That's good to hear, now let's find a real heartless to slay."
"...There's a few heartless near downstairs." Xion grabbed Roxas' arm before he could jump down. "You can't go down yet," She motioned to the objects pacing around the front door. The clock and candelabra where there, to be expected, but this time there was an adorned serving cart with a bouncy teacup and stationary teapot on the top.
"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! If master doesn't return with Belle, that'll perhaps be our last chance at being human," Cogsworth muttered.
"Relax, after our last number in the dining hall, I am quite surprised she didn't stay," Lumiere said.
Mrs. Potts, the teapot, jumped out of the cart and onto the floor. "If master isn't kind enough, no amount of singing will ever fix that. It's important he correct that temper of his if he and Belle do come back."
"And then we can be people again, mama?" Chip, the teacup, asked.
"That all depends on if they could ever learn to love each other. We can only hope."
Xion and Roxas looked back up at each other. "That must be the teacup Axel was talking about," Xion said. "It's so cute!"
"Man, I wish we could talk to them or something, I wanna find out what's going on."
"Me too, but for now we have to stay out of sight or we'll mess everything up for them."
Just then, several neoshadows surrounded the animate objects. With nowhere to go, they screamed in panic.
Roxas' keyblade came to his hand. "What do we do now?! If we fight them, we're gonna get caught for sure!"
"..." Xion thought for a moment. "I'm going to cast Stopga on everyone except you and I. You have 35 seconds to clear them out and get out of their sight, is that enough?"
"Yeah."
"Alright. I'm counting on you!" She pointed her finger at them. "Stopga!"
Seconds before the neoshadows could jump onto the objects, everything and everyone froze in time. Roxas, wasting no time himself, bounded from the top floor to the bottom. He hacked away at the neoshadows making sure not to hit the objects.
As he was about to finish off the last neoshadows, several more crawled out of the ground.
*Click
"Damn it." Roxas muttered, he ran behind a tall banister and the front door opened with Belle and Beast staggering in.
'Oh great. Perfect timing.' Xion drank an ether she had stored inside her coat and re-casted a second Stopga spell. While Belle and Beast froze in time, the objects were thawed out of time.
Seeing more neoshadows prowling by, the objects boarded the serving cart and rolled out of the entrance hall. Roxas went ahead and began slaying the neoshadows one by one, as fast as he could.
'He's not going to finish in time!' Xion thought, perching herself on top of the banister. "Roxas, I'm coming, pull back!" She flipped off the railing and held her hand out while in mid-air. Roxas grabbed her hand and she promptly threw him on the opposite banister.
Xion landed on the wall and Roxas pulled her up. The Stopga spell wore off on Beast and Belle the second they were able to land on the banister and the two found themselves ganged up by three neoshadows. Beast attempted to protect Belle, but he was in no condition to fight a second battle.
"What's going on?! What are those things?!" Belle cried.
"It doesn't matter because they're not welcome!" Beast yelled, lunging for one of the neoshadows.
"Do another Stopga spell!" Roxas urged.
"I can't, I ran out of ethers!"
"You only brought one ether?!"
"I didn't think I would need more than one ether, but I miscalculated how much magic Stopga would take...you have an ether, don't you?!"
"N-No! I didn't think I would even need to use magic that much!" He held his keyblade out. "I'll just do it from here!"
He threw his keyblade and it slashed through only one of the neoshadows. "Crap, that was lousy aim!"
"Don't worry," Xion angled her finger at the second neoshadow that was closing in on Belle. "Fire!" The fire spiraled towards the neoshadow, but it quickly dodged it. 'Those things are getting on my nerves.'
Belle, acting quickly, grabbed an umbrella from the rack by the door and stabbed the neoshadow through its chest. It staggered backwards and Roxas finished the job with a clear shot at its head.
Roxas caught the keyblade in his hand. "The last one is on the beast."
"If we attack it, we'll hurt him too, let's hope he can handle it!"
Beast and the neoshadow tumbled across the floor and crashed into one of the columns. "Beast!" Belle yelled. "You have to beat that thing!"
"I'm trying-GAARGH!" Beast threw the neoshadow off him and it slid across the floor, Roxas threw his keyblade at it and its heart dispersed into the air.
"What just..." Bella shook her head, then grabbed onto Beast before he could collapse on the ground. "Come on, I'll nurse you back to health and..." She paused. "Thank you."
They disappeared down the hallway.
"That beast really isn't that scary after all," Xion said, smiling.
"Got over your fear already? Guess I can't scare you."
"Roxas, you're such a jerk!"
"I was just kidding!"
"Somehow, I doubt it." She opened a dark portal and together, they walked straight into Twilight Town where Axel was waiting.
OoO
Axel greeted Roxas and Xion's presence with a smile and two ice cream bars. "What's up? How'd work go today?" He asked.
"So far so good!" Roxas sat down on the ledge and got his ice cream, he took a second to inspect it to make sure Axel didn't try anything, then bit down on the creamy confection.
Xion followed suit. "Well, today's mission was...uh...interesting. I don't remember Neoshadows being so annoying."
"We were just in a bad place, that's all," He turned to Axel. "You see, we had to fight the heartless without being caught, but they decided to place themselves out in the open so it was a bunch of back and forth. We only had one ether on us too."
"Man, that does sound annoying! Glad my mission was in Wonderland, the heartless there are easy to mow down, it's just too bad they kept on coming back. I did almost get lost in the woods again, which would've sucked, but these two weirdos helped me out. Twinkle dee and dum, something like that."
"You got help from them? So how come we're allowed to interact with people in some worlds, but not in others?" Xion asked.
"We're only allowed to interact with 'em as soon as we've gathered as much intel on their world as we possibly can. Any interaction before could mess up the data. The exception is, if interacting with them is the only way to gather intel or if boss orders you to do so." Axel explained.
"So no helping the people in new worlds..."
"Unless boss gives us the ok."
"That's good to know."
Roxas chewed on his popsicle stick. "All this for 'Kingdom Hearts'? What's so great about it anyway?"
"Are you out of your mind? Once we complete Kingdom Hearts, we'll get hearts again," Axel said.
"I know that. I just don't know why we need hearts."
"What's gotten into you all of a sudden?"
"I don't know...I started thinking about it after Xemnas made that big speech. He seems really excited about it...for us to get hearts, but what can we do with hearts that we can't do now?"
"We can be complete," Xion said. "Knowing that something important is missing from me that keeps us from being 'somebodies' makes me want to finish Kingdom Hearts."
"We can't feel anything either as nobodies," Axel added.
"I want to know that too... if these emotions I feel are made up...if I what I'm doing is because of who I am or what people see in me."
Roxas stared at the orange clouds. "Is that what this means to you, Xion? I never really think about that stuff."
"That's why we need to get hearts so we can all know."
"Yeah... I guess you're right."
XxXX
Day 95
"A fellow member has discovered a new world, your mission is to do recon in..." He paused, confusing Xion and Roxas. "...Hollow Bastion." Saïx gave them the mission report and left abruptly.
"Hollow...Bastion," Roxas said. "That's a pretty grim name."
"Yeah. Guess we'll find out why it's called that soon enough."
They walked up to Axel before departing. He was sitting at the long table, staring at Kingdom Hearts. "Hey Axel!" Xion said.
"What's up?" Roxas dittoed
"Hey you two! Ready for another long day?"
"Yep. Doing recon in a new world." Roxas gave Axel their mission report for him to look over. "We're kinda worried about the name though 'Hollow Bastion' doesn't sound like the most safest place to be."
"..."
"Axel?"
"...sorry...it's just, this description, it sounds so familiar."
"Were you the one who discovered this place?" Xion asked.
"Nope. Wasn't me. The name doesn't ring a bell either." He stood up, a dazed look on his face, memories came back to him in pieces, but it was impossible to put them back together. "...Good luck on your mission!" He muttered with forced enthusiasm.
Roxas and Xion both looked at each other, worried. They parted ways with Axel and walked into a dark portal.
OoO
Contrary to what they were thinking, Hollow Bastion was a large, sprawling city. Many people of all types, from humans to ducks, were walking around the stone paved city and shopping at various stores.
There was, of course, an undeniably strong presence of heartless, especially coming from the castle that loomed over the city. Though it was masked by an even stronger presence of delicious smells coming from the food shops and restaurants scattered about.
"This is Hollow Bastion," Roxas said, both of them were dumbfounded by the sheer magnitude of the city.
Xion crossed her arms. "Too bad we're here on recon, I'd to check things out. Now we'll have to work extra hard not to get caught."
"It shouldn't be a problem." Roxas pointed to the flat top roofs on nearly every building, including the building they were standing on. "We should get through this place without being spotted."
'That's what you say now.' "So where should we begin? This place is massive."
"At that castle over there in distance."
"Good idea. Let's get going!"
Xion and Roxas traversed across the rooftops and made their way to the abandoned castle. Along their way, however, Xion spotted a group of people walking by. She stopped. "Let's see what they're saying, it looks like they might know a few things about this place."
Roxas nodded. They crouched down behind a large fixture on the roof and listened in.
"...Progress so far has definitely improved from last month. We've successfully restored just about every building," Said Leon, a young man with medium length, dark brown hair. Leon's attire was almost entirely black, coupled with stoic expression and scarred face, he came off as brooding and standoffish. Despite that, it didn't stop possibly the most cheery, quirky people he'd ever met to befriend him, well, cheery and quirky save for one person…
"Not every building," Cloud said. He had spiky, blonde hair and wore similar attire to Leon, in fact, he had nearly the same personality as Leon, if not a little more closed off and serious. "Ansem's castle is filled with heartless. There's no way we can get rid of them."
"Nor can we ever, without the keyblade."
"It be nice if at least one of us could wield a keyblade," Aerith, a young woman, said. She wore a long pink dress and had a warm face along with a soft voice, constrasting the dark mood Leon and Cloud set off. "That way, fighting them didn't feel completely pointless."
Another woman, younger and more lively than the rest with short black hair and an even shorter stature, boasted, "I sure don't know why that wasn't me, I mean, I am the most powerful ninja in the world...if not Hollow Bastion. I'm the obvious choice!"
"You sure are." Tifa remarked sarcastically. She had long brown hair tied in a at the end. Her clothes were made for work; white shirt with suspenders and a short brown skirt, her black gloves tied the whole outfit together.
Tifa continued. "But at least we're finally all back together again in one place!"
"Not everyone...Zack is still missing," Aerith said.
Cloud pushed his hair away from his face, an action he did frequently. "He's not in Olympus Coliseum like he said would be."
"He promised he'd come back after becoming a hero. I wish Zack would keep his promises for once, it's been too long…"
"Wherever he is, he'll come back eventually." Leon reassured.
'Leon...that's what you've been saying for years, sometimes I wonder if he's even...' Aerith shook her head. "What am I even worried about...he'll probably come back with another girlfriend."
"We'll have to teach him a lesson then!" Tifa said, pumping her fist.
"He'll wish he never left when we're done with him!" Yuffie added.
"No wonder he's been avoiding us—" Cloud stopped suddenly and summoned his buster sword. "More heatless." He took off.
The others took their own weapons out and followed behind the spiky blonde until they disappeared down a dark alley. At the point, Xion and Roxas could no longer keep track of them and they pulled back.
Xion turned to Roxas. "Another world filled with heartless, that's nothing new, but the source of the heartless is at a place called Ansem's castle.
"...Ansem." Roxas thought for a moment. "It's not like...I've never heard that name before."
"Maybe you've heard the name before and just didn't realize it. Anyway, I think we've collected enough information at the moment in this world, ready to go see Axel?"
"Sure! I'll lead the way!"
From the dark portal, they came to Twilight Town's clock tower.
"Aw Axel's not here yet."
Xion bumped Roxas' shoulder. "Why don't I get some ice cream, maybe he'll be here when I come back."
"Alright."
Jumping off the building, she caught herself on the side of a window panel before landing on the ground. Once on the ground, she opened her munny pouch. "...30...60...hm, looks like I brought more than enough this time." Holding the pouch in hand, Xion made her way to the ice cream shop.
'There's no line! Awesome!' She ran up to the counter. "Three sea salt ice creams, please."
"Coming right up!"
Xion tapped her fingers on the counter. 'I wonder why Axel acted so weird earlier today as soon as we brought up Hollow Bastion...could it be from memories he's had as a human? There's only one way to find out.'
"Hereee ya go!" The ice cream shop owner announced.
Xion happily took the ice cream from his hands, while he happily took the money from her. Just as she was about to take off, she saw three kids walking by. '...Oh, it's those guys from the mansion, I should see how they're doing!'
"Hey you guys!" She greeted.
"What's up, Xion? It's nice to see you again!" Olette chirped.
"Yeah, that back flip you did off the building was so cool!" Pence exclaimed.
Xion looked to Hayner who was unusually silent in her presence. She traced back to Olette who waved it off. "Don't mind him, he's just acting weird," She said.
"I wonder why," Pence said with a smirk.
"...Well, I'm glad you're all doing fine...I need to get going, y'know, before this melts and everything. I'll try and see you guys another time!"
"Don't worry, we won't be going anywhere any time soon with school in session," Pence said.
Olette smiled. "That's for sure...and by the way, I love your hair, it's so cute!"
"Th-Thank you!" Xion stammered, quickly turning away to hide the blush creeping up her cheeks. She left the three friends and disappeared down the winding streets.
Xion re-appeared on the roof on the clock tower where, just below, Roxas along with Axel were chatting away. She jumped down onto the ledge, startling the both of them.
"Ta-da!" She presented the ice cream bars to her friends.
"Hey Xion, What's up?" Axel said coolly.
Roxas rested his hands behind his head. "You sure took your time, huh?"
"I got a little sidetracked, but I'm here now." After passing out the ice cream, Xion plopped onto the ledge and finally bit down on her own ice cream. 'It's super sweet!'
"So what were you guys talking about?" Xion asked.
"Me and Axel were talking about Hollow Bastion, he says he remembers stuff about it."
"Yeah, the more Roxas talks about what you guys saw there, I can't help but feel like I've been there myself."
"Do you think it's your memories from when you were human?"
"There's no doubt about that, and I know they were good memories...Saïx was there and someone else."
"Good memories? With... Saïx," Xion said.
"He was a different person back then when we were human. Now, well, you've seen him."
"How different do you think we were as humans?" Roxas asked.
Axel was quiet for a few seconds. "Probably not any different than you are now. Saïx is just a special case, that's all."
"A special case..."
