Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or its affiliates. However, I do own a copy of the game in question.

Chapter Thirty-Eight
Siege

Mickey chased after the figure he'd suddenly seen; glad the others hadn't noticed his disappearance. They wouldn't really need him now- and the king just had to know.

"Ansem the Wise! What are you doing here?"

The man in question turned- he was dressed in a red cape with black clothes underneath them, his face wrapped in bandages. He turned. "Friend," he began. "It has been so long…" he trailed off and turned from Mickey, continuing to walk on. He carried a strange sort of machine with him- the young king had no idea what it was or could do.

"Why didn't you come to me before things turned so bad?"

That caught his attention. The man addresses as Ansem the Wise stared at him. "This was a result of my research- it is I who has to straighten up this mess."

"Well, what are you planning on doing?"

Ansem set the machine up, pointing it at the moon. "I must get rid of Kingdom Hearts so he can't harness its power. He's too dangerous as it is. I will take Kingdom Hearts and encode it into data."

"Ansem…"

"Trust me, my friend. I must do this. I must stop the cycle of destruction on my own." He pressed a button and a jet of light hit the center of the moon.

"Ansem…" The King repeated, at a loss for words.

The man reached up with a free hand and pulled at the red cloth, revealing blonde hair and a beard below it. "Go find Riku," Ansem ordered. His lips turned up, but it wasn't a smile. "He thought he could follow me here and convince me out of what I must do. He's somewhere nearby."

Mickey walked off without another word.

"Was that the signal?" Sora wondered out loud. He unfurled Kairi's arms from him.

"What signal? What's going on?" The redhead asked him. "Why are you working with him?" She pointed at Axel.

"I have to explain later. Kairi, stay here with Donald and Goofy…"

"No! Sora, I refuse to stay behind again!"

"Kairi, please…" He squeezed her hand and ran through the nearest doorway, Axel staring at Kairi almost apologetically

"Sora…" She almost felt tearful. She rounded on the other two. "Tell me what's going on. Please, from the beginning."

They did.

Mickey finally saw the black-cloaked figure, retreating from the castle slowly. Its hood was up, but he knew- it was Riku.

"Riku, wait!"

The figure hesitated for a fraction of a second- but continued on.

"Why are you leaving?"

"I have no reason to stay here any longer," he told the King in a morose voice. "I thought that… maybe I could brave myself into seeing Sora since I was here… but I just can't do that. Anyway, DiZ is already continuing with his plan. I have no reason to stay here."

"Why can't you see Sora? You've done nothing but help him."

"Because I'm not the person I used to be," Riku admitted. He flipped back his hood, revealing anything but the face Sora was used to. "Look at me! I'm not the same person, inside or out! Even my voice is different! I don't belong with them anymore. I'm a being of the darkness." He pulled up his hood. "I don't belong in the light. I have to leave now."

The King reached for the teen's hand. "Riku… please. You're Sora's best friend. He's done nothing but look for you."

"Mickey…"

"Please, Riku."

The teen sighed. "I… you're not giving me a choice, are you?"

The King smiled. "Nope."

"Fine."

"Oh… is that really what happened?" Kairi finally asked after Donald and Goofy finished what the story. "Huh… Are… are you sure Myde's not just leading them into something?"

"You should meet him," Goofy told her. "Sora trusts him. He seems nice."

"Okay. I'm just surprised, is all. Is that everything? That's it?"

"That's it?" Donald repeated. "What were you expecting?"

Kairi shrugged. "I don't know… I always made his journeys out to be so epic…" She trailed off. "What's that?"

"What's what?"

"I can hear someone…" she headed in the direction of the doorway. "They can't be back already, are they?"

A black cloaked-figure appeared at the threshold.

"Myde?" Donald questioned.

"No… it's not him," Kairi said softly. "I can't believe it's you… Riku!"

She pushed back his hood.

"Ansem!" Donald shouted.

"No, it's Riku," Kairi began slowly. "What… what happened to you?"

Riku only stood, staring. "Where's Sora?"

"Riku, it's me, Kairi. Where have you been?"

"I shouldn't have come here," he mumbled, and in a louder voice, repeated, "Where's Sora?"

"…Fighting Xemnas," Goofy told him with a little reluctance.

"All alone? Are you guys crazy?"

"No… he's with some friends."

"Who? What's that?" He turned, and they all stared.

Heartless were pouring down the walls, heading straight for them.

"Oh, no…" Kairi whispered.

Riku summoned his sword and stood in front of Kairi. "We'll protect you," he promised her.

"I wish you didn't have to," she whispered. A flash of light scorched by her hand, and she was holding a Keyblade- it was colorful and covered in flowers. "I can take care of myself." Though the surprise was evident on her face.

"When did you get a Keyblade, Kairi?"

"Just now," she replied, a smile growing on her face. She dove for the nearest horde of Heartless.

"Hey! Wait for us!"

The sound echoed for far too long in my ears before I realized I'd snapped.

My sense of confidence faded as quickly as it had come. I couldn't do this.

But I had to. I had no choice now.

My heart felt like it would explode- my knees threatened to collapse from under me.

Still, I composed my act, and limped forward into yet another room of piercing whiteness. My hood was up, covering my face and, hopefully, my nervousness.

The latter I doubted.

"You have returned, now haven't you?" Xemnas's voice came from somewhere up high.

I didn't look up. I nodded, once.

"Traitor," he hissed.

There was a whir in the air as he teleported- next thing I knew, my hood was down and I had an ethereal blade almost touching my back.

"I knew it was you all along," he murmured. "Your heart… it has a certain quality… I could easily point it out from anyone's."

What now?

"Don't move. I will kill you."

This is exactly what I had been so afraid of.

"Tell me what you know."

"Then kill me," I whispered. "Because I won't tell you."

"Why have you come back?"

I saw two options- I could lie and beg for mercy, or I could tell the truth- that I was here to kill him. I felt the strange urge to laugh. "Just throwing salt in your wounds, Xemnas-sama!"

Even today, I have no idea what prompted me to say that- it was random. And it sounded completely stupid.

"Discovered your roots, haven't you?" He hissed. "How did you get your heart?"

"I'm not telling, Xemmy-sama!" I had immunity as long as he really wanted to know. If he got too frustrated, he would just stab me and get it over with. "Why do you care? You've lost your mind. Is anyone really in there?"

"I have complete control."

"But who has control? Is it you, Xemnas-sama? Or someone else?" I shot him my cutest smile. "Though I don't know who else. It makes sense now. Well, no it doesn't. You're not Xemnas. I don't know who you are, but if you were Xemnas you would have killed me by now."

"Very good, Number Nine," came a voice from above me.

I turned to find Xemnas- the fake one or whatever- gone. "What's going on?"

"I'm humoring you," he whispered.

"How are you humoring me? I'm here to kill you."

"Oh, no. You're not." He did not teleport this time, but jumped from his throne and landed on his feet like a cat. His duplicate stood next to me. "Demyx, I would never do these things to you… you must be referring to him…" he gestured to the fake, who nodded.

"What? I'm not Demyx…"

"But you are… It's time to wake up, Nine."

"I'm perfectly awake!" What was this, this psychobabble? He was definitely trying to confuse me, and it was working.

"Maybe so, but doesn't it make you question this whole situation?" The duplicate asked.

"I won't forget what I'm here for!"

He looked at me with a sort of pity. "I know you won't, but you can't do it anyway. You're just too weak."

"I am not weak."

"Then can you tell me… which of us is real? Is this reality… or not?"

"Of course it's real!" I had this nervous feeling. This couldn't have been a dream… No. It was all too real… He was wrong. He was trying to trick me!

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure…" an unexpected wave of dizziness swept over me. How was this happening?

A hot lash of pain struck my back. The world trembled. Sound pierced the veil.

"Myde? Myde!"

"Sora's voice…" I shook my head. "What is this?"

"Handy little power of Zexion's, illusion…" He smiled.

"What?"

It struck me. He had Zexion's power. I wasn't sure how or why, but from the pain slowly spreading across my back and the blood…

Blood?

On the floor running between my fingers… And the dizziness…

"You've lost," he whispered in my ear, far too close for comfort.

The world shattered.

I found myself lying on the floor. The pain was so obvious now. I struggled to breathe. A redhead girl was kneeling next to me- Kairi? Was this her?

"What…?" I tried to ask a question but ended up coughing.

"It's okay," she whispered.

"Where?" I couldn't grasp anything. What had happened? Had he really been able to cast an illusion on me? How had he gotten Zexion's powers?

Did this mean he had the others' powers, too?

I looked across the room. Sora and Axel were fighting Xemnas… How had Kairi gotten in? "I have to… help."

"You're staying down," Kairi continued in her soft voice. "You're seriously wounded. Relax and let me heal you."

I closed my eyes tightly.

"I didn't exactly plan on meeting you like this," she said. "After Donald and Goofy told me everything… I didn't expect Sora to come screaming for a healer."

Her hand was on my back. Whatever she was doing was helping; the pain was fading. I could breathe now.

"I don't know what happened… I think I was in some sort of trance… Is this real?"

"Of course it is." Her hand was gone. "You should be okay now…"

"Then I have to help them."

"No! Myde! You'll get yourself killed!"

I was beyond caring. I had to know how he got Zexion's powers… or whatever else he might have done. I was confused and still slightly dizzy from the blood loss.

I stepped into the arena anyway.

Dedicated to Mr. Tom Hess, who died three weeks ago of Lou Gehrig's disease. I did not have him as a teacher personally, but he was still a great man and will be missed. RIP Mr. Hess- we love you.

I apologize for the quality of this chapter. It's just bad. Like, my writing from 2007 bad. And that was awful.
I just wasn't really into it this week, guys. We're so close to the end I just keep writing, but I'm not into it anymore given the rewrite and all the awesome things I plan to do with it... Please just humor me and go on.
About the whole trance thing- Xemnas was not really showing him an illusion. It was supposed to be foreshadowing for... something. And it kind of failed.
I know you guys were anticipating this huge fight scene, but I'm no good with that XD. I'm trying really hard with this next chapter. Maybe it would help to watch Dead Fantasy again? Oh, if you haven't seen that, it's awesome.

Oh yeah! I found an author recently who specializes in RAD (RoxasAxelDemyx) stories. She's really good, but I think she's been off FF for a good three years. Check out her stories anyway. Her penname is Xanrivash.

I hope you all have had excellent holidays! 2011 better be good.

Thank you roxy mccartney, Shattered Glass Memories, Nietzsche's Itch, Ravenr20, Kai-Alaric, The Moon's Berserk, anonymous reviewer ArmyOfDuctTape and of course, Anna for reviewing.
Next Update: Jan 14