Disclaimer: If I was Nomura, I wouldn't be writing fanfic. I'd be sitting in a penthouse somewhere with a hot tub and indoor bowling alley and all the strawberry daiquiris and chocolate cake I could ever want, contemplating my current fortune made off of the Kingdom Hearts franchise and considering making my next fortune on Kingdom Hearts III, which I will create with a kickass storyline, kickass graphics, and just maybe a return of the Organization the fans love so much.
But unfortunately I'm not Nomura.
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Not That I Care
10
Kingdom Animalia
Do you believe
In what you see?
Motionless wheel
Nothing is real.
--Zero 7
Demyx said that there was a surprise in store concerning the Pride Lands, but Roxas never expected anything like this.
First of all, he's a lion. A freaking lion. Well, a lion cub to be exact, which is kind of annoying and damaging to Roxas's ego, but that's okay. He's still a freaking lion. Fur, tail, claws, fangs, paws, the beginnings of a mane—the works. It's awkward at first; Roxas hasn't gone around on all fours since…well, he can't remember since, but he's told that babies do it all the time. There's also an achy feeling that Roxas figures comes from stretching his very essence into an inhuman shape, though that's starting to fade. And the Keyblade is rather unwieldy since he has to carry it between his teeth, which not only makes him look ridiculous but makes him tip over a lot. Roxas never thought he would so appreciate opposable thumbs. But he has claws that can gut a zebra and teeth that can kill a water buffalo and there is power surging through every vessel and muscle unlike anything he has ever experienced before, and that makes up for any of the lion-shape's shortcomings.
Second of all, there's the Pride Lands themselves. They're beautiful. Wide grassland stretching miles and miles in every direction, an azure, cloudless sky, herds of zebra, gazelles, water buffalo, flocks of incredibly colored birds—everything Roxas hoped to find in an African savanna and more. Pride Rock is something else entirely; a giant rock formation like fingers against the sky. Roxas wonders what the view is like from the top, and decides that one day he has to find out.
"Man, every time I come here, I'm telling you," Demyx says beside him, laughing. Unlike Roxas, Demyx is a wild dog, with huge ears and a wolf's grin. "It's like music, man, total escapism. No more of that Organization bullshit."
Roxas bears his lion teeth in a grin. This is his third time here, and he couldn't agree more. Maybe it has to do with all the openness, the wide savanna and wider sky, or the animal power rushing through his veins, but here Roxas feels free. Totally and completely. There's no sense of Nobody-ness here. There's no Organization. There's hardly any Heartless, at least so far. There's no Saïx. There are no steadily worsening reports of the Oblivion Project. Even Roxas's headaches aren't as bad when he comes here. They're getting increasingly worse back at the castle, coupled now with fatigue and dizziness. But there's none of that here. Here it's just the sky, the savanna, and the pulse of life all around.
"I could live here," Roxas says, bobbing his head as if in agreement.
"Oh totally," Demyx says, sitting down to scratch an itch with his hind leg. "I would too, but there's not much water, plus it'd be hard to get a band together out here."
"A band? Are you serious?"
"Well, sure. That's the first thing I'm doing once I get a heart—getting a band together. I've wanted to pretty much forever; though, I suppose a sitar never really factored into it. Or, yanno, losing my heart and all. I was in a band before that though—played guitar. Anyway, music's the only thing I'm really good at."
He says this last with a touch of bitterness, despite his wild dog smile.
"You're good with water, and you're fine at fighting."
"And that's the only thing that matters with us, isn't it?" Demyx says, and he laughs. "Maybe I'm okay, but I don't like fighting, and that's a major part of it. Right? All the other guys like it. I'm just not cut out for it. Aside from Zexion, I'm the worst fighter in the Organization."
"Which isn't saying much," Roxas points out, though he thinks he understands. The only reason he likes killing Heartless is because they're the ones who took his heart—and his memories. That's reason enough for Roxas and the rest of the Organization, but Demyx seems closer to his past than any of the others. There are times when Roxas wonders if Demyx really doesn't have a heart.
Demyx laughs. "Yeah, but it's enough." He points his snout westwards, just to the left of Pride Rock. "I thought I saw some Heartless lurking in the shadows over there the other day. I say we check it out."
Roxas bares his teeth in a smile as he trots after Demyx.
"But taking the scenic route, right?" he says.
Demyx laughs again, barking a little. "Have you looked around you lately?"
"That's my point," Roxas says, looking out across the savanna again. The passage of the two predators startles a herd of gazelle into a run. Roxas can smell them, and a lion's purr rises in his chest. It's amazing how much he can smell. The hot, dusty earth, the dry grass, the distant watering hole, the animals. Each individual zebra and gazelle and bird and mouse has its own distinct smell. It's overwhelming, and Roxas closes his eyes briefly as he inhales. There should be names for all these smells, he thinks.
He opens his eyes again in time to see three lionesses instigating an attack against a zebra with a bad leg. They move as if they're made of light and air.
I really could live here, Roxas thinks again. I have to show this place to Axel someday.
-------
Roxas didn't expect to find Heartless. He knew Demyx only brought them up to change the subject. Which is why it's a surprise when they find a veritable horde of them in the shadowed place where the hyenas live.
The hyenas themselves regard the wild dog and the lion cub from a distance as the two fight, as if taking notes, chuckling to themselves in an eerie and rather distracting way. It's hard enough to fight with a Keyblade on four legs without having to listen to the annoying cackles of the hyenas.
"You'd think they'd run for it," Demyx says during a lull in the battle. He's up on his hind legs with his sitar between his front paws. "They have to sense that Heartless are dangerous."
"They're scavengers," Roxas says. "They're waiting to see if we die or not. If we do, they can pick at us. If we don't, they think we'll be too weak to fight them off. Either way, they're looking to get something out of this. Hyenas are like that."
"On nobody's side except their own, huh?" Demyx says with a grin, eyeing a Shadow Heartless that's creeping up from the side. "Kind of like Nobodies then."
"In any case, I'm more worried about the Heartless right now," Roxas says, and the Keyblade appears between his teeth as he pounces for a strange-looking Heartless he has never seen before. It almost seems animal-like.
It takes awhile, but the Heartless are eventually defeated. Roxas has a few cuts and can feel darkness matting his fur; Demyx is leaking darkness from a wound on his haunches. Roxas looks around, expecting to have to fight the hyenas now, but they've disappeared.
"Guess they decided we're too much for them," Roxas says, sitting down, panting. Demyx lies down with a grateful sigh, exhausted.
"That was interesting," Demyx says. "I've seen one or two here, but never so many at once. I wonder what it means. And did you see those odd-ball ones?"
"Like rhinoceroses?"
"Rhinoceri?"
"Rhinoceroseses?"
"Rhinos—it's easier. Yeah, them."
"They're tough," Roxas says, frowning.
Demyx chuckles. "You look like such a lion when you do that."
"Shut up. We're going to have to report this. The Superior will want to know."
"True," Demyx agrees. "Let's head back then."
"Well…" Roxas begins, stops, then decides to go for it. "The shift's not over."
Demyx looks at him, and a tooth gets caught on his lip as he smiles. "Yeah. There might be others wandering around."
"You never know."
"You never know," Demyx agrees, his tail thumping. "We should go out and hunt for more Heartless while conveniently enjoying the scenery and fresh air."
"We should," Roxas says with a solemn nod. "It's very important."
Demyx bobs his head in agreement, grinning widely now.
It's getting easier to talk with Demyx as if he's a friend. Demyx is kind of like Axel, except without the abrasiveness, the sarcasm, and the feeling that if things went hairy there's a chance he'd stab you in the back and leave you to die.
And the mean-spirited personality. And the antagonistic relationship with just about everyone else in the Organization. And the tendency to mock anything anyone ever says. And the hair.
Alright, Demyx technically isn't at all like Axel. The only thing the two really have in common is a sense of humor that doesn't—or doesn't always, in Axel's case—involve killing things.
Which is a rather nice change. The castle is a suffocating place without at least some sense of humor. Before, Axel was the only one to provide it. And back in the castle, Axel is the only one to provide it; Demyx becomes a lot less interesting when the rest of the Organization is around. Which is another reason that Roxas likes the Pride Lands. Demyx can be himself here.
In spite of the fur and teeth.
He's a nice guy, Roxas thinks, watching him. Too nice for the Organization. He's completely beholden to them.
"Well, let's go hunt down those other Heartless, shall we?" Demyx says, hauling himself to his feet.
"I'm afraid Roxas has wasted enough time in this pointless world," says a new voice, and Demyx freezes where he stands. Roxas's eyes narrow and he looks over his shoulder; he'd know that voice anywhere.
Saïx is standing behind them, though at first glance it's hard to tell. He's in the form of a leopard with dark, almost-black fur. The only giveaway is the ruff of bluish fur on his head.
He looks himself over and smiles vaguely. "Well, isn't this interesting. This is quite the form—sleek, powerful, deadly."
"Why are you here, Saïx?" Roxas snaps. Demyx hasn't moved, and his eyes are wide. The fur on his hackles is standing on end.
Case in point, Roxas thinks, and sighs to himself.
Saïx lifts a paw to inspect his razor-sharp claws. "And aren't you two simply adorable; a puppy dog and a kitten. Quite the duo. I must say, you're utterly terrifying."
"Yeah? And who do you think would win, a lion against a leopard?" Roxas says in growl. Saïx eyes him over his paw. It was a dumb thing to say. Leopards are dangerous. They're secretive. They're the ghosts of the savanna. A full-grown lion would have no problem with a leopard—Roxas thinks—but a leopard could easily kill a cub.
Roxas frowns to himself. You're thinking about this like we're animals. Stop that.
Then, Am I so sure he's not an animal?
"Xemnas wants you to go immediately to Wonderland," Saïx says in a low tone. "It seems there is trouble there."
"Why me?"
"Everyone else is busy, I'm afraid," Saïx says languidly. "The new worlds are filling rapidly with Heartless, and Hollow Bastion is seeing an increase in numbers as well. While we fight, you two are gallivanting around the savanna watching the pretty striped ponies."
"But," Demyx says, swallowing and mustering his courage, "there are Heartless here too. We just fought a whole group of them. New ones, too, ones we haven't seen before. I might need Roxas with me."
Saïx's yellow eyes settle on Demyx with a leopard's distaste. "I'm sure you'll be just fine, Demyx. And even if you do die, it won't be very great a loss."
Demyx's ears are back against his head and he's glaring at Saïx, but he doesn't move or speak. The leopard snorts and turns its head to Roxas.
"The Superior does not like to have his orders ignored, Roxas."
Roxas looks sidelong toward Demyx, but Demyx isn't looking at him.
"Fine," Roxas says. Anything to get away from Saïx at this point. He hates to leave Demyx on his own, but orders are orders.
He turns tail and opens a dark portal. "I'm gone," he says, and is.
-------
It's a sea of darkness, peppered with little glowing eyes. It's like looking down to see the night sky. Roxas has never seen so many Heartless in one place, though most are the weaker kind. Not that it matters; their numbers make up for the weakness. As soon as he carves a hole through them, more spring up in the place of the fallen. The sky above is lit with rose light, cast by the tiny hearts that flow upward in a veritable stream.
"'It seems there is trouble there,'" Roxas snarls to himself as he swings his Keyblade through a mass of Shadows. "Yeah, just a little."
Roxas goes into a crazy spin, his Keyblade whipping into a silver blur around him. There's so many of them. He needs to get his back to something. He's in the queen's garden right now, and there isn't much in the way of walls or cliffs; just large hedges, which are no problem for the Heartless to break through.
This is bad.
The Heartless are swarming him again, a tidal wave of dark bodies, glowing eyes and little antennae. Roxas swings, dodges, thrusts, swings again. Fire explodes in the corner of his eye and Roxas ducks as three Red Nocturnes zip by overhead like flying red lanterns. Two Large Bodies charge him, forcing Roxas to dive aside, straight into a mass of more Shadows.
Alright, Roxas thinks, no more playing around.
Roxas swings his Keyblade in a wide arc, taking out six or seven Heartless at once. Then he takes off running. The Heartless react with shrill cries of surprise and follow.
Roxas makes it through the gate into the area beyond the queen's garden, a foresty place like one of Dr. Seuss's nightmares. As soon as he's there he rushes for a corner walled in by bushes and giant mushrooms. There he skids to a stop and spins around, waiting for the Heartless.
The Yellow Operas, Heartless like yellow lanterns, are the first to appear, followed by their red and blue kin. The Shadows and Large Bodies come bursting in after, a wave of darkness about to break against a cliff. Roxas grins to himself; they've played right into his trap.
And that's when his head seems to split down the middle.
Roxas drops to his knees. The headache is like no other. They've been getting steadily worse, so he should have seen this kind of pain coming, should have been ready for it—but nothing could have prepared him for this pain.
Roxas lets go of the Keyblade and it vanishes. He presses both hands to his head and screams. He can't help himself; it hurts so much. Everything looks as if it's been painted red and his vision is flashing, blurring, pulsing. A dark wave is coming toward him, and Roxas can do nothing. Nothing matters, nothing exists outside this pain.
But then, as suddenly as it began, the pain fades. Roxas's vision goes white. He squints against the light and the shape of a person appears in the whiteness.
The person is a girl. She's about Roxas's age, with pinkish hair and eyes like the ocean. She isn't looking at Roxas; her gaze is somewhere else, on something in the distance, something Roxas can't see.
"It's okay," the girl says, in a voice like clear water. "I believe in you."
Kairi…
Then, just like that, the girl is gone. There's a flash of brilliant light and Roxas's hands close on what feel like Keyblade handles. His vision clears.
Two Keyblades. He's holding two Keyblades.
Two?! How?!
They're completely different from the original. Both are ornate, looking even less like keys than before. Both have handles that look like wings. One is black; the other is a silvery-white. The black one has a powerful, foreboding air to it; the silver-white one feels warm beneath Roxas's gloved hand. Roxas can feel sheer power running through both of them. It reminds him of being a lion.
Roxas looks up and sees the Heartless bearing down on him. He looks at the Keyblades in his hands.
Alright. This works too.
He leaps to his feet with a roar. The Heartless crash against him, and Roxas swings both Keyblades. He spins, twirls, dances, and the Heartless go up in smoke around him. The sky fills with pink hearts. Roxas plows on through, both Keyblades out at his sides like wings, cutting through Heartless as he goes. At the back of the mass are the slower Large Bodies; Roxas catapults through the air and cuts them both down at the same time. Yellow Operas rocket toward him from behind and Roxas spins, slicing through all of them with one slash of his twin Keyblades.
The Heartless are thinning out, but Roxas wastes no time. He attacks again and again, giving the Heartless no time to regroup. He can barely see for the all the black smoke, but it doesn't matter; the Keyblades seem to sense them. Roxas leaps through the air to land behind a mass of Shadows and cuts through them. A Green Requiem, lantern-shaped, moves in to try and heal the dying Heartless from high in the air where Roxas can't reach. Roxas tosses the black Keyblade into the air and slices it in half, while he cuts through an attacking Shadow with the white Keyblade. He rolls and throws out a hand to catch the second Keyblade as it falls.
The last of the Heartless charge him in a cluster. Roxas leaps forward to meet them. He spins once, twice, three times, slicing through Heartless as he goes. The final Shadow tries to make a run for it. Roxas jumps into the air and plants both Keyblades straight through it into the ground. The Shadow vanishes. Roxas pulls his Keyblades free and stands up straight, ready.
But the Wonderland forest is silent. The Heartless are gone.
Roxas's legs give out. He sinks to the ground with an exhausted gasp. Both Keyblades disappear as he braces himself on his hands. He has never fought so hard.
Two Keyblades…how did that happen?
That's something else that has never happened. Two Keyblades? He's heard that there can be thousands of Keyblades at any given time, but he has never heard of anyone being able to wield more than one. They didn't even look like normal Keyblades.
And then there's Kairi…
Kairi. Her name is Kairi. But how do I know that? I've never seen her before. I know I've never met her, but…she seems familiar. Like déjà vu.
What does that mean? What does all this mean?
Roxas shakes his head. Right now it doesn't matter. Whatever happened, it saved his life.
"Bravo, brava," says a voice from above. "A well-fought fight, or perhaps a well-fight fought."
Roxas nearly snaps his neck looking upward. The owner of the voice is a cat perched on a tree limb above his head. The cat is striped pink and purple and is grinning at him in a rather disconcerting way.
"Who the hell are you?" Roxas demands.
The cat's grin broadens and as Roxas watches it disappears, except for the grin.
"A Cheshire cat," says the grin. "Though what do I know? Those dark things are truly a bother. Are you a ray of light, then, to dispel the shadows? Though if a shadow is cast when the light is blocked, then what casts the shadow?"
"You're making no sense," Roxas says, watching as the cat reappears without its tail or legs. It's a bit disorienting to watch. The cat must be one of the Wonderland locals. Though it's strange; none of the world inhabitants have ever spoken to him before. Usually they can't even see Nobodies.
"I should hope not," the Cheshire cat says, getting up on its hind legs and tiptoeing along its branch. "You're a half of one, a one of two. The absence of light and the absence of dark. What do you get from neither and nor? Nothing. But nothing is no one and no one is nothing. So what are you, then?"
"A Nobody," Roxas says, wondering if he should be telling this to a Somebody.
"Well, nobody can do this," the Cheshire cat says as it lifts its own head off and holds it high. "Does that make me a Nobody?"
"You're crazy."
"Undoubtedly." The Cheshire cat puts its head on right and lays down, staring at Roxas and grinning. "But so are you. The two of us, we're not quite here and not quite there, though that's neither here nor there. What happens, when the two meet? Does one and one make two, or does one and one make one? What happens to Nothing when it becomes Something? Does the Nothing disappear, or does the Nothing stay?"
As if to prove its point, the Cheshire cat disappears its purples stripes, leaving a sort of shell behind. Along with the ever-present grin.
Roxas frowns to himself. The conversation is getting uncomfortable. The Cheshire cat seems to know more than it's letting on.
What happens to Nothing when it becomes Something?
"Get out of here," Roxas snaps. "You're annoying."
The Cheshire cat starts laughing, and the pink stripes begin to fade. "The two will be one. Nothing lasts forever, except for nothing." The grin is fading now too as the cat starts singing. "All a-mimsy were the borogroves, and the momeraths outgrabe…"
The grin fades with the last haunting note of the song. Roxas is left alone.
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Finally, finally Chapter 10 is up! I am so, so sorry for the long wait. Work just kept piling on and piling on—before I knew it, it was finals and I had five major papers to turn in, and then as soon as I was on break I had work and the Christmas rush to deal with. But finally, here it is, after staying up long hours to finish it—Chapter 10! Think of it is a belated Christmahanukwanzaayule present. Or maybe a New Year's present.
Hope there are still people reading! And I hope you like this chapter. It took me awhile to come up with a plot for the chapter. I hope it doesn't disappoint. I'm glad I got to incorporate the TLK world.
The title is a pun. Heh.
Everyone who saw Alice in Wonderland and wanted your own Cheshire cat, raise your hands.
Anyway, I'm sorry again that it took so long to get this up. But here it is, at long last. Hope you enjoy! Feedback is still candy for my soul.