Disclaimer: I do not own any Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy characters, objects, or anything of the sorts. It all belongs to Square Enix and Disney. I do, however, own Castle Infinity.
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The World That Never Was was gleaming with darkness. It always had been. Organization XIII controlled the atmosphere and everything that inhabited the place. Heartless and Shadows walked the streets like people in Wal Mart. No one thought twice about it. Though, the only people on this world were the members of Organization XIII.
A black oblong shaped portal erupted from the ground before Xemnas, the Organization's superior. Axel and Luxord stepped out into the crystalline room adorned with 13 chairs, each reaching up to the ceiling at different heights. Axel stepped forward and unceremoniously dropped a boy into the center of the room. The kid fell into a heap, like a slouching pile of bags, but then fell to one side.
Xemnas leaned forward with a questioning look. "Where is Roxas?"
Axel answered, "He got away just before we could grab him."
"You couldn't get them both?" Xemnas snapped.
Luxord stepped forward, in an attempt to relieve the tension, and possible future punishment. "Superior, he escaped through a portal. We couldn't have stopped him, although we tried. As long as we have the keybearer, we can still move forwards with our plans."
Xemnas sat and thought about what Luxord had said. "Very well."
"Shall we start?" Axel asked the room, a hint of glee in his voice. Xemnas raised a hand in a wave of approval. "Alright, then. Let's get started." Axel bent down and snagged Sora up again.
Number VIII departed from the room in a flash of black. The rest of the room's inhabitants departed for the same room.
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Leon, Cloud, and Vincent made their way back to the Gummi Ship. All three were free of wounds and ready for revenge.
"How exactly are we going to save Sora, now?" Leon asked while boarding the metal beast.
"We'll go in, destroy the enemy, and get the kid back," Cloud answered, furiously dropping into the pilot's seat and starting up the engines. Slowly, the ship lifted itself from the ground and hovered, awaiting instructions. Cloud punched in the coordinates for The World That Never Was and the ship steered its way towards the skies.
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Under the black and uninviting skies of The World That Never Was, another portal opened up. A boy the size of Sora stepped out and ran in the direction of Castle Infinity. Roxas's keyblades were out and craving for a fight. I can't believe they're coming after us again! They'll pay for what they did to everyone. An iridescent, heart shaped moon illuminated the world with it's eerie pale glow.
Thoughts of revenge ran through his head as he crashed open the impressive front door. The door crashed to the floor in defeat and Roxas charged into the castle. Remembering the layout, Roxas ran for the 6th floor.
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Nine portals formed and dumped its occupant in Vexen's lab room. Vexen himself wasn't present, having being killed previously by Vincent, so Zexion had taken up his task. The Cloaked Schemer grabbed the front of Sora's collar and pushed his back against the wall.
Sora's eyes started to crack open and a groan of pain escaped his lips. He lifted his head and opened his eyes fully, only to witness himself a prisoner in a room of his enemies. He immediately started to squirm around and tried to escape Zexion's grasp.
Marluxia raised a hand and vines swept, latching onto Sora's wrists, ankles and waist, pinning the boy to the wall. Zexion stepped back and watched Sora's futile struggle.
He stopped fighting the plants and stared at Zexion, glaring. "What do you want now?"
"What we've always wanted." A deep but superior voice answered. Xemnas stepped forward and stood before the keybearer. "Since our resurrection, we have craved one thing. To live. You, a creature of the light, must understand our desire. You, who take your life for granted, can't even begin to fathom how we exist, yet not live."
"That's not my problem! You chose to welcome the darkness. It's your fault you're all Nobodies! It's too late to fix that so stop complaining about not having hearts."
An evil, throaty laugh erupted from Xemnas's mouth. "I wasn't asking for forgiveness. I was demanding a way for us to live permanently."
Sora looked bewildered. "That's what you've been wanting the whole time? I don't have anything that can do that!"
"Yes you do. Your heart."
Silence dropped into the room like a bomb.
"My…heart?" Sora asked, his body slowly feeling hollow.
The sound of an explosive crash suddenly resounded throughout the castle. "What was that?" Axel yelled.
"Saix! Go find the intruder!" Xemnas ordered. Saix nodded and vanished in a portal.
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Roxas was running all out up the stairs when a portal interrupted his progress. Saix stepped out and stared down the boy.
"Get out of my way!" Roxas shouted, readying his weapons.
"No." Saix spoke the single word and summoned his weapon. The man thrust the weapon towards Roxas, who blocked with an X fashion of his keyblades. Saix drew back and vanished from sight. Roxas tried to run, but Saix reappeared. The Berserker stood right behind Roxas, his weapon in front of the boy, preventing escape.
"You're coming with me." Saix opened a portal and walked into it, pushing Roxas along.
The portal reopened on the sixth floor, before Xemnas and Sora. Roxas emerged, trapped between a cleaver of sorts and Saix.
"Here's the rat," Saix said, calling back his weapon and pushing the boy forward. Roxas froze on the spot; eyes wide open with fear, staring at Xemnas and Sora.
"R-Roxas!" Sora screamed.
"So good of you to join us," Xemnas announced, draping an arm over Roxas's shoulders. When Xemnas walked forward to approach Sora, Roxas was forced to follow.
"Now that you're here, Number XIII, we can finally start." Just like before, vines flew forward and attached Roxas to the wall in the same fashion as they had with Sora.
A wheeled mechanism was pushed to the front of the room and placed in front of Sora. A part of it, shaped like an elongated needle, was pointing towards Sora. A light on the tip of the needle was gradually growing and becoming brighter.
"No! Stop!" Roxas shouted, fighting against the vines.
"Shut up. We're busy," Xigbar said nonchalantly, waving away Roxas's comment.
"You're going to kill him! Stop it!"
Xigbar jumped in front of Roxas, holding the boy at gunpoint. "I said shut up. Now sit back…hang back and watch."
The light on the edge of the needle turned into a needle and struck Sora right where his heart was. A scream, escalating into sheer pain, came from Sora's throat. His heart began to glow and became more visible. It felt like Sora was exploding from the inside out. With every second passing, the heart became clearer and clearer until it ripped itself from Sora's chest. The body fell back against the wall, lifeless.
The heart floated in the beam of light, casting a pure white light around the room. "Seal it," Zexion ordered, and Lexaeus appeared with a jar, about the size of the one that had protected Beast's rose, and captured the heart within it.
"No!" Roxas howled. "Sora! Sora!"
"I said shut up!" Xigbar yelled, violently punching Roxas in the gut.
The boy collapsed onto himself and gasped desperately for air. He looked back up to Sora, his eyes tearing up.
"Go prepare for the rebirth of Kingdom Hearts," Xemnas said, arms spread wide, his voice filling up the entire room.
"Hehehe…" Everyone suddenly turned towards to source of the noise, and wound up facing Sora. The boy's skin tone started to turn a deep navy blue, almost black, color and his clothes bled together into a black shade, save for a navy color lining his gloves and shoes. Slowly, the head raises and the eyes open to reveal them completely filled with a golden color.
"What have we created?" Xaldin said, gaping at the Anti-Sora.
"I thought this would happen." Everyone turned towards Zexion.
"You knew this would happen?" Superior asked, a hint of disbelief in his voice.
Zexion looked up, his hand under his chin, still thinking. "Well, its only natural. After the heart is removed from a being, they are left to darkness. The last time Sora had been turned into a Heartless, he transformed into a Shadow. But since the subject has grown, so has the darkness following him. When his heart was extracted, that strong darkness hollowed out his body and became a new creature."
The Organization stared in awe at Zexion. That was he had ever said at once. Then as one, the group turned their attention back to Anti-Sora. He was gnawing at the vines, constricting his body, contorting himself to reach the greenery.
"Oh my God," Luxord muttered, in awe and disgust.
Anti-Sora was tearing away at the vines, but suddenly looked up at the sound of Luxord's voice. He was staring at the Organization with curious eyes.
"Hey, I think he's normal again," Axel said, though not truly trusting his words.
RRAAAAAA! An animal like scream came from the creature's throat. Marluxia ordered more vines to subdue the creature. The thorny plants wrapped themselves around Anti-Sora's mouth, sometimes cutting deep. Just as soon as the plants came, they went. Anti-Sora was feasting on it.
"He's a monster!" Marluxia shouted, withdrawing his beloved vines.
Anti-Sora instantly dropped to the floor and crawled to his hands and knees. He started scrambling around the floor and walls, crawling over the Nobodies and sniffing each in curiosity.
"Enough! Leave him be. We have other, more important, plans. Axel, bring the traitor," Xemnas ordered, opening a portal and exiting through it to the top balcony. All followed suit, save for one. Axel approached Roxas, as if he were attending a mourning ceremony.
"Roxas-."
"What do you want now? You've already done enough damage."
"Will you listen to me? I didn't do all of this out of my own will."
"Well, then why are you still a part of this organization?"
"I thought that if I was on the inside of them again I could somehow save you and Sora from their plans."
"Is that why you didn't bother to help us the first time we got kidnapped? Or why you did kidnap Sora again?"
"I helped you escape that first time!"
"Yeah, but not before Sora and I got split up! Now I can't even be whole again."
"Look, I didn't plan on things turning out so bad. But after I helped you and your friend escape, things went from bad to worse. The Organization found out I let you two escape and I was given a 'warning.' The next time I helped you guys, Xemnas would have had me executed. I thought that if I lived, I could still help."
"What warning?" Roxas asked, preparing for the worst.
Axel sighed and reached up for the zipper on his cloak, pulling it all the way down. Underneath the cloak, the man wore a pair of beaten jeans and a worn black shirt. The shirt was tattered and stained with a crimson liquid. Axel ripped the shirt open more and whispered, "See?"
Underneath the shirt, scars lined Axel's torso. Some were already healing, others still trying to close. Blood was caked all over the wounds, smeared across the skin. Axel let go of his shirt and zipped up his cloak, covering the wounds with a wince as the zipper dragged across them.
"Now, let's get you to Kingdom Hearts." Axel reached up and touched he vines on Roxas's ankles with a few fingers. The plant was vaporized in a puff of fire. The same was done to the vines on Roxas's wrists and waist. The boy dropped to the floor and backed up against the wall.
"But you just said you were helping!"
"I know. I'm not really going to let them open the damn thing. It'll look like it, but somehow we're going to rescue Sora and save you."
"How is that going to work?"
Axel brought out his chackrams in a swirl of fire and smoke. The man walked towards Roxas and stood behind the boy, chackrams in front, just like Saix had. Axel created a portal and pushed Roxas into it, shortly following.
On the top balcony, the Organization spread out over the site. Xemnas stood tall in the center, staring at Axel, waiting for him to bring the boy over. The man was holding Sora's heart, contained in the glass jar.
Axel began to walk forward and pushed Roxas along, somewhat rough. They stopped just short of Xemnas, Axel awaiting orders.
"Now, let's begin," Xemnas's voice called out, turning towards Kingdom Hearts. The man opened the glass case and Sora's heart lightly floated out. He discarded the jar, sending it rolling to the opposite end of the roof. The heart stopped at the highest reaches, in line with the center of Kingdom Hearts, but was floating some 50 feet out from it, like it was held within a gravitational pull between the massive heart and the castle.
Xemnas turned back towards Roxas, his eyes boring into the youth's. "Now, Roxas, come here."
Roxas was frozen on the spot. Why hadn't Axel done anything yet, like he said he would? Axel pushed the boy towards his superior until he was within an arm's reach.
"Roxas, you will do us all a favor. Use the keyblades you possess to meld the heart into Kingdom Hearts."
Slowly, Roxas shook his head. "I don't want to. You can't make me."
Xemnas shook his head. "You're disobeying me. Axel, help the boy make the right decision."
Axel stepped forward and held the 2 chackrams against Roxas's throat, drawing small streams of blood.
"No! I don't want to!" Roxas said a little louder, shaking his head.
Axel pressed the weapons closer against Roxas's neck, causing the boy to hiss in pain.
"You have two choices. Either do what I say or we'll catch that little heartless the keybearer has become and we'll kill it," Xemnas threatened, his voice turning venomous.
Axel pressed tighter still, mentally hoping Roxas would cave and do what Xemnas ordered. It was better than having Sora's body destroyed, for he would never return then.
"Alright. Fine," Roxas whispered in defeat, calling upon Oathkeeper and Oblivion. He raised the keys up to point directly in line with Sora's heart and Kingdom Hearts. A beam of light shot out from both keys, similar to the light produced when Sora restored the path to a new world. The light struck the heart, illuminating it even more, and created cracks to form. The heart shattered into several jagged pieces and began to float back into Kingdom Hearts.
Just before the first piece of the heart touched Kingdom Hearts, a winged figure flew up from below the castle's view and intercepted the pieces of heart, gently cradling each shard. The figure gazed down upon the people gathered on the roof. Looking back up to the skies, he let out a scream, of anger and sadness.
On the roof, Roxas studied the winged man, quickly regaining memories of him. "Ah! Vincent!"
Chaos honed in on the person yelling his name. It was Roxas. With surprising agility, Chaos rushed to the roof, crowded with enemies. He landed harshly, shattering the floor. Vincent stood back up and approached the discarded glass jar, returning the heart pieces to it, and sealed it back up again. The man gently set the jar down on the ground and walked up to Xemnas. No one questioned or stopped his motive.
Once they were face to face, Vincent, still in the Chaos form, asked, "Where's Sora?"
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AN: Yay! I'm almost done with this story!! I think there's just on chapter left! Hopefully this chapter was long enough and explained most of everything. The next chapter should be long, if not longer, than this chapter.
I hope that whole scene with Axel talking to Roxas made sense. I was rereading my story when I came across some scenes where Axel was good, and then I read chapter 10 and was like crap. Now he's bad. So I went and fixed it in this chapter. I kind of actually think it fits.
Oh well! Thanks for all of you who have reviewed and kept up with this story!! Much appreciated^^
