A/N: Thank you once again to my readers and reviewers, you keep me going!
Aina Loneheart: I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, for taking your time to read this, and it's greatly appreciated. So then, you're Rozen-senpai's young sister? It's very nice meeting you! I'm going a bit slow with trying to bring King Mickey and the others since I don't want everything to happen too fast, but one important figure comes out in this chapter! Tell Rozen I send my greetings! I'm trying hard with fixing the typos so bear with me.
Xejicka: Wait Rax isn't a man… (thinks) anyway thanks for your lovely review Xejicka, and well keep that picture away from Jackie, who knows what she would do! I've been wondering about that meeting to, I'll look into it and tell you the results of it one day.
Now with that… on with the story!
Chapter 10: Ames , Herói , e Mensageiro(Ames, Hero, and Messenger)
Xiaga sighed, enjoying the silence from their little headquarter. Being underground really had no effect on him, but still at times he would've liked someone to thank him once in a while. The young member sighed, running his black gloved hand through his hair, his bangs were getting in the way of his vision from time to time. Something was bothering him now.
"What was it you didn't want me to see, Ames…" he asked himself softly. Xiaga rested his elbows on the table, bringing his chin forward so that it rested on his closed hands. "What's so special about those journals anyway?"
Xiaga received no answer from the depths of his mind, but only a name that Ames once muttered out by accident. It was something that Xiaga would forever hold on to. 'Ienzo,' he thought dimly and looked up at the ceiling from their underground base. Ienzo was the name of the original sixth member of Organization XIII. Xiaga took on his role, and played it very well, but he didn't know why he played it. 'Those without souls,' he thought and sighed, 'are we just puppets then?'
"Hey Gaia!" he remembered that voice, it was trailing down the corridor of the Castle that Never Was. "Wait up…" she stopped running and placed her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. "I'm coming with you too…" Ames said softly.
"Are they Superior's orders, or do you just want to tag along?" he asked rather unkindly.
"A little of each…" she said, scratching the back of her head, "Cloaked Schemer." Xiaga knew that it was Ames who had given each of the 13 members their codename, the Superior had no part in that process. "What's then name of that place?"
"Castle Oblivion…" Xiaga continued to walk down the hallway, away from the meeting room.
"It was there before the others, right?" Xiaga sighed, hearing Ames ask another question. He didn't answer but continued walking forward. The young girl growled for a moment and jumped on his back. He stumbled forward at the sudden weight and she heard him growl in annoyance. "Hey!" she said slightly upset. "Don't ignore me Ienzo…"
"What?" he turned his head to looks at her.
"No… Nothing…" she said pulling down his hood, and running off. Xejicka and the others who were being transported to Castle Oblivion were far ahead of him. "Come on Xiaga you're making us late!" the others called after him in their own way.
The whole event seemed to happen at a fast past, but the only name that stuck in his mind was 'Ienzo'. After that event, he remembered that Ames looked at him differently, and treated him differently. Before he noticed she was cheery towards him, and at some points it'd annoy him to the point where he'd create an allusion to get her to quiet down. 'After the groups spilt up, she stopped visiting us little by little,' the 'Cloaked Schemer' thought sadly. Truth be told, he did miss the young girl's company, she knew so much than she let on, her and the Superior seemed to be almost on the same wavelength.
"I was right," he said to himself softly, "they are pulling the strings… But then, this makes no sense…" he reflected back on Shimasax's words, 'past actions written in the sky'. "That means we're just mirroring, right?"
"Our likes and dislikes…" Xiaga looked at the manga book that was on the table. It was Ruxsud's. "I suppose maybe that's the price we pay then…" he sighed and stared down at his own hands. "It's appalling, our own members are taking their own kind out. Shimasax is gone, and I sent Ruxsud to capture Raxter." He grasped a glass cup and spun it around, watching the edges reflect light from the ceiling. He felt angry for some reason and growled again. "Those bastards…" he said furiously. "You had us wrapped around your fingers… You were using her to befriend us, and slowly…" he threw the glass cup against the mirror across the room. "We became shadows of our old selves… Damn that witch, and the Superior."
The mirror had shattered on to the floor, and he realized he had thrown Ruxsud's cup against the reflecting piece of the imitating glass.
With Ruxsud and Rax
The ground began to shake around them, as a large tomahawk, colored in red and black, was stabbed through the ground with brute force. 'He out ranks me…' Rax thought, narrowly avoiding a column of earth from colliding with him. The silver hared individual ran forward, and jabbed his weapon forward, and the former member knew he couldn't block with his Keyblade. He was thrown down to the ground with bone crushing force, and skidded towards an erect column of earth. He groaned in pain, as Ruxsud moved towards him once more.
"I'm still amazed you have enough energy to make sounds…" Ruxsud said placing the tip of the large tomahawk on the ground. He looked at Rax and sighed for a moment. "We could really use your help in overthrowing Xauqa…"
"Why…?" Rax asked picking himself up. His lip was bleeding, and his right arm had several cuts. "Aren't those two enough?" he asked, summoning another weapon at hand. The strange looking blade didn't make number 5 flinch at all. Ruxsud knew his attacks left and right, he had trained him.
The large tomahawk was lifted up once more, and Rax moved quickly to escape the large weapon. Ruxsud wasn't going to let him leave anytime soon, and threw the large bladed weapon into the air. Rax felt something connected with his back, and he yelled out in pain, his stomach and chest colliding strongly with the jagged pieces of the shattered ground. 'You can't do this on your own, now can you?' Rax winced at the sound of the voice, and because of the pain coursing through his body. 'A little help from me wouldn't hurt you…' the voice said within the mind of the figure. He didn't want to lose to number 5 at all, but he didn't want to win at that cost.
Ruxsud watched as Rax slowly picked himself, leaning against a keychained weapon for support. Rax coughed for a moment, and he winced as the muscles in his stomach began to ache from the collision with the jagged rocks. 'I don't want to die…' he thought, thinking back to the promise he made to Ames. 'I want to take care of my friends…' he picked up his other weapon, and brought them towards his side, facing Ruxsud.
"It'd be better, if you just call out your darkness…" the Silent Hero said softly, catching the attention.
In another level within the castle
A strange humanoid Heartless waited for the young girl to get near the bike, and lightly tapped her on the shoulder. "Thank you, ( )…" she said softly, and felt a smile creep up on her. "But I'm afraid I won't be going with you…" the name wasn't audible this time.
The young girl flinched and looked up at the Heartless. 'But… But why?" she asked feeling hurt. "I thought…"
"I can't… Or rather I won't. This is a fight to get back what you've all lost. I haven't lost anything," she said looking back at a man with dark blue hair for a moment. "Besides, I've found a place…" she said hoping that the girl would understand her decisions. "I want to thank you… for trying to get my heart back…" the Heartless said hugging the girl once more. "Next time you come back here, we'll see each other again, all right?" the young girl nodded and felt tears run down the side of her face. "I think I've found my heart…" the Heartless said. "You can guess who it is…" the young girl knew who it was and laughed. "Take care, my friend…" with that the Heartless felt something beat within her chest. 'One step at a time…' she thought hugging her 'client' one last time.
"She seems so familiar…" Dark said softly, trying to place a name on the Heartless that ran through her mind. 'I know I should remember her, but…' still all her thoughts were in vain. The two of them were outside the place known as the 'Land of Harmony'. Light said that they would investigate the fabricated world once they finished their job here within Castle Oblivion. "I'm beginning to question this…" she said, looking at Light, he stood out in the white hallway.
Light looked back at her, and looked down at his hand for a moment, and lightly touched the pendant on his neck. Those two pendants were very special to him, but he couldn't remember their names now. He sighed and looked back at Dark, she was starting to slowly move back, and he could since the hesitation in her heart. He spoke out softly:
"Are you saying, that… that we should give up on her?" he asked.
"No… that's," she bit her lip and looked away from Light's gaze. "That's not what I mean, but still if she's so important to the two of us, why couldn't we remember her? Why did we remember her a while ago?"
"Listen…" Light started to walk down the hallway, towards the next door. "I know if you don't want to go and look I won't force you. Sit down, go home, sleep, do something else for all I care, but I'm going to find her, without your help." She growled for a moment and ran towards him.
"Stop acting like that!" she snapped, and he looked back at her. "Just stop it!" she felt upset for some reason, was it jealousy? 'He should be paying more attention to the other girl and me, not Ames…' she thought bitterly. "Just ask yourself why!" Dark yelled at him, feeling her eyes get watery.
Light clenched his fist, and bit his lip, looking away from his companion. He told her once last time:
"I'm going to find Ames!" he said pulling out his Keyblade, and pointing it to her menacingly. "You can't stop me Dark…" with that she watched him run down the hallway with the strange weapon in his hand.
"You idiot!" she screamed, her voice echoing down the hallway of the castle. "Maybe Shimasax was right!" Dark paused and looked down at her feet. "Light!" she called out to him. "S---!"
The white room
Ames turned off the little screen in front of her, and looked down at her hands. Her light blue eyes looked up once again at the empty black screen, and sighed in anguish for some reason. Xejicka was leaning against a white table, watching the live feed of video stream through the screen. Her hazel eyes looked down at the young silver hared teen and felt some sort of sadness. Ames was lost in thought for a moment; she couldn't help feel like everything had fallen into place, just like the Superior had wanted.
"I know… that I've said this once before, but you're all they've got left now…" the Flurry of the Dancing Flames said softly. Ames felt a gentle gloved hand pat her on the head, and blue eyes stared up at tinged hazel orbs. "Are you going to be the one to save them?" she asked softly. Ames looked down at her hands, and looked away for a moment. "Xauqa isn't here, and there's no one to stop you, so what do you say? You going to make things right?" with that she noticed that Ames stood up and walked out the door.
"Xejicka…" Ames said softly. "Try not to become a shadow…" that was all she wanted from the chakram wielder. "Whatever you do… don't repeat Axel's actions…" with that she ran as fast as she could. She could sense Light and Dark's presence, but one seemed further away from the other. 'Light, you should've listened to her,' she thought sadly, running down the familiar white corridor.
Ames' words fell on deaf ears, as Xejicka was watching the little doll within the white cage. The doll mimicked Ames' image, and she smiled slightly. Pushing one of the white bars of the cage, and it moved back and forth slightly. 'Caged bird…' she thought and shook her head. 'No, more like a trained pigeon,' Xejicka thought. She walked around the white room looking at the drawings, and found something sticking out of Ames' new sketchbook. She took out the white sticking corner, and looked at its content.
'Dear King,
'How have you been?
'I've probably written over a hundred rough drafts, trying to figure out how to tell you all of this, but… I suppose I am wasting time by just beating around the bush.
'Like my original self, I've never really been one to keep promises, no matter how hard I try, I suppose that's because of what I am… No sense of moral, I suppose, but I think it's something more than just that.
'If your hypothesis is correct, just like that of the one the Superior has foreseen, then I'm afraid once you receive this letter, things will have already transpired as they did about two years ago. But Your Majesty, HE has come back. There is hope, as Sora said so himself when he saw that familiar of Axel. If you can, please try and help us out here. Those with no sense of direction, those who will surely end up repeating the events all over again. I want to believe that those three, will survive to help Sora and Amaterasu out.
'Again, you don't have to if you don't want to, but the least you could do is just see Terra again, even if he isn't the real one, he's still Terra at heart.
'We'll be waiting for you in Castle Oblivion…
Trying to set things right,
Ames Diaz'
Rough draft # 35
Xejicka laughed to herself:
"You're doing this for those three, wait no it's for us…" she laughed. "And here I thought you were loyal to the Superior, but the bonds of friendship are stronger than whatever grip the Superior has…" that was something the chakram wielder knew by heart.
With Ames, the witch in black
"I'm sorry you two…"
She continued to run down the hallway as fast as her two feet could carry her. Quickly Ames stopped for a moment, and looked down at the light red sandals on her feet. Ames took them off of her two feet, and ran down the hallway once more with her discarded sandals in her hand.
"I'm very sorry, Amaterasu… Sora… It's not because I was lonely, but it was because…" she paused for a moment and looked around the area. Their presence seemed very close. 'But why is she by herself?' she thought to herself and continued to run one more. 'I wonder if Rax's memories will interfere with the next world…' Ames thought as she ran down the hallway.
Somewhere in the distance Light had used the card that Xejicka had given him and Dark sometime ago. 'This is where it all began…' Light thought looking around the area.
"Amber Pacific…" he said to himself softly. He walked around the hilly area, where he knew the outskirts of the town would soon appear. He could soon see the sign that welcomed people to the area, but he stopped himself from advancing forward. As he sat down right next to the welcoming sign, he looked up at the sky for a moment. The words of Shimasax, the Chilly Academic, haunted his mind.
He looked down at the dusty shoes on his feet:
"I know my own heart though…" Light said, and Dark's voice replayed in his mind. "I just want to help Ames…" he said softly to himself.
"Hey, you're talking to yourself buddy…" a familiar voice said in back of him. Light turned around and noticed someone with familiar brown hair and blue eyes. "You sure you're all right, Light?" Terra asked.
Within the mind of the young Keyblade bearer, he pictured Rax, then the replica, and now Terra. They were the same, and yet not at the same time. 'But it's weird, that Terra started his vacation right about the same time as things were starting to happen…' he thought and shook his head. He told Terra, the one from his memory, that he was all right. Someone in the distance appeared, in back of Terra, and Light tried to figure out who it was, but to no avail. 'She looks like Aqua, but… that's not her,' he knew that for a fact. 'That girl, she's got red hair…she's the one who gave me my first necklace, and then it was Ames…'
"Hey man, are you sure you're all right?" Terra asked.
"Huh…" Light looked up at him slightly and nodded vaguely. 'A sudden urge to protect her… I wonder if it has anything to do with that guy…' he asked himself within his mind.
From a safe distance Ames was watching the small event, and she sighed. Dark wasn't there to be the voice of reason this time. 'HE should've listened to her, but… he's like him too. Now that he ended up giving him some of his memories, I think the little "Hero" wants to find me more for the fact of Rax's memories.'
"Hey Light!" someone else called him out. He looked to the side and noticed that Ventus was there, waving and giving him his trademark grin. The girl from before was gone, and Light looked around once more, after returning the gesture to Ven. Aqua soon appeared afterwards and give him a small smile.
"Hey where's Dark?" Aqua asked looking around slightly.
"She's right---" he stopped quickly after motioning to his side. "She's not here…" Light said dimly and sighed for a moment.
"Oh, you guys got into a fight…" Ventus said rubbing the back of his head. 'This one looks very familiar too…' Light thought watching Ven's facial futures. "Don't worry, she'll come back." He said trying to give comfort to Light.
"Just give her some time." Aqua said smiling for a moment. "Well we were just going to the café again, and Terra had a sudden urge to come over here. So you want to come with us?" she asked looking at Light.
"I suppose so…" Light said looking at the road in back of him. He thought back to when he and Dark ran through that path trying to escape a Heartless. "She'll come…" he said to himself softly and walked forward with them.
Ames watched from the sidewalk opposite of the one he traversed along. Her silver hair made her stand out, but she wanted that. Something in the frame of the fabricated world began to crack. 'Heartless…' the witch thought as pools of black liquid began to appear from the cracks of the sidewalks.
"Light!" she called out. The teen known as Light looked up, and for a spilt second heard Dark's voice. His eyes began to widen a bit at the sight before him. Citizens from the area began to run into a panic, and Light told the other three to go to some place safe.
Light growled for a moment and pulled out his Keyblade. 'That's Kingdom Key…' Ames thought watching Light run forward, and disposing of the Heartless. A Neo Shadow jumped into the air, and at once the teen felt claws dig into his back, and Light cried out in pain. 'She's not coming…' Ames thought bitterly and looked away. The sound of metal connecting with flesh seemed less than audible when a Heartless was sent back into the crowd of other dark creatures. She noticed that as the darkness dispersed from the Heartless the captive heart taken by the dark creatures was released, going towards the heart of all hearts.
"Enough…" Ames said softly, and the Heartless stopped moving and turned to the one who directed the order. Slowly the Neo Shadows crawled back into the depths of darkness as they melted into the cracks of the street. "Hello… Hero…" she said.
"Ames…" he said dropping his Keyblade from shock. The look of relief was perceptible on his facial feature, and he gave a big smile. "You're here…"
The girl in the plain black gown forced a smile to tug at the corners of her mouth, and Light noticed her appearance. She wore a black simple dress, and had silver shoulder length hair, and light blue eyes. She and Dark almost looked the same side by side. He heard her speak:
"Why isn't Messenger here with you?" Ames asked kindly.
"She…" Light didn't know how to tell her.
"In anyway case then, I should say I'm glad you came for me…" she paused for a moment and looked down at her bare feet. "But I won't or rather I can't…"
Abedo the replica
He wandered the halls aimlessly trying to figure out his memories. Words were beginning to sink into him, and they were becoming bothersome to his emotions, and his thoughts. 'I want to be different…' he thought to himself, and came across a huddled body. He squinted for a moment and noticed it was the girl with who he fought earlier. 'What's she doing here?' he asked himself, and cautiously made his way towards her. The replica heard the faint echoes of sobs, and he felt a bit puzzled for a moment. 'She's crying…' the replica thought and felt a sudden rush of courage to run forward.
Dark looked up hearing the sounds of feet, 'is it Light?' she asked herself, but gasped a bit when she saw the familiar black suited replica. 'Abedo,' she thought and looked down at the shoes on her feet. They were worn out with constant running, and evading, the small rips each had a story to tell with the encounters of Heartless and Nobodies. Abedo felt remorse for the crying figure and decided the best thing to do was sit next to her. 'It's because you and her are alike,' the replica told himself and looked at her for a moment.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, looking down at the floor, not gazing up at him. Abedo was taken slightly aback, from the tone in her voice, it was rather cold, but that wasn't going to affect him in the least.
"I was walking around…" he said softly. 'He sounds just like Terra,' she thought and looked down at the strange boots he wore. "And I heard you crying, so…" he paused and noticed that she scooted away from him, still that didn't bring him down. "So," he continued, "I came to see what was wrong you."
Dark noticed the familiar pendant that was on his belt, and stared at it for a moment. She couldn't take her eyes off of it. 'His name…' she began to think, 'it started with an "r".' Abedo watched her fidget now with two keychains. One mimicked the weapon that Rax brandished during their fight, and the other was in the shape of a small black crown. She let her finger tip fall gingerly on the one with the black crown, and she sighed. Dark looked up and titled her head slightly, wondering why Abedo was looking at her.
"Rax, your partner, and you yourself wield those weapons," Abedo said softly, looking into her eyes for a moment. "You each must have a very strong heart then." He said.
"It takes more than a strong heart, to wield a Keyblade." She said softly.
"So then what does it take?" he asked, curiously. This was the first time he sat down face to face with one who wielded such a weapon. She shook her head, even she did not know, but he didn't pressure into asking her why she did not know. "How do you know though?" he asked her.
"Beings as old as the universe itself…" she said looking up at the white ceiling. She was trying to imagine the blue sky. "They told us that… but now I'm not so sure about that too…" Dark said looking at Abedo, smiling slightly at him.
"Sounds like a load of bull to me…" Abedo said, noticing the blank face of the girl before him. "But that's one person opinions to another, right?"
"Yeah…" she nodded and looked down at the pendant that was one his belt. "Where'd you get that?"
"Ames gave it to me," Abedo said softly. She noticed that the replica started to relax when he mentioned her names. "Rax has one like it too…" he said rather acrimoniously.
"What do you expect…?" she said patting the replica on the head. "You're a copy."
"And so is she…" Abedo said pushing her hand away from him. "Ames is a copy of you, just like I'm a copy of Rax…"
"Don't even mention her name to me right now…" she said looking away in an opposite direction. Dark was beginning to get upset once more. "She's taken my best friend away, and… we've each lost someone important as we started our journey back home."
"Who?" the replica asked, noticing the confused looked on Dark. He asked again, "who did you lose?"
"That's just it… I don't know who." She said looking at her hands for a moment. "We came here to get some answers, and we've been tricked within Castle Oblivion… our memories are…" she paused finally letting it dawn on her, "our memories are being thrown into oblivion."
"Well…" Abedo said looking at one of the pillars of white. "Do you at least remember your true name?" he asked.
"It's…" she paused trying to say the first syllable, but nothing came out.
"You're losing your identity," the replica said feeling out of place for a moment.
"I have to go and tell Light," she said standing up and running towards the direction that Light used a while ago. "It was nice talking to you, replica!" she said as she ran forward.
"Xejicka…" Abedo said staring at the pillar off in the distance. "You can come out now."
"Huh… You know I didn't think you'd end up liking her." The pyro-chakram-weilder said pushing some strands of black hair back from her eyes. "She's the original of the copy…"
"That's your friend you're talking about too," Abedo said standing up and dusting himself off.
Xejicka sighed for a moment and watched Dark disappear through the door. The hallway echoed with the sound of the wooden door closing loudly.
"I don't like her…" Abedo said slowly rising up from the ground. "But I don't hate her either… I just want to make Ames happy…"
Somewhere in the lower basements
A royal figure walked through the white hallways with a letter tucked safely in the pocket of his black coat. His two royal knights walked alongside him searching for the people that sought out their help. There was a shift in pressure in the air about them, and the king could only sense a battle was raging downstairs. 'That's Terra…' he thought running forward, and his own Keyblade in hand. The two royal knights ran alongside with him.
"Your Majesty…" a wizard that donned blue clothing said. "This came for you." The white duck delivered the message addressed to the king. The paper was as white as snow, and in the middle was a red stamp, with the symbol for 'love' and 'sun'. the king read the contents of the letter, and looked off into the distance of the view he had of his country.
"Donald, Goofy," the king said looking at the two he trusted the most. "Get the gummi ship ready."
"Where are we goin your Majesty?" the taller knight asked.
"To go and help out some friends…" the king said softly as he got off of his throne. He walked forward as his two nights walked right alongside him. "No wonder…" he said to himself. "It's no surprise that we forgot them so quickly."
"Forgot who, King Mickey?" Donald the mage asked.
"Our friends," King Mickey replied turning left to the gummi hanger. "They're in trouble."
King Mickey heard a loud yell in the distance, and felt the earth shake quickly upon on the sound. In the distance the king saw pieces of the ground ripped, and displayed dangerously on the floor underneath their feet. A figure with two weapons was thrown once more into the air, and quickly the figure countered the attack, throwing one weapon in the direction of the attacker. The attacker blocked the weapon with ease, and the figure dove forward, knocking the figure with the large tomahawk. 'Terra…' the royal mouse thought looking at the young figure in an organization coat. The Keyblade in the young teen's hand was coated with blood, but the royal figure doubted that it was from his opponent.
"Your Majesty…?" the shield wielding knight, and the mage looked down at the figure by their side. He in turn looked at his two closest friends and knights. "Should we help him?"
"We'll wait a bit longer," he said deciding to follow the note in his pocket to the letter.
"Are you sure?" Donald Duck asked in a worried tone. He looked back at the dog like knight, and Goofy shrugged.
King Mickey pulled out the note in his pocket, and read one part carefully:
'Should you decide to help us, your Highness, we'll be more than grateful. If you decide to seek out Terra, just follow him closely. When you see that he can no longer hold out on his own, then you can intervene. I know that you yourself would like it if he conquered the darkness within his heart, right? Anyway as you read this I'm probably talking with the other two, I shall try and restore them as quickly as I can, wish me luck my King.'
In the fabricated Amber Pacific
"I'm not the one who gave that to you…" she said softly, pointing to the pendant on Light's necklace. The world around them began to break, there were thick cracks running along in the sky, and the walls began to disintegrate, like sand in the wind. The dusky sky of Amber Pacific began to fall down around the witch and the 'Hero'. The sky revealed its true appearance, as being light blue, with clouds made of different shades of white. "Or the other pendant…" she spoke as soft and hot sand began to encompass the soles of their feet. "Think…" she said softly, begging him. "Someone important to you, who cares for you with all her heart. Who would give her soul for you…" Ames paused for a moment.
The young teen looked around, there was a clear ocean as far s the eye could see, with a lone little piece of land in the distance, that had a curved tree on it. He looked to the side, and noticed a girl with red hair sitting by the shore, holding out a little shell. 'It's that girl…' he thought trying to walk forward once more. 'Wait but this is my…'
"Light!" he turned around quickly noticing his friend. She was still mad at him for what he did, but she came after him no less. Dark stood next to him, and she curved her body forward, trying to catch her breath. She looked up and noticed a girl who looked like her. She felt some sort of strange emotion, when she spoke her name:
"Ames…" she said softly. At that point Light noticed that Ames smiled genuinely for the first time. "It's you…"
"Hey… Sunny," the girl with brown skin and silver hair said smiling. "It's been a really long time." With that Ames completely destroyed the image of the area, and they were back in a familiar white passageway.
"What's the deal…?" Dark asked. "I can't remember my real name…"
"It's because," she was cut off quickly.
"I'll tell you why…" the replica materialized in front of Ames. "It's because she's trying to take away your identities. Without names, you don't have a sense of identity, you don't have a place to belong." He looked at Dark. "She's finally made a name for herself, and you come along…"
"Shut your mouth!" Light said pulling out his Keyblade once more. "You're a replica, so don't go saying things you can't understand!"
"The pendant you have…" Dark began to speak up. "It's a fake… I hope you realize that, I couldn't find a trace of his scent on there anywhere… Or of the person who gave it to you…." She sighed for a moment and started to walk forward once more, she tried to ignore the piercing gaze of the replica. Moments ago he had helped her, but that was his plan all along, he had tricked her.
Ames looked away, she knew she was guilty. In her mind memories of Light and Dark were running through her head. The hardships the two endured, they left behind friends and family who cared for them deeply. 'They experienced love…' she thought looking into the eyes of Light, and then at Dark's eyes. 'They've known betrayal… They know what it means to be their own person.' She smiled slightly, avoiding Dark's gaze once more. Without names, or memories, she knew that those two would be lost if it weren't for the fact of that very strong and unbreakable bond that not even she could shatter. 'They've got an unbreakable friendship…' she thought feeling remorse, and looked down at her hands. 'What do I have?' she asked herself.
Another memory rushed into her head, it seemed to be coming too fast:
"…you're my light…" it was the same silver hared teen from before.
"Darkness can't be light," the female speaker said sadly and she closed her hands and sighed shaking her head. "Why am I your light? Why do you think I'm your light?"
"Why am I your light?" the male speaker asked crossing his arms over his chest. The female speaker opened her mouth but closed her mouth since she couldn't really answer the question herself. "It's hard to answer that. I just… It's what my heart says, that's what yours says too, right?" he asked her.
"There's someone who is special to you," Ames said addressing to Dark. "I'm sorry for taking away the memories you created with him…"
"Apologize to Light too…" she said softly, looking at the confused state Light's expression showed.
"The girl who is most important to you…" Ames said looking at the royal figure of the pendant, "she…"
With Xauqa and Nusvext
Nusvext discarded his black coat, and sighed in content, the room temperature within the area was too hot for a coat. Nusvext was wearing black pants and a faded amber and black shirt. He quickly took one of the drinks on the table and looked at the green colored can, that was labeled 'Squash XIII' and it depicted a yellow lemon cut in half with a green background. He lifted the little metallic tab, and drank it nosily. Xauqa looked at him from the corner of her eye and shook her head in disappointment. Number 11 looked up at the white ceiling and then to the window in the far off distance. Tables surrounded the two of them with food, they were celebrating something.
"Hey…" she said looking at the blonde for a moment. "Can you drink that with a little more etiquette?"
He burped and placed the can down.
"Obviously not…" Xauqa said taking a can of her own and slowly drinking the citrus beverage.
"Hey come on, girly assassin, what's a celebration without living it up?" he asked happily and grabbed the bucket of cooked chicken. He looked up at her, and noticed what she was wearing. A simple pair of blue jeans and a black shirt, with a rose made out of a red blood splattered silhouette, and a pair of earrings. He stuffed a small piece of chicken into his mouth and smiled slightly.
"Yeah…" she said softly and smiled looking down at the lone flower petal that fell on the top of the drink in her hand. She pushed back several strands of blue hair and looked at the window once more. She stopped for a moment and watched Nusvext as he ate nosily; he was ready to eat all of the chicken in the bucket. "Umm…"
The blonde sighed after swallowing his piece of cooked poultry and looked at Xauqa for a moment and sighed in content:
"Look you guys!" a young girl with shoulder length layered blue hair stood on her tip-toes and pointed up at the night sky before them. Three pairs of blue eyes watched as stars colored the sky with their silvery streaks moving through the celestial area above their heads.
She smiled:
"Isn't this awesome?!" she asked both of the boys in back of her.
The two younger ones from the three smiled and watched the heavens display the orchestrated vision right before their very eyes. The girl grabbed the hand of the younger figure, and the two of them smiled happily while blushing slightly. The older figure placed his arms around the two o f them and laughed:
"Picture prefect moment, wouldn't you say?"
Nusvext sighed snapping back into reality, and noticed that Xauqa was staring at him with some interest. She swished the drink around in her hand, watching some petals fall down from her small actions. She looked down at the green covered drink for a moment and sighed.
"You're drooling, Nusvext," she said with an amused look on her face. In any case she leaned forward and looked around the several carton buckets that the two of them had bought for their celebration. Nusvext growled for a moment and noticed that he wasn't drooling, and so he instead grabbed another piece of chicken and stuffed it into his mouth.
"…" the blue hared member made a slight noise of disapproval.
"What?" a piece of chicken was being lynched from Nusvext's lips.
Xauqa overlooked some of the empty buckets and found at least two that contained some chicken. "Before you end up eating it all," she said frowning, "since there's still some chicken left, go get Ames and Xejicka. They're probably hungry…" she heard Nusvext bit into a piece of crispy skinned chicken. "You can be a stingy guy sometimes…" she mumbled glaring at him.
Nusvext growled for a moment and took another piece of chicken, and disappeared in a small display of electrical sparks, leaving his coat behind. He first appeared in the white room and expected to find Ames there drawing, or singing, but he didn't. He looked around the white room and noticed that the little makeshift cage was moving slightly with the little doll tipped over to the side.
He didn't thing anything of it for now and sighed:
"We should've invited them in the first place, I told her, but she never listens, wait bu…" the piece of chicken from his hand fell to the ground when he realized it. "They…" he disappeared once again leaving faint traces of his element behind and appeared in another computer room.
'This isn't funny…' he thought looking around. "Xejicka?!" he called out. "Where are you?!" he knew something was wrong, something in his gut told him, and it wasn't the chicken that made him feel like that.
The Savage Fighter walked towards the screen of the computer and tried to type in a couple of things while wondering where the two of them were. He pressed the 'enter' button and noticed a little sprite of Xejicka on the screen grinning and then sticking out their tongue, with the words 'the little fruity fighter'. Within seconds of the little display the screen started to distort and soon the screen turned off by itself. Nusvext grown and punched the screen with brute force and felt ticked off right on cue.
"That freakin' TRAITOR!" he yelled out in frustration. The element within his body caused the other computer screens to distort, and electricity was crackling around the area. He left the area and reappeared back in front of Xauqa and she noticed the angry look on his face.
"What---?"
"I've got to clear something… Don't eat without me, okay?" with that Nusvext picked up his discarded coat and black gloves, and placed it over him once more. Xauqa could sense something else that was troubling him, but she didn't want to say anything.
"So much for the party…" she said standing up and dusting herself off, she picked up the coat that was one a plain white chair in the corner of the room. With that Nusvext disappeared mumbling something, and it caught her off guard as she placed on black glove on her hand.
With Ames
Abedo walked forward and pulled out Soul Eater, letting it touch Dark's neck. 'Stupid replica…' Dark thought and jumped back pulling out the black coated Keyblade. Light reacted in the same way and pulled out his Keyblade as well. Abedo laughed slightly and shook his head.
"I just want the girl…" the replica said motioning his hand to the girl before him. Dark growled once more and gripped her weapon tightly, bringing it in front of her and the replica. Ames tried to step forward to avoid the battle that would ensue, but the replica stretched out his arm to get her to stop moving. "You said so yourself once Ames, you wanted to be someone…" his blue eyes looked back at Dark. "This is the only way that you can be someone…"
Dark blocked an attack from the blade, and tried to push the replica away from her. Light ran forward and gave Dark the extra strength to move the replica back, and she sighed in relief. Abedo jumped into the air and brought his weapon down, and the other two performed a dodge roll in the knick of time, avoiding the devastating below. The replica picked himself up and noticed the small crater from the impact of the attack he used. Dark growled for a moment and pulled out another keychain, and this time she decided to wield two Keyblades.
The girl ran forward and locked her weapon with the 'Soul Eater' of the replica, and used her legs and the strength from her arms to push forward. Light stood back ready to heal her, or provide some magical attack spells. Abedo strained a bit under the weight of the force, and bent his leg down slightly, but that was all she needed. She raised the new Keyblade once more and brought it down again, letting it connect with the 'Soul Eater'. Abedo jumped back, and from the corner of his eye he saw something flying right towards him. He felt a part of his arm become stiff with a sudden touch of coldness wrap around his right arm. He moved back and Dark was about to hit the side of shoulder, but she stopped. 'I can't kill him…' she thought and pulled back.
"You're weak…" the replica said taking the opportunity and she felt his left hand grasp her throat. "You don't deserve to call yourself the original…"
"Dark!" Light yelled out running forward with his weapon ready at hand. Ames stepped in quickly and Light stopped.
"Stop it, Abedo…" she noticed that the grip around Dark's neck was getting a bit tighter. "STOP!" she yelled out, and the replica's eyes widened. "Just stop it…" Ames said walking forward. The replica in front of her fell to his knees, and his eyes were slowly dimming. Dark coughed, and pulled back away from the replica, and felt her Keyblades slowly slide away, skimming across her fingertips as they landed on the tiles of the floor with a loud clatter.
The teens looked at the fallen replica, and noticed that he had stopped moving. 'He's dead…' Ames thought looking down at the dim blue eyes; they didn't reflect any life in them.
"Aw, isn't that just terrible…" a voice was heard echoing through the area, and they noticed that some electrical showers were starting to appear in the form of a body, and quickly a foot stepped out of the electricity. Ames felt someone place a firm hand on her shoulder, and her eyes widened slightly. 'Chicken…' she thought smelling a faint trace of the cooked bird. She looked up and noticed a familiar blonde individual and looked away. Nusvext sighed for a moment and looked back at Dark and Light. "You went and broke his spirit…" he looked at the fallen replica once more, "Okay, so it's more like you smashed it to be honest…"
'I knew this was going to happen, but then, why am I still in shock?' Ames asked herself within the sanctuary of her mind.
With Ruxsud
Rax fell forward once more, from a devastating punch knocking the wind out of him. Ruxsud watched as something fell from the pocket of the younger member's coat, and he picked it up, several key chains were tied together on a string and he decided to transport them through a dark portal he created right on the spot. Rax looked up, his blue eyes burning with rage.
"Don't…" he called out weakly, trying to stand up once more, but it was no use, the key chains he had taken from Light were gone. Ruxsud pulled back noticing that the younger and former member was standing up once more, with his weapons ready at hand. He ran forward and slashed through the air. Ruxsud felt the pressure around him change, and brought his large tomahawk forward, to protect himself from the gust projection, it made a small crack on his red and black tomahawk and he brought the large weapon down against the ground, making the earth under their feet shift once more.
'What was he doing with those things…?' Ruxsud asked himself watching Rax leap, at that point Ruxsud swung his tomahawk forward, and watched as Rax moved back through the air as he connected with the weapon. 'He's losing his touch…' number 5 thought running forward, and slamming him down to the ground.
With Xejicka
Something from within the pocket of her black coat was moving and she pulled out the little black cell phone. Flames decorated the out cover of it and a flashing screen with the name 'Xehart' dancing about the small panel. She chuckled and answered it, hearing the voice of a familiar friend.
"Ah, Ms. Flurry of the Dancing Flames," Xehart said chuckling. "How are things on your end?"
"Just as the girl said…" Xejicka said leaning against one of the white colored pillars. "So that means you got the warning too?"
"She sent me one before this whole mess started… those journals of hers are pretty helpful." Xehart said he sounded amazed.
"There's another presence around there…" Xejicka said softly, and looked down at the ground before her. She could feel something shake her slightly. "I think Ruxsud is having some fun with our guest…"
"Guest?" Xehart asked.
"Yeah, Ames…she…" Xejicka paused, deciding it was better that he didn't know. "Anyway I'll be coming back home in a while, so don't wait up, okay?"
"Don't get yourself killed now, okay?" with that Xehart clicked off, and Xejicka placed her flame decorated cell phone back into her coat pocket and whistled her own version of 'Fly me to the Moon'. Number 8 walked down the hallway and did a little shuffle as she whistled through the empty hallway. Things were looking up for her today. 'Now I just have to wait again, what fun…' she thought sarcastically and looked around. Light and Dark were still taking their precious time getting through the annoying obstacle. 'At least they'll get rid of the fruit…' she chuckled.
A/N: You know what to do one review please!