6H: And now it's time for chapter 21!
Anaretsu: Am I supposed to be excited now?
6H: I gave up trying to get you excited for anything.
Anaretsu: Nice. I'm going back on the net to look at more KH2 spoilers!
6H: NO! I swear, I will kill you if you watch the ending!
Anaretsu: I'm already dead, stupid.
6H:…. damn. Damn you!
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Kingdom Hearts-Adventures at Castle Chocobo
Floor 21-Blades in Flesh
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Aru walked through another room in the Coliseum. This was not the same world she had visited with Ryu and Cedeile. There was no one here, only the occasional heartless, and they were proving to be hard for her to beat. She had several open cuts on her body already-one on her left shoulder was particularly bothering her at the moment. She clasped a hand over it as she slowly progressed. Riku couldn't be that far ahead of her, could he? She felt the torn sleeves of her robe and shook her head. She had to keep going. She walked on slowly, wincing at the shots of pain that shook her body when she moved.
'Aru…' Hikari said. Aru didn't reply. She wanted to do this herself for once.
'I won't rely on anyone. Ryu, Cedeile, Sora, and Riku…they're all so strong on their own. I want that strength for myself. And I won't let anyone help me.' She thought, determined.
And so she walked on.
----
They had left the Monstro of Sora's memories and headed up the pristine white stairs to the next floor. Cedeile walked a little ahead of Kageki and Agent 427. The demon and the Trinity Solider hung back on purpose though.
"When you disappeared like that, she was worried, you know." Kageki said under his breath.
"The two of you shouldn't worry too much about me. I'm a Trinity Solider-I have no identity. I'm no higher than the NEOs."
"I see. You really are an annoyance. I'm surprised, with her mouth, she hasn't told you so herself." She said nothing to him after that, and sped up her steps to get ahead of him. He rolled his eyes.
Cedeile just entered the next hallway when something flew by her and lodged itself in the wall next to her. She didn't scream out,but instead looked to see what nearly took her out. One of Axel's fire wheels was stuck in the wall behind her.
"Damn it! 427, Kageki, looks like we're in for a fight!" She called back behind her. The two rushed up the stairs as she took out the heartblade and took a defensive stance. Axel appeared on the stairs in front of the door to the next world.
"Sorry, heartblade master. I meant to hit that pesky demon that's with you." He said, the other of his weapons in his left hand.
"You mean Kageki?" Cedeile asked. "What'd he do?"
"I don't know. But my boss wants him dead, so it's time to kill him. Now, where's your little kitty?"
"Right here, human bastard." Kageki said, coming out from behind her.
"No, Kageki! I'll take on Axel. I can fight him no problem."
"Please. You were 'soooo tired' after that little skirmish in Monstro, weren't you?"
"Shut up! I was just being lazy. I can take Axel no problem!" she insisted. "I'll show you guys! Watch!" She suddenly dashed toward Axel, the heartblade extended behind her. "Get ready! HOLY PURIFICATION!" She shot the cross of light at him and he went flying back into the door behind him. He lay limp for a few seconds, and then laughed and got up, pushing back and strand of out of place hair.
"Is that really all you can do? What pathetic power. What's the point of the heartblade master anyway? Do you really do the universe any good at all? You can't lock the keyholes, you can't do any other magic, and to top it all off, you're an idiot." He said.
"Shut up!Who are you to decide what I'm worth!"
"And who are you to speak like that, huh? You're nothing special-a keyblade master wanna-be, in my opinion. Your only worth is that you can unlock Rakuen. Otherwise, you'd be just a waste of life."
"Rakuen? What's that?" Cedeile asked. She had almost thought she heard it before.
"Rakuen is paradise. You see, there is a theory that when we die, we separate back into our three parts-body, heart, and soul. Our hearts fall back into darkness, and our bodies rot away, but our souls live on forever. Some say that they go to heaven or hell, depending on if you were a good or evil person in life. But others say that the soul is cleansed and goes to paradise to exist forever. And if you were a sinner, you get the chance to live again-reincarnation, so to speak. But this paradise place is locked up real tight to the living. You need the seven roses and the heart of the heartblade master to open it." He explained. Cedeile was silent.
"In other words, it's a fancy way of saying she's a key. Give her a weapon with some powers, however weak, call her a master, and then she becomes worth something, not to mention those who don't know the whole story would never know how to open Rakuen." 427 added.
"Whose side are you on?" Kageki growled at her. She gave him a blank stare.
"It's the same thing for every heartblade master. For everyone who wields the keyblade, in turn there is one who takes up the heartblade. The keyblade master either casts himself into darkness or saves himself and lets everyone suffer, but history never tells of the heartblade master. They always disappear into oblivion, never heard of, never celebrated, no matter what sacrifices they make. It'll be the same for Cedeile."
"No way." Cedeile said quietly. No one heard her and 427 continued.
"It'll be Sora who saves the worlds and is remembered throughout the rest of time as we know it."
"No freakin' way." Cedeile repeated, a little louder, but 427 chose to ignore her.
"Even if she helps him or makes some significant difference in the worlds, no one will remember it long enough to write it down. Face it Cedeile, you are just the heartblade master-and that's just a fancy way of calling you a key. And someday, Sora will betray you and lock you on the other side of that door your friend Riku disappeared into. That way, there'll never be that danger of Rakuen being opened."
"Hell no! I won't let this Sora kid do such a thing! I'll be DAMNED if such a thing happens!" She yelled out. She gripped her heartblade tighter and charged up the stairs at Axel, tackling him and setting him slightly off balance. She slashed at him over and over, trying to cut him with the purifying light, but he dodged her enraged attacks.
"You're so angry you can't even hit me." Cedeile gritted her teeth and unexpectedly punched him on his left cheek. He stumbled backwards for a few seconds and gently touched the point of impact. He smirked. "Aw…little heartblade master is angry she can't share in the glory of her best friend, huh?" he asked.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"That's right. You forgot, huh? I'm sure Sora will be glad to hear it!" He suddenly came forward with his weapon, and slashed upward. Blood spurted out of the new cut that ran up the right side of her body. She stumbled a bit, but still stood, clutching her injury. He laughed at her. "Not so tough now, are we?"
"Shut up! You think you can make fun of me just cause I'm a girl, huh?" she yelled.
"No. I can make fun of you because you're completely worthless and you don't even know it. Even your friend over there thinks so." Cedeile turned back and saw 427 standing there with her arms crossed. "Maybe it's her you should be fighting and not me." Cedeile grinded her teeth. Axel was right-427 had said most of that stuff about her being a key to paradise and not having any value. But why would she say such things? Hadn't she been with Cedeile from the beginning, always assuring her that Cedeile could remember everything again.
"You bastard, Axel…" Cedeile whimpered. "I hate you. I hate 427 too…and I'm sick of not having all my memories. I want to just remember everything right now."
"Aw, that's touching. But if you remember everything, that solider girl will get her feelings hurt. Because if you remember a certain someone, that girl will be sad." 427 lost her cool, confident look. Her arms fell to her sides and she looked at Axel in shock and horror.
"But why? Who is it I'll remember that will hurt 427?"
"See? Look at her-just the mention of it scares her. It's because you have a tragic connection to this person. The person she doesn't want you to remember is-"
"No! STOP!" It was almost like she teleported from where she was standing to right in front of Axel. She almost was able to drive her blade into his heart-or where it should have been-but he had moved out of her reach just in time. He knocked her blade away with his wheel and grabbed her by the neck. His grip was loose, so he wasn't choking her.
"Now, wasn't that stupid?" he said, smirking. He dropped his hand and casted a firaga spell on her. She collapsed to her knees in pain, her body suit burning off of her skin slightly. He then picked her up and threw her. She landed like a rag doll on the floor in the middle of the room.
"Agent 427!" Cedeile yelled.
"I thought you hated her. If you really wanted to hurt her, you should try to remember that person. Now, down to business. I'm tired of playing with you girls. I came for a demon, after all."
He advanced towards Kageki, who stood unafraid of him. Axel looked like he was on the verge of bursting out laughing. Kageki, on the other hand, looked as if he wanted to rip his foe's throat out and then shove it back in. Finally, the demon sprung at him, tackling him to the floor and sinking his iron claws into him. Axel cursed through his clenched teeth at the new pain. Cedeile stood up and looked down at the scene.
"Kageki…"
"You will not hurt Cedeile!" Kageki roared at him. "I'll kill you, human!"
"Human…that's a compliment for me. I stopped existing a long time ago." Axel mused, more to himself than to his attacker. He smirked through his pain and threw his fire wheel up at Kageki. The blades sliced through his side, and blood began to stain his golden fur.
"No! Kageki!" Cedeile yelled. She ran down the stairs and grabbed onto Axel from behind. "Leave him alone! I'm not done with you, damnit!" He payed her no heed and threw her to the ground. He cast firaga on her and she screamed out as flames engulfed her body.
"Where was I? Ah yes, that's right…" He walked over to the wall where his other weapon was and pulled it out. He was now fully armed. Kageki came towards him again, bearing his fangs, but Axel struck him, the bladed wheels tearing down each of Kageki's sides, from his front hip joints to his back ones. He landed behind Axel and staggered a bit. Blood leaked freely and easily from him. It was true demon blood-unholy black fluid that was staining the once pure white marble. He got up again and turned to face his foe.
"Back for more?" Axel asked mockingly.
"Don't underestimate me. Existing or not, you are just a human. I am a demon." He charged at him, and Axel blocked. This happened several times, but neither backed off. Axel threw his fire wheels again, but Kageki was able to dodge the one and caught the other in his mouth. He hurled it back at Axel, who caught it with ease and threw it at him again. It was another miss, and the demon came and slashed Axel with his claws. Axel stepped back and shot Firaga spells at Kageki. The three spells hit him dead on and he went hurtling back, but he did not stay down. He charged at Axel again, but his foe stepped to the side. Axel attacked with his weapons again. They cut through Kageki again, sending black blood spraying on the walls. The demon flew into the wall behind him and fell the floor limply. Axel laughed.
"Poor little kitty. Were you really giving it your all? Perhaps I was supposed to go easy on you. My mistake."
Suddenly, Axel gave a roar of pain. A cross of white light burned into his right side. Kageki looked to see Cedeile-beaten and battered-leaning against the stairs. She shakily got up on her feet and casted he holy purification spell again and again on him. He staggered backwards with each shot.
"Let's see how long your body can handle my power, Axel!" Cedeile yelled at him. He was hit twice more and fell to the floor, exhausted. This purification was draining his body. He smirked and tossed his weapons at her. They hit her and cut through her sides, more blood going everywhere. She hit the floor but pushed herself up again.
"I'm not quite done with you yet. FIRAGA!" He put out his hand and fire suddenly engulfed Cedeile. She screamed up in pain as her fleshed burned and became charred. When the fire attack ended, he hit her again. One wheel she was able to dodge and received a cut on her forehead, but the over cut across her chest again. She fell to the floor, unable to keep up her strength. Axel laughed at her. "This is the end, heartblade master!" He yelled. Cedeile braced herself as she heard the two weapons fly through the air towards her, and she heard them pierce flesh, and she knew she heard blood splatter, but she felt nothing. She looked up and saw a shadow above her. She gasped in horror.
"Kageki!" she cried. Blood was steadily pouring from his multiple wounds and staining her clothes. She herself was very bloody as well. She tried to hold back tears, but they poured out in torrents, despite her efforts. "Kageki, no! Why did you do this? Why?" He cracked open one ruby colored eye to look at her.
"..B-because…you reached out to me…I don't care what they say about you…you are not useless…you have-" He grimaced at a sudden shot of pain.
"No, Kageki! Don't leave me! I can't remember all the friends I used to have, and I need your help! I can't do this alone!"
"You w-will not be alone…you have Agent 427." He told her, shaking.
"But still, you're my friend too. I don't want to lose you!" She threw her arms around his neck and cried into his gold, blood stained fur. "I don't want to lose you…" she said into his neck. He smiled to himself.
"It's alright. I'll be in your memories. Even if you lose them all again, you will remember, eventually."
"That's not good enough!" She said quietly. She gave a loud sob and continued. "When I woke up, I felt so lonely. And that loneliness is a feeling that felt so familiar to me. Someone else left me a long time ago. Don't you leave me, too. I don't want anyone else to leave me again." She could no longer keep her self-control and let it all come out. Tears washed away the red blood on her face as she gave several miserable sobs.
"I now understand…why Nabuki had to die…she wanted to meet you…as her human self…Yes…I see what she saw, now…" His voice faded off and his one open eye closed. Cedeile felt his body sag and become limp and empty.
It was over. He was dead.
"No, damnit!" she yelled, still holding onto him. "You can live! Why would you want to die! Why? Stay with me…please stay…you wanted…he wanted to protect me too." Cedeile was hysterical at this point. Axel, satisfied with his work, took off into the other parts of the castle without another word. 427 lifted herself up and observed what was in front of her. She walked over to Cedeile and stood behind her.
"...you would know that I made a promise to never let anyone die on me again…"
" I'm going to protect you. You're the heartblade master, so you gotta live whether you want to or not. I promise, I won't let you die before me!"
"I hear a voice in my head…" she began. 427 looked down at the black-haired girl holding the dead body of the tiger demon. She was about to speak, but Cedeile interrupted her. "And this voice…tells me things…and it scares me. It tells me-no, he tells me that he'll protect me, that he won't let me die…that he cares about me. And it scares me because I can't remember anyone like that. With all the stuff I've already remembered, it doesn't make sense that someone like that would exist for me. And also…it's cause I'm terrified of death. Talking about not letting me die…it scares the crap out of me…"
"Cedeile…" 427 dared to utter. Cedeile swiftly stood up and grabbed the material of 427's clothes, near her neck. She had a vengeful and raging look in her eye as she gripped as tight as she could.
"You," she breathed in a dangerous tone. "This is YOUR fault!" 427 let her cold exterior fall.
"I know you're upset."
"Shut up!" Cedeile yelled. "Why did you say all that stuff to me! I thought we were friends!"
"We're not friends at all. I never said I was friends with you."
"But we're at least on the same damn side, bastard. And then you go and say all those things about how worthless I am!"
"It's true, though. But you don't have to leave it at that. As you continue on with your path, you will have to hear that many times. But you can change your fate. You don't have to burn out."
"But still…IT'S YOU FAULT!" Cedeile sent a hard, swift punch into 427's left cheek. The blow sent her flying to the ground and knocked out one of her back teeth. She spit blood out of her mouth and looked up at her assailant.
"You need to get a hold of yourself, Cedeile."
"Shut your mouth! You bastard…damnit, this is all your fault!" She panted. 427 remained silent as the heartblade master clenched her fists, and then grabbed at her black hair in frustration and anger. She screamed out and then began crying freely. 427 stood up and walked over to her.
"So?" she asked.
"God…I just…hate losing people! I've already…lost everyone I forgot!" Cedeile said between sobs. 427 rolled her eyes.
"Are you always going to be like this? If you can't grow up, then you'll never be able to accomplish anything."
"What'd you say?"
"You heard me. Go the rest of the way by yourself. You did say you hated me." Cedeile looked up at her and dropped her hands from her head limply.
"But I-"
"It'll be good practice. After all, you can't always fight with people near you. Otherwise, things like this happen." She motioned to Kageki's dead body in a pool of blood. Cedeile looked back at the Trinity Solider.
"So you're going to leave me here? That's it? I thought we were friends. I thought we were at least partners in this."
"Never. Did I ever say that? No, I recall saying that I'd go with you, just because we were going to the same place. Now, our paths part. I have other things to do." She turned and walked toward the stairs they had just climbed up before.
"You can't do this." Cedeile said dangerously.
"I don't see anything stopping me."
"You bastard."
"Calling me names now, Cedeile? You're just as immature as on that day. That day when…never mind. What do I care?" And she continued walking down the stairs. Cedeile grinded her teeth together and stood there in silence for awhile.
"Well…fine! I never needed you! In fact, if you had never came with me, then Kageki would still be here!" She yelled, even though she was alone. She turned and walked up the stairs in front of her, not turning to look back at the dead.
----
"Well, at least for once you did something right." Lakchine told Axel as they watched the heartblade master and the Trinity Solider part ways.
"Told you I could. You need to have a little more faith in me." He said. "So, what do we do now?"
"I guess we try to kill her. Can I head her off when she gets to the next floor?"
"Now now, Lakchine. Don't sound so anxious. Besides, I bet Vixen's got a plan for her. He can't keep that Riku Replica to himself forever, can he?"
"I heard the replica fought Riku down there, and then afterward, Riku disappeared."
"Where did he go?" Axel asked, slightly curious.
"Zexion says he might have gone through the mirror…" Lakchine responded slyly. "But no one knows for sure. They just found him again, but they lost him for awhile. He wasn't anywhere within this castle."
"If he indeed went over there, then how'd he do it? I thought there was a barrier of some sort preventing anyone from crossing the divide. From our end, at least."
"Who knows?" Lakchine leaned against the orb and started examining her knives. "Marluxia should be fairly happy, anyway. He only wanted the demon gone, but we got rid of that other girl that was with her too."
"Yup." Axel replied absent-mindedly. He looked at his gloved hands and chuckled to himself.
"Something wrong?" She asked.
"Nothing. Just a blood stain." He replied.
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"That's her. I told you-she doesn't look it, but she has a huge aura." Zexion explained to Vixen. Vixen peered into the orb and saw a short girl with glasses fighting some heartless in Basement 7.
"She doesn't seem like she could be…that one. Are you sure, Zexion?"
"I'm positive." The silver-haired man responded, his one eye looking at Vixen seriously. Leaxus entered the room as well.
"What're you guys looking at?" he asked.
"That girl. The one who appeared after Riku came back."
"Yeah. She sure is giving those heartless a beating. And she's so injured too." He remarked. Vixen thought for a moment.
"If she really is that one we heard about-Hikari Tagami- then she could interfere with our plans."
"I'll go set up a trap for her, then." Zexion said, starting to walk out of the room.
"No! No…I'll go and get her. I'd like to test her for myself before she dies." He looked back at the orb as it showed more heartless being blown away by a watera spell. "So, Hikari Tagami, you've been hiding in the darkness all this time and now you're back. You certainly have perfect timing…"
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6H: Next time-Aru versus Vixen! And Namine reveals something to Lakchine!
Anaretsu: Wonderful. You know, this is all a load of crap.
6H: I hate you.
Anaretsu: Great. That's what I was hoping for!