Hello's... sorry for the long wait- hope you still enjoy... so yeah's... enjoy and thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: none of the kingdom hearts and final fantasy characters are mine.
Chapter Ten: Nobody's Enemies
The crowds of people populating the streets began to drop in number the further out of the city they traveled. By the time the city was receding behind them, they were completely alone much to Riku's relief. The constant stare-glances had started getting on his nerves a while ago. Even with a Nobody, an old enemy too, following close to him was far more preferable than all those eyes.
Vale Valley's unmistakable blue crystal walls rose high on either side of their little party. The sunlight shining down from above bounced back and forth over the many angled, smooth surfaces of rock, tracing down paler blue lines. With the faint glitter, they almost looked like frozen lightning bolts. The rubble path, uneven but fortunately not made of the same material as the rest of the valley, twisted and zig-zagged back and forth at sharp angles, leaving only a few feet ahead and behind them visible.
Riku pushed their pace faster, tracing their route in his head along with their feet. In another twists they would come out of the narrow valley path to an open, level ground. From there, they would be able to see the rest of the gorge in its entirety, and the castle that Maleficent had labeled Villain's Vale- maybe as a thin, wry joke- once upon a time. There they could stop and Riku could relay the rest of the plan to the redhead.
The ground lurched violently under his feet; Riku came to a halt, eyes turning towards the shaking earth. Jagged lines branched out from a central, larger crack in the earth, racing forwards and back between his feet. He winced at the bright light shining up through the dirt. A thought raced through his head as he leapt off to one side, shoes sliding in the dirt, shoulder bumping into the wall: Magic- Maleficent must have seen us coming somehow-
The lines raced after him, now accompanied with audible crunches and earthly crumbles along with the light. The second violent shudder made his knees buckle, made him struggle and flail to remain standing. Out of the corner of his eye, Riku saw the Nobody vanish with a small trace of darkness lingering in his space afterwards. Oh thanks- The earth heaved again, and suddenly fell apart from under the silver-haired teen's feet. He began falling immediately. Shit-!
Sensing, perhaps, its master's predicament, the keyblade appeared; Riku wrapped his fingers tightly around the red handle with both hands, and twisted his upper body around, slamming the keyblade's dark blade into the blue rock wall. The vibration from the impact traveled up his arms, made him grit his teeth. Riku risked a glance down. His stomach made a nauseous flip.
The ground had plummeted away- pieces still drifted and fell down off the sides to a distance that must have been twenty or so feet futher down, the full valley path across. Such a fall wouldn't have killed him, but it would have surely broken a leg at least.
The high-pitched chiming of metal clashing together drifted down towards him, softly. Riku turned his gaze upwards, along the blue rock side, with its top impossibly far overhead. Lightning flashes of sparks flew out into the air with every crash. Maleficent- or, more likely, Pete- and Axel already battling it out, Riku guessed, bracing his legs against the wall to help lessen the aching strain in his arm muscles. Now how to get up there…
Another low rumble bubbled up from below. The tremors flowed through the wall, into the keyblade's dark form, and ultimately shaking through his body all together. It kept growing, until Riku felt his muscles give out on him; his fingers lost their grip- his feet scrapped uselessly at the shaking wall.
"Whoa-ah!" His body fell backwards in a slow arch. The black bat-wing like keyblade shook free of its spot and fell down after him. It disappeared in a flash of violet light and reappeared closer to his right hand. Riku grabbed the handle once again. Tucking his limbs close to his body, he twisted himself around so that he was right-side up again, arms outstretched to slow his descent (barely) knees slightly bent. The air rushing past his face blew the long bangs out of his eyes; he saw where he would be landing long before impact.
The force of the landing raced like lightning up his legs, striking intense pins into his ankles and knees in particular. The valley's loose dirt over the smooth shiny black surface skirted out from his feet like marbles, spilling Riku's already immobilized body back onto his rear. The boy felt the curved from flex underneath him, and then he was in the air again- this time flying backwards blindly. Fire raced up an arm.
"Gah-!" His back slammed into something solid and unmoving, forcing out all of the air in his lungs and forming dark spots before his eyes. Luck alone kept the keyblade in one hand. He glanced at his hurt arm, noting the slash over his skin- not deep, as far as he could tell, but it was definitely bleeding, definitely cut.
A predatory growl, not unlike the shifting ground earlier, permeated the air. Riku forced his head up, bracing his free hand against the rock had struck to keep himself standing. Baleful yellow eyes glared at him from a reptilian face. A single set of thin, gray, whiskers swept off the sides of its long snout, moving slightly with every breath. Sharp curved fangs poked out from the sides of its mouth, almost yellow in color. The beast's triangular head rested at the top of a slender neck, which curved back seamlessly into the rest of its serpentine body; two stubby sets of legs held it up off the uneven ground. Large black scales layered its head and back like plates of armor; the belly and front part of its neck had white, rectangular scales. The tip of its tail curled up like a scorpion's, but flate and blade-like.
The dragon's nostrils- two nearly invisible slits- flared, eyes flashing. Its speed matched its size; Riku had to jump aside to evade the creature's striking bite. He ran up alongside its neck, cut arm throbbing and dripping blood behind him, slashing at its body as he went.
Sparks flew. The dragon's roar, pure unadulterated rage, filled the new canyon. Riku smirked, dodging to the side behind a boulder as the sharp edges of the tail darted at him.
A disgruntled growl- and then a rush of warm air gusted past the sides of his face; it stung where it touched him. Riku winced, trying to huddle in close to himself; his eyes feel don onto the blade in his one hand and widened. The dark metal had gone soft, and looked more like wax than metal. Droplets were beginning to slide off the edge onto the ground, leaving pock-marks in the blade. Acid? Great-
The boy closed his eyes, trying to summon up the inner energy Maleficent had told him of years ago. He was a few months out of practice, but everything was coming back, fortunately very quickly too.
He let a few more seconds pass before he ducked out into the open. In his unarmed hand he held the summoned energy; as the dragon pivoted its aim to follow his movements, Riku threw the wind spell into the yellowish fog. The magic cut rhough the fog, even going so far to slamming into the beast's face. Yes!
The swelling triumph disappeared. It hadn't taken the dragon long to recover; Riku's body nearly froze as he spied both fangs and tail striking directly at him. He leapt high and forwards, felt the air slice past his legs and side with the beast's body, felt the jarring shock of the ground as he landed again and started running forward with his momentum.
The dragon's unprotected middle curved in directly ahead. Riku gathered up his strength, drawing the keyblade back. A savage cry broke out through his mouth. The beast was up close to him now, the black scales reflected him on surfaces as big as dinner plates. He brought the blade down; dark violet light erupted out on either side with the impact, and the keyblade sunk in through the scales, cracking them apart.
The dragon roared: in anger, in pain.
The length of its body suddenly whipped past, taking the keyblade out of his hands for once and for all. He saw it disappear in a flash of violet light as his feet stumbled backwards unsteadily. A wide part of its body flashed towards him; unable to duck, the scales smacked into his whole body, smothering him. The sharp edges grated at his skin and clothes- anything that came out of his mouth went unheard; all Riku could hear was the roar's of the dragon and the whoosh of air as he was flung backwards.
This time the body landed roughly on the rubble, somersaulting backwards by his own momentum, helpless to stop. Riku came to a stop face down, body screaming in pain, unable to get his breath back. He rolled his eyes up to find the dragon, struggling to get back up. A cough rumbled his whole body; blood sprayed the ground in tiny red dots.
The roaring came to an end, trailing into a growl. Riku found the dragon, and it stared back at him, knowing and gloating. Its long body was curled and coiled protectively around its hurt middle- nothing but a tiny scratch it seemed now- bladed tail poised high in the air. It opened its mouth slowly, allowing him to see very little part of its many teeth and horrible dark purple forked tongue. The yellow glinted, silently laughing.
The dragon drew its neck and head back, and lashed forward for the finishing snap of its teeth.
We've got company
His senses brushed against the newcomer's presence a split second before the ground rumbled for the first time under their feet. Instincts took over- the valley, and Riku, warbled out of view for an instant, replaced instead by darkness. It lasted for just a second; when the teleportation was completed, Axel found himself a top the very valley wall they had been walking through, just a few feet away from the edge, glaring off a vaguely familiar, blue-eyed brunette.
Definitely not Maleficent.
Axel frowned. "Why are you attacking us? …Leon, isn't it..?" Wasn't that the name Sora hd cried out when they brunette started helping to fight a few Dusks?
Hearing his name seemed to break his paralysis. The blue eyes narrowed; Leon took two quick strides, and lunged forward with a wide sweep.
He caught the flash of silver and leapt backwards. The gunblade completed its arc, its owner was already charging again. This time Leon pulled up short, Lionheart held up over his head for a downwards slash.
As the blade came whistling down, Axel braced himself, raised his arms up over his head. He dug down, the act of summoning so well practiced that focusing wasn't necessary. In a twin burst of flames, the chakrams appeared in his hands- he tightened his grip, not even wincing at the sword's impact, directly in between two of the long spikes.
"Remember," Axel grunted, holding up Lionheart by one chakram and letting the other drop down, "you asked for it-" He darted forward, low to the ground; the sword blade whisked past his head, making horrible screeching as the chakram holding it up slid along down towards the hilt. His shoulder knocked into the brunette's midsection; overhead, Leon grunted. Axel swung the free chakram around to his opponent's unprotected side.
Sudden pressure built up on his bent knee. It disappeared quickly, taking the weight of the gunblade with it. The chakram sliced through empty air, just cutting into the brunette's denim jacket. Its owner stumbled to a landing a few feet away, unmistakeable blue eyes flashing hatred.
Axel smirked in reply, straightening up. The foot print on his knee went ignored.
The fight was on.
They both moved at the same time; Axel leapt off to the side around the brunette's next charge, crossing his arms across his body, and then let the chakrams loose at Leon's unprotected side. Flash of silver- Axel's feet slid to a stop, as he bent the chakram's to spin back into his hands instead of flying off randomly. The gunblade sliced through the air again; an arc of light sped towards him- Axel waited and at the last second brought it down onto the spell; the light stopped, bending at the touch of the metal, momentarily blinding him, disappeared. Easy.
Ha- that wasn't much of a spell-
The triumph was short lived. Axel's eyes widened in surprise. Leon hadn't wasted the opportunity, but used the few seconds to get in striking distance.
He warped, bracing himself against the abrupt dizziness the shifts between worlds brought with it, and reappeared out of the way.
The fight went on, exchanging blows, sidestepping decapitating swipes, and so on, back and forth. Sparks flew off the blades where they struck, neither striking a clear hit upon the other.
Leon was tiring- not in his efforts, but Axel saw the brunette staggering a few times, and how he had to start gasping for air.
Finally- the redhead delivered a blow which Leon caught with the gunblades, but not without being knocked back a few feet. Axel threw both chakrams after the brunette, before the latter could regain his balance. The spiked disks spun through the air faster than Leon could raise the gunblade in defense; one slashed deep into his sword's arm shoulder, the other cut his leg, just above the knee. Blood splattered the ground, darkened the clothing the brunette wore.
"Ugh-" Pain registered over the brunette's face, briefly winning over the defiance in his eyes. He fell to the ground, too exhausted, too hurt, to stay up on his feet. Still, he glared at the redhead, one hand kept a tight hold of Lionheart's hilt.
Axel could respect him for that. But the fight was over.
Both chakrams returned voluntarily to his hands- he held them in a loose, relaxed grip, considering what to do with his opponent, when an intense burst of light erupted up and out from the valley's walls. It left a sharp afterimage so that the two of them had to blink a lot to be rid of it.
Oh crap- Riku!
Axel glanced back at Leon, absent-mindedly gesturing with one hand, "Stay there." Thin bands of flames sprouted up from the ground near the brunette's ankles and knees, and circled over his limbs, holding them tight. Leon struggled, but the spell held and he soon gave up. Axel nodded to himself and turned away. Here we go again- the redhead took a steadying breath, and teleported.
The mouth opened wider, saliva-glistening teeth growing larger and larger. Just seconds away from snapping him apart.
All Riku saw was a blur. The dark, indistinguishable shape flew up to the dragon's face; he saw the beast snap its mouth shut, twisting away as something screeched up the side of its face. As it arched up and back into the air, the dragon roared.
Someone stepped in front of his vision. Riku arched his neck up as the newcomer reached a pale, slim arm into the air and caught a familiar oversized shuriken. Yuffie's gaze never wavered off of the beast as she addressed him, "You okay back there?"
The teen grunted. "Yeah- I'm fine."
"Oh good- I'll be right back!" The petit ninja disappeared in a puff of a smoke that blinded Riku for a few seconds. When it dissipated, he found Yuffie floating up in the air in a dying cloud of more smoke, the shuriken held behind her back; it glowed in a bright green color. The dragon's attention was solely on her.
By some unknown signal, Yuffie spun her whole upper body around, releasing the shuriken with a wordless yell. This time the blur had a greenish tint to it, and the closer it got to its target, the larger it got. By the time it reached the dragon, it was nearly half the monster's full size.
Riku would have liked to think the dragon's eyes were reflecting fear, but he had to level with the last roar.
The scales popped, like popcorn, billowing noxious, roiling black fog. The dragon dissolved slowly into the darkness, battling only briefly with the enlightened shuriken's magic. Riku stared at the black fog, managing at last to push himself onto his hands and knees. That smoke… was that dragon a Heartless? Or a Nobody? He was willing to bet the latter. That was a really strong Nobody- no way Maleficent could have summoned it.
Yuffie landed lightly in front of him, the shuriken in one hand, no longer glowing or any larger. Her dark eyes sparkled at him. She let the shuriken go; it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"You don't look too good," Yuffie said, crouching next to him. Riku didn't protest as she slung an arm around his waist and directed his arm over her shoulder. She lifted him up, almost effortlessly.
"Thanks."
"Of course. So what brought you down to Villain's Vale in the first place?"
Their eyes were dragged upwards by the same clanging Riku heard earlier. More of the sparks and the lights of fire sprang drifted through the air. Riku narrowed his eyes, the line of his mouth thinning. "We better get up there."
Yuffie's grip tightened around him as acknowledgement. The world became encased by sudden growing clouds of white.
When the white smoke was whisked away by a fresh breath of air, the first thing Riku saw was the lean, blue-eyed brunette, kneeling on the ground with a facial expression denoting pain and anger.
"Oh geez-" Yuffie breathed, eyes taking in the damage and evidence of the fight.
As she started leading them over towards Leon Riku tried to put more of his weight onto his own feet, to walk by himself. On the roiling anger he felt clutching at his midsection could get him to float. Axel..! Judging from the scorch marks on the ground, Leon's injuries must have been sustained by that backstabbing Nobody.
"Don't move, Leon, I've got some potions on me until we can get you to Aerith or Merlin." Yuffie let the teen go with a nod from Riku, and knelt by leon's side. "here, let me get these binds-" Riku ran his eyes over the young man as the ninja sliced the fire apart with the edge of her shuriken, and counted up each and every wound on his person. The number would equal the total amount of times he would have to kill Axel.
"A-ha! There you are!"
Unbidden, the keyblade was suddenly in his hand, the other clenched up into a tight fist. On not so steady feet, Riku whirled around on the Nobody. "Axel!" he snarled. "How dare you show your face after attacking a friend!"
The Nobody's green eyes flashed. "A friend? I saw your 'friend' sneaking behind us up here, and I figured he was the one behind that earthquake."
"Are you mad? Why would Leon attack us?"
The redhead lowered his voice slightly, tone and gaze completely serioius. "Don't you mean why wouldn't he attack you, Riku?"
If Leon hadn't spoken, Riku was pretty sure he would have unleashed all hell upon Axel's head. And then some.
"Wait a minutes… Riku- are you actually traveling with him?"
Axel rolled his eyes. "No, he's just particularly bad at realizing that someone's following him."
"Shut up," Riku snapped. In more gentler tones he answered Leon, "It's something of a long story, but Maleficent kidnapped Kairi and we're here to bring her ack before midnight."
"Why midnight?" Yuffie asked.
"Maleficent will turn into a Heartless then."
"But why him?" Leon insisted, glare resting on Axel.
Riku sighed. "that's the long story part. Technically, though, he's on our side.' He cast the redhead a glare, anger only growing as the latter merely shrugged in response. "I don't suppose you guys have seen Maleficent slinking around the castle in Villain's Vale recently?"
Yuffie and Leon exchanged looks and twisted back towards Riku. The ninja answered for them both, "That would be impossible," she started, "since that castle isn't standing right now."
"What do you mean?"
She hesitated. "Well, we figured it'd be better to destroy that Heartless factory and all evidence of it after the crisis had been averted…"
A cold hand clenched harder and further over Riku's heart. No… no way- If the castle was gone, then where was Maleficent..? "No." Riku shook his head, trying to shake off his thoughts, the sudden visions of finding only a Shadow Heartless as Maleficent teleported away… "It- it can't-"
"You can see where it used to be just beyond that crevice," Leon gestured towards yet another level of the vale, about a hundred yards away. The rising rock formation allowed a small path through the middle to some space beyond. "Wait- Riku!"
Barely recognizing the call now far behind him, the teen continued running straight for the rocks. Footsteps followed him; he could care less. What mattered, all that mattered, was getting through to the next part. There was no way the castle could be gone- no way…
When Riku broke through to the other side, his momentum carried him forward several more steps. His lungs hurt, his injuries even more so- but for the moment they went ignored. His feet tripped over a small rock and he fell onto his hands and knees. Further ahead, beyond the lip of the valley floor, empty space gathered where the old castle once stood. Only broken earth marked its past presence, and even that looked in place with the valley's maze of canyons.
No-
Riku lowered his eyes, trying to withhold a scream of pure frustration. Just how much more must go wrong before something went right? How much longer?
Somewhere behind him, his follower came to a stop. "Oh… oh shit-" Axel breathed, mercifully falling silent afterwards.
Focus- where else could Maleficent have gone?
Despite all of his efforts, the answer eluded him. Maleficent had used Hollow Bastion as her base, taunting Leon and the other's efforts with her mere presence. She could hop worlds with ease, but had never lingered when she could avoid it.
Dammit… I don't know where we can look next.
Axel's voice broke through his thoughts several seconds later. "Hey, Riku- come on. We should get back to the others…"
Riku nodded, already moving to stand back up on his feet. As much as he despised Axel, as much as he planned to punch him in the face at some later date, the Nobody was right. Brainstorming among several minds would yield better results that wasting time with vain struggles here.
Another presence invaded his sense. Riku's gaze swung directly ahead, towards the valley floor's edge, only now a familiar pillar of darkness was there. His day took another dip into the "Worst" category as the man stepped out, orange eyes focusing on both of them instantly.
You have got to be kidding me.
The smoke from the portal drifted up into the air and was gone. In its midst, the man stood still and tall, orange eyes flicking between the two of the them lazily, finally settling on Axel.
"Axel..," the deep voice rumbled in his chest, "why are you so far away from your charge?" Both the redhead and Riku tensed up as the man took a solitary step closer. "Master was right- I didn't think you'd be so foolish." A predatory smile crossed his face as Xemnas added, "I overestimated you, Axel."
The summoned chakrams settled in his hands as a comfortable weight. Several questions buzzed through his mind- and judging from Riku's face, the same thing applied- so Axel picked a happy medium for them all: "What are you doing here, Xemnas?" It felt odd to address the stranger as such- but even when dressed in a long, sleeveless v-neck tunic belted around his waist over dark pants and boots, and pale gold streaks through his hair, there was no denying the aura of power belonging to any other than the former leader of Nobodies himself.
"Kayleigh-" Riku said quietly and devoid of any emotion. He was back on his feet, at least partially out of La La Land.
Xemnas inclined his head slightly. "Precisely."
By going through me? Axel withheld a wince; of course they'd use him as a focus point. He was the girl's bodyguard for how long now? - and it'd be easier to track him instead of her. And not until that point had they been separated by more than twenty feet or so. "What does your group want with her anyway?"
"She is essential."
"For what?"
"Everything."
Riku's quiet voice spoke up once more. "Which is…?"
Xemnas just smiled.
"Doesn't matter," Axel tightened his grip on the chakrams, "what matters is that you're not going to get anywhere near her. Got that memorized..?"
Xemnas's eyes narrowed at him. The ground rumbled, eerily familiar to the earlier sounds, and split open behind him in a burst of rocks. A huge, triangular head rose out of the hole, yellow eyes swiverling to fix on both Riku and Axel. The rest of the dragon wormed its way up above ground until its whole body was curled in a protective crescent moon around Xemnas- bladed tail at one end, teeth and and claws on the other. A swatch of its body was bald of the jet-black scales; long, white jagged lines erupted through the neighboring scales at that area.
Its head rested on the ground beside Xemnas, perfectly content with the affectionate pat the Nobody gave it. "Axel.., don't even consider trying to fight me. You might have become stronger since before, but you are still out of our league."
The realm of Darkness suddenly opened in the redhead's mind, with no conscious provocation on Axel's part. Bad timing guys- It wasn't impossible to keep in touch with both worlds at once- all it took was a little focus- so he was able to keep a track of where Xemnas and Riku was, but soon that didn't matter anymore and Axel knew the real threat behind those words.
According to Saix's explanation (so long ago now), the way individuals sensed another's strength truly differed. Some, many actually, felt it in a vague way, but others knew it through a specific sense. Very few felt it physically, but some heard it (Demyx- always the jumpy one for a reason), or could smell it (Zexion, of course)- most saw it, one way or another. Axel happened to fall into the last percentile, and it was very clear to him that, if his own power equaled, say, a candle, then Xemnas would be that of a roaring fire. At least. The boiling mass of darkness that was the older Nobody's inner strength, all that he was capable of doing if he so choose to do so, just plain overwhelmed Axel the second Xemnas opened the channel between them. Even if he had allowed his full strength to show, he knew it wouldn't do any good- Xemnas could, and would, bat it (and him) aside much like a cat does to a mouse for entertainment.
The thin smile reappeared over Xemnas's face. The din lessened if not completely left Axel's mind- enough that he heard and could make sense of the Nobody's words. "Do you understand now, Axel? You've finally meddled into a game you have no place participating in. Hmmm..- think you can get that memorized..?"
Axel closed his eyes, trying desperately to sort his thoughts into some form of order. His mouth was dry, and even under the covering black uniform, he felt cold. Frozen. A game, he said? Good lord- some game. Something jostled his shoulder once- twice. We don't have a chance of winning this- not now, not for a long while…
"Axel-" Another sharp nudge, slightly more painful. The redhead shook his head clear and glanced to his right to find Riku glaring at him. The teen held the com in one hand, tilted up to show the insisting blink of red light- an incoming message. "We have to go back. Now."
"Yeah. All right-" Axel nodded, already mentally reaching out for an opening into the realm of Darkness. For a few bare seconds, it was there, and then it was gone. No matter how much he tried to make contact, nothing appeared; no portal, not even a sense of the realm being nearby.
His eyes flicked back towards Xemnas. The latter gazed calmly back, obviously amused. The dragon Nobody released a plume of gray smoke- was it laughing?
"Do you fully comprehend now, Axel?" Xemnas asked, the smile stretching over very white teeth.
"What are you waiting for?" Riku hissed in a harsh, low voice.
"I only repeat myself because it seems to me that you don't…" The dragon uncurled itself slightly, scales rippling in a wave, as Xemnas stepped forward. He waved one hand in a absent-minded dismissal, and the dragon dissolved into smoke; it hissed sadly as it returned to the darkness.
"Axel," Riku repeated, louder. The red light kept flashing its own insistence.
The redhead shook his head, eyes not leaving Xemnas. "I can't." The words came out thinly- in surprise or fear?
"What?"
Xemnas began laughing. "Go on- I think you're finally on the right trail, Axel."
He turned his eyes away from the older Nobody, glancing sideways to Riku. "I can't. …A lesser Nobody must obey a Superior's orders and wishes…"
Riku swore. Axel flicked his eyes off the teen- he didn't need to see the anger in the kid's eyes now.
The communicator gone back in his pocket, a cloud of darkness surrounded Riku's hand, quickly solidifying itself into the dark keyblade. "You can still fight a 'superior', right?"
"Maybe." Axel took a moment to reach for his own power- the fire answered the beckon almost immediately; no doubt thanks to Xemnas's mercy. "Yeah, for now."
"That'll have to do."
Xemnas's laughter tapered off. He raised one hand and beckoned to them both. "Come, then. I was hoping to have some fun on this mission."
That was invitation enough for Riku; the teen charged forward, somehow. Axel followed- a little slower, less assured- and angling to attack Xemnas's right side. His mind was screaming at him panicked and circling thoughts. What the hell do you think you're doing? Stop-! Stop-! Don't do it- Shoving them aside took far more will power than usual.
Riku reached Xemnas first. He moved as if to aim a high lunge, but feinted at the last second to swipe at the Nobody's middle instead. Axel threw a chakram- it would reach a second after Riku's attack, but Xemnas would still be in the same place, so it would do. Theoretically, one or both should land.
Except:
Xemnas took a small step away from Riku- just far enough that the very edge of the weapon swiped the air less than a quarter inch away- and used the boy's momentum against him with a sharp kick to his knee. Riku went tumbling to the ground, way past Xemnas, keyblade skittering uselessly out of reach. As for the chakram, it just swept through empty air.
Axel blinked- someone was there a second ago- and then something clamped down on his throat. His body kept moving forward, his feet skidding along the ground, and then off it; if it hadn't been for Xemnas holding him by the neck (and cutting off his air in the process), he probably would have started sliding and making roll tricks like Riku. As it was, Xemnas threw him back the way he had come, much like one would toss their shoes into a closet, muttering, "Pathetic."
Rock ground bit into his body every time he made contact with it on the rolling, sliding trip backward. Both chakrams were gone, far beyond his reach now, teleporting was out, and magic, something told him, was probably not going to be very helpful right then. His rolling came to an abrupt end with a smack against the valley wall. Ow…
Dirt crunched under a very deliberate step directly in front of his face. The redhead raised his head slowly, glancing all the way up to Xemnas's disappointed face. Far, far back around the older Nobody, Riku was struggling to stand back up- the wounded knee seemed unable to hold his weight. Every attempt he made ended up falling back to the ground. There was nothing the teen could do anymore. Nothing Axel could do, either.
Crap-
"That was awfully short." Dark energy swirled in tight sphere over Xemnas's hand idly. "My apologies- I overestimated you again."
"Son of a-" Axel got an arm underneath him and tried pushing himself at least partially up. Xemnas kicked his arm back out, lowering the hand with the energy floating around towards his head.
"Farewell, Axel."
The redhead bit his tongue, waiting for the short bite of pain and then the nothingness.. but it didn't come.
Xemnas chuckled, letting his hand drop to his side, the energy drifting away as smoke. A dark portal had opened around him, and with a final smirk, closed and vanished, taking Xemnas with it.
Axel sighed. Why had Xemnas just left- with victory literally one second away? Even if that ninja and Leon had decided to join them, they wouldn't have been able to do anything helpful. If he really wanted Kayleigh, why leave him alive?
"Hey-" Riku hobbled into his line of vision, trying to move carefully over the uneven ground lest he tripped. "We have to get back to Donald and Goofy."
"You don't have anything to tell your friends?" Axel asked, pushing himself back up to his own feet.
The teen scowled and shook his head. "No- there's no time anyway."
"True enough."
"Let's go then."
Axel bit back the retort that jumped into his mouth- now wasn't the time to tease Riku. This time, when he reached for the darkness, it responded easily (although that didn't stop his heart from skipping beat- just what if, what if Xemnas cut them off for good? He'd be able to reach Kayleigh without much a fight-). He followed Riku into the portal, opening up to the other side for them.