A/N: Hello my wonderful readers. I can't believe my school year has come to a close. Finals are this week, so I should have another chapter done by Friday or next Monday.
Disclaimer- Lollipop: Xaldin, please do the disclaimer?
Xaldin: -glare-
Quince: -jumps up and down and waves his arm- I'll do it! Lollipop doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, or any of its characters, they belong to Disney and Square Enix! I belong to her, though.
Xaldin: As does that wretched girl.
Keira: -breaks out the keyblade- Come here, windy.
It was very good that everyone who could wield a keyblade had gone to Beast's Castle as, after Xaldin ripped his lances from Keira's boy, blood began to pour out like there was no tomorrow. Thanks to the combined efforts of Riku, Kairi, Sora, and Naminé casting curaga several times, the wounds healed completely. Riku bent over Keira's unconscious form, hand lightly brushing her neck as he felt for her steady pulse, he breathed, "She's lucky."
"So," Sora began, following Naminé's gaze toward the wall of fire, "I guess that you and Roxas didn't do so well with Xaldin if he's still alive."
Naminé shook her head. "I know that he was never that strong."
Kairi placed a comforting arm around her. "We'll get to the bottom of this."
"In the meantime..." Sora moved his gaze further down the bridge, where an anguished Beast was staring into the water below.
XxX
Axel grabbed his best friend's arm and jumped into the flames, his power shielding Roxas from being burned, and they barely missed being impaled by some lances. "It didn't have to be this way," drawled Xaldin, no doubt searching for where they were hiding. "In fact, your tricks have been well missed within the Organization; you two can come back."
"Yeah, then you'd be killed on the spot as was planned and I'd be murdered for betrayal and treason," mumbled Axel to Roxas, his voice barely carrying over the crackling of the surrounding flames. The heat of the fire was almost unbearable, but Roxas was just grateful that, this time, he was not the one pacing within the arena, waiting to be attacked. "Roxas, I'm gonna jump out and throw you at him. Ready? Set. Go!" Before Roxas made sense of what Axel had said, they sprang out of the flames and the keyblade wielder was flying toward Xaldin's back; out of instinct, he held up Oblivion and Bond of Flame and began to slash away.
It took Xaldin a remarkable amount of time to realize he was being attacked, but he quickly righted this by firing his lances. Roxas felt trapped, having just landed back on his feet, and was surprised when he wasn't impaled. His eyes reflected the flames before him, but not Xaldin and, when he looked up, he found the lance wielder hovering in the air with Axel, who was slashing with his fire-covered chakrams. Without leaving his spot, he pointed his keyblades upward as Oblivion and, especially, Bond of Flame shot flamethrowers at Xaldin. Even more fire circled Bond of Flame, increasing the amount of fire in the flamethrower.
Roxas looked down at Bond of Flame with a certain amount of appreciation. "So that's what happens when you use this thing with Axel..." He cut off the fire spell as exhaustion set in, and Axel gracefully landed before him while Xaldin hit the pavement with a thud.
"Let's finish him," said Axel without looking at Roxas as they closed in on Xaldin. They drew quite close to him with their weapons pointed close to his face. Though Xaldin's wild hair had mostly concealed his face, there was an unmistakable crease of a mad grin. Next thing the two of them knew, the wind-user was laughing.
"You think this is the end? This is far from over!" roared Xaldin, whipping his hair out of his face to reveal a downright livid, crazy expression as he stood, high pressured air protecting him. Roxas drew up to his full height and sent Axel a quick glance, noticing that even the pyromaniac appeared uneasy for a moment. In the blink of an eye, Axel disappeared from his side as he rushed at Xaldin.
'That's not a good idea,' realized Roxas the second that Xaldin disappeared. Or rather, he moved so fast that it looked like he had disappeared, reappearing behind Axel and slashing him with his lances. Roxas was able to creep behind Xaldin without his noticing, raising the keyblades for a moment before slashing down at Xaldin's aero spell. Once he did that, it was remarkably easy to get at his flesh.
In the Organization member's confusion, Roxas slashed sideways and felt the contact with skin. There was an odd squirming sound as Roxas pulled his weapon away and Xaldin yelled in pain. When he pulled the keyblade closer to his face, he realized, in the gleaming of the fire, that he had used Bond of Flame, which had burned while it cut. With an inward wince, he thought, 'That had to hurt.'
Xaldin rounded on Roxas, yelling wildly. "You! You betrayed us! Just had to find out about those damned keyblades, didn't you?" Roxas wearily noted that the lances were assembling themselves like darts being aimed at a dart board and flew at him as Xaldin flung out his arms. A wave of fire burned the lances and caused them to fall, as if that had been Axel's plan the entire time.
Roxas looked at him with gratitude, to which Axel managed a grin as he sent him a look that said, 'Be ready.' Though Roxas wasn't sure what he had to be ready for, he prepared himself nonetheless. Axel lifted his arms in the air and summoned more fire, like Demyx, he could make the fire sprout from the ground like a geyser at will.
Xaldin howled with pain as the geysers of fire continuously knocked him into the air and, every time he thought he was safe to fall to the ground, he was shot up again. "I think we win this one," Axel stated, still grinning. "But, just in case..." He flung his arms at the ground, and hot ash instantly began to cover the pavement. The Nobody hit the ground in time to have his bare hands burned. "Let's go." Roxas trailed after Axel who leapt into the air and led another assault on Xaldin.
Axel landed back on the ground, leaving Roxas to finish the battle. Roxas leapt up and slashed at Xaldin, but he was met by a spear. Simultaneously, Roxas swung Oblivion and Bond of Flame on the single lance, causing Xaldin to lose his grip and allowing him to knock it away. Then Roxas swung Bond of Flame to the right with all of his power, knocking the Nobody into the flame.
The traitors were victorious.
XxX
Those waiting outside had lost count of how long they had been waiting for the fire wall to fall. When it finally disappeared, casting smoke high into the sky, Naminé launched herself at the exhausted Axel and Roxas standing, relief filling her every bone. "Are you two okay?" She asked without breath, her hands slightly red from her fiddling with them while she waited. Her eyes drifted to Xaldin's crumpled form for a minute before returning to Roxas and Axel. Though they nodded their agreement, they remained between her and the Nobody.
"We won," stated Roxas, though he sounded uncertain. "I think." His sentence made Naminé nervous and she too felt the need to get into a fighting stance. As if sensing this, Chain of Memories flashed into her hand. Xaldin stirred and slowly stood, very clearly alive.
"Damn him! He's not fading away," growled Axel, gripping his chakrams tightly.
Xaldin turned around to face them. "You two have gotten stronger, Axel, Roxas," he acknowledged, using their names for a change as he pulled his hood back over his head. "Axel, Roxas, Naminé," The sound of her name on his lips caused Roxas to glare quite intensely. "We will meet again, someday soon. We'll have to if those two princesses are to be retrieved." Axel released his stiffness a little bit; he acknowledged Xaldin's words as their victory, for the moment.
Then, he turned back toward Sora and the others, eyes lingering on Kairi, then the unconscious Keira. "That girl... doesn't belong with you," he grunted. "Even you must admit that she belongs with her own friends. Sooner or later, you will relinquish her."
Riku brandished Way to Dawn in a threatening manner. "We'll see about that."
"What have you done with Belle?" growled Beast, a truly ferocious look in his eyes as he joined them.
Xaldin sneered. "Wouldn't you like to know?" A portal appeared behind him, and he promptly disappeared.
Beast glared at Axel and Naminé. "You can go after him, can't you?" Nervous, she swallowed hard while Axel shook his head tiredly.
"There are many corridors into the darkness," responded Axel. "And each one causes a person's heart to rip at the seams and turn to darkness."
Keira stirred a little at all of the noise, and Kairi, Riku and Sora turned their attention back on her. Her eyes fluttered a little as she looked toward Roxas, Naminé, and Axel. "Xaldin... Is he gone?"
"He left," answered Riku, bending down beside her. "Roxas and Axel couldn't finish him off."
She managed a weak nod as she glanced off to the side, relishing in the feel of the cool ground against her cheek. "He said... What he said before he left... My friends, what did he mean...?"
Sora shook his head. "There's Quince," he pointed out. "Otherwise, I don't know."
Her fingers twitched a little in a meager attempt to clench into a fist, then, slowly, she stood up despite Kairi's protests. The familiar image of a girl with straight brown hair and a large grin flashed in her mind. 'Nalani, could it be that he was talking about you?' She could practically hear the girl's light laughter in her ears. "Maybe, the others... are okay after all."
Riku and Sora exchanged a glance. They did not want to get her hopes up but, at the same time, they did not know what was going on. Xaldin could very well have been referring to just Quince, but used his words to manipulate them. Now was not the time to worry her about such things. "Don't worry about it right now, you need to relax," reminded Riku as he pulled her into his arms and stood.
Keira managed a smile. "Well, even if it's true, I won't be leaving you any time soon. You're my friends now, too," she assured them. "Hey, Riku, you know... You're not such a bad dancer after all." She relaxed a little, and her eyes closed once again.
A/N: 6.13.11: Decided to expand the final section a bit.
Old: It was a short chapter, but all I could finish in between studying. Not to mention I got done what I needed done. Review people! I've been happy with all of the people reviewing, thanks! Ja ne.