Now Sora's head was really hurting.
"So wait… let me get this straight." he said, pacing across the glass floor, his arms waving as he spoke. "You are Ventus, the same Ventus that we, along with the evil Xehanorts have been looking for all these years. Your body, from all places, is sleeping in Castle Oblivion because, correct me if I'm wrong, you're heart has been recovering inside mine for, give or take,10 years because it was too badly injured the last time you fought Vanitas to survive alone. Now, said creep, has taken over my own body because, in bringing Roxas to life, I gave him too much of my own Light, leaving myself vulnerable in the Dark Realm when he attacked.
"Vanitas made me into the final Vessel of Darkness and is heading to Castle Oblivion, as we speak, with the real Organisation XIIIi to destroy your body, create the X-blade and open Kingdom Hearts, engulfing the worlds in Darkness and giving him, Xehanort, unlimited power. On the brightside, me loosing to Vanitas allowed me to finally reach a state where I could meet you, sorta.
"Please stop me if I'm getting this wrong!"
"Actually, it seems you got a pretty good handle of the situation." commented Ventus. The youth was still sitting casually on the glass floor, with the same look he'd often seen on Roxas's face because well, another mind blowing fact, although Roxas was Sora's nobody his appearance manifested as Ventus, because why not? "The others really don't give you enough credit, you aren't as dense as they make you sound."
"I'm not sure if this is what a "good handle of the situation" would look like but thank you anyway." Sora stopped pacing,"Ok, moving on, how do we get out of here to stop Xehanort?"
"Ah, that's where it gets complicated."
"Ventus, everything you just told me was complicated, try me."
"Call me Ven." The youth quickly retorted, shrugging, standing and brushing off some invisible dust from his grey pants. "Ok then… you see this dome?"
"A little hard to miss."
"Well I erected this barrier to keep you, or whatever is left of you, safe from the Vanitas's darkness."
"So that blackness…"
"It isn't the dome." agreed Ventus. "The dome is keeping us both safe from it."
"But if I want to get my body back, it can't be from in here."
"Not only that." added Ventus, "The dome won't last much longer. When that happens the Darkness will flood in and if the two of us are overwhelmed by it, Xehanort would have won and there would be nothing your friends on the outside could do for either of us then."
Sora paused, running Ventus's words through his mind, his eyes focusing past the teen before him, on the black mass behind but no matter how much he strained his eyes, he could just see only black.
"Then we fight." he concluded, "if we can't beat it, we hold it back until the others on the outside figure something out and save you."
"Sora," there was a warning in the other boy's voice, "if the others wake me on the outside I'll leave this place, the little protection I can provide will vanish and you'd have to face all that alone."
Sora flexed his fingers, and much to Ventus's surprise the Kingdom Blade appeared in his hand. "Don't underestimate me."
However, before Ventus could voice a reply, the floor beneath their feet shifted and a low creak filled the silent air as, slolwy, a faint, silvery crack began to spread across the dome.
They had run out of time
Roxas moaned in pain. If you've ever been dragged through a washing machine while, somehow being on fire, that's just a portion of how Roxas's head felt. Behind his closed eyes he could still see Xion's face but now her words were clear and demanding, he'd never heard her be so determined
Roxas you must wake up!
Roxas couldn't even remember that he'd fallen asleep as he forced his eyes open but they didn't focus, couldn't. It was like he was seeing in duel vision, one part of him was here, in this painfully white room. He was hyper-aware of ever sensation, the cold more biting, the whiteness more suffocating. Another part of him was still frozen within that dark ballroom, he could still feel the Heartless's chains around his waist, see Xion, another Xion, stretching out her hand towards him.
Roxas couldn't even make himself react as the ballroom and Xion began to fade, allowing the white room to spread across his vision, the feeling less chill, the white only slightly less suffocating.
This was castle Oblivion he remembered… he'd come here with Kairi and Aqua… To find Ventus and rescue Sora...
A spell… had all he'd just been through been a result of the castle's protective spell? How much time had passed? It had felt like days but had it been just mere minutes? Or had it been longer?
The Organization… his friends… Axel… Xion… had those been memories? Or manipulations of the castle? He felt tears prick the side of his eyes, as if he'd just lost everything all over again.
"Nooooo!"
Who was that?
It sounded like a girl's voice, but it was neither Xion's or Namine's… no those he had left behind once again.
Then whose was it?
From the corner of his eye was a familiar glint as the light caught something.
His body reacted on its own. He didn't rub at the tears that still slid down his cheeks as, on stiff legs, he spun onto them and, working on instinct, he urged his keyblade to appear as he extended his arm.
He was too late… he wasn't going to make it… the world around him was moving too fast for him to see… too fast for him to understand.
He gritted his teeth, forcing his body to move, as he pushed the sorrow deep within his heart. No! He refused to lose anyone else - he would protect them all!
But as the ring of metal against metal reached his ears and the room around him slowed to a normal pace he began to ask, who had he just protected? And from whom?
"And so sleeping beauty finally awakes." Roxas tensed at the leering, familiar voice. How had they found him… no that wasn't the real question… how long had he been under that spell? Was it too late?
12 black draped figures stood around him, so many familiar faces… some he had seen only moments ago within that illusion- Saix, Xigbar, Larxene, Luxord, Marluxia, Vexen- they all looked at him with contempt, their eyes now stained amber, their will now fully under Xehanort's control. Standing slightly apart from them were the three people Roxas hated the most right now, carrying different faces they shared the same voice… and the same darkness- Ansem, Young Xehanort and Xemnas stood, like some unholy trinity around the old croon that had started this all- Master Xehanort.
The years had not been kind, bent double, with veins and wrinkles crossing his darkened skin he appeared like a Darkness filled husk of the keyblade wielder he had once been. A hunger filled his evil eyes and, although Roxas didn't know the situation he now found himself in, he could feel that the old master knew victory was within his grasp.
By their feet, were two sturgling bodies. One, wearing the same black cloak as the others looked like Riku, but younger and he shared the same amber eyes as the rest. Had Riku somehow been norted during his absence?... no… Riku would not allow that to happen. But then his memory brought an image of the possessed Sora attacking his friends, he hadn't allowed himself to be possessed either…
However, what shocked Roxas, more then Riku's appearance was the girl he had captured but still struggling, in an inescapable headlock. Blood and bruises covered her bare arms and the sides of her head. The obvious injuries across the Riku look-alike told Roxas that Kairi had put up a fight, but in the end, she was still new to this world, she could not fend off the 11 of them alone… no, there were 12.
He finally directed his attention to the weapon he was blocking. Once blue eyes stared back at him in surprise. Brown hair was now streaked with white, an ominous black cloak covered his old friend's body .
Venitas hissed in anger as he tried to push the blade down against his own, towards whoever Kairi had been trying so hard to protect, whoever Roxas was now trying so desperately to save. Pushing against the weapon he steeled himself and risked a quick glance at what Venitias was trying to pierce.
Not what- who.
Roxas had seen many strange things in his short life, and that came in handy then and there for, any ameteur, at that moment, would have lowered his weapon in surprise, Venitas's blade would have gotten past him, and Xehanort would have finally won. But what Roxas saw only made him push back harder.
Roxas's and Venitas's blades were locked before a large white throne, not so different from that Roxas had once sat in during Organization meetings back in the day and, sitting within it, was a boy that looked identical to Roxas!