.
Chapter XXV: That Which Never Will Be
Love me 'till me heart stops,
Love me 'till I'm dead.
Eyes that light up,
Eyes look through you
And cover up the blank spots…
~Talking Heads
"I've got him!" Riku shouted, as he dashed forward to catch Sora, just as his legs buckled out from under him.
Dizzy, Sora blinked up at Riku's concerned face, still masked by Xehanort's Heartless visage. As Donald ran up beside him and began to administer curing spells, Sora couldn't help but chuckle quietly, in his somewhat unstable state, at Riku. It was a strange dissonance: such a look of concern on a face that had, previously, meant only evil and destruction to him. But no, he had to remind himself, this was Riku; not Ansem. This was the take-charge Riku, the confident and self-aware Riku, the Riku who always knew what to do and who everyone looked up to. The Riku who, secretly underneath, was just a little bit mischievous and who had a curiosity about the world that bounded far beyond anyone else Sora knew. This was the Riku whom Sora had missed so much; his long-lost best friend.
As the cure began to take effect and clear his muddled mind, Sora raised a thumbs-up. "Thanks, Riku."
"Er, yeah," Riku lifted Sora up to his feet, "You're welcome. What happened to Luxord?"
Sora looked over to the headstone that Number X had stumbled into, only to see nothing but a small chip taken off the side.
"He froze you all in time…" Sora said slowly, "Then he challenged me to a game. I think…I think he's gone now."
Riku nodded, understanding. "You gonna be alright?"
Sora stretched his tired body, "Thanks to you and Donald!"
"I'm not gonna be here to take care of you forever, y'know…" Donald muttered up at him.
"H-hey, guys?" Kairi suddenly asked, voice somewhat shaking, "What're these and why are talking about me?"
Sora and Riku turned to see, in Kairi's hand, two pages of yellowed, crumpled paper scooped from the floor.
"And where—" her voice broke, "what is Radiant Garden?"
Riku looked to Sora, equally confused. "Do you know what's she's talking about?"
"Well, Miss Kairi-" Goofy started gently, "Those are some special reports written by a man named An-sam the Wise," he paused, "And, well, Radiant Garden is the true name of Hollow Bastion!"
"What?" Riku and Kairi exclaimed simultaneously.
Sora nodded slowly, as he reached into his pocket, knowing it would be hard for her. "And it's right, Kairi—he's talking about you, because Hollow Bast—I mean, Radiant Garden, is your…" he swallowed anxiously, "your real home."
Removing the small chunk of grey-blue stone that Aerith had given him, Sora took Kairi's hand and placed it softly in her palm. "Everyone there—Aerith, Leon, Yuffie, Cid, Merlin—wanted me to give you this. It's a piece of the Castle—a-apparently you used to live there."
"I-?" Kairi's eyes flipped between Sora and the small stone, confused and speechless.
"What's more," Donald interjected, "You're a real Princess, like King-Mickey-royalty!"
"I used to…I used to live in that Castle?" Kairi asked no one in particular, voice distant.
"Y-you did." Sora closed her fist over the stone with his hand, and smiled at her with as much encouragement as he could muster, "You're a real Princess, Kairi."
Kairi shook her head, "I just thought that...Xigbar and Xemnas and the others were lying about knowing me—but that's…is that true, too?"
Riku nodded, as walked up beside them, "That would make sense. The Organization was founded by the Nobodies of Ansem the Wise's six apprentices—and if you all lived in the Castle…"
"What about my—" Kairi looked up, lower lip somewhat shaky, "m-my birth family?"
Sora's heart broke as he opened his mouth to speak, Donald and Goofy silent beside him, but Riku spoke up instead, "I'm sorry, Kairi, but I don't think—"
Kairi nodded quickly, with a small laugh, "Of course, of course…I don't…even remember them."
Sora could feel tears welling up in his eyes as he watched Kairi try to process all this new information. What was she supposed to do? She had just found out where she really was from, and what happened to her family, and that she had lived with the Organization, and that she was actually royalty—all at once! Sora wished he could somehow protect her from all this, but what could he do?
Kairi continued to just stare at the reports in one hand and the stone in the other, as Riku placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and Sora followed suite. Immediately, Kairi whimpered and the tears began to fall as she pulled both Sora and Riku close. "I don't know—I don't know what to do…" she mumbled through her tears, "This is—"
"A lot, yeah." Riku muttered—obviously somewhat uncomfortable, but trying his best to be encouraging. Sora hadn't realized, and still couldn't really believe, that he knew more than Riku about this. Oh, Kairi…
"Kairi," Sora started, unconsciously cupping her head, "You know, after all this, we can go back to Radiant Garden; you can-" now, his voice broke, " so you can live ther—"
"What?" Kairi exclaimed, snorting as she wiped at her tears, "Are you crazy? Radiant Garden may be where I came from—and, you know, I'd like to go visit it again-but my home?" she shook her head, "My home is on Destiny Islands," she smiled, gripping them tightly, "With you guys. It'll take me a while to figure all this out—but that's something I know for sure."
Sora's felt a weight lift from him—ever since he had found out about Kairi's origins, a part of him had been afraid that she'd leave; that something deep and profound would change. But that part of him had been wrong. They would figure this all out together.
"Besides…" Kairi pocketed the small stone with great care and hooked her arms, elbow to elbow, with Sora and Riku, "If I'm a real Princess, then you two can be my knights." she smirked, face still red and slightly puffy, "And that means you'll have to do whatever I say!"
Riku chuckled and replied, as Sora blushed and Donald and Goofy cheered, "Pretty sure we were already doing that."
"My first order of business:" Kairi turned to the second page of the report. "This says that Roxas is Sora's-?"
Sora didn't respond; he was too busy watching Kairi—knowing that she hadn't just moved on, but also recognizing she'd need time to process it all. He could still see the insecurity in her eyes. He'd ask her more about it later, when they finally got home.
"His Nobody, yes." Riku nodded, answering for him.
"So just like me and Namine, then?" Kairi asked. "Does that mean-?"
"Yup, he's in here." Sora pointed at his chest, attention returning to the conversation.
Kairi mm-hmed, "And that's why Axel wanted to hurt you, right? To get him back?"
Sora nodded slowly. "I think so, yeah."
"Do you know what he's up to now?" Kairi asked, worry evident in her eyes.
"Well, gawrsh, Miss Kairi," Goofy pointed toward the crumbling stone numbered VIII, "Axel dun faded away tryin' to help us get here!"
Kairi's brow furrowed, nodding. "Oh…"
"But what I don't get," Donald interrupted, as Sora tried to get on the inside of Kairi's thoughtful look, "Where'd all the rest of these Organizers go? There's a ton here that we never met!"
Riku nodded, "I can help with that. During this last year you don't' remember, Sora defeated Number XI, Larxene, and Number XII, Marluxia, in order to rescue Namine."
"What?!" Sora, Donald and Goofy all exclaimed together.
"It's a long story, I think you know some of it from the Reports," Riku responded, before continuing, "Number V, Lexaeus, was killed by Xehanort's Heartless when he took over my body." He pointed at another two stones, "You know about Demyx and Xaldin, and Number IV, Vexen, was killed by Axel. I'm not sure what happened to Number VI, Zexion—" Riku pointed to the final monument, "Honestly, I thought he had escaped."
"Axel killed him." Kairi spoke up from her self-reflection, "I heard him tell Xigbar that when he tried to rescue me."
"When he what?" Sora exclaimed, shocked.
"So Axel took out two of his own…" Riku reflected, turning his eyes to the stone of Number VIII.
"He didn't hurt you, did he, Kairi?" Sora's eyes widened.
"Aside from the kidnapping?" Kairi scuffed her feet, "No; he actually got pretty hurt trying to rescue me from Saix."
"Gawrsh, Miss Kairi!" Goofy gasped, "I almost forgot that Axel was the one who took ya away!"
That really makes me angry…" Sora bit his lip, "but, he wanted me to tell you…that he was sorry."
"I see…" Kairi nodded, thoughtful and self-reflective again, as her gaze fanned out over the entire room of Proofs, "It seems like there might've been a little bit of hope for him, maybe, even after everything he did."
"I kinda feel the same way…" Sora added, "After I…stopped Demyx, I just kept thinking about—well, you know, the Heartless are monsters but the Organization—"
"-They're like people." Kairi finished.
"But they're still responsible for what they did," Riku replied, "They chose to use the Heartless to hurt people; Axel made the choice to kidnap Kairi."
Sora nodded vigorously, "He did; they did. That's why we have to stop them."
"As the kidnapee, I couldn't agree more," Kairi shuddered as she reflected on the memory, causing Sora's blood to boil at the thought that someone had gotten to Kairi like that, "But still, looking over this…graveyard, I just…I feel kinda…bad for them."
Sora couldn't help but agree. While he would never leave Kairi's side, there was something sad about the Organization, "I guess I just don't understand why they had to go around hurting and using people to get their way."
"It's the most efficient means, in their minds." Riku responded, a solemn note of ashamed understanding in his voice.
"It was the same about Axel—he wanted you, Sora, so he went after me. Efficiency." Kairi added, frowning, "But then he put himself on the line trying to rescue me; and he died trying to help all of us, right?"
Riku nodded, speaking again with quiet sympathy. "Maybe he could've been redeemed."
Sora couldn't help but nod, as some kind of emotion welled up in him. Something rightfully painful, but yet still tragic. Something that accepted the truth, but also longed for some kind of hope. Something that at once missed Axel; but also held anger and pain towards him. His eyes fell to the final monument across the hall, still pristine: Number XIII. It seemed like Roxas and Kairi had similar feelings about Axel.
"It's hard," Riku said, "Truly turning away from what you've done."
"And 'iffin they don't have hearts, then they can't be connected to all sorts of people around 'em to help 'em do it!" Goofy added.
Donald shrugged, "Whatever it is, we gotta stop them. Are we gonna do anything with, y'know…" he pointed toward Luxord's still unspoiled monument.
"I say we leave it." Sora turned back to the group from Roxas' stone. "I don't think we need to be like them."
Riku and Kairi nodded. Together, the five climbed the hewn staircase toward the darkened archway at the top of the hall's ascent. Giving one last look back down at the silent graveyard, Sora passed onward into the Castle.
Ansem the Wise trudged on, climbing stairway after stairway and crossing parapet after parapet. Primarily, he sought a proper location wherein to set up his device, needing a space with a precise angle at Kingdom Hearts, which he had calculated. Secondarily, he was attempting to avoid any unnecessary and awkward conversation with the King. In the past, he had imagined that he would love to talk with him again—but now, with him here, in this place, under these circumstances…well, Ansem would prefer it remain quiet.
Unfortunately, the little King knew better.
"What's this gadget for, anyway?"
Ansem paused, looking about the complex span of the castle for the best location, "It is a device to reclaim Kingdom Hearts by attempting to encode it as data."
Mickey's brow furrowed, "Not sure I get it."
Moving forward again, Ansem replied, "I do not claim to understand the outcome of this venture either. After all, hearts are unpredictable," he made a mental note of the surges of Heartless below—they seemed to be gaining power and height. "In the very least, the attempt will destabilize Xemnas' abomination."
"But what'll happen to the hearts?"
"That I do not know, either. I doubt they will easily suffer digitalization; but nor do I think they will simply pass on or be so easily destroyed. What shall become of them?" Ansem smiled slightly, "That is unknown; but his Kingdom Hearts will be terminated."
Mickey appeared unsure, "That seems like an awful lot you're not sure about."
Ansem couldn't but laugh in response—the little King was finally getting it!
"Ansem-?" Mickey asked, obviously concerned about the elder's mental state.
"I'm a fool, King Mickey!" Ansem responded, still chuckling, as he moved forward, "I spent years studying the workings of the heart, yet it seems I cannot answer a single question as to its actions."
"What do you mean?" Mickey asked.
"The processes of the Heart are incalculable. For even in the inhabitants of my simulated Twilight Town, I was convinced they would think and behave the way I envisioned—they were only based on true hearts, after all." Ansem shook his head, "Yet, the system moved in ways responsive to Roxas that I had never imagined possible. You see, Mickey, I cannot answer your questions about what the hearts will do—" he said. "Because the heart is so much more than any system."
Ansem recalled the first instance when he had realized something had gone wrong in the data: when Roxas and Kairi's hearts had crossed paths; when the foolish boy fell from the tower and—somehow—whatever was left of a heart within him, routed through Sora, and connected with young Kairi on a beach far away. He had heard their conversation and, for the first time in years, heard her voice.
At the thought of Kairi, he had to again hold back the continual waves of regret and mourning. Kairi, Kairi…how he wished he could see her again; to just experience for one more day the older and simpler times—when he would return to the Castle in the evening, or arise from the basement laboratories, to be greeted with excitement by the young princess requesting a bedtime story. How was it that he had been so blinded as to almost destroy even her shadow in the form of Namine? All his plans…leading to nothing more than that twisted response to what his heart already knew to be true; an attempt to circumvent the truth, and her heart and memory, it in search of revenge.
"While I was trying to bring Sora back, I had so many plans in store," he spoke wistfully again to Mickey, as the small King looked over the edge of the balcony at the near infinite drop below, "But once Sora was an acting force…they fell apart." He turned to his small friend, "Don't you see, Mickey? All my research amounted to nothing, compared to that one boy's heart."
He followed Mickey's gaze out upon the horizons of Xehanort's empty, meaningless world-lacking horizon, or people or life.
"That heart…able to exist as neither a Heartless nor a Nobody; a heart able to receive his own Nobody peacefully. A heart that has grown so strong; connected with so many, so deeply, as it mended the wounds of its fellows and carried innumerable others unknowably far…" Ansem paused, "I'm afraid I wasn't honest with your earlier, my friend—there is something I know for sure about the workings of the heart."
"What's that?" Mickey asked, eyes wide in curiosity.
"It consists of relationships." Ansem replied, finally turning his eyes from the bleak world. "Those links are the ontological foundation of each, every and all hearts—our entire reality."
Mickey nodded. It was unclear to Ansem whether he fully understood—but that wasn't relevant. Looking up, he finally caught sight of his ideal location.
With a sigh, he turned to lead onward, "We're almost high enough."
Beyond the Proof of Existence, the group had walked onto a large, square elevator, floating in the midst of the enormous, cylindrical hall that centered the Castle. Sora could see neither the top nor the bottom of it, as both melted into a white haze. As soon as the five had stepped onto the platform, it had begun its ascent with great speed, carried upwards on beams of white light—not dissimilar to the elevator-like platforms of Hollow Bastion, that allowed travel within and without the Castle, hung on beams of magical energy.
"So you'll have to be careful, okay, Kairi?" Sora reminded her, again, "If we're all gonna fight Saix or Xemnas—"
"I know, Sora." Kairi sighed, "I know I only just got this Keyblade, but the stuff it helps you to do…I think I can handle it."
"And?" Sora asked, prodding.
"And I know my limits," Kairi rolled her eyes, then winked, "Anyway, it's not like my two knights aren't right here to back me up, right?"
"That'd be three knights, yer Majesty!" Goofy saluted.
Donald muttered, as he watched the white fly by, "Three knights and a mage, fine…"
"See, Sora?" Kairi smiled, "We'll be fine!"
"It's not that I'm worried or anything, you know," Sora responded with a good-natured shake of his head, "I just, well, I just want to make, y'know, that…that you're safe."
"We'll all make sure that we all are safe." Riku said, gesturing among the entire group.
"Right!" Sora responded brightly, just as the lift began to slow. Steeling their faces, the group turned to face the platform that they were approaching.
Everyone froze as the elevator came to a rest. Before them lay another large hall, a concourse, that wrapped around the outer side of the Castle's central pillar. This was made clear by the enormous glass window which the entire wall to their right consisted of. It was obvious that they were much higher up in the Castle by this point—Kingdom Hearts loomed even larger in the sky, reflecting its pale colors through the wall-to-wall viewport. Beyond, the stretched hall led onward to a winding flight of stairs that twisted out of sight.
But all of this Sora picked up as secondary, unimportant information—for standing in the center of the concourse was Saix, staring up at the moon with his hand pressed against the glass as if he were an impassioned child at the museum. The other hand held lightly behind him his long, blue and white claymore, topped with a half-circle of sharp spikes.
"Sora…" he spoke without looking from the moon, "You've done well-but Organization XIII has no further use for you; just look here: our Kingdom Hearts."
Sora, already wielding the Keyblade, nodded to his friends, as they all slowly crept forward.
"Thanks to you, we've collected countless, full hearts," Saix spoke almost dreamily, "Can you hear their euphoria?"
"Can't say that we do." Came Riku's measured response.
"Besides," Sora added, "What is so wonderful about trapping all those hearts; all those people?"
"Yeah!" Kairi continued, "I bet if they sound like anything, it's the torment you've put them through."
"Do you…intend to take our moon?" he spoke slowly, disconcertingly. "Like them?"
Sora followed Saix's gesture, seeing through the window, below the Castle, that the swarms of Heartless were increasing and reaching—higher and higher—toward the Castle. Appearing like ants to Sora, it seemed like a few had actually been able to reach high enough to scale its lowest portions.
"Because if that…is your goal…" Saix finally turned to face them, and Sora's blood turned to ice. His entire face was twisted into a terrifying, bestial image. His whole body trembled, his head appearing almost like it would explode.
But his eyes…his eyes were pure yellow, glowing, like those of a heartless. No iris, no pupil, nothing. Just glowing yellow, underneath a contorted brow.
"Then I…the Luna…Diviner…" every word he spoke came louder and louder, mixed with heavier and heavier breathing, "I SHALL SEE THE END OF YOU!"
With that, Saix charged forward and leapt into the air. Moving quickly, the five of them jumped from the elevator platform and tumbled onto the next level just as Saix came crashing down upon it. With a crack that echoed through the entire pillar, the lift shattered under Saix's attack and felt to pieces around him, swallowing him with it as the entire platform dropped into the emptiness below, from which it had just ascended.
In a single moment of silence, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kairi and Riku all looked at each other in confusion and concern. Suddenly, the edge of the concourse seemed to explode, sending great chunks of marble and stone flying in all directions. Through the explosion, Saix came tumbling, having blown the entire edge of the concourse to smithereens.
"CAN YOU FEEL THE MOON'S POWER?!" He screamed, and without a moment's hesitation, charged forward at Sora, bounding in unbelievable leaps.
Diving out the way, Sora felt Saix pass like a typhoon. The swings of his powerful claymore each created a blast of wind. Immediately, Donald and Riku were casting off spells toward the speeding form of Saix who, without slowing a moment, crashed into the far wall of the concourse with his weapon, sending spider-webbed cracks all up and down it. Turning, he charged again, swinging his claymore wildly.
Sora looked on in incredulity—he could never have expected this. Saix had been so…so scarily calm before; not he was just terrifying!
Saix's berserk charge now turned toward Kairi, and Sora ran to her as she attempted to dodge. Just as Saix approached, raising his claymore above his head for a downward blow, Sora dove to where Kairi had just been, blocking up with the Keyblade just in time to catch the strike.
The force of blow felt to Sora as if every bone in his body had shattered. Underneath him, the very marble cracked beneath his feet and the ear-splitting crack of the two weapons colliding blasted through the concourse. The wall-sized window shattered, with thousands of tiny pieces dropping toward the Dark City below.
Blinking in a haze of pain, Sora only just caught in time that Saix's attack has switched to a baseball-like, horizontal swing that—catching Sora off guard—tossed him sideways, into Kairi. The two tumbled along the ground before coming to a stop before the open air drop, out into the World that Never Was.
"Sora! Are you alright?" Kairi muttered, dragging herself out from under him.
"Y-yeah," Sora responded, still shaking from his shattering experience. Looking up, he saw Saix charging toward Riku, as Goofy held back to defend Donald, who was busy blasting off spell after spell that—even if they connected with Saix—he seemed simply to ignore.
Riku, meanwhile, was twisting and leaping, jumping over and dodging under each of Saix's tremendously powerful swings. His Keyblade moved fast, like a rapier, stabbing and slashing at Saix in quick, short motions.
"We gotta help Riku!" Sora exclaimed, running forward with Kairi.
As they approached, Saix's movements became even more wild and uncontrolled. He didn't even appear to bother to slow in recovery his great swings if they missed, he simply allowed them to bounce off the ground, or crash into the walls. As they did so, great craters were blown in the marbled architecture of the castle, blasting out large chunks of stone from Saix's strikes.
Sora stayed close to Kairi as they got close enough to strike alongside Riku, while dodging the unpredictable swings of Saix's misses. As Sora attempted to trade blows with Saix, he could tell—there was no stopping the attacks of this monster; you could only deflect them.
With cuts and slashes, each of the three wielders attempted to get in at Saix—but even as their blades cut at his cloak or broke open his skin, Saix had no reaction. He just continued to charge and swing, breaking apart everything around him. Sora, Kairi and Riku had to keep moving—jumping and turning and rolling—to stay near him as his path of destruction careened wildly around the concourse.
Roaring, Saix's yellow eyes widened, taking up an unnatural part of his face, "I WILL SEE YOU DIE FIGHTING!"
Nearly tripping over the great chunks of stone that littered the floor, Sora finally grabbed Kairi by the wrist and, with a spin, threw her carefully away from Saix—they couldn't keep this up. Pushing Riku, stumbling, aside, Sora absorbed the next few blows of Saix's charge himself before flipping up over his head, allowing the madman to charge forward, crashing deeply into another wall. At that point, the Castle itself seemed to shift and shake under the power of his assault.
Sora turned, trying to trade any kind of word with his friends, but it was too late—Saix had already turned into another charge. Ducking low, Sora attempted to swing at Saix's feet, but the crash of his claymore into the stone beside him blocked Sora's strike and sent the Keyblade Master stumbling back. Kairi struck at Saix's advance, as well, serving only to deflect his charge away from her and Sora as Riku himself back up toward the open wall of the concourse.
"Riku!" Sora cried out, as his friend moved closer and closer to the edge, Saix's unrestrained hurtle headed directly for him.
Calmly, just as Saix closed in on him, Riku jumped into the air above, leaving next to no space for Saix to maneuver except to fly out over the edge. Sora could almost see the smirk on Riku's face, but before he could return the same, Saix turned on a dime and struck up at Riku, batting him from the air to crash into the rubble-covered ground.
"No!" Kairi cried out, just as Goofy's large shield came spinning through the air behind them. It struck Saix square in the chin, knocking him off balance.
"Sora!" Donald cried out, pointing his wand—crackling with lightning magic- at Saix's unsteady footing. Sora nodded, face determined, and pointed his Keyblade, as well.
With an explosion of magic, Donald and Sora simultaneously cried out,
"Thundaga!"
With that, two great bolts of lightning shot from each of their weapons, zig-zagging through the air, until planting themselves directly upon Saix, blasting him with the force of a mammoth explosion out into the nether.
Running forward, dodging small chunks of stone that rained down from the ceiling, the four others reached Riku, who lay crumpled in the middle of a rocky crater. Donald immediately got to work with Cure, as Sora and Kairi tried to help him up. Just then, Sora heard Goofy gulp.
"Uh, fellas…"
Sora turned to see one of the Castle's cylindrical towers, jutting out from a parapet that connected it to the main pillar, suddenly shatter in half. The top half slid from the bottom, cratering into the city below with an enormous explosion. The thin, connecting hall couldn't take the stress, either, and cracked in half, itself, sending the rest of the outer tower to sink into the city below.
Sora squinted…what had…
Then he saw it—Saix, hurtling back towards them, having rebounded off the far tower with a strike of his claymore, which had caused it to shatter.
When Sora heard Kairi swear, he knew it was serious; mind-bogglingly unbelievable. Sora blanked. Who was this thing?!
Suddenly, between them, Riku raised his gloved hand and muttered, "Reflega."
At that, a golden-honeycomb shield expanded from his fingertips to cover the entire open wall, where glass had once stood.
"Right!" Donald nodded, turning to face the oncoming Saix and adding his own Reflect shield. Sora, too, called upon his own mental energy to call up a third shield. Saix was closing in now, approaching like an asteroid.
Then, with an ear-bleeding explosion, Saix crashed into, through, all three shields, causing each to explode in a cacophony of light and dust. Pieces of the roof collapsed, the walls quaked and everyone was completely blinded. Sora felt himself flying through the air, bouncing off jagged chunks of rock, in shock that Saix had broken through.
Groaning, Sora looked up from where he had come to lay, and saw Saix standing over him—black cloak torn and hanging from him in tatters, body quivering with power, face distorted to an unrecognizable shape—and those glowing, wild yellow eyes bearing down on him.
With a roar, Saix lifted his claymore again above his head, "ALL SHALL BE LOST TO YOU!"
Sora went to block again with the Keyblade, arms weak, but Saix's strike never came. Instead, the Luna Diviner froze as Kairi's black and periwinkle Keyblade was suddenly impaled in his side, under his ribs. Sora looked past Saix to see Kairi, a look of fierce determination on her face, having just thrown her Keyblade like a dart.
"Thanks, Kai." Sora said with a smirk, as he reached out to grab the hilt of Kairi's blade. Pulling himself up with it before Saix could react, Sora used it as an anchor to spin from, twisting his body underneath it, then over, and launching himself into the air—while simultaneously tearing it out from Saix. With a screech, Saix stumbled back and Sora, with two blades, struck at the bestial Number VII with blow after blow. Saix stumbled back, was thrown back, and finally crashed into the first barrier which he had struck, sending even more webs of fissures crawling up the wall.
Landing with a stumble, Sora tossed her Keyblade back to Kairi and, breathing heavily, eyed what Saix would do next. For the first time, Saix stood still, his one free hand grasping onto the gaping wound in his side while his yellow eye seemed to almost bulge from his skull.
Just then, as he turned to look up at Sora, his stance shifting to charge again. Sora readied himself, but before Saix could move, the marbled ceiling above him collapsed, crushing the Luna Diviner under tons of rock.
After a blink of shock, Sora turned and ran to Riku, already joined by Kairi.
"Is he okay?" Sora asked, as Kairi propped him up, keeping a wary eye on the rubble.
Kairi nodded, "I think so—but maybe Donald could help some?"
As if summoned, Donald appeared next to them with Goofy in tow. He began attending to Riku's battered form again, held in Kairi's arms, while Sora looked on in agitation. Riku's body was black and blue, his face puffy, his eyes closed. He was breathing, but Sora prayed that Donald's magic could get him beyond that.
Suddenly, Sora's heart dropped as he heard shifting rubble behind him. He slowly turned to see the pile of marble under which Saix was buried move, as one giant chunk of the roof was rolled away. Readying his Keyblade, Sora watched as Saix's broken form crawled out from under the stone, inching his way along the ground, legs dragging uselessly behind him. With a sigh, Sora lowered his weapon and watched in disturbed pity as Saix crawled his way not towards them, but towards Kingdom Hearts.
L…ee…t…g..ooo…
He…had to make it…he had to get to…Kingdom Hearts…
Nothing else…nothing else mattered…
Grasping forward with every ounce of strength, Saix dragged himself toward the moon, toward the edge of the concourse.
Lle..eet…g…o…
The mindlessness had passed, and he had been left lying under a pile of rubble in this broken body; still without a heart.
But Xemnas…Xemnas had…he had promised…
How could he…make up the meaning…for himself?
l…e..e…t…t…g…
Unable to crawl any further, Saix's body collapsed onto the cold, broken and unforgiving marble of the Castle, his right hand—his only working hand—grasping out desperately toward Kingdom Hearts.
"Kingdom…Hearts…" he mumbled, gurgling darkness from his mouth, "Where…is my…heart…?"
And still, Kingdom Hearts just watched, unresponsive, uncaring, impossibly beyond his reach.
It offered...nothing…it was…nothing…he was...nothing….
l…e..t…
Was there…any heart even to…begin…with?
Why…why had he…come up…short…?
l…e…
How could he have…made himself more…more worthy…?
l…
Why…Kingdom…Hearts…?
…
And with that, Saix breathed his last and let go.
Sora watched with sadness, turning away just as the last bit of Saix faded away into darkness.
"Sora—Sora, come here." Kairi demanded, reaching out to pull Sora closer to her, while still holding Riku in her arms.
Sora stooped to sit next to her as she poked and prodded at him, pulling at his face and feeling at his skin. He stifled a snort and pushed at her hands, trying not to think about Saix anymore.
"I wish I could really fight like you and Riku—" Kairi smiled gently, as she still tried her best to examine Sora, "you two shouldn't be the only ones getting hurt."
"But you can't get hurt, Kairi, I'd—" Sora blurted out, scared by the sudden idea of seeing Kairi hurt like Riku currently was. But before he could finish speaking, Riku groaned from where he lay.
"I think I've got it working!" Donald cried out, waving his wand victoriously as the dark shade returned to Riku's skin and his eyes slowly blinked open.
"Is it…is Saix gone?"
"Yes, yes he is." Kairi answered, squeezing Riku tightly as her and Sora traded looks of relief.
"Please, Riku," Sora poked his shoulder, "you can't be doing stupid stuff like that!"
Riku snorted, taking a deep breath, "Right, Sora, speak for yourself."
Kairi shrugged, convinced, "He does have a point there, Sora."
"Eheh…" Sora just mumbled, as he unconsciously rubbed at the back of his neck.
Suddenly, the entire concourse shook and the remaining walls crumbled slightly. Something deep inside the castle seemed to tip off balance, as the whole thing appeared to shift.
"I'd say we better get a'moving, everybody!" Goofy spoke up quickly, glancing worriedly at the fissures that were beginning to spread across the broken floor of the hall.
"You ready to move, Riku?" Kairi asked, helping their friend to his feet.
"Yeah. I can handle it." Riku replied, nodding, as he stretched his newly repaired body, before stumbling slightly.
"Just don't push it too hard!" Donald warned, "You gotta give it a little time—this evil-Ansem body you've got isn't super stable; it isn't even really connected-my spells can only do so much."
Another quake shook the room, pressing everyone into action. Riku was able to walk on his own, just slightly slower than the rate at which Donald and Goofy had set toward the ascending staircase. Sora and Kairi followed closely beside him, but Sora slowed as they passed the pile of marble that had crushed Saix.
"What is it, Sora?" Riku asked, looking back.
"I just…" Sora finally tore his eyes away, "Why? They just wanted their hearts back! Why—why do all this?"
"I wish I could tell you, Sora." Riku replied, shaking his head, as Donald and Goofy waited for them to catch up, "During the year you were asleep, I spent a lot of time studying them. What I can say is that, without hearts, all that they could see was manipulating others and using them," Riku frowned, "It's sad, but I don't think it ever would've occurred to any of them to just ask for help."
"Because that would mean actually building a relationship with someone, right?" Kairi asked, "And without hearts…"
"Right." Riku affirmed, as they began to climb the first few steps, "Everything was just a means to an end for them."
Sora shook his head at such a wildly alien concept for him. Why hadn't they just asked? Heck, he would've help them if they had just asked!
"Is that why Sora ended up asleep, Riku? Because the Organization was just using him, too?" Kairi asked, as Riku looked at her with confusion, "What? I was reading those other reports on the way up here…"
"Yeah, Riku-what really happened to me?" Sora asked, finally wanting to know, "And don't tell me again that's 'a long story'!"
Riku sighed, "Fine, fine…just don't stop moving."
"We won't!" Donald and Goofy interjected, eager themselves to understand completely what had happened.
"Well, a year ago, right after we closed Kingdom Hearts, you ended up at a place called Castle Oblivion, Sora." Riku began, breathing heavily, "The Organization was already there, though, doing experiments on memory by using Namine, Kairi's Nobody."
"What were they doing to her?" Sora asked, with a concern that made evident his protectiveness of Kairi and her Nobody.
"They were using her to replace your memories," he looked to Donald and Goofy, coughing, "And yours, too. They were using Namine's powers to remake your mind and heart so that you would follow them. But you defeated their lieutenant, Marluxia, and saved Namine." He paused, eyes looking back to the past, "But it was too late to recover all your memories. Namine had to put you three to sleep for the last year in order to reconnect the chain of memories that you had lost—to make you, you, again."
"So…" Sora spoke slowly, "You and Namine were watching over me that whole time?"
Riku nodded, stoically. "And DiZ—the one who sent me to bring Roxas back."
Sora continued to trudge up the wide, winding steps. This filled in so many gaps. Including why Jiminy's Journal had that cryptic note—"Thank Namine.". There was a whole adventure her didn't remember—and he had forgotten poor Namine, after everything she did. And there was Riku, standing guard over him for a whole year—willing even to be turned to darkness to help him.
Sora stopped walking, causing his companions to cease, as well, and look on him curiously.
Peering up at his older friend, Sora smiled, "Thanks for taking care of me, Riku."
"Y-you're welcome." Riku nodded, before Sora turned to Kairi.
Not sure how to proceed, Sora just looked deeply into her eyes, Kairi returning his stare with confusion. He needed to make sure that Namine got the message; that she was valued, appreciated—that he was grateful for what she had done for him and that she didn't need to feel bad for how the Organization had used her.
"I don't know if you can hear me, but—it was you, wasn't it, who restored Pooh's memory?" Sora asked, swimming through the depths of Kairi's eyes, before nodding assuredly and warmly, "I know it was you. Thank-you, Namine. For everything. I mean it."
Kairi paused, a somewhat stunned look on her face as she examined Sora's earnesty. As a single tear welled up, and she reached up to wipe it away, she could only confirm, "I—I think she heard you."
Sora smiled his great, wide grin and, with that, continued up the staircase.
"Gawrsh, I still can't believe that we were really a'sleeping for a whole year!" Goofy chuckled from the front of the line.
Riku smirked, "Right—point of the story: Sora slept for the whole year while we all worked and worried."
"And to think—" Kairi snickered with a giggle, "I used to call you a lazy bum for just a few hours' nap!"
Kairi and Goofy's mirth was infectious, and it wasn't long before Sora was laughing aloud, with Donald snorting and cawing, and even Riku chuckling. Together, their laughter poured into the emptiness of the World That Never Was, even as it quaked around them, and filled it with light.
Secret Ansem Report 12:
Apart from Namine, Nobodies retain their memories of their time as humans—but Sora's nobody, Roxas, has clearly lost Sora's memories. This is likely because Sora's time as a Heartless was so short, having recovered his heart and returned to a humanoid form soon after shedding off Roxas.
It would seem that Roxas is much like Namine; Kairi's Nobody, who came into being via Sora's body and Kairi's mind. Likewise, Roxas is Sora's Nobody; left behind because Sora's Heartless regained human form by using Kairi's heart instead of his own. It may be that Sora's memories are slow to return because the half of him that is Roxas is still lacking—I must ensure that Roxas is returned to Sora immediately.
As a member of Organization XIII, Roxas was exceedingly difficult to bring in. Having lost to him once, Riku laid everything on the line and used the power of darkness in their second battle, only just managing to bring Roxas back with him.
But Organization XIII grows ever nearer. Here, Twilight Town, is where Roxas was reborn as a Nobody. This is where he first encountered Organization XIII and joined their ranks. They are bound to eventually search this place thoroughly. Therefore, first, I must convert all of Twilight Town into a dataspace and construct a "duplicate" in Sora's memories. I shall place Roxas within that world to live out his days and regain those memories as we go underground.
There is little time.
The schemes of Organization XIII must be making steady progress, as well.
Secret Ansem Report 3
Chaos affects not only this world, but many other worlds besides.
In the "Ansem Reports", my apprentice Xehanort had written under my name. I found the records of his hideous experiments, along with his hypothesis about the door that had appeared in the Castle basement:
"All living things have hearts, and all hearts hold darkness deep within;
Worlds are no exception. If a world is a being, the heart it holds must be colossal…
…and the darkness at its core must be monstrous indeed."
Did Xehanort pass through that door in an attempt to contact the Dark Realm? No, not only Xehanort.
It appears that my other five apprentices, like my own children, also stared deep into the darkness—believing it for the sake of research—and were pulled into it…
Braig…Dilan…Even…Aeleus...Ienzo...
They have ceased to be human.
I, too, have had everything taken away from me; banished to a hollow realm of nothingness. What does Xehanort hope to gain from my pilfered existence? Will my people cease to smile? Will all light be extinguished?
If the light of hope has been quenched, I shall henceforth walk with darkness as a friend—here, in this realm of nothingness to which I have been relegated.
Darkness in the midst of nothing. "Darkness in Zero"
Let us discard the stolen name-thus I will be known as DiZ.
Under this name, I will seek my revenge.