Chapter 38

The walls of Castle Oblivion were white, colorless. Quiet went well with that. But that wasn't the case. Footsteps clattered through the halls loudly, as Vexen marched down the halls, irritably. Once again, the results of his findings were missing. It could only be a certain blonde-haired nuisance.

As he reached the lab, he heard a cackling laughter, speaking of blonde nuisances. He opened the door to see Larxene laughing at his computer screen.

"Oh, this just gets better every time," she pressed a replay button.

"Will you shut up!" Weiss was on the screen, "What do you know? You have all these girls chasing you, your team leader, you walk around, being nice with that stupid smile on your face. People just love you, don't they? Your grades are bad, you don't know anything about the outside world, you don't even know when someone wants to be alone! You don't deserve to be team leader, you don't deserve to be loved, you don't even deserve to have a girlfriend, Kairi deserves better than someone like you!" The screen then got distorted, like whoever was looking at Weiss, their vision was watering. Larxene released another laugh. Then Vexen slammed the escape button.

"I did not record his memory for your amusement," Vexen snapped. Larxene scowled.

"Oh, come on, there's nothing better to do here."

"As I recall you choose this assignment," Vexen began typing on the computer.

"Well, technically it's better than helping that Cinder girl. Toys aren't for fixing they're for playing with and then breaking when they get boring," Larxene sneered. Vexen rolled his eyes, why was he always stuck with the incompetent ones?

"Sora and Riku don't need to be broken they need to be studied."

"And how are you supposed to do that?" Larxene placed a hand on her hips, "Ever since they came here they've been placed in suspended animation. And it's so boring, they didn't even squirm when you scanned their memories."

"If you want something to do, be useful and find Namine," Vexen said, "Ever since she escaped her cell, she's been sabotaging our equipment and findings. I haven't even managed to the research on Riku because of her."

Larxene sighed and began to strut towards the door, "Fine, I'll go on another mouse hunt."

"Alive!"

"Yeah, yeah," Larxene said. Just take the fun out of it.

Mantle

Fern was walking on rooftops. Believe or not she was looking for Roxas. She didn't believe in the supernatural, but crazy things had been happening and none of leads she had been following had panned out, so what did she have to lose?

She looked over the city. Mantle, once the capital of the kingdom. Once the city of technology and power, was reduced to a slum where people who couldn't afford to live in Atlas could live. Mostly faunus. Fern didn't understand. What was so great about Atlas? Why live in a city where you couldn't be free? No one in Atlas realized it, but they were prisoners. They gave their council their freedom in exchange for 'protection.' If that's what they called it. Atlas didn't know the difference between protecting and controlling. Something that hadn't changed from the war. They withheld information from the public, like how Penny was a robot. There were soldiers at every corner, how were people supposed to feel safe when they are being watched every second of the day? And weapons were only allowed to soldiers and huntsmen, that spoke volumes of how Atlas trusted their people or wanted them to be independent. Things had gotten worse. General Ironwood was going to close the border. If they didn't find Sora and Riku by the following week getting out of Atlas was going to be difficult.

She looked down into the streets. The street lamps helped with her lack of night vision. She never hated her human heritage, right now it was all she had left of her mom. That and her eyes. She remembered that night. She remembered when Beacon fell. She remembered seeing the sword that killed her parents about to kill her friends… But she knew know she wasn't strong enough to fight him, so she went another option, making the building collapse on him. It was hard, the strain on her aura caused it to break, but it was over… would her parents be proud?

Fern heard something scrapping on the roof. She grabbed her guns and whirled around. Behind her was a figure in a black coat. Identical to Axel's. The figure didn't attack, so she didn't either. Slowly the figure reached up and pulled his hood back.

Fern lowered her weapons, "So you were one of them, Roxas."

"Yeah," Roxas answered, "They didn't tell me they were going to hurt anyone, they wanted me to find something."

"Which was?"

"I… don't know, they didn't tell me that either…"

"Not exactly a trusting bunch are they?"

"Fern, I'm sorry, I really am… I tried to tell Ozpin, but when I did, Penny was…" silence fell onto the rooftop.

"I'm not forgiving Roxas," Fern said, "But, if you help me, I'll try."

"What do you need?" Roxas asked.

"During the fall of Beacon, you're people took Sora and Riku, they took them to Castle Oblivion," Fern explained, "If you mean what you say, then take us there, help us rescue them and the girl"

"Namine?" Roxas asked.

"That might be her name," Fern thought, "Pyrrha said, Xion said she was being held there."

"Fern, the organization… they're stronger than you think," Roxas began.

"We fought with Axel and won," Fern said.

"Fern I promise you this, he was holding back," Roxas said, "He was ordered to not kill anyone, he couldn't draw attention to himself."

"I'm plenty strong," Fern said, trying to convince him. Then in a blink of an eye Roxas was out of her sight. Then her weapons were no longer in her hands, but were held against her neck.

"I know you are, but we're… different…" Roxas said. Fern was shocked to say the least. How did he get behind her? "I'll save Sora and Riku, but you need to wait here."

Fern took in a breath, "You'll take us with you and that's that." She then took her guns back. She picked up her scroll. Right before she was about to call Heather, said teammate's name appeared on the screen, meaning she was calling her. Fern answered.

"Heather, I have-…"

"Yang!" Heather suddenly shouted. Fern had to pull her scroll away for a second.

"Heather calm down! What did Yang do this time?"

"She got beat by a bouncer," Heather said.

Fern sighed, "This is what happens when you don't calm down and try to recover. Alright where are you, I'll help you carry her back to the hotel."

"It's not like that," Heather said, "Whoever this chick is she beat Yang after her aura was broken."

That caught Fern's attention.

"Then Weiss showed up with some girl claiming to be a ninja and they went into the bar."

"Where were you when this happened?"

"Watching."

Tifa carried Yang on her back. Weiss was right next to her worried, "Yang."

"She'll be fine," Yuffie went behind the bar then pulled something. Then the wall opened up revealing a staircase into the underground.

"What is that?" Weiss asked.

"The entrance to our secret base," Yuffie said, "What else does it look like."

"You expect me to believe that the Atlas council nor general Ironwood doesn't know about this?" Weiss asked.

"They ruin everything, so we don't tell them," Auron said as he walked down the stairs.

"Who are you people?" Weiss asked.

"We're the Mantle Restoration Committee," Yuffie answered. Before walking down, the stairs.

Yuffie's answer left her dumbstruck, but Weiss, seeing no other option followed them. The staircase led to a room with a computer and more doors. An older man with blonde hair was typing away at it like a madman.

"Hey Cid," Yuffie called.

"I'm trying to work here," the man called. Then another woman walked into the room towards Tifa.

"Let's bring her to the infirmary, I can heal her there."

"Okay Aerith," Tifa answered as they walked out of the room carrying Yang. Weiss was about to follow them, but Yuffie stopped her.

"We need to talk," Yuffie said.

Weiss glared at her, "You've been spying on us for weeks. Stole my mother's jewelry. Knocked my teammate out and you expect me to trust you?"

"Oh when you put it like that," Yuffie said with her hands up, "And for the record I put the loot back."

"Who are you people, and this time I want an explanation," Weiss demanded.

"We're people looking into the disappearance of Ansem," Weiss looked to see a new person had entered the room. He had long brown hair and wore a leather jacket.

"Hey Squall," Yuffie said.

"Leon," he corrected.

"Did he kidnap and hurt your friends too?" Weiss asked.

"No," Leon said, "It's what he was researching that was the issue."

"That whole heart power thing?" Weiss asked, "It's… cute, but it's an unproven theory."

"Actually, it's pretty handy," Yuffie said, "I'll prove it, come at me." Weiss looked at her like she was crazy, but Yuffie seemed determined.

"Alright," Weiss put her suitcase down, grabbed her sword, and activated her aura. She lunged forward, but was knocked back onto the ground. Just when she was about to get up. A flash of red in the corner of her eye stopped her. On the tip of Myrtenaster was some blood. Weiss looked up. An energy was coated on her shuriken making it bigger, but there was a cut on her side. Weiss was confused.

"What is that shuriken made of?" the weapon went back to normal size.

"Iron I think," Yuffie looked it over. Weiss frowned when she got up.

"You think you can make me believe with high-tech weaponry?" Weiss asked, "My sword can set things on fire or freeze them, but that isn't a weird power, it's dust."

"Tifa beat your friend when her aura broke, don't pretend you didn't see it," Yuffie said. Weiss opened her mouth to protest, but couldn't. she did see that.

"Well, what do you want from us anyway?" Weiss asked.

"Why are you looking for Castle Oblivion?"

"Their friends were captured," Auron said, "They were taken to Castle Oblivion."

"Well… sorry," Yuffie said, "We've been trying to locate that Castle for years now and haven't found it."

"That's not stopping me," Weiss said, "I'm going to get Sora and Riku back. And if I have to fight my way through the organization to do it I will."

"Look you got the right attitude, but you need to know they're dangerous. Take it from us, we've been trying to locate and fight them for years," Yuffie said. Then the woman known as Aerith walked in. As well as Tifa.

"She's regained consciousness," she looked towards Weiss, "She's asking for you."

Weiss grabbed her suitcase and walked out to find Yang.

"That blonde girl said, they had a way to find Castle Oblivion," Tifa explained.

"You believe that?" Leon asked.

"It's not like we have anything to lose here Leon," Tifa said, "Besides I won, she owes me."

"I wouldn't count on it," Cid called.

The room shook. The sound of a blast came from the infirmary. Without another word Leon ran. When the door wouldn't open he kicked it down. Dust flew through the air, causing him to cough. When he looked up, he saw a giant hole in the wall.

"Did you have to use your drill?" Weiss asked Heather as she pulled her out of the hole in the ground.

"It was the only way to dig into that underground base, now come one we need to get to the hotel." Heather said.

"What for?" Yang asked.

"Fern found Roxas!" That sentence alone filled both girls with more hope than they felt in weeks, "Tonight, we storm Castle Oblivion!"

I was originally going to call them Avalanche like in Final Fantasy, but the thought of Mantle Restoration Committee sounded more like Kingdom Hearts. I've been playing Kingdom Hearts for a week. They released new trailers, I really want KH3, but since it's not here the only way to fill the void is to play the games I do have.