The moment you've all been waiting for: The not-climax chapter! Yaaaaay. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 13: Your True Nature
"Hello, Kairi," said the boy in the black cloak standing before them in a conversational tone. "What are you doing here?"
"I… I could ask the same of you, Diant," replied Kairi unsurely. "Why are you here? Why are you with Organization XIII?"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm here for Kingdom Hearts," replied Diant simply.
"Why? Why are you working with these bad people?" cried Kairi, bewildered at this betrayal.
"Working with? I guess you could call it that," chuckled the boy. "Heck, if I'm lucky, they'll all die by the time we achieve Kingdom Hearts. If not, I'll just finish off the ones I don't like," he added with a shrug. "But in the end, I will have Kingdom Hearts."
"But why? Why do you want Kingdom Hearts?" yelled Kairi, continuing on.
"Because with it, anything is possible. Because with it, I can find Kir, I can save the worlds, I can right wrongs," he replied simply. Then, his piercing blue eyes went soft, revealing a hidden sadness. "Because with it, I can go home."
"If you're here now, then you could have come home before," pleaded Kairi.
"No, I couldn't have," disagreed the cloaked boy. "Not like this. Kingdom Hearts… will make me whole. Kingdom Hearts will cleanse me of my sins, my darkness. Only then can I go home. Only then, will he be gone."
At this, he pointed a gloved hand Daxtin.
"What? Why are you pointing at me?" questioned the blonde-haired boy cautiously, backing up a little.
"You shouldn't exist," hissed Diant.
"Screw this load of crap! Why do you people keep saying this?" roared Daxtin, his temper finally snapping. Joiner and Divider flashed in his hands, burning with a powerful blue-green light.
"Because it's true."
"What?" Daxtin asked in a stunned voice, turning to face the speaker. It hadn't been Diant who had said this. It had been Anya. "What are you saying?"
"It's just… ever since Kir last talked to us… well, what he said about… your heart…" mumbled Anya tentatively. "It's just… he's right. As a Heartless, I can sense people's hearts. But I can't feel yours."
"What? Why would that be?" asked Daxtin in a bewildered voice.
"Because you're a Nobody," answered Diant coldly. "More specifically, you're my Nobody." He shook his head at his other side's look of skepticism. "It's true. D-I-A-N-T, D-A-T-I-N. Plus an X for betrayal. Betrayal of the whole. You shouldn't exist. You don't exist. You don't feel, have emotions, or a heart. You're just my shadow, nothing else. So give up already and let me be whole."
At this, Diant lunged forwards, Joiner and Divider flashing in his hands. The same two blades blocked his attack as Daxtin parried before launching a counterattack.
"Diant! Daxtin! Both of you, stop this!" pleaded Kairi desperately.
"Give it up already! You're nobody!" raged Diant, blades clashing as he struck wildly at Daxtin.
"No! It's not true! I do have a heart!" shouted the other boy, tears swelling in his eyes as he backed away under the vicious rain of blows. "I swear I'm real!"
"Shut it, fake!" growled his opponent as he hit with a triple strike of his swords, followed by jumping up and kicking off of Daxtin's guard, knocking the boy in white off balance. In a blur of motion, he shot around and appeared behind the falling warrior, knocking him into the air with a savage uppercut. As the stricken boy flew up into the air, the boy in black joined his two aura blades at the hilt, one blade going each way. Throwing his arm back, the blades went into a spinning blur, hovering just inches away from his palm before he swung and released the whirling disc up at the falling teenager. "Whirlwind Raid!"
Daxtin cried out in the rainy sky as the flying blades struck him, flying up into the sky past him. As the blades spun around and came whirling back, Diant jumped up to meet them. The blades flew apart as they struck Daxtin again and Diant grabbed them, arms crossing, then uncrossing as he hit his Nobody in an explosive cross slash.
"Storm's Divide!" yelled Diant as he shot past. The shockwaves from the attack rocked the plaza and blew away the rain. The two boys hit the ground hard, sounded by a fury of falling drops as Diant landed on his feet, and Daxtin on his back. Before the Nobody could get to his feet, the Organization member had his blade to his throat.
"Now die, and give back what is mine," intoned Diant formally as he stared down the blade's length at his Other.
There was an explosion of fire and lightning that sent him flying back. As he leapt back to his feet, Kairi dashed into the space between the two boys.
"I… I don't know if your joining the Organization or wanting Kingdom Hearts to save yourself is wrong," breathed Kairi, tears in her eyes as she pointed her hands at him, spells already forming, "But I can't let you hurt Daxtin."
"Kairi…" whispered Diant in a stunned voice. Then more loudly, "What do you care about him? He's nobody! He's just a shadow of me!"
"Maybe he is," admitted the girl, "but he's also my friend."
"And I'm not?" asked Diant coldly.
"I… I don't know," she murmured. "Right now, I'm not really sure if I know you."
"Fine then," said Diant, dismissing Joiner and Divider. "Get out of here. Take your 'friend' with you. Call this my last favor to you," he explained frigidly. "You, who used to be my friend, but no longer."
"Diant… come with us," pleaded Kairi, salty tears mingling with the rain on her face.
"Get out, before I change my mind," said Diant, turning around and pulling up his hood as he walked away from them, the rain pattering with each step of his boots. He snapped his gloved fingers then, and the dark puddles behind him surged and swirled, standing up into the dark forms of Heartless neo-shadows. "Now!"
The three of them ran then, ran for their lives, pursued out of the World That Never Was by the hordes of darkness. As they left, a single tear fell from under a black hood, hitting the rain swept street and then forever lost.
"Diant…" murmured Kairi, looking back over her shoulder as they ran through the Betwixt and Between.
"Forget about it, we have to get back to Radiant Garden and warn them of the invasion plan!" yelled Anya, trying to snap her out of it. Sighing as she got no response, she looked over at Daxtin, who ran along side her with a blank look on his face. So far, he had said nothing since they ran. "Daxtin? Are you alright?
The boy gave no indication of having heard her question and just continued running on silently. Shaking her head, Anya gave up on getting either teenager's attention. However, what came next did catch it.
A dark portal tore open before them, exploding into swirling life as a black cloaked figure came shooting out, catching Anya in the stomach with a flying jump kick. Still in midair, the intruder spun and caught the stunned Daxtin in the side of the head with a swift roundhouse kick. Launching off of the falling boy, the attacker shot across at Kairi, grabbing Anya as they shot past, swinging around her then throwing the younger girl into the escaped princess. Both of them went tumbling as the black cloaked figure landed in their midst, cloak fluttering in the kicked up wind.
"Kairi," hissed the black figure as she pulled back her hood, even though Kairi recognized her already from the missing sleeve that revealed the arm bearing the tattoo matching the one around her eye.
"Kyara, get out of our way! We're leaving, okay?" shouted Kairi as she stumbled to her feet.
"Fool. Diant let you go. I did not," replied the assassin.
"Who the heck is this?" shouted Daxtin, jumping up to his feet, Joiner and Divider flashing into his hands.
"Kyara. Number III. The Hidden Assassin," replied the blonde woman succinctly. Reaching into her cloak, she pulled out a pair of kunai, foot long dagger spikes that she held in reverse grip, blades against her arms when not in use.
"I think this is the most I've ever heard you speak," said Kairi in mock awe, hands glowing as she readied her spells.
Kyara's eyes narrowing was her only response before she leapt forwards at the girl, arms and kunai outstretched. As Kairi shot off a fireball at her, she blurred and disappeared, reappearing behind the spell caster. She caught the young girl in a quick set of slashes before then hitting her with a powerful kick, sending her flying.
"Hey, ink-eyed! Quit pickin' on the girl!" yelled Daxtin as he came charging up. Lunging forwards, he hit only air as the assassin blurred again and reappeared behind him, slashing at him in controlled arcs of her kunai before teleporting again in front of him, sliding in low and shooting right under, knocking his legs out. Before he could even fall, she hit him hard with a swift upwards kick, sending him flying up into the air. As he reached the top of his uncontrolled flight, she blurred into focus above him, leg up stretched with amazing flexibility before dropping a powerful axe-kick on him, sending him slamming down into the cold, uncaring surface of nothing. Eyes cold and calculating, Kyara threw down her kunai at him, pinning his shoulders to the ground before she went flying down at him, adding a final flip as she came down, kneeing him hard in the chest and then grabbing her kunai and jumping away. Daxtin gasped in pain as the breath was crushed out of him and he was left coughing on the ground.
"Last," was all she said as she turned her sights on Anya. Walking over slowly, she swung the kunai about in her hands a few times as the young girl backed away.
"Hey, go play somewhere else," came the teasing, confident voice.
"Who?" breathed Kyara as she spun about to face the new opponent. Sitting on nothing was a young girl in pleated skirt and long sleeve blouse, a book sitting in her lap.
"I said, go play somewhere else," repeated Emeline, jumping off her non-existent perch and landing on the imaginary ground. "These are my chess pieces. If you keep harassing my pawns, I'll have to send my knights after you."
"Sister…" gasped Anya, staring in shock from Kyara to Emeline, then back again.
"…die," hissed Kyara before lunging at Emeline, kunai at the ready.
Emeline threw up her book before her, words tumbling off her lips as she invoked the many ribbons of paper that wove themselves into a giant shield before her. She was only momentarily surprised when the assassin appeared behind her, kunai raised, and then the blade came down, slicing the paper doll in two as Emeline appeared behind Kyara. Pointing her arms forwards, strands of paper shot out, wrapping around the Hidden Assassin and then squeezing tight on nothing but a strand of darkness as the Heartless blurred into focus a few yards back.
"I'll remember your scent," growled III quietly as a black portal opened behind her. Jumping back, the darkness closed up around her as she made her escape.
"I hope you do," grinned Emeline, snapping her fingers. A strong wind kicked up in the colorful void as she turned to face her sister. "As for you three… try not to get yourselves killed again, okay? Even if I'm not done with you, I've got better things to do than play babysitter, got it?"
And with that, she was engulfed in the whirlwind of pages. When the storm settled, the trio was alone.
"Okay, almost there," said Anya, slowing her pace a little so the injured Daxtin and Kairi could catch up. Before them, the portal leading back to Twilight Town glowed bright. Once the other two caught up, she stepped through.
"Hey, wait up," said Daxtin, stopping Kairi before she could follow the other girl. She turned to face him, her eyes curious.
"What is it?" she asked, a concerned look on her face.
"It's just… what you said back there," started Daxtin, eyes downcast. "Did you really mean it?"
"Mean what?" she asked, baffled.
"That I'm your friend," he said quietly.
"Of course I did, why are you asking?" said Kairi in disbelief. "You are my friend."
"Even though I'm a Nobody? Even though I'm nobody?" he asked, still not believing her.
"Daxtin, stop this," she replied, her voice starting to be tinged with worry. "You're my friend and I'm your friend, okay?"
"But how can I have friends?" protested the boy. "I don't even have a heart! I don't exist; I'm just a shadow of Diant. Heck, you probably only like me because I remind you of him. I'm just the part of him you have, the next best thing until you can be with you real friends. I'm just a husk, just–"
Kairi stopped him then, placing a gentle finger on his lips as she gently shushed him.
"Daxtin… you're my friend because I like you. I like you," she repeated softly as he quieted down. "You're not my friend because you're Diant, or just part of Diant, but because of who you are as a person. You are your own person, not Diant, or anyone else, okay? And you're my friend. Got it?"
Daxtin just looked at her sadly, but when she smiled, really smiled with one of her bright as sunshine candid smiles, he couldn't help but smile back.
"Got it," he said. Even if it was a lie, it felt nice to believe, and be believed in. Sighing, he added, "Thanks, Kairi."
"No problem," she replied, grinning. "Now let's go.
Together they walked, hand in hand, out of Betwixt and Between and into Twilight.