Chapter 12
They were talking about Sora. What exactly they were saying, Kairi could not hear, for they walked far enough behind her and Roxas that only unintelligible whispers reached her ears. Someone's eyes focused on the back of her head, as if staring at her would betray the answers of what happened to him. All it did was make her shiver uncomfortably. Why did people have to look at her? She didn't have anything to give them, and certainly not about Sora.
Don't think about him, she reminded herself, as if that could stop her. In a vain attempt for distraction, she focused on Roxas, on what she may need to do to help him recover, but if only to spite those who would dare see him as inferior, he walked with quick, powerful strides, without a hint of the fact that minutes before he had not been able to stand. If anything, she was having the greater trouble keeping up, nearly having to jog to keep pace. Whatever she had done to keep him from getting hurt when Ventus's heart was removed – and really, she was not sure what she did – left her more exhausted than he, and after her second stumble which almost tripped her onto the floor, she summoned an elixir.
"Thaaat's not a very good idea," Roxas said when she was halfway through drinking it. She finished anyway, and soon was matching his pace with ease. "Remember that night Demyx kept us all up and then you tried to keep yourself awake during missions with elixirs?"
Kairi "hm"ed in something just shy of amusement. "That night was a disaster. But that was five elixirs, this is only my second, and it's better than passing out on the floor."
He shrugged and put his hands in his pant's pockets as he walked forward, strides now lacking in briskness since he had started talking to her. A shame, because the pace seemed too slow now, the energy from the elixir urging her to run, and leaving her hands shaking when she refused to do so. "It wasn't all that bad," he said. "We did get that fun sleepover."
"What sleepover?"
"When Demyx kept us up, since we couldn't sleep anyway, you camped out in my room."
"I never did that." The resolve in her voice nearly made Roxas stop, but the elixir urged her to keep walking, so he followed at her side. "I spent the night reading and trying to make earplugs out of notebook paper."
"But I remember you coming to spend the night with me," he insisted. "Maybe drinking all those elixirs messed with your memory."
"Elixirs don't mess with anyone's memory, they make it better if anything. I remember every little detail from after I drank them." That had been the day Demyx informed her that Nobodies were unable to have feelings – a particularly cruel joke, looking back, considering the elixirs seemed to make her feelings more prominent. Maybe she shouldn't be drinking them after all… No. She needed to stay awake. "I beat my record for hearts collected that day."
"If you didn't spend the night with me, who did?"
"Axel? Wasn't me."
He frowned at her answer, watching her until she shrunk into herself in discomfort, then for her sake looked forward again to their goal of the Castle Oblivion doors. "What happened to Axel, anyway?"
"I don't know," she admitted, and with effort kept any bitterness from the rest of her words. "He wasn't exactly nice to be around asking me to kill people, and he got aggressive so I left. I doubt the Organization got him if you're worried about that. He's too sneaky for that."
"He's just too sneaky," he murmured, and after a moment of silent agreement between them, he asked, "Do you think we could all ever be friends again? No lies this time."
"That would be a dream." A good dream, but a dream. For the moment she could only hope to keep Roxas.
At Aqua's beckoning, the doors opened as they approached them, showing the solo path and dark void surrounding it. A green crystal hung in the air a ways onto the path, waiting for them and for the Gummi Ship to return so they could reunite. To this they walked, and halfway there she realized, "Wait, what lies did Axel tell you?"
"All of them. He knew who I was and where I came from and all sorts of things about me, but didn't tell me even when I called him out on it."
Being friends again was seeming even more unlikely. But at least she still had Roxas. At the crystal they stopped (though Kairi walked in circles), and before Aqua and Ventus could catch up, Roxas said, "Thanks for keeping me alive back there. I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to make it."
Any pleasure at the thanks quickly evaporated. "And you went through with it anyway?" A shrug was his only answer. "We don't want you to die, Roxas." Aqua and Ventus were drawing nearer, and Kairi dropped her voice to a whisper as she locked her fingers with his. "I, at least, really want you to live."
If he wanted to respond, he was unable, for Aqua and Ventus stopped near them then, Aqua saying, "Since we haven't had proper introductions yet, Roxas, Kairi, this is Ventus." She immediately realized she had never properly introduced herself either, and added, "And I'm Aqua."
Even if she had already said their names, Roxas and Kairi each stated their own, followed by Ventus jabbing a thumb at his chest and declaring, "You can both call me Ven! So, now we go to stop this Organization XIII?"
"We have to figure out how to, first," Kairi stated. Her stomach suddenly twisted from something unpleasant nearby, sending her heart racing and her fingers tightening around Roxas's . "A dark corridor just opened."
Saïx appeared behind Aqua, his claymore striking her before the wisps of darkness surrounding him had time to vanish. Roxas was first to react, lunging at Saïx as a black and white keyblade appeared in his hand. Ventus and Kairi looked to Aqua, the former calling out her name and rushing to her even though she healed herself as she tumbled across the ground and came up on her feet. He had not taken but a few steps towards her before stumbling, hands going to his head as he grimaced.
Kairi reached a hand to him, but Roxas collided with her, having been thrown by Saïx. They tumbled and stopped several feet away, Kairi first to untangle herself, pulling out Stormfall as she rose. Roxas pushed himself to be sitting up, holding his ribcage, but before Kairi could heal him a rush of water burst in a column out of the ground beneath them, pushing the two away from each other.
As she brushed wet hair from her face and coughed out what water had found its way into her mouth, Kairi caught a glimpse of Aqua cradling Ventus on the ground, unconscious even as he continued to grimace and cry out in pain. Aqua put up a barrier to hold off Saïx, then healed Roxas from where she was so he could get up to fight. Then Demyx was in Kairi's way, summoning another column of water. She stepped back, into another one, icy water caressing her back and calves, shredding through the skin. She lurched forward in surprise, into the other column just before it ended, earning stinging eyes, throat, and lungs for her trouble.
The icy column ended and she backed away from Demyx, caught between watching him and watching the ground for signs of another attack. A silent cure spell erased the cuts and most of the pain from the water in her lungs, but her vision remained blurry, and her voice hoarse as she said, "I really don't want to fight you, Demyx."
"Kairi, switch!" Aqua was leaving Ventus, running towards her, and Kairi dare not argue. Aqua blocked the next attacks from Demyx as Kairi sprinted to Ventus and knelt by him, the green light of a cure traveling from her hand over him.
Nothing. He was not injured, but unconscious he remained, groaning with his face contorting in pain. His heart, then? That would explain why Aqua had switched with her, though Kairi did not have an idea of what she could do about it.
Glancing up again, she saw that Aqua had traded with Roxas, so that she faced off against the more powerful Saïx and Roxas was left avoiding Demyx's water attacks, though even with just that he was repeatedly struck, hard enough to make Kairi wince. He still did not have enough of his strength back.
Help Ventus, then Roxas. Forcing herself to look away – and praying Aqua and Roxas would stop anyone before they could attack her – Kairi placed her hand over Ventus's chest, and imagined her light traveling from the tips of her fingers into his heart, wrapping around it. Though she had little experience with using the light, it responded easily, and Ventus's face relaxed as whatever pain he was feeling instantly stopped. She continued to reach out for whatever was causing it, and through her closed eyes she saw it, like a string connecting his heart to the one hurting him. She opened her eyes, looking at a balcony on the castle, where stood a blonde girl in the Organization's coat scribbling into a spiral bound book. "Master Aqua, on the balcony!"
Aqua had been lithely avoiding Saïx's swings with swift cartwheels, pausing whenever an opening showed to throw magic at him from her keyblade, but in the next opening she instead aimed it at the balcony. The blue light of the ice spell never reached, however, for a dark barrier appeared in front of Naminé, shielding her. "Take him!" Before Saïx could reach her again, she dashed away, headed for the castle. Kairi took a tentative step from Ventus, who immediately began to show pain again, but Aqua placed a barrier around him, so at least none could physically attack him.
Before Aqua could reach Naminé, Riku appeared in front of her, slashing with his blade, which she easily deflected. Saïx was rushing Kairi, however, so she was able to watch no more as she sprung successively from his attacks, with little time to attempt any kind of counter strike. In what spare moments she had, she looked for glimpses of the others: Aqua had gotten past Riku and was taking on both him and Naminé, Ventus was still unconscious but no longer showering sign of pain from within the round barrier, and Roxas continued to struggle against Demyx, dripping and on the verge of collapse. But how could she help when she could do little to even protect herself?
Through wisps of darkness, Demyx and Saïx teleported so that she instead was facing the Melodious Nocturne, for the first time with a clear view of him. Even though a Nobody, never had emotion been absent on his face, and he was the single loudest member of the Organization she had met. An uncomfortable feeling hit her chest at his blank expression and yellow eyes, more fitting of Saïx, and the silence from him aside from the tame strum of his Sitar to control the water. Why would the Organization possess one of their own?
Avoiding his water attacks was easier than negating Saïx's manic swings. Why they would switch if it put her at the advantage, she did not at first know, but she had no interest in fighting Demyx, and the precious extra seconds between his attacks would be ideal to help Roxas.
Except, when she looked for him, he was not there. Only the sick feeling of a Corridor of Darkness nearby.
She avoided another sequence, threw an aero to distract Demyx, swept her eyes across the field – Aqua was still fighting Riku and Naminé, Ventus was still unconscious in the barrier, and Roxas and Saïx were nowhere to be seen. "Roxas?!"
Icy water struck from below, ripping through her skin as it threw her to the side and onto the ground. Blurry eyes registered black moving in her peripheral, and as she struggled to her feet, her hand stretched to the side, light rippling from her fingertips.
The scream was the first of his voice she had heard, surprising her enough that she slipped in the water and collapsed again. Maybe she had forgotten who she was fighting, but that was pain and it was his and it was her fault.
"I'm sorry!" she shrieked as she pushed herself up, only making it to her knees. Demyx was holding his face, covering whatever she had done, but the pained moans continued from him. "I didn't mean to, I'm sorry…!"
She held out her hand, stuttering over a cure, the green light just gracing Demyx when Saïx was beside her. She hit the ground before the claymore's swing could reach her, then summoned Stormfall and dug it into Saïx's leg. He stumbled back, leaving chunks of flesh behind, and though he immediately was past the surprise and tried to step forward to attack again, Kairi lifted a barrier, just strong enough to hold him away as she came to her feet by a sudden strength that boiled from her heart. "Where's Roxas?"
Another strike of the claymore broke the barrier, but Kairi was well out of its range, and as the weapon hit the ground a stream of light poured from the tip of Stormfall, catching Saïx's upper body and throwing him away from her. "Where did you take him, Saïx!?"
He gave no response, but where else would Saïx have taken him other than the Organization's stronghold? He had to be there. She just needed them to open a Corridor of Darkness for her.
Kairi lunged for Saïx, keyblade raised. He lifted the claymore to block. She dismissed her keyblade and ducked under the claymore, rolling behind Saïx and pulling Stormfall back into her hand as she slashed at the back of his knees. He swept out of the way, swinging back for her, but a barrier stopped him. Kairi came to her feet and dismissed the barrier, holding her keyblade at the ready. "Open a corridor!"
The faintest smirk appeared on his lips. "Am I to believe there is a viable threat behind that command?"
Her hands were turning white around Stormfall from her grip, teeth gritting together as her anger continued to boil and bubble to the surface. She threw an aero spell to blind him, then leapt for him, but a column of water came up between them. She could not stop herself, only trip herself to the side so that she did not run into it. Another came up where she was falling, shards of ice piercing her skin and her throat when she accidentally inhaled some.
The attack ended. Kairi coughed up a mouthful of water, then raised a barrier and her keyblade against Saïx's next attack. His claymore broke through the first and threw the second out of her hand. She called it back, but it did little good as he brought his weapon down on her again.
Vision vanished for a moment, pain and someone calling her name vaguely registering, but for a moment she decided not to care. If she did nothing, would they kill her, or would they take her to where Roxas was?
The former did not matter if she lost her last friend anyway. The latter was the only way to get him back.
The claymore struck her twice more that she remembered. Then all was dark, sound and feeling distant. She was almost certain she was unconscious, until she felt a hand on her chest, warmth and light seeping from it and into her heart.
Then the fire struck her, lighting her tired body with energy and sealing her wounds without a mark for memory. Even with her eyes closed, the light blinded her, but as it left she blinked them open to find her clothes blue and similarly colored flames dancing up her legs. Her heart felt swollen in her chest, magic rolling from it in thick waves that pooled at her skin and with nowhere else to go, wrapped her in an aura of light.
Her Wisdom Form had not been so powerful before, and with Naminé standing thirty feet away tentatively watching her, it could not be with her that she had taken on this new power. The only one missing from the battlefield was Aqua, Ven still unconscious in his barrier, and the four in the Organization coats watching her. She only needed one to open a pathway to Roxas.
Aqua did not speak to her as Naminé did, but Kairi was sure it was she that had helped her to enter this form, and with Ventus in the barrier, there were no risks to any allies. Saïx moved to strike first, but Kairi slid out of the way, throwing ripples of fire at him from her keyblade to dissuade him. Riku and Naminé she stuck together with a magnet spell, and a gravira held them to the ground so they could not interfere.
Columns of water rushed up out of the ground in her direction, but Kairi held them off with a barrier, setting her eyes on Demyx and silencing his Sitar so that he could summon no more. He could still try to hit her directly with it, but if he could catch up to her then she deserved it.
Saïx had recovered and was rushing her. She ducked under and away from his swings, sliding across the ground until she was behind him. He spun, swinging the claymore horizontally, but a reflect spell sent him spinning in the opposite direction and gave her an opening. Kairi leapt and firmly planted Stormfall in his shoulder, pushing him to his knees as she hit the ground. Grip still firm on the weapon, she leaned over his shoulder and yelled, "Open a corridor!"
The angle she had the keyblade forbid him from standing or moving to get away from her, but still he could turn his head to glare at her, the rare emotion startling her enough that for a moment she almost forgot that she had the upper hand and retreated. She held her ground, however, and pushed the keyblade in deeper.
He grit his teeth at the pain but refrained from any other show of it, instead asking in a voice that nearly betrayed his weakness, "You're going to leave Ventus behind?"
The barrier would disappear from around him if Aqua left, but Kairi could disengage from Aqua before going to The World That Never Was. Facing the Organization alone was better than leaving Roxas with them. "Open it!"
The water came from underneath her without warning, ice ripping through her skin as she and Saïx were pushed in opposite directions, the keyblade tearing out of his shoulder. Her feet glided smoothly across the ground, and green light was passing over her to heal her wounds before the column had disappeared. She blinked the water from her eyes to watch Saïx dive into a portal, a trail of blood in his wake. Her eyes scoured over the others, but Demyx, even though his Sitar had been unsilenced, did not bother to fight her, only opened a corridor below Riku and Naminé so that they fell into it before diving in himself, the portal closing after him.
A quiet hung on the empty battlefield, the only sound a faint hum from the magic emanating from Kairi, though soon she could not hear it over her own frantic breaths. She glanced down to her keyblade, spotted with blood, the teeth clutching chunks of flesh and black cloth. With a shouted curse she shoved the useless stick in the ground, then sunk down beside it as the light wrapped around her.
A/N Thanks for reading, and special thanks to those who reviewed and to BlackSandHeart for betaing!
