Noi - Part I
Mysterious Tower - Xion's Heart
Night 01


Xion


"You know," muttered Xion aloud as she struggled to sit upright, "I'm starting to get tired of seeing this place." The ruined tower that stood offshore now seemed almost as familiar as its counterpart in the waking world. Grains of sand gave way beneath Xion's gloved fingers with a crunch as she climbed to her feet. She spared the hem of her robe a cursory shake, availing herself of the sand that had gathered between the folds of leather, and turned idly on the spot. She wasn't sure what or who he she was looking for, exactly, though she found herself hoping that Sora would put in an appearance; if anyone could explain the night's events...

"Why would Sora know something like that?" sighed Xion. It made her feel somewhat silly to talk to herself, but the sound of a voice was comforting within the pristine emptiness of her heart. Her gaze drifted to the tower and its broken crown. She wondered what it was supposed to represent; hearts being hearts, she had never given the matter much thought.

"Wondering about the tower, are we?" prodded a singsong voice from behind. Xion spun about in surprise and found herself looking into a mirror. Eyes as clear and blue as the cloudless sky that stretched overhead prisoned her gaze with a kind of inquisitive incisiveness that made Xion feel supremely uncomfortable. Identical in every respect, her twin idly brushed a fall of raven-black hair away from her eyes and tucked it behind an ear. She seemed to be waiting for Xion to respond.

"... Yes," was Xion's careful reply. "I am."

Her counterpart tilted her head to the side with an expression of puzzlement. Xion got the vague impression that she had been expecting a different answer. "I see," mumbled her twin. "I see. How interesting."

"Interesting?" echoed Xion. Her companion nodded.

"To put it mildly. My poor other half," she sighed. "What am I to do with you?" Something about that phrase dredged up a memory that Xion had thought long buried and forgotten; recollections of standing among the ruins of a moonlit observatory rose to the forefront of her thoughts in a roaring swell. She took a hasty stumbling step backward as a heady rush of panic and anger turned her legs to rubber.

"Y-You!" stammered Xion loudly, causing her companion to start in surprise. "Noi? Why are you here? How are you here?"

Noi's eyebrows disappeared behind her bangs as her eyes widened. She appeared, thought Xion, genuinely surprised at her outburst. "What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously. "I'm here because this is your heart, right? Why wouldn't I be here? More importantly-"

"But you disappeared," protested Xion, speaking over her. The corner of Noi's mouth twitched in annoyance. "After I stopped you from killing Roxas and regained control of my body, you-"

"Okay, first," interrupted Noi, her voice smoldering, "we need to clear some things up. I did not attempt to kill Roxas. If I had wanted to kill Roxas," she continued, more loudly to drown out Xion's furious protests, "he would be dead. I'm not going to claim that what I did was pleasant. It wasn't. If you want me to apologize, then... well, you're out of luck. I did what I had to do and I stand by it. You were ripping your heart into tatters of your own volition. I had to do something." Noi folded her arms and leveled an admonishing glare at Xion. "It's my heart too, you know."

Xion desperately wanted to continue her argument, but something about Noi's final words, added seemingly as little more than an afterthought, snagged her attention. Xion frowned to herself as she puzzled out why the phrase seemed so peculiar to her ears. Noi held her silence.

"Your heart?" ventured Xion once she had managed to put together the beginnings of the question she wanted to ask. "But... Yen Sid said that you were a... what did he say again?" Xion looked skyward as if hoping to see the word she sought written there. "... Marionette?" she said tentatively. The word sounded correct. "Yeah, that was it." Xion returned her gaze to Noi, whose glare had softened into a wary frown. "He said that you were a marionette, basically a failsafe created to prevent the heart of its replica host from being destroyed."

Noi's wore the expression of someone who could scarcely believe the things they were hearing. Her gaze darted about Xion's face as if searching for some hint that she was lying. "He..." began Noi uncertainly. "That's... well, for starters, none of what you just told me is true. None of it." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, clearly uncomfortable. "You mean to tell me that you don't remember... anything? What I am? How I came to be?" Xion shook her head, bewildered, eliciting a groan from Noi.

"Can't believe this," her twin muttered, seemingly to herself. She placed her hands on her hips and looked skyward. Xion got the impression that she was trying to puzzle out some great equation to which she, Xion, wasn't privy. For a time, the only sound on the sunlit beach was the roar of waves crashing upon the shore and then receding with a quiet hiss. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, Noi lowered her gaze and turned to Xion. Something uncertain flickered in her eyes.

"Alright." The word was carried upon a quiet, measured sigh. "Since you don't seem to remember anything and we don't have the time to talk through all of it, I suppose I'll just show you." Something about the tone of Noi's voice put Xion on edge. Her first instinct, particularly upon recalling how she had fared in the last encounter with her unreasonable counterpart, was to decline whatever was being offered. She held up her hands in protest, bidding Noi to halt whatever it was she was about to do, but by then it was too late. In the space of a heartbeat, the warm sand and cloudless sky had vanished, leaving in their place an endless void suffused with a wintry chill. Noi allowed one hand to fall from her hip and looked around with an expression of disinterest.

"You might not have those memories," she said offhandedly, "but I do. So let's take a look, shall we?" Xion felt as though she had little say in the matter.

"Whenever you're ready," prodded Noi, her tone unreadable. "Follow me, and I'll show you what happens when one heart is split into two."


AN: Not dead, just trying to stay caught up with college. Sorry for the delay.

Setting that aside, I'm excited to finally make it to Noi's arc. I've had some iteration of it in mind since she was first introduced a couple of years ago, and it just so happens that this is an ideal place in the overall plot to crack it open. More to come!