Hey, sorry I haven't updated in a few days. Exams, family…they all build up after a while, you know?

Also, I know I kind of rushed the ending of Chapter 11, but trust me, I'm remedying it here.


Chapter 12: Divide and Connect

Zexion's PoV

Larxene was the first to attack; the minute Vexen stepped out of range, she lunged forward in a rabid fury. I just barely jumped out of the way before she swung several red, flaming knives at me, and I could barely get a look at my book through all the dodging she put me through.

"Scum!"

Well, three guesses what that red stuff does to people; talk about road rage! "Hey, Axel! Mind giving me a hand here?" I held up the cover of Retribution to block an incoming knife and looked over to him for support, but…he was having other problems. Marluxia and Demyx had decided to gang up on the pyro, and he was surrounded by about a dozen yellow Demyx clones. I saw him slice through a group of them to try and reach me, only for Demyx to strum his sitar and summon several more replacements.

"I'm a little busy myself kid! Watch!" His chakrams sputtered with some sparks, but once the sparks ignited they were drawn away. They were sucked towards Marluxia's glowing scythe, the orange glow glowing from its energy as Marluxia watched in interest.

"NO! Don't look at them, look at me!"

Larxene was not one to be ignored; as soon as she saw that my attention had wandered over to the others, she screamed and pulled a stunt I'd never seen before. She reared her head back, gathered all the red energy in her hands up in her face, and literally spit a huge mound of it at me.

I tried to back out of its trajectory, but I tripped on a pipe and wound up sprawled out on the ground, flat on my back with Retribution out of reach. The red acid hit me right in the stomach and burned right through my coat, making contact with my skin and eliciting a scream on my part. That red energy, that acid…it seared my skin for the longest time and it-it wouldn't go away! The pain was so much, I found myself turned on my side and curled in a ball before the red, satisfied with the damage it had done, slid of my stomach and burned a hole in the floor.

I wanted nothing more than to just lie there and whimper and recover, but Larxene wouldn't give me the chance. She flew above me, up against the ceiling, and started flinging more of her red energy knives at me. She wouldn't let up even for a second; it was all I could do to roll from side to side to keep from getting burned again.

"Sit still, you vermin! I have the power now, not you! You will fear me!"

Ok, that was evidence enough that if I didn't find a way to even the scales now, I wouldn't survive much longer: time to use that brain I always spoke so highly of. Think, Zexion, think: my book was only a few feet away from me. If I could just get it open…I made to roll away from it, and Larxene took the bait; she flung the knives that way as I made a break for the book. I had just managed to get it into my hands…when the woman dropped from the ceiling and pinned me to the ground.

"Uh-uh. No way are you getting off that easy. Prepare to burn, urchin, burn!"


Kairi's PoV

The colors…we haven't seen even the least of what they're capable of.

When I touched those crystals…I don't know, it's like the world opened up to me. That purple light, whatever it is…when I made contact it entered my heart, and next thing I knew I could see everything it was connected to. I could see Sora trying to help me, me letting the purple take over…and finally, off in the distance but still connected to it all, I saw a boy. He looked about my age, and the way the purple and all its fellow colors seemed to gravitate toward him…it was like he was the center of a huge web of energy.

But…even with all that energy, something was wrong. He was in pain, and somewhere close to him I felt a disturbance in the web; something was abusing all those colors, and the web was suffering because of it.

Contact established. Requesting assistance.

Assistance? I reached out, asking for an explanation. It wasn't hard; whoever was speaking, they were as much a part of the web as I was now.

Three parts of us have been freed. Four remain untapped. We must all be unfettered if the Nexus is to reassume his mantle. You must find hosts to contain our remaining reserves and preserve us until he awakens.

I didn't understand, but…I trusted the voice. I know that sounds crazy, but in here…lies and double-meanings fell away. Energy was energy, life was life: things were what they were, nothing more or less. Who am I looking for then? As hosts?

We require specific hearts, hearts which can fuel and be fueled by our energies. Fortunately, energies harmonious with ours have been sensed within our spectrum's vicinity. We require…

And the next part I heard myself repeat, out in the real world; the energy web spoke through me.

A little dark,

A little light,

A little schism,

A little fight.

Now come to us.

The web was already speaking through me; I didn't shy away as it moved my hand and brought out my key, shifting its form in ways I'd never seen before. Knowing what I was doing was right, I hopped on my brand-new glider and flew down the alley, following the web's song to the dark-haired boy.


"Uh-uh. No way are you getting off that easy. Prepare to burn, urchin, burn!"

Lucky I got there when I did; I burst through the room, bringing what looked like a big battle to a complete stop as everyone looked up at me in a mixture of awe and horror. Through all the damage and colors littering the room, I noticed three people in the crowd were glowing, the same way I was now.

Your three parts?

Yes. Now approach the Nexus.

I guessed he meant the boy tied up in the center of the room, because I recognized him from the web; it was him. I jumped off the glider and calmly walked across the now still room to see him. I looked up at his face…and his eyes, overflowing with purple light, opened.

Kairi. The light…

You hold a pure light in you, the kind no darkness can fracture or dilute. However, your heart fills with another force alongside it: love. Love for your home, your world…your closest fellow heart. The love for this one alone, this Sora, holds the power to see you through all that may ever trouble you and him, and connects you to him forever.

Some view this as a weakness; this is not so. Embrace your love. Embrace its power.

Will you accept this power?

I smiled at its hesitance at asking; I didn't need a speech to be convinced. I've already accepted. And I'll always accept it.

The light in the boy's eyes collected in a single beam, then extended out to my eyes, connecting us for what felt like forever. When I was finally released, I looked down and saw that I'd changed; my shirt sleeves, just white straps before, had turned pink and extended down to my wrists where they turned outward in points like flower petals. The purple light added to it by fanning out in ruffles all the way down my arms, along with extending my dress to my knees and fanning it out. I smiled; I looked like an actual princess. It felt…right.

Then I remembered: I had a job to do. That dark-haired boy, Nexus or not, he needed help, and I could help him better than anyone else right now. I turned to the other people and saw three things; a blond woman pinning down a scared looking kid, a smug looking creep holding some guy hostage, and a very familiar Nobody surrounded by yellow and orange goons. It didn't make any sense, but what does around here? I knew what I had to do.

"Don't worry, Axel. I'm here to help." And I jumped into a newly exploding tempest of color.


Ok, in case anyone has caught on by now, I'd like to give some credit where it's due. If any of my readers have heard of Green Lantern (an American comic book character, for all my foreign fans), I draw a lot of the basic principles of the colors from concepts established there. Don't expect there to be a rule book of how they work in those comics though; in case Zexion hasn't been enough of an example, I take a lot of liberties.

Yeah, that little poem-esque thing was a late night epiphany I had not to long ago. Can anyone guess who the other "a little's" are?

Please review. Reviews to me are like peanuts to elephants; you know they never get them in the real world, but they still make a nice treat.