Chapter 25

one last cry

Heartless were now everywhere and the track was almost completely black, Xemnas was leaning on the front panel looking through the windows to stare down at the ground.

None of them could understand his robotic nature that would allow him to break himself out of anything as long as there was a task to complete, true to nature though Xemnas seemed to completely forget the earlier breakdown right when Sora spoke of the amassing heartless outside.

No matter how much they tried though none could guess what caused that, it was as if his mind scheduled everything in a sequence. Once each task was complete then next scheduled thing would take place, it was like he wasn't even human.

"I said shoot them Sora, I don't care which ones just find a target!"

Sora was broken of his thoughts finally when Xemnas turned suddenly, glaring in his direction. He had forgotten what Xemnas had ordered but still he swiftly nodded anyway and pulled the trigger on the stick for the manual gun controls firing two heavy rounds into the mob.

Xemnas turned back slowly watching to see if Sora would freeze again, assured he studied the rate that the heartless would show up, sadly he shook his head, "Sora, Riku enough now." he waved a hand behind himself for them to cease fire before facing the group not seeming to hopeful, "We can't kill them fast enough, even the spread-fire cannon wouldn't be enough, I say we do my first plan and drill to the center of that dragon to take it out from the inside." he was trying to be less bossy but he wasn't sure how much he could take.

Riku grimaced at the thought of going back inside that beast where he and Sora had almost died, if it hadn't been for the door to the light he wasn't sure if they'd be talking here today, "Are you sure it's inside... whatever it is?"

"I believe I should be able to know my own creations, Riku." he stated bluntly.

"Aw, I knew you'd say that. Fine tell me when." Riku answered sounding a bit less confident then usual and leaned back against the joystick for the machine gun.

Meanwhile in a dark world Fake was alone, he couldn't recall the past few hours that he fought with Riku though he had seen the second warrior, and was positive he had gotten beaten through the ground.

But now was he truly dead or just in limbo kept alive by The Void. For a test he waved his hands through the air hoping to not see darkness, no such luck though as he watched the blackness float around him like whiffs of smoke, "Ok Dark I'm sure you've had a good laugh, now enough of this!" he waited but nothing happened, "Dark I said..."

"Will ya stop yelling for a few seconds, your going to cause grief on the worlds."

Fake turned around to see that same warrior walking up behind him, for some reason he was not displacing darkness though, was this the other resting place that Dark had told him about. He waited for the other to stop before getting up, "What's going on where am I?" he drew Souleater just in case.

The warrior let a few laughs slip, "Is that your actual question? Give me a break, everyone knows what this is. You died all that energy killed you, why do you need me to explain?"

Fake looked around, the world of death but wasn't he suppose to be in The Void, "What happened to The Void?"

"Oh you're one of those." he seemed to calm down and got a serious look which seemed foreign on him, "You were to badly damaged to have a second chance, that energy that Dark supplied you with didn't have anywhere to go so it collected and exploded... inside you."

Fake had the most interesting look after hearing that, he dropped Souleater and fell to his knees.

"So you believe me, no objections?" the dragon rider couldn't believe it but still he walked over to hand him the fallen weapon, "You do understand though that you are fake, so I can't keep you here either."

Fake looked up grabbing the weapon, "Then what, where do I go... what happens to me now?"

The dragon rider released Souleater staring back into Fake's eyes, "You must already know."

Slowly the space around Fake and the dragon rider himself vanished, in it's place was a track in the air loaded with heartless. He fell on the hard cement in the middle of what looked like a city, heartless were everywhere now.

Fake got up to see the ship land and the team emerge, grinning he sent a ball of dark fire flying at them to catch their attention.

Riku turned casting a angered glare straight at him, he took a step but was stopped by a portal opening directly in front of him.

Sora got out his keyblade in preparation, unfortunately it would take more then the team had in combination to face what was coming.

Riku jumped back from the portal when something launched out with the speed of a lightning bolt and the portal closed. He fell backward raising one hand as if to block a bright light, "What was that?"

The rest of the team closed in with Kairi taking shelter next to Xemnas and Sora, none moved till they heard a quiet raspy voice break the tension.

"Why are you here?"

Xemnas glanced in the direction of the sound to see a new person standing there sounding a bit pissed, "This is our quest. Who are you and why are are you here."

The stranger held out his arms in cross formation summoning five weapons purely from nothing, they all circled him hitting the ground as they appeared. He had a spear, two swords, and two keyblades, all five soon found positions behind him making him looked a lot more like a plane then a warrior, "I am Narcore this is my fate, do not interfere."

Sora traded looks with Vexen both noticing the same thing, "So how good do you have to be to not need to to hold your weapons anymore?"

Vexen grabbed Sora,"Well we'll see won't we." he didn't give Sora a moment to react before shoving him into the path of this warrior and watching the scientist he was.

Narcore saw Sora stumble to the center of the battlefield, this to him was a sign of attack, his weapons began to circle him while energy charged through his veins. This would be no ordinary fight and Narcore was built for that reason alone, he was a weapon built to kill.

Narcore rushed forward his weapons going back to V formation giving his opponents zero time to react, he swung one to remove Sora while the rest choose a victim at random.

Saix jumped out powering up to get three weapons away from the group and ran for it only swinging when necessary.

Fake watched Xemnas high tail it to protect Sora and jumped into the fray, if Riku was half of Xemnas then this was his only purpose, though he was not shocked when Xemnas got up ready to attack at any moment.

Xemnas was alert now and was standing over Sora bound and determined to keep Sora alive sabers nearly burning his hands, "One more step and kiss your life goodbye replica, I heard from Axel you were a failure. Leave before I make you leave."

Fake knew there was nothing left either way, either die or be killed, the alternative was to live with no purpose, "You'll have to kill me then." he said walking up dragging his weapon with one hand, "It ain't worth living without a purpose, I thought you'd know that by now."

Xemnas lowered his weapons a bit to see the replica more closely, "What are you saying, Vexen made you for one purpose but you failed at it. You don't have no purpose it's just you aren't suppose to be alive." he now felt the sting of his sabers burning out of his hands.

Fake sighed, all he wanted was a chance at being someone, still he grabbed his weapon and held it ready for anything.

The two stood at opposite sides waiting for the other to flinch, sounds of clashing iron behind them from Narcore and the rest could clearly be heard. Still the two were oblivious to the noise, Xemnas slowly stepped of Sora and the two broke the stare running at each other.

This failure would end one way or another.

With the team though Vexen was doing his best to defend the onslaught of attacks while Axel and Kairi dove into the dragon, Narcore was an exceptional fighter dispute being a tad shorter then Riku and with a smaller build then most.

Narcore knew after years of fighting that playing defensive was the best bet, normally he'd be against an army instead of a small group. Still he was fighting defensively and only attacking when deemed necessary keeping his guard up at all times and attacking when a weakness was exploited.

He slashed low and high but Vexen kept behind his shield trying to stall till Axel and Kairi dispelled the heartless, but by now his shield should have broken a couple of times. Still, waiting was playing with his patience, so he lowered his guard to fire off a few ice blasts managing to freeze Narcore to the floor.

Laughing for a bit Vexen threw his shield away and walked up to the frozen Narcore, "You give up yet?"

Narcore glared up from where his legs and weapons had froze, "Not on your life." he spat back but only manged to please the scientist more.

However Riku had his own questions, "Who are you why did you attack us?"

"I told you my name, you are interfering on my work, I was built to watch over these worlds!" Narcore yelled breaking free while pulling hard, but only to fall on the floor when Riku struck him down with one swift blow to his back.

"Built..." Riku's mind was dazed, "By who."

Narcore let out a small chuckle, "Wouldn't you like to know." he smirked before getting to his feet and tearing off towards the dragon.

Riku glanced up and gave chase, "I said who built you, answer me!" Riku fired a few fire balls at his opponent's feet but Narcore jumped, dodging like had been training his whole life for this day.

Narcore was about to answer but was tripped and flew at someone's feet, angered he jumped up reading an attack but dropped his weapon upon seeing his master's face. His boss was a young woman, not much older then Riku with jet black hair, fierce dark blue eyes, and tan skin like an islander.

She looked over to Riku raising one sharp black eyebrow in an untapped curious look like she was wondering why he was there to begin with, "Narcore, you are not to attack them again, do you understand me!?"

Narcore solemnly nodded and followed his boss's footsteps but glancing back, "Why do you stare at him like that."

The girl turned back glancing at Riku then at Xemnas, "Don't they look alike, in a way."

It seemed like time had slowed down for Riku after that, he stared at the stranger nearly drowning in her eyes till she vanished [Man she's hot! Riku thought.

Xemnas however was having a worse off time and was holding on to Fake's Souleater which was inches from his face.

"You said yourself you don't want to sacrifice Riku, you don't want him to be separated from Sora." he pushed harder testing Xemnas' strength and getting the blade closer to his face almost to the point of injury, "You said you want to be complete, so why not?"

Xemnas twitched and finally threw the replica off and looked back glaring over his shoulder, amazingly he was speechless.

Fake got up repeating his question again, "Why not?" He barked swiping his weapon through the air.

Axel and Kairi had gotten to the center of the dragon where a small machine was rapidly producing heartless.

"Bingo, jackpot." Axel stated pointing at the machine, "Now all we got to do is destroy that and leave, right?" he gave Kairi an odd look before jumping down from the ledge they stood on.

Back in The Void Dark was not happy, "Destroy and leave, why couldn't I think of anything to make this hard?" he waited for an answer till he remembered all his companions were either dead or sent away, "God so boring." he said fading away.

Dark soon appeared in the middle of the area with the dragon, Narcore was long gone now much to Dark's disappointment, "Meddlesome girl, Torch. She just can't let me have entertainment." he shrugged and paced over to the passed out Sora leaning down to get a look at the teen, "You were all fired up to kill me, Sora."

"What!?" it must have been his impeccable timing or chance that granted Sora to wake up.

"Sora, why your awake... how nice, I have an order for you now listen carefully." he said to the half awake Sora, "Kill the replica of Riku, now."

Sora scratched his head in confusion, "What why I thought he was dead, Riku killed him."

"I'm in need of some company."

"What so you can torment him!?" Sora accused, "That's why nobody likes you right, you torment them like you have been tormenting Xemnas, why would I do anything for you!" Sora righted himself and got his keyblade."

Dark smiled at the teen's spunk, "Because Sora, I can make this journey difficult, and tragic for you."

"Your probably all talk and no action." Sora taunted sparking Dark's rage.

Dark had seemed to change in a second from calm to enraged and clenched a fist, "Boy, if you challenge me I'll drag to The Void with my bare hands." he barred his teeth and reached out to do Sora in but he vanished, "What!?" confused Dark turned to the right to see Xemnas guarding Sora while Saix, Vexen, and Riku stood in his path now.

Dark eyed them critically before leaning back chuckling to himself, "You think you'd last a moment in The Void, I'll insure that you won't."

Saix took a extra protective stance holding his claymore like he would go berserk any second, followed by Riku raising his keyblade with an intent to kill.

Dark was amused he loved this fire, he also loved when the spark was snuffed out, "I look forward to welcoming you to the void." Dark stated waving himself a portal with seemed to devour him.

In his absence the team relaxed lowering weapons that once been held defensively, now was the time for questions and answers.

"Hey, guys who else saw that girl get Narcore." Riku questioned shrugging in confusion.

Vexen leaned on his shield, he had also seen the girl, "I'm not sure but I think that we're not the only ones that can travel between worlds." he answered straightening before turning toward Xemnas who had retreated and was sitting a few feet away not seeming alright, "Xehanort..." Vexen said sounding concerned.

Xemnas never looked back ignoring the name he hated and replying with, "I understand now, I know right from wrong... on my own, what have I done?" he said sounding guilty.

Sora walked over sitting next to Xemnas offering him a shoulder to lean on, "This trip has been rough on you, huh."

Xemnas just nodded, "When I fought the replica, he offered his place for Riku. I'm complete now, well besides my control over darkness, I should be glad but... how? I don't remember how to be happy."

Sora looked from his companion out into the horizon as the heartless dissipated, "It'll come, i don't want to tell you though but just know you'll be back to normal no more nagging feeling, like you said you had." he suddenly jumped up and whipped around, "Hey guys! This was the reason we began, we gotta tell the king as soon as possible, Xemnas is back to his old self, and soon this quest will be over!"

Riku pumped a fist into the air spurred on by Sora's excitement adding in, "Then we can find that pretty girl!"

Silence washed over the group after that.