Chapter 10: Vexen
A/N: It seems like things have gone from bad to worse for Hikari. Not only does she have to deal with Riku, but now she has to deal with half baked scientist. Being a keyblade master is no walk in the park, luckily she's a trooper and can handle anything that comes in her way, even if she's losing her memory.
We're almost half way done!
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, I just own Hikari.
Enjoy!
/
Donald and Goofy searched the area when they reached the next floor.
They didn't want to risk the chance of running into Riku or Axel and Larxene.
When they saw no one was around, they lowered their guard.
"Where'd Riku go?" Donald asked.
"Guess he must've finally got tired of fighting with ya" Goofy said to Sora and Hikari.
"I sure hope so" Hikari said.
She didn't want to think about what she would do if she saw him again.
With the way that he was acting, she was going to need some time to think of a plan.
/
Up in a different section of the castle, Axel and Larxene were looking at Vexen.
They had witnessed what happened with Sora and Hikari. It seemed that Riku didn't follow to their plan.
Larxene had a smug look on her face as she looked at the scientist.
"So what's going on, Vexen?" she asked.
"Your Riku was suppose to counter Sora and tarnish Hikari's memories. What's he waiting for? Where is he?"
Vexen bit his lip in frustration.
It seemed that his little experiment didn't go according to plan.
Axel had a know it all look. He knew that Vexen's experiment would fail.
"He's hiding somewhere to lure Sora and Hikari deeper into the castle, right?" he asked.
"I suppose we should just leave it at that, you know"
Larxene wore a dark grin as she realized the experiment was a failure.
"A-ha! Oh, I see now" she said.
"I would have never guessed that. So sorry, Vexen"
"Silence!" Vexen snapped.
Larxene just gave him a sneer.
"Predictable response" she said.
"Forget it. Men without hearts are so boring"
Vexen glared at her.
"You're one to talk" he said.
"As if you have such a heart to speak of yourself"
"That's enough"
Everyone turned around to see the cloaked man enter through a portal.
"Marluxia" Vexen said.
Marluxia pulled his hood back to reveal a slightly feminine face with pink hair.
He walked over to his colleges.
"Vexen, the simple fact is that your project was a failure" he said.
"You'd best not disappoint us again"
Vexen sneered at his younger college.
"Disappoint YOU? You go too far!" he said.
"In this Organization, You're No.11! I'm No.4 and I will not have you-"
He was silenced when Marluxia pulled out his scythe and pointed it at him.
"I've been entrusted this castle and Namine by our leader" he said.
"Defying me will be seen as treason against the Organization"
"'Traitors are eliminated'. I believe that's what the rules say" Axel said.
"Who needs a half-baked-good-for-nothing, anyway?" Larxene added.
Vexen growled at her.
"Vexen, you cannot win against Sora and Hikari" Marluxia said.
Vexen looked at him for a moment before grinning coldly.
"Pity to be so ignorant" he said.
"As you're only able to see the surface of things. I should not expect you to appreciate my true might"
"Oh?" Marluxia asked.
He dismissed his weapon in a shower of flower petals.
"Then let us watch as you prove it" he said.
Vexen was taken aback.
"What?" he asked.
Marluxia smiled darkly.
"None of us wish to be suspicious of a comrade" he said.
Vexen scoffed.
"Your sincerity is comforting" he said sarcastically.
He disappeared within a portal.
Axel looked at Marluxia.
"You give a challenge like that to Vexen and he'll seriously want to eliminate Sora and Hikari" he said.
Marluxia just smirked.
"That would be an unfortunate denouement"
He walked over to where Namine was sitting and placed and hand on her shoulder.
The girl flinched at the touch.
Marluxia just smirked at her.
"What to do?" he asked.
"Your heroes are soon to be wiped from existence. But I believe there's a certain promise that he made you"
Namine gasped a little.
Marluxia grinned.
"Isn't that right, Namine?"
Namine bit her lip as she looked at the ground.
"…Yes" she said quietly.
Marluxia walked away and left her alone in her misery.
/
Our heroes had made it to the tenth floor of the castle.
Hikari never realized there were this many floors to this castle. It looked so small on the outside.
"Then again, never judge a book by its cover" she thought.
Donald looked around the area.
"Wow! The tenth floor…" he said.
"We've gotten up pretty high"
"And that must mean we've lost at least ten whole floors ' worth of our memories" Jiminy said.
Hikari groaned.
She didn't realized she lost that much of her memories.
Jiminy looked at Sora.
"Sora, it's not too late" he said.
"Don't you think we should turn back?"
Sora shook his head.
"I can't do that" he said.
"Because…that would break an old promise that I made"
"An old promise?" Jiminy asked.
"What would that be?"
Sora looked at the ground.
"On the islands, I promised Namine-that I'd keep her safe, no matter what" he said.
"But I forgot it….I didn't remember until I started forgetting everything else! A promise between the two of us…That's why I can't leave. Now that I remember the promise, I have to keep it"
Jiminy smiled sadly at him.
"Of course" he said.
"We understand, Sora"
He looked at Hikari.
"What about you, Hikari? Do you want to turn back?"
She shook her head.
"I came to this castle to search for Riku" she said.
"And since he's here, with half of his memories gone, I can't leave him alone. I made a vow that I would be his knight and save him from the darkness. I don't care if I lose my memories in the process, I won't leave without him"
Jiminy smiled at her slightly.
"Alright then" he said.
"We better not keep him waiting, then"
She nodded.
"Right, let's go"
They walked up to the next level of the castle.
/
As they walked up to the eleventh floor, a portal opened up in front of them.
Vexen stood before them with a smug look on his face.
Everyone quickly summoned their weapons.
"Who are you?" Sora asked.
Vexen just smirked darkly at them.
"I am Vexen" he said.
"I've come to collect your debt, Sora and Hikari"
"A debt?" Goofy asked.
He looked at his two keyblade friends.
"Do you guys owe something to this guy?"
Hikari sweat dropped.
Goofy could be a real sweetheart, but he could be clueless as well.
"Come on, of course not" she said.
"Oh, but you do" Vexen said.
"You owe me for reuniting you both with your former friend"
Sora and Hikari paled.
"You don't mean-" Sora said.
Vexen nodded.
"Indeed, I do" he said.
"I'm the one who brought Riku to you"
Hikari couldn't believe this.
This creep was the one who brought her beloved back.
"Then…you're the one…"
She pointed her keyblade at him.
"You're the one who's been controlling him! What have you done with him?"
Now it all made sense.
Riku was acting differently because of this guy. He acted like this when he was being controlled by Ansem, and now he was being Vexen's puppet.
"How dare he use my precious Riku as a puppet!" she screamed in her head.
Sora was pretty much the same.
He was furious that someone would toy around with his best friend.
Vexen was going to pay.
The scientist just scoffed at them.
"I see no need to give you information about where Riku is. After all-"
Ice surrounded him as he called forth a giant shield that covered his entire left arm.
"Why trouble you in your final hours?"
Hikari immediately sent a barrage of fire spells at him,
Since he used ice, then that mean fire was his weakness.
She simply felt her blood boil as she fought with Vexen.
She just couldn't stand it that people were using Riku like some toy.
He had been through enough, so why couldn't they leave him alone?
She was going to make them pay.
She jumped out of the way when Vexen had ice coming up from the ground.
He was trying to make it so that they couldn't get close to him to attack.
It appeared that he was a lot smarter than Axel and Larxene. He planned his attacks instead of going into the fight.
But even though he knew how to evade Sora and Goofy's attacks, he didn't about her or Donald.
If they couldn't attack him psychically, then they were just going to have to do it with magic.
Hikari looked at the magician next to her.
"Let's show him what happens when you underestimate the mages of the group" she said.
Donald nodded and aimed his staff at Vexen.
They both cast their most powerful fire spells and hit him square in the chest.
Vexen let out a grunt as he jumped back.
He smirked at them darkly as they prepared for another attack.
"As I expected, you weren't ones to die very easily" he said.
He dismissed his weapon.
Sora glared at him and jabbed his keyblade in his direction.
"As if we'd ever lose to you!" he cried.
"I wouldn't be so sure" Vexen said.
"Did you even notice? I was deviling deep into your memories as we fought"
Hikari growled.
Another person went through her memories?
Vexen smirked.
"And here….look at what I found"
He held up a card.
"A card crafted from all of the memories that are locked in the other side of your hearts"
He threw it at them before disappearing within a portal.
Sora caught it while Hikari ran towards Vexen.
"Wait!"
She wasn't going to let him get away after what he did to Riku.
When he disappeared, she stomped her foot in frustration.
Sora looked at her sadly before looking at the card in his hand.
"Memories…in the other side?"
/
Axel, Larxene and Marluxia had watched Vexen's fight.
They couldn't believe he would give them that card.
He had a lot of nerves to do that.
They all knew what would happen if Sora and Hikari used that card.
Axel looked at Marluxia.
"If Sora and Hikari disappear, that would mess up the Organization's plans" he said.
Marluxia looked grim as he looked at the monitor.
Leave it to Vexen to ruin his plans. He needed to be dealt with.
"I trust that you know what you need to do" he said.
Axel wore a know it all smirk.
He turned his to him.
"Haven't a clue, really" he said.
"Maybe you could spell it out for me"
Marluxia just looked at Sora and Hikari.
"Vexen has clearly committed a treasonous act against the organization" he said.
"You must eliminate the traitor"
Axel smirked darkly.
"No taking that back later" he said.
He disappeared within a portal and left them alone.
He was going to enjoy this.
/
A/N: Only two 'worlds' left! We're getting close to the end of this story!
Vexen is so mean! He messed up Riku to the point that it nearly broke Hikari's heart. You all know that she's not going to let him get away that easily.
Please review and tell me what you think.