A Change of Fate
Chapter 12: Dark Depths
Play BBS Black Powder Battle Theme on a second tab for this chapter.
For what seemed like hours, Roxas, Xion, Mickey, and Drex fought the Heartless Horde. They all seemed to lose each other in the ensuing combat and chaos.
Drex was about to be overwhelmed by 30 Heartless coming at him at once. Drex was going to escape via dark corridor but to his surprise dark fire engulfed all the Heartless around him. Drex turned around to see Riku.
"You again?" Drex said in disbelief.
"Let's let bygones be bygones and talk later. I'd prefer Riku over Imposter by the way." Riku simply said.
"Alright Riku, I guess that makes you Mickey's friend right?" Drex asked suspiciously.
"Right, and I never caught your name." Riku inquired.
"It's Drex. Now if you're here to help..." Drex said as he destroyed another Heartless. "It'd be appreciated."
"I am. Let's get to work." Riku responded.
Roxas broke through to the other side of the Great Maw. He suddenly realized that Oblivion and Oathkeeper were really heavy for him, so he must have felt exhausted. Xion then followed up behind him.
"Roxas most of the Heartless in valley are gone; Drex is cleaning up." Xion explained.
"Great, let's push forward to close the rift." Roxas replied.
Then both of them noticed Mickey was just up ahead. They ran towards him.
Mickey was staring at Xemnas who was standing on the ledge of the Dark Depths overlooking Villain's Vale which had the dark rift right in front of the castle. Mickey then threw his black coat away to reveal his outfit: a red jacket, red pants, and yellow shoes.
"Xehanort!" Mickey shouted as he pointed his keyblade at the leader of the Organization.
"How long has it been since I've been called that name?" Xemnas asked himself.
Roxas and Xion then made it up to King Mickey's side.
"Xemnas! What are you doing here?!" Roxas shouted at his former boss.
"Numbers XIII, XIV, VIII, and XV... curious..." Xemnas stated not sparing them a glance.
"Xemnas... why did you lie to us and tell us we had no hearts?!" Xion demanded to know.
Xemnas finally turned around to face the three keyblade bearers. He showed no emotion on his face. Mickey seemed confused from Xion's question though. Then suddenly Xemnas, without another word, opened a dark corridor inches behind him.
"No! Stop!" Mickey ordered as he rushed towards Xemnas.
Xemnas stepped back into the corridor and disappeared in the darkness, shortly followed by Mickey who dived in after him. The corridor faded and both of them were gone.
"They're gone..." Roxas said sadly.
Xion and Roxas walked towards the edge of the Dark Depths and pointed their three keyblades at the dark rift. It was curiously only pouring out Heartless a few Shadow Heartless at a time, maybe weakened. Beams of light shot out of Kingdom Key, Oblivion, and Oathkeeper and they were sent to the rift. The light beams quickly sealed up the portal to the Realm of Darkness, and the job was done.
"That takes care of that." Xion stated.
"Bravo, quite a light show you both put on." A familiar voice said.
Roxas and Xion turned around to see none other than... Xigbar?! He had his arrowguns out and pointing them at XIII and XIV.
"Xigbar?! What are you doing here?" Roxas yelled.
"What else? I'm watching the show." Xigbar chuckled.
Roxas and Xion got into their battle stances and were ready to fight Xigbar, but Xigbar only stared on at them, amused.
"Xigbar! Did you know Xemnas lied to us, about us having no hearts?" Xion shouted.
Xigbar smiled at this. "Gee, I just don't know..." Xigbar taunted once again.
Roxas and Xion, without any more hesitation, then charged at Xigbar at full speed. When they were both about to strike, the Freeshooter simply teleported away from them and he reappeared upside down a few feet away from them.
"You really shouldn't have betrayed us." Xigbar stated as he fired his arrow lasers at them.
Roxas and Xion could only stand their ground and block Xigbar's arrows. But, one of the arrows found its mark and it hit Xion in the leg.
"OW!" Xion said in pain dropping down on one knee.
"Xion!" Roxas said as he came to Xion's side.
"Reload." Xigbar said as he reloaded his arrowguns and disappeared again.
Xigbar reappeared at the top of the tower on Villain's Vale and set up his sniper's perch. He smiled to himself as he looked down the sights to see Roxas and Xion still together. Back on the ground, they still had not moved yet. Xion then noticed a glare from a scope on top of Villain's Vale.
"Roxas, look he's up there!" Xion pointed at the top tower.
"I'm ready for him this time!" Roxas said as he faced the castle.
Roxas saw arrows being fired at them from the top tower. He blocked all of them from hitting Xion or himself. Then he saw a glowing white arrow coming at him. Roxas put all of his strength into this swing. He hit the arrow and reflected it back at Xigbar. The arrow found its mark, and it made the entire tower explode. Roxas then dismissed his weapons and went back to Xion.
"Hey Xion are you ok?" Roxas asked concerned.
"I'm fine. My leg still hurts though." Xion clutched her leg in pain.
"Here let me get you to the wall." Roxas picked up Xion bridal-style. Xion blushed at this.
Roxas set Xion up against the wall and examined her leg for injuries.
"You clever little sneaks..." Xigbar said as he reappeared a few yards from Roxas and Xion.
Their eyes widened as Xigbar levitated himself off the ground and summouned two dark holes on either side of him, and then he pointed his arrowguns into the holes. More dark holes appeared all around Roxas and Xion aimed at them.
"Let's see you survive this! Storm!" Xigbar shouted as he fired his arrowguns.
Hundreds of arrows were being fired and were raining down on Roxas and Xion. They closed their eyes, but those arrows surprisingly never met their targets. The two opened their eyes to see none other than Riku using a dark shield to block all of the arrows.
"You guys ok?" Riku asked still using his shield.
They both nodded as Roxas used a cure spell to heal Xion's leg. They both stood up as the three of them saw Drex coming at Xigbar from behind. Drex swung his swords and struck Xigbar in the back. Xigbar lost his concentration and the arrow storm was ended as he quickly teleported away again. He reappeared on the edge of Dark Depths and he fell to one knee. Drex, Riku, Roxas, and Xion all walked to the Freeshooter and stopped to face him.
"You know... you guys... really put Organization XIII in a pickle..." Xigbar said weakly.
"That's not saying much since there's only three of you left... soon to be two." Roxas replied darkly.
"Why do always look like a drowned your goldfish...? That same look..." Xigbar wondered out loud.
"Xigbar!" Xion piped up and pointed her keyblade at the kneeled Freeshooter. Her kingdom key instantly transformed into a new keyblade, Xion's keyblade: it had a black square handle and a seashell for a keychain. The blade itself faded from black to white as it reached the tip. The teeth of the keyblade were similar to Oblivion's but had a blue outline mixed into the white tip.
"Why didn't you answer my question?!" Xion stated.
"Wouldn't you like to know..." Xigbar chuckled weakly again.
Without hesitation, Xion then shot a beam of light out of her new keyblade and the beam went straight through Xigbar. The impact made him fall back off the Dark Depths and he faded away into nothingness before he even hit the ground below.
Xion dismissed her new keyblade and turned to face Drex, Riku, and Roxas who also dismissed their weapons.
"Are you ok, Xion?" Roxas asked putting an arm on her shoulder.
"I'm fine. He was a creep anyway." Xion answered. "Thanks guys, you two really saved us."
"No problem, so what now? Riku?" Drex asked.
"Roxas, Xion, I need you guys to come with me." Riku said.
"Wait for what?" Roxas inquired.
"To meet a friend." Riku answered.
"Right now? Can't we wait for Axel to come with us or meet up with Leon and the others?" Xion asked.
"The sooner we meet him the sooner everything can get better." Riku replied.
"What do you mean?" Drex said.
"It doesn't matter, come on." Riku said as he opened a dark corridor. "I don't think you should come though, go meet up with your friend."
"Fine. Tell me where you guys are going then we'll meet up with you there." Drex said.
"...never mind. Let's just go." Riku ordered darkly as he entered the dark corridor.
"We can meet up with Axel later, he can take care of himself for a bit." Drex reminded.
"Yeah, Riku shouldn't hold us up for long, and he DID save our lives. Right?" Xion stated.
The three of them nodded as they looked at each other and walked into Riku's dark corridor. They all came out to the other side. They then came to recognize that the four of them were in front of the gates of the abandoned mansion in the woods of Twilight Town...
A/N- If you need clarifications so far send me a PM. I wish for more reviews please. I read fanfiction with music on a second tab so that's why I put it in there, to help you FEEL. I think I'm terrible at describing keyblades, Xion's is basically Oblivion with the color scheme I described and the seashell chain. Anyway what's going to happen next for our heroes? Will Mickey and Axel catch up to others? Find out next chapter.