Gummi Ship Outside Olympus Coliseum: Namine

Namine and Riku read through Xigbar's journal at a reasonable rate. Riku read faster than Namine, but she swore that he slowed down purely so that they'd read at the same pace. Or he just took time to think in between the pages.

Namine found herself having more sympathy for Xigbar, though she had absolutely no idea what his true motives are.

It did please her to know that they had something Xehanort didn't know about. She had yet to figure out how he'd known they were digging up parts of his past. But he had been so sure that they couldn't get Xigbar's journal. True, they had not been able to get his own journal, which was behind a door that Kairi and Xion could not get through. But Xehanort had also known that Xigbar's journal would contain important information and he was positive that Xigbar would be thoughtful enough to keep the journal safe. While yes, the door could not be opened by a Keyblade, it only required a good shot, of which Xion had managed.

Their possession of Xigbar's journal gave them complete (or near-complete) plans of Xehanort's cloning plan—only slightly original, given the fact that he'd reused it with Replicas. It involved making them part Xehanort, which Xigbar had yet to explain, but surely it had something to do with the people harboring Xehanort in their hearts.

"Who do you suppose the girl that he keeps talking about is?" Roxas asked.

Namine looked up at them.

"Beats me," Xion replied.

"Larxene," Axel replied, not looking up from Saix's journal. "They were watching her for a while."

"Oh."

Axel made a face, but it wasn't because of Larxene, it was from something he was reading. Though, Namine had made that very face at Larxene before.

"Man, Demyx's journal isn't proving to be very useful," Sora muttered.

"I sang a song for that!" Xion groaned.

"I mean, he regretted joining the Organization," Sora said.

"Because we made him work or something else?" Axel asked.

Namine noticed how sometimes, Axel still used "we" in relation to the Organization. Perhaps some things never left a person.

"I think it had to do mostly with Saix," Sora said.

Axel grimaced.

"Luxord's isn't much better," Kairi said. "He mostly has score cards and a record of who owes who munny. He said Lexaeus was a worthy opponent, but that's the most I've got."

"Guess they all couldn't be useful," Xion muttered.

Namine went back to reading. She was sure Riku had already finished both of the pages in front of them.

Xigbar suspected Terra being inside Xemnas. Apparently, Xemnas also went back to Radiant Garden to talk with what had to have been Aqua's Keyblade armor. Xigbar eavesdropped occasionally. Xigbar did a lot of eavesdropping. Also, Xemnas was called to Castle Oblivion (Namine shuddered a little at the words) most likely because of Ven. Namine found herself skimming that part though, because she didn't want to think about Castle Oblivion. Surely Riku would see if there was anything important.

"Maybe he wasn't all gone," Axel murmured.

"Hmm?" Roxas asked, looking up.

"Saix," Axel said. "I always thought that he'd made a conscious decision to start brownnosing. Perhaps, perhaps it wasn't all his fault…"

"He does do that to people," Riku said quietly.

Axel's mouth twitched, but he didn't reply.

"That is the vaguest entry ever," Kairi said with a frown.

"What?" Sora asked.

"I don't even know what he's talking about," Kairi said. "He's just speaking vaguely about gambles and stuff."

"That's fairly normal," Axel said. "He could be talking about Castle Oblivion, he could be talking about Roxas and Xion, he could be talking about Xemnas. You never know with Luxord."

"Yeah," Kairi snorted.

"Xaldin tried to turn the Beast into a Nobody?" Roxas asked.

"Yeah," Sora said. "I helped prevent that. The King did too, if I remember correctly…"

"Why don't I remember that, though?" Roxas asked.

"You were probably asleep," Xion suggested.

"Yeah, I guess so…"

"You done with these pages?" Riku asked.

"Yeah."

He turned the page and they went back to reading. Everyone was quiet for a bit. It was Namine herself who broke the next silence. She gasped and pointed to the page in front of her.

"I'm part Xehanort."

"But he doesn't say how," she said. "Do you think it's because of the amount of time they spent together?"

"I'm more willing to bet dark magic," Riku said.

"What now?" Sora asked.

"Xigbar being part Xehanort," Namine answered.

Axel snorted. "Not surprised."

"Oh, that's just awful, I don't care who you are…" Namine murmured. "Do you think he was scared? Could he even be scared?"

"I don't know," Riku said.

She forced herself to keep reading, but Xigbar said nothing about how it had happened, just that it had.

The next journal entry of interest concerned Axel and Saix.

"Axel," Namine pressed.

"Yeah?"

"What did you and Saix do to try and overthrow the Organization?"

Axel's eyes darkened. "I'd rather not talk about it."

She pursed her lips. "It's just…"

"What?" Axel's voice was flat.

"This entry here… Xigbar says that Xemnas labeled Saix as a recusant."

Axel looked down. "I know."

"What's that?" Sora asked.

"Someone who refuses to submit to authority," Axel answered. "But it wasn't just a random mark. Something about it changed Saix."

Namine swallowed. She felt that Axel needed to know this, but she had to choose her words carefully. "Xigbar also said that he was confused as to why you weren't marked as well, but perhaps it was because Xemnas wanted your unpredictability."

Axel's nostrils flared, but he still said nothing.

"It's why I got landed with the icky jobs, that's for sure," he muttered after a bit.

Namine couldn't think of anything to say. Even Roxas and Xion were quiet.

Riku turned the page and they kept reading.

"Saix had part of Xehanort, too," Axel said sometime later. He thumped the page he was reading. "Says so right here."

Sora tallied a couple of things up on his fingers, but then went back to Demyx's journal.

"Well, there's nothing more in here," Kairi said, closing Luxord's journal. "The last entry is about how Luxord was going to stand up for the Organization to his last, because those were the cards he'd had."

Sora frowned. "I'm out of stuff in Demyx's too. There wasn't anything of use. Though, I might try and find the Great Demetrius, just in case he's looking for some of these pieces of music."

"Neither of them were in the Organization as long as the rest," Axel said. "Out of the journals' we've got."

"We're out of stuff for Xaldin's too," Roxas said.

"Xigbar said that he didn't expect Xaldin to write very much," Namine said.

"Not surprised," Xion said.

"Well, I've still got stuff with Saix's, so hush," Axel said.

Namine looked back to the journal half in her lap and half in Riku's. They still had a long way to go, too. More than Axel. Some of that was probably because Xigbar had been in the Organization longer than Saix, but most of it was actually because Axel had been working his way through Saix's over the past couple of days.

Namine forced herself to keep reading. Maybe Xigbar would say something else about the clones. She snorted when she realized that the entry in front of her was Xigbar discussing how Saix shared the fate of Xehanort being a part of him just like Xigbar did.

She smirked at the entry regarding many of the Organization members putting not-locks on their doors—all because of the fear of the Keyblade.

Axel chucked Saix's journal across the room. Sora, who had moved over to the drivers' seat, looked back at him confusedly.

"Is everything okay?" Kairi asked.

"Sorry, it's just… sickening to read about how much Xehanort changed him," Axel spat. "He tells us all we need to reform Kingdom Hearts so that we can be complete, but the only people who can do that are Roxas and Xion, but whatever, really. Except, then, as it turns out, Kingdom Hearts was just another contingency plan for his own immortality. That lying, cheating… and he realized it too late."

Namine caught on that the last "he" Axel had mentioned was not actually Xehanort, but Saix. She frowned. There was a part of her that still remembered that she was only in her current existence because she had spent so much time trying to bring people back. (Not that she would trade that for anything.) However, she wished she could bring Saix back for Axel. Or perhaps it was bring Isa back for Lea.

Axel walked over and picked Saix's journal back up, going back to reading. Sora went back to driving, Kairi acting as co-pilot. Roxas and Xion had fallen asleep, probably a good thing for both of them. Namine could not remember the last time Xion had slept, before Disney Castle, surely? And Roxas'd had a close encounter with Xehanort…

She went back to reading. They skimmed over the parts about Castle Oblivion, because most of that was already known and the rest of it was speculation. Xigbar wondered if Saix had the capacity to still be rebellious. He wondered why Sora, Roxas, Xion, and Ven all looked the same.

"Sorry, Kairi, about what Saix did to you," Axel said. "I didn't expect him to take you from me."

"It's okay," Kairi said. "Mostly I was just locked in a jail cell and Dusks brought me food."

Sora growled.

Namine and Riku got to the part where Roxas left the Organization, which meant that there were only so many journal entries left as Xigbar's own time as a Nobody was ticking away.

"Well, that was somewhat useful," Axel said, leaning back in his chair. "Not entirely, but somewhat." He chuckled. "He really thought he could defeat you, Sora."

"Not when I had my friends by my side," Sora replied without missing a beat.

Xigbar had not thought that Axel would be able to bring Roxas back. He was right. But he was also wrong. Axel had brought Roxas back in a different way.

Xigbar's views on his own destruction were intriguing to read. He knew it was coming. He knew that protecting Xemnas was his job. But he also figured he could have some fun. Namine wondered if that was the case.

The journal ended.

"So I guess dark magic," Namine said.

"Hmm?" Riku asked.

"The reason why Xigbar, and Saix, both had a part of Xehanort in them?"

"I guess so," Riku said, with a small shrug. "It's the best I can figure."

"I suppose it doesn't exactly matter how," Sora said. "Not at the moment, anyway. We just need a list of who."

"Xigbar only mentioned Saix sharing his fate," Namine said. "And he said golden eyes were one of the traits, though sometimes that can happen because of exposure to the darkness."

"But then would it be fair to say that anyone without golden eyes is not a threat?" Kairi asked.

"Yes," Riku responded.

"So who does that leave us with?" Kairi asked.

"Larxene's got golden eyes," Sora said. "Ish."

"That's from the darkness," Axel said. "I can assure you. That last Xehanort Remnant practically confirmed they weren't a problem."

"So we go back to ignoring them unless they become a bigger problem."

"But if it's not them, who is it?" Sora prodded. "Saix is gone…"

Axel frowned.

"It's Xigbar," Namine said quietly. "He left Castle Oblivion before Roxas could actually get to him."

"Great, he's not the person I want to be looking for," Axel grumbled.

"Right," Sora grumbled.

"Maybe we won't have to go looking for him," Riku said. "He might come looking for us."