CHAPTER XI
The More you Change the Less you Feel
(NOTE)
Finally chapter eleven; sorry for the long wait, school's been... :shudder: So anyway, this story's going to be about the same length as the last, I've decided, so anywhere from fifteen to sixteen chapters. But I've also decided that this is going to be a trilogy; so there will be one more sequel! Enjoy this one anyway!
Quince: Seldom still doesn't own me.
Me: Shaddup.
Lollipop:eats Quince:. Yum. Hotness.
(/NOTE)
Saltwater slapped the faces of Leon, Cloud, Quince and Charity the second they arrived on the boat that floated lazily but brutally in the vast confusion of Neverland. Charity put a warm hand to her face and wiped away the salty water that had splashed on her only seconds before, and looked at Leon, Cloud and Quince.
"Where do we start?" asked Quince, breaking the silence. Obviously neither Cloud nor Leon were very talkative, and Quince never quite knew what to say.
"Captain's quarters," Charity suggested, and without another word from either of the three, they made their way to the large door in the front of the ship. Wrenching it open and running inside to escape the storm that was brewing above them, Charity almost gasped in surprise as she saw someone sitting at the chair.
Then she remembered; Nessa was in the realm of Darkness. Also, there were obvious differences about this girl. "Who are you?" she asked her.
"My name's Sada." the girl responded. The four of them expected it to be very creepy or melancholy, but it sounded oddly normal.
"You're Nessa's Almost Somebody?" asked Quince. This was a great assumption; the two looked too similar to be coincidental. The girl just nodded lazily in response.
"Why can we see you and not her?" Charity asked. Apparently, this was the girl that Nessa had been arguing with; or at least by what Roxas had described. It just looked like an empty spot of the ship at that point.
"I'm not in the realm of Darkness," she said, "and technically, don't exist. I'm just letting you see me." Sada scratched the top of her head.
Charity sighed, but walked closer to the girl. "You know, there's something familiar about you." she said. "But it's not like Nessa."
Something about this made Sada smile; whether it was the fact that she was being told that she was different from Nessa, or that something deep down in Charity remembered her even though she had only lived in an alternate reality with her. "Thanks." she muttered.
"Do you know where Nessa is?" Leon asked her. Sada shrugged.
"She ran off somewhere. Marluxia followed her."
"Marluxia?" asked Charity, instantly destroying a Heartless that appeared at their side. Apparently, they hadn't all left when the battle at Neverland stopped. "What does Marluxia want with her?" she asked, "Does he want her in the Organization?"
Sada smirked, "I guess. He says he's going to be different than Xemnas, but he's a liar." She stood up and stretched her arm, "He's just going to use her like Xemnas used the rest of them, no doubt."
"I wouldn't doubt that either." Leon muttered.
"Wanna come?" asked Charity as they turned to leave.
"I can't fight." Sada shook her head, "Never picked up a weapon in my life."
"Then wait here," Charity told her as they rushed off.
Sada shrugged and sat back down, "Do I even want my Nobody?" she asked. She had felt some kind of emptiness her whole life, but it was probably because it was all a lie. Laughing, she reverted to staring back up at the ceiling and counting the seconds.
"How do we find them?" asked Cloud.
"We don't split up," Charity said immediately, "I always know where that leads." They were practically being destroyed by all of the rain that was pouring on them now, and the wind was rocking the ship so bad that both Quince and Charity seemed to have a problem standing up.
"Listen for the most noise," Quince told them as they jumped down to the lower portion of the ship.
xxxxx
"It's so... white." Roxas said simply. He looked down on his rings and arm bands; black and white. He quickly realized why he enjoyed the black-and-white combination so much; because he was. "Makes sense." he said quietly to himself.
"I don't see Estelle." Axel said bluntly and openly, just seconds after they arrived.
"We just got here." Roxas laughed, looking around.
"I think I enjoy the dark realm better." Axel murmured.
"I don't get it." Roxas said, quietly. "There's the dark realm that's in sync with the rest of the world, and then just the darkness that you lose yourself in. Are they two different things?" he asked.
"I think that the Dark Realm is both a world that conjoins with End of the Earth and it conjoins with the other worlds, like an alternate universe. How else is Kingdom Hearts there. But, what about the Light realm...?"
"Maybe that's because... the world is the lightness?"
"I think that's right. And Riku was in the darkness, but Nessa stayed in the dark realm. I wonder if the light realm is any worse."
"Probably just as bad." Roxas looked around, and his eyes came upon a strange sight. At that second, he couldn't believe his eyes. As they narrowed, he finally brought himself to believe what he was seeing.
"Yuffie?"
xxxxx
"What do you do here all the time?" Sora asked Aerith, who was sitting on the couch and watching Tifa.
"I mainly just help out." she told them truthfully, "Cooking, cleaning, little things." Her eyes drifted back to Tifa, and just seeing her made her eyes water slightly. As subtly as she could, she looked at the ground and pretended that there was just something in her eye that she had to rub out before it got annoying.
"Mm." he said lazily, although his stomach was growling. He was obviously hungry.
At that second, Tifa groaned and mustered together all of her energy to prop herself up on the couch where she lay.
"You're awake." Aerith said happily, as if to totally disregard any emotions that she had felt to help her out.
"I am." Tifa smiled weakly. "Thanks. Where're Cloud and Leon?" she asked.
Aerith hesitated, "Neverland."
"What?" asked Tifa, trying to get up. Kairi, however, lightly pushed her back down by her shoulder and scolded her for even trying to get back up.
xxxxx
"This is very creepy." admitted Nessa to herself as she hid out in a cabinet. Marluxia's footsteps were nearing the cabin in which she was hiding, and she froze in both her breath and the small amount of motion she was making.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are..." Marluxia cooed creepily. He had obviously been without sun for some time now.
It was obviously storming out. The boat was rocking back and forth violently, and rain and hail made a sharp noise as it slapped against the fragile wood of the ship. Nessa grabbed onto anything she could to keep from sliding around, although it was probably only there because she let it be. She never imagined that the dark realm would be just a state of mind.
"Nice try." a voice pierced the air as a hand jabbed at her arm and grabbed her. Yanking her out of the cabinet, Nessa realized for the first time since she was lost in thought that she had been found. But what nutcase would look in a cabinet for a Nobody?
"Let go of me!" she demanded, only to be interrupted by the door slamming back open. Marluxia didn't look over and regarded it as a work of the storm, but Quince, Charity, Leon, and Cloud all stepped through.
"What?" asked Cloud, who obviously couldn't see Nessa there; but neither could the rest of them. Marluxia looked as if he was holding an invisible arm.
"Let go of her!" Charity exclaimed, almost exactly mimicking Nessa's command, but only guessing that she was there in the first place.
"Or?" taunted Marluxia. Quince's face screwed up in anger.
"Just fucking let go!" he shouted, and blasted a Gravira at Marluxia, sending him to the ground. It was impossible to say if he had let go of Nessa, but he probably did because his hand no longer seemed 'full'.
Nessa winced as she stood up from losing her balance as Marluxia had fallen to the floor. She looked over at Quince and laughed, "You're starting to act like me, Quincey."
xxxxx
"What are you doing here?" Roxas inquired, staring at the ninja as if she was some kind of illusion in front of them.
"I came here after a Red Shadow crushed my heart." she said. Although they expected a bad expression, Yuffie just gave them her regular smile.
"But we thought that killed you." Axel said. Even he was in too much awe to say or do anything Axel-like, and by Axel-like I mean witty or awesome in general.
Yuffie shrugged, "All of the pieces of my heart put themselves back together. It was weird; but then it came here to the Light realm and I've been here ever since."
"But your body—."
"My body's probably been eaten away by bugs or something by now. Just because the body wears away doesn't mean the heart does." she said happily, "What took you guys so long to come here? And where's everyone else?"
Roxas looked behind him, "They're all getting Nessa or at the house." He sat down for a second to explain every detail of what had happened since the year before.
"That's harsh." Yuffie said. She had been a very good listener; laughed at the parts she needed to and gasped at everything unexpected, "But that explains that creepy woman who's been walking around here."
Axel's eyes widened, "What's she been doing?"
"Just complaining. Maybe she comes here to vent?" Yuffie thought aloud, "No, it can't be. I haven't seen her in here before."
"Do you know which way she er... went?" asked Roxas. He tried to figure out how Yuffie distinguished her way around the place.
"The light realm's infinite. There's no real way. She'll come to you." Yuffie reassured them. They relaxed where they were sitting, but maybe a moment too late. Roxas was knocked to the side, but Axel managed to grab the end of the Light keyblade and spin Estelle around the other way.
"Why are you here?!" she hissed at the two of them.
"That's what we came to find out about you." Axel told her.
Yuffie smiled and shot up, "Finally some action!" She took out her shuriken and smiled at the small sight. "Oh, it's the creepy woman."
Disregarding the comment, Estelle smirked, "Planning." she mumbled, and managed to throw Axel a Blizarra and knock him backwards. "But I was just leaving."
"I don't think so." Roxas argued. Oblivion and Oathkeeper materialized in his hands, and he jabbed at Estelle as hard as he could.
Missing every time, Estelle easily knocked him out of the way, as if it took absolutely no energy out of her whatsoever.
Roxas got up and knocked her out of the way of the portal that she had just created for herself, and wondered at that moment why she didn't just zap away in a flash of light like she usually did. Estelle cursed under her breath, and for once looked vulnerable.
Having no idea what came over him, Axel shouted, "Stop!" to Roxas.
Both of the wielders dumbfounded, they looked over at Axel.
"Maybe this doesn't have to be solved keyblade on keyblade. Light realm is a haven from now on. Got it memorized?" he asked them.
Roxas winced and then looked over at Estelle. "Those are the rules?"
Axel nodded.
"I don't fight fair." Estelle murmured.
"You're going to now." Yuffie interjected, as if she had an idea of what Axel was doing. Threateningly pointing her boomerang at Estelle, she smiled in a 'I'm so much stronger than you' sort of way, and Estelle backed off.
"I get it." she said. Not being able to muster out another word, she looked at Axel. As if her eyes were saying 'thank you' for only the smallest second, she backed up into the portal of red and white and into who knows where.
xxxxx
Marluxia was slowly growing weaker and weaker. Surely only a few more hits would completely destroy him and send him back into the darkness.
"Darkness, dark realm..." he spat as some black substance was flying out of his mouth almost like fog, "no difference if there's nothing to live for."
"Any last words, Marluxia?" asked Charity tauntingly, though very tired herself. She had used at least seven potions in her attempt to destroy the Organization member, and had just barely made it. She certainly wasn't ready for him if he made a surprise move.
"You may return Nessa to her Almost Somebody," he said in a hoarse voice, "but I'm not going anywhere."
Much to all of their surprise, he disappeared quickly into a black portal and left them all in a seemingly empty room.
"Again with the black portals." Cloud sighed to himself and looked around.
"Is she in here?" asked Leon.
"Er... Nessa?" asked Quince. As if he had been touched although there was no sensation, he could feel Nessa's presence next to him. "She's here. Let's get back to Sada."
They soon rejoined Sada back at the Captain's quarters, and she had apparently been entertaining herself by trying on eye patches. "Ever wonder why pirates would only lose one eye?" was the first thing she asked them as they entered the room.
"We got Nessa." Quince said.
"So I've noticed," she lied, because she didn't look over at them once since they entered the room.
"Well?" asked Charity, "Aren't you going to do something interesting and rejoin with her?" she asked her, her eyes almost pleading.
Sada sighed, and stood up quickly. Walking over to Charity, she looked her in the eye, "You really don't remember me, do you?" she asked, unable to believe her own eyes. She had told herself this for a year since she had been pulled away from the alternate Azure Daybreak; none of her friends or family would remember her because her real life was stolen from her Nobody. But still, as fake as it was, she felt a deep connection with Charity not unlike the one that they had felt for each other in the alternate universe, as best friends.
"I..." Charity didn't know what to say. "I don't know how to describe it. It's like I recognize you, but..."
"As Nessa." Sada finished for her.
"No," corrected Charity, "Not as Nessa, as someone else. Like a friend that I was supposed to keep in touch with but never did. It's a horrible thing to say, but that's how I think of you." she shrugged. "I really don't have anything else to say."
"Sada," Nessa said.
"Yeah, Nessa?" Sada asked, turning from the group. They wouldn't be surprised if she was tearing up, because it sure sounded like it.
"Think about it. There is no fake Azure Daybreak. Your reality was the reality to you. The reality I made was my Azure Daybreak. We're not two different people, we're the same." She looked at Sada's back with pleading eyes, begging for a response, "Maybe if we were to join together like we were supposed to, we'd be remembered not as Nessa or Sada, but as one person. The person we were supposed to be."
Sada sighed, and look backwards. Her nose was red and her eyes puffy, and she obviously was not exactly with them at the moment. Still, she nodded. If she wasn't thinking straight enough to think that way, it was probably best if she was reunited with her Nobody.
Nessa smiled and held out a hand, "Ready?" she asked. Sada nodded, and grabbed her hand. The rest of the group stared in astonishment as suddenly Nessa had become visible, but only for a second as she flashed into Sada's body. Charity's eyes suddenly widened; something felt very odd about this.
"Now we've got to go to the End of the World and unlock Kingdom Hearts." the girl smiled. Charity didn't know whether to call her Nessa or Sada, but she definitely knew the voice as familiar and the girl as her best friend.
"Er... what do I call you?" asked Quince, confused.
The girl laughed, "Nessa." she smiled, "Sada agreed that I can control the motions and everything, she just wanted to have a life back."
Charity smiled. "Wow. A Somebody living inside a Nobody."
Nessa smiled back at her, and put up her arm and her hand in a fist. "We live inside each other."
"Got that right." Exie said aloud from inside of Charity. She giggled and put her arm to cross Nessa's. Reunited again.
"We can't go to End of the World just yet," Quince said, interrupting everything, "first we have to find Marluxia and destroy him before he can start up a new Organization, or we'll just have more problems on our hands."
"No," Cloud said in a deep voice, "first we have to go back to Hollow Bastion and eat some of Aerith's cooking. I'm starving."
Cheerfully, they all took a Gummi Ship back to the Hollow Bastion. As Charity sat in the ship and talked to the Nessa that seemed slightly more real in appearance, she couldn't help but to think, 'But what about Riku?'
xxxxx
"What makes you think I'd ever join forces with you?" Riku asked as he lingered in the darkness in front of the strawberry-haired individual he knew very well to be Marluxia, "After all of that?" he asked.
"I'm not asking." Marluxia admitted.
At this point, Riku wished that Kiur hadn't left him until he found his way back to the light, or at least the Realm of Darkness. Marluxia, having much more experience in the darkness than Riku, was a lot more powerful. With one clean sweep of his scythe, he sent him to the ground.
"You plan on taking me by force?" he asked, spitting.
"Not at all," he told him, "I plan on taking you by persuasion." He walked closer up to him, "Your friend, Charity. She was weak in battle; If the other three hadn't been there I would have killed her in a second. I could just as easily go back and catch her alone and do just that."
"You wouldn't dare."
"Wouldn't I?" This was a daring question to ask. Marluxia; he probably would.
Riku glared over at the man, and looked down. "What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to fight them," he said, "Not to the death. If you take care of my task correctly, you may not have to worry about that. I want you to fight them until you can take away Blue Hour."
"Why do you want Blue Hour?" he asked. He didn't plan on joining Marluxia without answers.
"Simple. No Blue Hour means that whether or not Kingdom Hearts is unlocked, the Keyblade Wars will continue. Through this, I will be able to gather enough research to tell what makes a heart dark and what makes a heart light, and to find the perfect mix between the two would be to find a perfect heart I can create for myself, and rule over all humanity."
Riku snickered, "You're digging your own grave here." Wanting to smile more, but unable, he looked down at the floor, "I'll do it. On one condition."
"Yes?" asked Marluxia, almost positive he had just made him an offer a second ago.
"You aren't to come in any contact with Charity. You can't touch her. Got it?"
Marluxia smiled evilly, "Deal." Author's Note: Next chapter, get ready for loopholes. XD
xxxxx
"Yuffie's alive?!" Leon, Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith all seemed to exclaim at once.
"Yuffeh's alaiiive?!" Cid came in, just a moment too late.
"Technically." Axel told them.
"Her heart, you know, the one that Red Shadow destroyed, repaired itself and now she's living in the Light realm." Roxas told them.
"Can't we get her back?" asked Cloud, determined.
"Not without a body, Sherlock." Axel said.
Aerith shook her head, "We'll think of something. For now, it's best that we rest. A lot happened today and it's obvious that there's a lot in store."
"Definitely." Sora added. This excited him; although a little disappointed that he had missed all of the action and had to stay back and babysit a sick fighter, he was more than excited to get out and kick Marluxia's ass.
"Can we get some food?" Cloud finally bluntly asked to Aerith.
Blushing only slightly, Aerith smiled and said, "Yes, I—..."
She was interrupted only a second later by a dancing man in black tights and a dress that resembled Tinkerbell's much too well. The bearded Merlin was holding a wand out as he pranced into the room and offered to make them all food.
"That's definitely, positively, more than anything not necessary." Sora seemed to plead.
"Nonsense, nonsense!" the man giggled, and pointed out his wand.
"Hot pockets." Nessa said. It was quite random to everyone around her, but she knew exactly what she was talking about.
"Oh dear me, how did that spell go again?" asked the man, batting his eyelashes.
Nessa stood up, "Hockety pockety wockety wack," she sang happily, and Charity looked up at her.
"Maybe you took a little too much of Sada with you." she laughed.
Both Nessa and Sada seemed to giggle at the same time.
xxxxx
Riku couldn't believe what he saw. He had been in the Dark Realm for nearly hours, staying at the odd home that Marluxia had set up for himself and Vexen back at The World that Never Was. Staring at himself in a full-length mirror, he realized how he looked.
He was dawned in almost all black, and what wasn't was red. He had peeled off his blindfold, only so long as to get the Blue Hour key for Marluxia.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
Riku breathed in, "I will be."
Author's Note: Okay, that's it for this chapter. :3 Again, sorry it took so long, but the next one will be up shortly! We're nearing the climax; just a few chapters left! I realized there's not much left to go, so this might end at chapter XIV, but that all depends. See ya next. :D
