Chapter 9: Xemnas: The Battle of Nothing

My ethereal blades, Interdiction, were blocked by the huge heartless that had materialized behind the figure. His face reminded me of someone I did not want to ever remember.

Myself. My former self.

"Submit!" He yelled. I dodged the strike, and spun in a circle. My ethereal blades cut into the dark figure's side. My opponent hissed in rage. Then he raised his hands, and a group of bat heartless appeared, swarming over me. I merely summoned a sphere of nothing, infused with electricity.

I stood ready for combat, and I threw out my two ethereal blades in a spinning motion going around him that knocked the dark figure backwards.

"TAKE THAT!" I shouted. The dark figure then tried to slice at me, but I merely turned into an illusion and moved out of the way. The dark figure went to a new position and tried to attack again, but I jumped into the air. The dark figure looked up, only to see me come down at him from directly above, spinning my ethereal blades as he did so. The dark figure was blasted backwards, but he spun in mid-air and regained balance. The dark figure, damaged from the attack, cast a Cure spell on himself as I became a mirage; I flew right behind The dark figure and tried to do my first, spinning circle ethereal blade attack. The dark figure, however, countered and began unleashing his own combination attack on me, sending me into the air. The dark figure continued with his combo attacks, hitting me mercilessly, until I countered with my charging aerial spin attack. The dark figure dodged the attack. The dark figure spun back upwards and tried to attack me, but I turned into another illusion, came behind the dark figure, jumped upwards, and dashed downwards with my spinning blade attack.

"Who is this guy!" I mentally shouted, as I ran backwards to get some distance. I charged at him in his illusion form again, but this time the dark figure turned around and tried to slice at me.

Both of us could feel our hearts beating as we got closer to each other.

My Interdiction and his Guardian heartless were about to clash.

I made the wrong move, however, as I attacked too early; the dark figure beat me into the air with a single swipe, and then he stuck his hand into the air.

"COME! MY SELF!" The dark figure shouted. Immediately, I saw both my ethereal blades extinguish from my hands, and appear in the hands of the dark figure. I landed on the ground, and The dark figure unleashed his own standard striking attacks, with my own weapons flying at me at high speed. I was mercilessly bashed around like a rag doll. I made several columns of nothingness appear around me before launching them at the dark figure to try and push him back. This maneuver worked, as the dark figure was blasted backwards by the multiple columns of nothing. The dark figure cast a second Cure spell on himself to keep in the game, but now the columns of nothing appeared to be trapping him, preventing him from a straight direct attack to me. I turned illusory again and appeared behind the dark figure, before using the columns of nothing to repel the dark figure. However, the dark figure took his chances and broke through the columns successfully, before unleashing another combination attack on me, launching me into the air again. The dark figure tried to do a second combo in mid-air, but I quickly landed and sent my columns of nothing flying in all directions. The dark figure was blasted back into the ground, still wielding my ethereal blades.

"Man, this guy is tough!" I angrily noted, as I continued to shoot columns of nothing and other deadly material at the dark figure from my position. The dark figure dodged this attack, but now more columns of nothing began appearing around the dark figure, trying to entrap him. The dark figure ran out of the way as fast as he could, while I turned into an illusion and tried to attack the dark figure from behind while he was distracted with the columns of nothing.

"It's over!" The dark figure shouted, as he turned around, and began attacking me with the ethereal blades. I tried to move back, but I was caught in the frenzy of ethereality and was slashed at repeatedly.

Enduring the pain as if it was nothing.

Because I was nothing.

"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" I mentally shouted. I kicked the dark figure away before reclaiming both of my ethereal blades again. I and The dark figure landed on separate sides of the battlefield, before we both charged at each other. My ethereal blades clashed against the arms of the heartless Guardian in the center of the battlefield, with neither one of us giving in.

"Who...who are you!" I desperately asked. The dark figure just continued to push back, before responding in a dark tone.

"Someone from the dark," he answered. Then I noticed his hand. It clasped my chest in its grip, and I collapsed with darkness-induced pain. I looked out at my warriors.

Marluxia kept slicing his scythe at the Heartless, cutting them down easily. Lexaeus smashed his axe sword into the ground, opening a crevasse that sent several Heartless falling into an abyss below the castle. Zexion fired several spells out of his lexicon, setting some Heartless on fire, freezing some Heartless on the spot, and shocking several Heartless into submission. Larxene was throwing her kunais in every direction, hitting into as many Heartless as she could. Vexen was throwing everything cold he had at the hordes of Heartless. Xsirch, Xion, and Axel all stood back-to-back, as several Heartless surrounded them. Axel smirked.

"Well, this seems unfair for them," Axel chuckled.

"You think we can take 'em?" Xion wondered.

"Well...it might be difficult if one more showed up," Xsirch noted.

"Then that'll be the one I'll take care of," Axel chuckled again, before the three warriors ran out in a straight line and began slicing down the clusters of Heartless. At the same time, Marluxia used his pink scythe and sliced several of the Heartless into two halves without any effort at all. Xaldin threw his spears into the air, and formed them into his lance dragon. Jumping atop his lance dragon, Xaldin began firing a large wind burst at the Heartless, blowing them into the air like insects. Of course, some of the Heartless used their new aerial setting to their advantage; some Heartless began spinning, so they could bound off of the sides of Castle Oblivion and strike back at Xaldin. Xaldin continued slicing away the Heartless, until one Heartless struck him from behind. Whenever Xaldin let his guard down, several more Heartless slammed directly into Xaldin's chest, knocking the wind out of him.Xaldin dropped his lances and fell over...and he never got back up, as the Heartless began clustering over him, slashing at him mercilessly. I summoned a portal. Xaldin fell through the dark portal, to a safe place in the Castle that Never Was. I could not allow my members to die before we had gained Kingdom Hearts. Demyx saw Xaldin go down, and when the Heartless got off and ran towards everyone else, there was nothing there anymore.

"Dance water, dance!" Demyx shouted, strumming on his sitar faster to make his water clones appear and attack the Heartless. Since it was raining heavily, the water clones were substantially powered-up, although the Heartless had no trouble destroying them. Demyx used his water powers to run around, while shooting up columns of water as he did so. Luxord was atop a nearby rock, his razor edged cards spinning randomly throughout the melee. Meanwhile, Xion and Xsirch continued slicing Heartless, until Xion was slammed in the back next to Larxene. Larxene turned around and ripped apart the Heartless that knocked over Xion, as Xion quickly got up.

"It's that guy!" Xion grunted, before slicing up three Heartless with one swipe of her Keyblade.

"He's the controller of them! When he goes down, the Heartless will disappear!" Xigbar shouted, shooting several Heartless out of the sky. Xion grimaced at the sight of Xigbar.

"I see you've been doing well," Xion growled, before slashing some more Heartless to pieces. Xigbar just teleported himself behind her and began shooting energy arrows at more Heartless. Suddenly, a large group of heartless leaped on Xion and held her down.

Xion continued to struggle, until a couple slices from Marluxia and several shots from Xigbar killed the Heartless holding her back. Xion tried to reach me, but couldn't because of the barrier the dark figure put up between us. Xion, gripping her Keyblade in rage, began slicing at the Heartless that began to surround her.

"You BASTARD!" Xion screamed at the dark figure, while slicing away the Heartless. Xsirch was doing the exact same thing, but was having much difficulty due to fatigue. He had abandoned his keyblade in favor of the lighter and easier to use twin Soul Eater swords. Demyx, still running around, kept firing more water blasts at the Heartless. Soon enough, however, one Heartless jumped right in front of Demyx's path. Demyx was thrown off his guard and slammed face-first into the ground. I summoned the last dregs of my power from my prone position. Whenever the Heartless swarmed him, Demyx fell through my dark portal back to the interior of the castle. Larxene continued throwing her kunais like crazy, before growling in anger and beginning to glow a bright yellow. Several Heartless jumped atop of her, but were shocked off by Larxene, before Larxene began running at hyper speed. Larxene and her afterimages began slicing apart many Heartless, but soon Larxene ran out of juice, and was surrounded. Larxene began spinning and firing a large electrical ball of energy, blasting several Heartless into the air while shocking the rest. Marluxia took this opportunity to slice at more Heartless, while Lexaeus began opening small fissures to send clusters of Heartless down into their makeshift grave. Zexion and Vexen continued their assault against the Heartless, but their strength was getting progressively weaker for each Heartless they destroyed.

"I don't think we can hold out much longer!" Zexion shouted.

"XEMNAS! Stop that guy already!" Vexen growled. I just grunted in pain.

"Vexen, Xemnas's down!" Axel shouted, before being hit by another Heartless. Axel began slashing at the Heartless alongside Xsirch, although the fight was going nowhere. Larxene stopped her mad electrical rampage and began running at hyperspeed again, until one Heartless got smart and slashed at her after her hyperspeed rampage was finished. Larxene was blown back into a wall, and several Heartless tackled her to the floor. Larxene then joined Xaldin and Demyx in their place inside the castle at our home base. They were to be our insurance: should we fail here, we would at least have remaining members. Marluxia continued to swipe his scythe across the battlefields, sending flower blades across everything in all directions. Soon, though, Marluxia would run out of strength. Marluxia, holding his scythe, jumped high into the air, and he began glowing. Several sakura petals began flowing around his body, until he began shooting out petals at light speed. Each petal struck down each and every Heartless there, and Marluxia didn't stop until all of the Heartless perished. Soon enough, however, Marluxia ran out of power and began to fade away into oblivion, but not until Marluxia sent one large flower burst at all the Heartless, effectively killing most of them and injuring the rest. Marluxia fell to the ground, and through a dark portal of my making, as with the Organization members that fell before him. However, his demise was forestalled, as nearly every remaining member of the organization sent a Curaga spell towards him. Zexion and Lexaeus took this opportunity to double-team the remaining Heartless. Lexaeus slammed his axe sword directly into the ground, opening another fissure that sent nearly all of the Heartless to a dark grave. Zexion fired several powerful fire spells from his lexicon, burning the rest of the Heartless that didn't fall into the crevasse. One Heartless managed to sneak away, but was frozen in place by Vexen. Vexen, brandishing the sharp and pointy end of his ice shield, immediately stabbed the Heartless he froze directly in the chest, shattering it and killing it in one blow.

"Humph. Just an experiment," Vexen growled as he turned around. Zexion and Lexaeus stopped the assault, as Xion and Xsirch had vanquished the final dozen of Heartless that had been surrounding them. Taking a look now, everyone took instant note of what was happening.

I, Xemnas, was injured, with the leader of the heartless standing over me.

Demyx and Xigbar were severely injured, and inside the Castle That Never Was, a world away, along with Saix, who was there to guard the castle.

Larxene and Marluxia were equally injured, but were inside the nearby Castle Oblivion.

Luxord was injured, but not fatally. However, I doubted he was in fighting condition.

The remaining fighters were: Xigbar, Axel, Xsirch, Xion, Zexion, Vexen, and Lexaeus.

"Now, you fools." The dark figure said. "I will absorb your leader, just as I was supposed to in the beginning!"

At that instant, he fell over, unconscious. Lexaeus stood behind him, bloodied and battered.

"Thank you, Lexaeus." I stood, casting a cure spell on myself.

The dark figure leapt up, dodged away, and vanished into the darkness.

"Lord Xemnas." Zexion walked up to me. In Marluxia's absence, he was in charge of Castle Oblivion. "You should return to your castle. I fear that it may be under assault as well."

"I know that." I beckoned my remaining warriors closer. Xsirch looked as if he would rather keep standing with Axel, but he complied with my wishes.

"We must return. I entrust that you will keep your fortress safe." I said to Zexion. Zexion nodded.

"The Keyblade wielder has no idea what is happening. It was perfectly safe to leave him in there." He confirmed. I nodded. I snapped my fingers. My members disappeared into portals of darkness. Zexion did the same for those under his command.

"Fare well, Lord Xemnas." He said, before disappearing into his own portal to Castle Oblivion.

I hope we have not been revealed. I thought to myself as I returned to the Castle That Never Was. That man… he seemed like… ME…