College plus holidays equals being brain dead for awhile afterwards. Sorry about the lack of updates, but hey, I'm updating now. Thanks for being patient, and thank to those who reviewed. This chapter is somewhat of a transition chapter to the next few chapters, which should bounce back to being more funny.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Kingdom Hearts (2).
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Xigbar had gotten back to the castle, and was on his way to his room, when he crossed paths with Lexaeus, who was returning from disposing of the parts of the broken chandelier.
"Oh, Xigbar, there you are. Where have you been?" Lexaeus questioned. He fell silent for a moment as he took in Xigbar's battered appearance, "What happened to you?"
Xigbar winced, but managed a lopsided grin, "Some Heartless caught me off guard. Saix, Xaldin and Vexen are trying to deal with it."
"Where?"
"The Underworld…" Xigbar responded, watching as Lexaeus disappeared without a word through a portal. Xigbar limped off, grumbling darkly to himself, "Doesn't ask if I'm all right…what is this organization coming to?" Xigbar arrived outside his room and entered it, entirely unaware of the spectacle going on in a hall a floor below.
121
Xemnas was attempting to coax Axel and Roxas down from the rafters, where the two had taken refuge, "Come on! I need help! Why are you hiding up there?" Xemnas tilted his head, to try and catch sight of the two hiding Nobodies.
Axel and Roxas were laying low in the rafters, hoping that Xemnas would give up on them and leave soon. It did seem like he needed some kind of help.
"What do we do if he doesn't leave us alone?" Roxas asked, casting a glance over at the red-head.
Axel shrugged, "I don't know…but…I really don't want to know what he needs are help with…" Axel peered over the rafters, but immediately regretted it. Xemnas had spotted him and had hurled a barrage of laser-type attacks, causing Axel to teeter dangerously on the edge of the rafters.
Roxas dove forward and wrapped his arms around Axel's waist, heaving backwards. He and Axel tumbled backwards. Both lay low again. There was a short silence, before Roxas spoke, "Axel…don't do that again."
Axel let out a shaky laugh, "Right." Xemnas may have been 'happy', but he was still dangerous with his attacks. Axel winced, "I think one of those lasers hit me."
"Quit whining, it's your own fault…um…what do you think we should do now?"
"…"
"Axel?"
Axel shook his head, seemingly amused with something, "Portals?"
"…"
"Roxas?"
"Wow, why didn't I think of that before?"
"Maybe because we were distracted by Xemnas chasing us and trying to catch us?"
"…I guess so…let's get out of here."
Axel created a portal instantly, and the two fled through it.
It took Xemnas awhile to realize that his quarry had escaped. Xemnas merely wandered off, smiling and talking to himself, "Yes…run away. You can not hide from me. I will find you…" Xemnas' laughter rang through the hall, causing even lesser Nobodies wandering the castle to vacate the area their estranged Superior was in.
121
Demyx and the Saix replica arrived in a spacious cavern and right in the middle of a fight between the large Heartless dog and Marluxia and Larxene. Zexion was still caught in the Heartless' mouth.
"Zexion!" Demyx called, drawing everyone's attention in the cave to him.
Marluxia and Larxene retreated a short distance away from the Heartless. Marluxia then cast an irritated glare in Demyx's direction. "Where have you been? Useless idiot…"
Demyx bristled at being called an idiot, and had trouble hiding the contempt in his voice as he responded, "The Heartless got ahead of us. I'm here, so what's the problem? Anyway…what are you two doing here?"
Marluxia seemed amused, but Larxene merely snapped at him after glancing at Sai, "Just shut up and help already."
"…" Demyx decided not to argue and retreated a few steps to converse with Sai.
Sai listened intently, nodding in understanding with the plan Demyx had just outlined. Sai called forth a claymore, and stooped slightly, eyeing the Heartless with a piercing gaze. "Just tell me when," Sai said in a low growl.
"Right." Since Sai was a replica, the tone didn't bother Demyx as much as it would with the real Saix. The Melodious Nocturne summoned his sitar, readying it, "Marluxia! Larxene! Get back!" Demyx then sent a torrent of water at the dog Heartless, which avoided the attack with ease.
"Now!" Demyx yelled, sending another wave at the Heartless, which avoided it again.
What the Heartless didn't know was that the water was a decoy.
Sai was running alongside the water like a silent shadow. When the water dropped to the ground, Sai made a flying leap, claymore held high, "Zexion! Hold still!"
Zexion saw a claymore flashing towards his and went limp in the Heartless' mouth, hoping Sai had good aim. He didn't want his head cut off or anything…wait…how did Sai expect to get him free with the claymore? Oh well, nothing he could do about it. Zexion had tried to create a portal, but for some reason he was unable to.
Sai let out a defiant roar, angling the claymore and digging it into the Heartless' mouth, missing Zexion by less than an inch. With a grunt of effort, Sai levered the claymore, forcing the Heartless to open its mouth. "Zexion! Move!"
Zexion wriggled around, managing to free himself. He tumbled out of the Heartless' maw, dropping to the ground in an exhausted heap.
Sai, instead of pulling the claymore free, let it disappear instead. He had to roll to one side to avoid being stomped on by an extremely irate Heartless. Sai leapt back to his feet and stooped down to pick up Zexion. He leapt out of the way as Demyx unleashed a barrage of water on the dog Heartless, completely drenching it and electing an angry roar from it.
Marluxia hid his amazement from Demyx, and how the sitarists' plan had worked. He smiled lazily at Larxene, "I'd say it's time for us to get back in and fight. You first?"
Larxene gave Marluxia an evil grin, "Of course, unless you'd like to be electrocuted."
Marluxia leaned on his scythe, "No, go on ahead. I'll wait and see if it'll need to be finished off when you're through with it."
121
Lexaeus moved quickly. He didn't have much time to react, but managed to summon forth a wall of rock between the behemoth Heartless hybrid and Saix, who was lying prone on the ground.
"Lexaeus!" Xaldin said in surprise, as he helped Vexen to his feet. What was he doing in the Underworld?
"I spoke with Xigbar and came to see if you needed help," Lexaeus responded, casting his gaze over Xaldin and Vexen's ruffled appearance and Saix, still on the ground, "and it seems that you do need help…"
Vexen dismissed his shield and spoke calmly to Xaldin, as though he didn't hear what Lexaeus had said, "I believe I've figured out how to defeat the Heartless."
"How?" Xaldin questioned, eyeing the rock wall Lexaeus had created. Cracks were beginning to appear, indicating that the Heartless was trying its hardest to break it down.
Vexen transferred his gaze to the exhausted Saix, "He shouldn't have gone after it once he had been beaten down…" Vexen sucked in his breath sharply and backed up a foot or so. Saix had struck him on one of his shins.
Xaldin moved forward and halted Saix's half-hearted attempt to strike Vexen again, "Saix, stop it. You're in no condition to be moving, hold still."
Saix gave Xaldin a look of loathing, but settled back down with a faint huff, along with a flinch.
Xaldin frowned down at Saix, "Well, he's unconscious now." He glanced over at Vexen, "Well? What have you figured out?"
Vexen was about to respond when the Heartless managed to break through the barrier Lexaeus had created.
"Move!" Xaldin snapped, picking Saix up from the ground and leaping away in time to avoid being squashed by the Heatless' enormous paw.
Lexaeus and Vexen were cut off from following Xaldin by tons of hulking, furious Heartless ready for some destruction.
121
Xaldin had gone back to the castle via portal after seeing that Vexen and Lexaeus would be able to deal with the Heartless. Taking the unconscious Luna Diviner from the battle seemed to be the best course of action at the moment. Xaldin took Saix to his room, and was getting the barely awake berserker to lie down. He was about to leave when he saw Xemnas enter the room. Great. This was going to take some explaining, as his Superior was already muddled as it was.
15 minutes later…
Xaldin had explained the situation to Xemnas, and to Xaldin's surprise, Xemnas had went through a portal, most likely to the Underworld. "Not good…" Xaldin murmured to himself, and was about to follow after his estranged leader when a crash resounded, knocking him off his feet. The Whirlwind Lancer scrambled to his feet, looking around wildly. What had caused that tremor?
A dragoon nobody suddenly appeared before Xaldin, saluting with its lance.
Xaldin spoke automatically, "Yes, what is it?"
There are intruders outside the castle. Heartless. The dragoon nobody relayed.
"I thought Lexaeus had already patrolled the area…" Xaldin muttered more to himself than the lesser nobody. Xaldin shrugged, before giving orders. "Find Axel and Roxas. They can deal with the Heartless. Also, locate Xigbar and see if he's up for a fight."
The dragoon nobody saluted again, before vanishing to carry out its orders.
Xaldin considered going back to the Underworld, but decided that investigating the source of the tremor earlier was more important.
121
After countless tries, Vexen and Lexaeus managed to defeat the behemoth dog Heartless, along with some help from Xemnas and Saix, who had left his room.
Vexen was in the process of helping a dazed Xemnas get to his feet, when he heard crashing coming from another cavern, "What was that?"
He didn't have to wait long for an answer, as Demyx suddenly came running towards them, a look of abject horror on his face, "Run away! Larxene's going to barbeque a Heartless!" Demyx ran right by the other startled Nobodies, right into a portal, tail whipping out of sight, causing Vexen to consider where he was at with making antidotes. Close behind Demyx was Sai, who was carrying Zexion. He didn't bother saying anything as he ran into the portal as well.
Lexaeus and Vexen glanced at each other warily, "What's Larxene doing in the Underworld?"
"I'm not sure, but we should probably leave as well." Vexen responded, slinging one of Xemnas's arms over one shoulder to keep him standing.
Lexaeus had picked up the once again unconscious Luna Diviner, and he and Vexen vacated the area as another large and angry Heartless appeared in the cavern, pursued by Larxene and Marluxia.
121
Roxas and Axel had hidden themselves in the kitchens, congratulating themselves on throwing Xemnas off their trail.
Roxas rummaged around in a cupboard, pulling out a snack, "Axel…none of this would have happened if you didn't insist on spying on Xemnas."
Axel pouted, "Don't be mean Roxas. Besides, that's in the past now." He peered into the freezer, "Sea-salt ice cream?"
Roxas shook his head, "Not right now. I'm still recovering from our encounter with Vexen."
"Oh, yeah," Axel responded, looking away. He had forgotten about that.
"You know…we should probably go somewhere else. Someone's bound to find us here," Roxas commented, as he threw an empty wrapper away in a nearby trash can.
"I suppose so…" Axel agreed, taking a look around the kitchen, as though expecting someone to come in. Both were surprised when it came in the form of a dragoon nobody.
"Err…" Axel began, casting a confused glance at Roxas. Seeing a shrug, Axel turned his attention to the nobody, "Yes?"
The dragoon nobody saluted with its lance and relayed its message. The Whirlwind Lancer would like you and number thirteen to repel some Heartless that are converging near the castle. Its mission completed, the nobody vanished.
Axel and Roxas were silent for a few moments.
"Why do things like this keep happening to us?" Axel questioned his friend.
Roxas ventured a guess, "Because…we keep making someone angry?"
Axel created a portal and walked through it slowly, "May as well get it over with…"
Roxas followed after the red-head, wondering why the Heartless would wind up so close to the castle without warning.
The two came out of the portal beneath the castle and in the city. Roxas heaved a sigh as he summoned his twin keyblades. It looked like this was going to take awhile.
Axel called forth his chakrams, eyeing the Heartless in silence, attempting but failing to count the amount of Heartless and the different varieties of them, "Hey, Roxas?"
"Hmm?"
"Why do you think there are so many different types?"
"I don't know."
"Well…how is this only some Heartless?"
"Dunno. Let's chase them off," Roxas responded as he dashed forward, brandishing his keyblades.
Axel shook his head and fell into step with the blond. The partial blond? Axel shook his head and commented, "Hope there aren't any big ones."
"…"
"What?"
"Dammit Axel, you just had to jinx us, didn't you?"
Axel blinked, confused, "What do you mean?"
"Look." Roxas jabbed a keyblade to behind the first few lines of Heartless.
Axel stopped and stared for a few seconds. Then, he let out a low whistle and stated, "Well, shit."
"My thoughts exactly."
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Poor Axel and Roxas. Hey, Zexion finally got rescued, meaning he'll get back to plotting. Plus, Xemnas is getting closer to putting some of his own plotting into motion. Well, if you'd like, let me know how it went.
So, until the next update, hopefully later this month, thanks for reading and/or reviewing.
