The Sapphire Sorceress
Disclaimer: The rights to Kingdom Hearts belong to Disney and Square Enix.
Act 49: Strange Whispers
"Today makes 255. It's been that many days since I first joined the Organization. Man, time flies."
Castle Oblivion ( Aqua's POV )
- Day 255 - The Longest Day
"So, Axel will be coming here again to clean up any loose ends in this castle." Roxas looked concerned as he let me in on Axel's purpose in arriving here today, but I wondered if this also meant he would be trying to collect me as well. While I've been practicing my skills the fact was I still could not summon my keyblade no matter what I do to improve. My efforts bear no kind of reward that would justify my stay in this place, which could result in my return to that world that had been my home for a long time.
'I would be ridiculed by everyone from Saix to Xigbar, and even the Superior would feel unimpressed with me.' Worse he could deem me unworthy of staying in this human form; the body I kept despite losing my heart could easily be reformed into a lesser nobody Dusk if Xemans deemed it to be my punishment. All of this intelligence that I was able to keep could easily be gone in the blink of an eye if he wished it to happen. Poor Roxas had no idea why I was sulking to myself asking if I was okay while my mind was stuck in another world. Granted, though, I still might have some time to fix this personal issue I'm having perhaps with Axel's help once he arrives in the castle.
"Oh, sorry about that Roxas. I've been focusing on my training so much I've forgotten you were chatting with me." He smiled and waved it off saying that it wasn't a big deal to him. While he lacked the genuine emotion the look on his face told me that he really meant that. Looking at him again I mention how my personal mission to find Ven was going, and he wondered if they would be able to meet each other once I get past the doorway and my master's keyblade armor.
"Ven was a great keyblade master, and if I wasn't picked by Eraqus to become a master he likely would have been a good runner up for that position. I know Terra would have liked to have become one as well if he hadn't..."
"Sorry! I didn't mean to bring up bad memories of when you had a heart, Auxaq."
"No! No, don't feel that way. What happened to my comrades is not on you Roxas, the friends I had simply are lost right now but I will get them back eventually." That determination has been what keeps me going with this personal quest of mine. Roxas needs to focus on defeating the heartless plaguing the universe lest more heartless and nobodies like us are born from more tragedies. Such is the role of a keybearer like myself, and hopefully, I can return to such a duty soon.
"Axel seems to really miss you being around the castle. I'm guessing that why he accepted the task of going there to help with the clean-up process." Indeed, but part of myself wanted him to go back to Roxas and Xion instead of likely convincing me to go back to the other castle.
"What do you think will happen once we regain our hearts? Do you really think this Ven might consider me a clone, twin, or some bizarre version of himself or-"
"You are not Ventus, Roxas. I'm sure once he finds you he will be able to see the difference that makes you unique besides well the lack of a real heart." Well, the other difference might be Roxas felt shyer and unwilling to act on his own unlike Ven when I first met him. Over time this has changed considering he was speaking to me like this with no one else around him. An example of how much he's changed since that day until now; from the most emotionless member to someone who could pretend they had a soul inside that was filled with curiosity.
"I certainly hope so, but Axel hasn't been his usual self lately. He seems a lot less happy when he's not around me or Xion for some reason. I don't know why this is happening to him, but do you think you can try getting him to open up about it? I could ask him about it, and yet I feel like you're the closest person who has been around him even more than me and Xion. That is unless you don't want to..."
I shook my head at Roxas easing his worries and swiftly accepting his request to try and help out Axel through whatever is going on in his life or rather non-life. Not sure about what else we should discuss I decided to question him on how the other members were doing, which got the usual response of either they were treating Roxas well enough or they were picking on myself or poor Xion. I should have expected some things to remain the same there in my absence, but apparently, Luxord had actually stepped up to help Roxas along with his training as well.
"His games are difficult to understand at first, so he explained the rules to me and we've even been on a few missions which were kinda fun. Demyx doesn't think that Luxord is playing nice with him unlike with me while Xaldin is pushing me into becoming stronger with my progress in my training. As for Xigbar, Saix, and our Superior not much is different with them besides giving Xion and I more mission to exterminate more heartless. I'm just glad Xion has been able to stay awake after she fell asleep a couple of weeks ago." Sounds like my friends could use another vacation in the future.
Leaning back in my chair I got this sudden feeling like my body was sensing a new source of energy around the place that wasn't here before now. Either this was more heartless or maybe...
"Roxas, can you do me a small favor? I need you to find out what you can about Kairi's status in her training, and it is likely the files are being kept under Saix or Xemnas control."
"Kairi? Why do you want to get involved with her again when you remember what went down the last time you two were in the same room." True, but I knew that our paths would ensure we would meet again with our roles in this world. If she was getting stronger, then I could not afford to be rusty if we come into conflict again...
"I'll keep an eye out for any kind of information. I just don't want you to pick a fight with her, since she might not be a bad person like Saix believes."
"Thank you, Roxas. You're truly our "key of destiny" along with Xion." He smiled at the title that was given to him from our leader when he was introduced to Xemnas and the other nobodies. With the communication over with I decided to investigate this sensation that ran down my spine; despite lacking true emotions something about this disturbance felt wrong to me.
Shifting through a portal of darkness I looked around in the corridor of darkness which all of us nobodies use for quick travel, the many locations that I've visited along with the new worlds that I have yet to explore. I had to admit losing my soul hasn't been without a few small benefits that came with this non-existence. Running my hands through the air surrounding my I wondered if Marluxia had a point about living without a heart is actually possible. Are we really limited on time despite no longer being truly alive?
'Do we really need our hearts to exist?' It wasn't worth it to question myself by now since I've already come this far, so why to let these questions plague my work when I have come this far into the goal of Organization XIII. Breaking through the dark portal in front of me I wondered if I was now where I wanted to be which was nearly at the bottom of the castle, as I saw the front door that clearly meant I was now in front of the entrance area to Castle Oblivion. It had been quite a while since I entered this part of the castle, and the first thing I saw in front of me...was Xion? No wait, not just her Axel was standing above her as well!
"Auxaq! I was not expecting you to show up like this, but I sure could use your help..." I can see what you mean about that. Looking over at Xion I could see she was expressing some kind of a pain in her head.
"Why was I here before...I have to know...What are these strange whispers?" She repeated a few times, her hands covering her face while she was expressing more pain on her face and through her voice.
"Mind translating this for me, cause I don't have the faintest idea of what she is speaking about right now." What makes you think I can read minds with my abilities, Axel? The only way to understand her issues is by getting her to explain them to us, which might not be possible if she is unwilling to talk at the moment. That means I would need to interrogate Axel about how all of this came about instead.
"Well, I'm not exactly sure where I should begin with my side of the story. Xion has been wanting to come here for a while, her headaches only getting worse over the past couple of days." She decided to act on her mindset of seeking out the answers in this place, but does that mean she went against Xemnas and his orders?
"She just up and left us all of a sudden, so our fearless leader tasked me with finding her in this place. Long story short...I'm glad to see you again, pal." His hands wrapped around my waist as he was grinning with joy, a stark contrast from our last conversation when he seemed more emotionless than usual.
"You too, hothead. Now, what are we going to with Xion here?" I knew that Xemnas likely would come knocking in order to get one of his two keyblade wielders back into the fold. With only Roxas back at the home of nobodies his hunt of the heartless would only become harder to fuel that fake Kingdom Hearts that is still being constructed due to their efforts so far.
"I don't really know what we can do to stall the boss back home. No doubt Saix or Xigbar will show up if I don't report back there soon." In short we have to figure out what is going on fast, but first, we need to get Xion to a bed to help calm her down. As the black-haired nobody rested for the moment I asked my other friend to continue speaking with me on a few subjects to pass the time.
"Axel, do you remember anything from Radiant Garden beside the time spent with your friend Saix?" I knew the two of them were close when I heard about them from other sources.
"Plenty of stuff actually like the times we would train with each other in order to become possible candidates that could become the next chosen ones of the keyblade. Besides that, we would usually sneak around the place, treat ourselves to some sea-salt ice cream, and see what that old man Ansem was up to with his apprentices." It is a shame we didn't get to interact while we had our hearts back in that non-distorted version of this place. I'm sure both Axel and Saix would have made fine keybearers under the teachings of my former master, Eraqus.
"Before that, I was kind of a drifter before I met Isa in Radiant Garden, the usual pranks around with the people in town, and nothing much to do besides think about what my life should be instead of being a jerk who messed around with people." Isa was the person who changed your views? I guess that doesn't make sense considering even now he considers Saix as someone close to him.
"You know I considered Saix or Isa one of the few nobodies I could be completely honest with since our first days living like this. That is why he trusted me with his plan for eliminating the traitors, but not just to ensure they don't overthrow Xemnas and take over the organization for ourselves." That wasn't your main goal, so you two were planning on doing what Marluxia wanted in the first place? What could be more important than that?
"All we wanted is to have a way of living a normal life even if we couldn't have hearts, so Saix wanted to rule over this group to shelter nobodies in living out the rest of our existence without needing to bother the somebodies. It wasn't exactly a perfect plan certainly but at least we could pretend to have some form of happiness..." He sighed out while keeping his eyes focused on Xion, she was still out of it as he continued explaining himself to me. "That was until the last time I got to speak with my "pal" before this mess with poor Xion happened."
My mind couldn't believe what Axel told me about how Saix treated him, and while I didn't hear things from his point of view I didn't want to believe my friend was lying about this to make himself seem better for some reason. The way he sounded it seemed like all of his years of friendship were thrown out of the window, his past being rejected like it meant nothing to Saix.
"He said stuff that I wanted to believe was not the truth and those words about each of us being on borrowed time. The way he looked at me it didn't resemble the cold, cruel, and downright jerk I've come to expect from my emotionless friend. It seemed like he meant everything he told me..." Axel, I'm certain he wouldn't be that uncaring to you. Now, if anyone else was there I could see him say that stuff especially someone like myself, however, this assassin was his best friend even before they lost their souls.
"I didn't have an easy time following his orders to wipe out the competition so that he could rise up the ranks in this group but now I'm not sure if I should have even agreed to help Saix out with that plan." I wouldn't go that far sure I think if we could have kept some of those nobodies around they might have seen what a mistake it was to follow Marluxia and not all of them were bad people in the end...
'Lexaeus and Larxene despite her issues come to mind...'
"Look we can ponder this all day, but I'm sure deep down inside of his empty body lies the friend you care about underneath that business exterior he has put up. Perhaps you need to remind him of when you two were close, the envy might even come from how much time you've spent with Roxas, Xion, and even me." I mean that might be another explanation for his sudden need to distance himself from Axel since I wasn't sure what else could be driving a wedge between them like this.
"Huh...you know I didn't think about it like that. I've been spending so much time with you guys that I don't bother to see how Saix is doing with all the boring paperwork from Xemnas." True, the amount of work he gets must be insane however that isn't an excuse; he has no right to insult his comrade like that and despite being annoyed by how Ven and Terra might act I would never treat them as irrelevant no matter how much they tick me off at times.
"Friends sometimes go through a rough patch, and that is what makes us who we are by getting past those times and seeing when we are right or wrong. That is what made us people that were flawed but understandable in the end. That is why we didn't deserve to lose what made us special. If he heard a heart then I'm sure he would understand how much those words might sting to you, Axel."
"If I had a heart then I might be able to accept that," He didn't seem to feel better after my little speech as he eyes looked at mine. "That luxury is something we can't afford without Kingdom Hearts." Yes, that is why people like Kairi, Sora, Roxas, and Xion hold so much important in the universe. Looking back I saw that Xion was finally waking up from whatever had been troubling her when she stepped foot into this castle.
"Mmm...wh-what what happened to me?" Her blue eyes widen at the sight of Axel and Auxaq giving her a wave of hello, she looked surprised at where she was or rather what she was laying on. The bed that Auxaq had while she shared a room with Larxene during her stay in Castle Oblivion.
"Well, you were rambling on about being here before, and something to do with Saix before you passed out in front of us. You tried getting away from me, so Auxaq had to restrain you from going further into the castle and now we're here trying to figure out what just happened." Axel hoped Xion wouldn't try running off again since she might be able to get out of sight and end up lost in this place and he couldn't find her.
"N-No I'm fine now, Axel. I just felt like getting away from everyone else for a minute..." Something about her saying that didn't seem right to me, she sounded like she wasn't being truthful about herself. I decided to ask her what made her come to this decision, and she responded with an answer that I didn't expect to hear from her.
"I just needed a break from training and slaying heartless. I focused on improving my skills when Xemnas offered me time away from the castle, so I decided to get some more vacation time..."
"Yeah, our boss does push us hard for 365 days a year." Axel laughed at Xion's newfound sense of humor compared to her shy and nervous nature from when they first met her as she joined their cause. The progression of both Roxas and Xion was something that the former hired hit-man of Saix found endearing to see.
'She must want to find out the truth on her own, then I might need to keep an eye on her.'
My mind pondered how to fulfill that while Axel rose up ready to leave us alone.
"I gotta report back to Xemnas about this. Sorry, Xion I know you needed some free time, but there is no way I'm going to get any of us into deeper trouble especially Auxaq. Hope you don't mind going back in a day..."
"No that is fine Axel. Believe me just getting here is all I've needed to clear my head and thoughts. I will be ready to return soon..." I saw her smile at Axel while he closed the door behind him. Something inside told me to walk toward the door to stand where he was for some reason, but Xion didn't seem like she wanted to move out of the bed sheets she was laying under.
"I am glad you are here and not Axel..."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because he wouldn't understand why I need to be here today. Like you I've come to understand there is only one way that I can find any kind of resolution to the questions pestering me." She was still concerned about that after all. Then, she did lie to Axel in order to make him believe she was well like I suspected.
"You have the same desire as me that doesn't involve Kingdom Hearts; to learn the truth about ourselves and why we feel like something is missing from ourselves minus having a heart."
"There," I looked at her eyes that pleaded with me to understand her to wish. "Is a reason why I had to leave that castle. There is also a reason why I can't return just yet. Without my weapon I'm not that helpful to the Superior, and if I can't get by my true weapon or open that chamber where my friend is resting..."
"That shouldn't matter! You still have something that makes you who you are! I-I don't even have anything like that except for people like you, Axel, and Roxas. Without any of you, I would just be another shell without a soul inside. That is why I have to find out what happened here, the truth is somewhere in this place..." Hearing this kind of determination really showed how much she's changed compared to the first day I met her in that white room.
"I refuse to let this imagination I've been having to elude me anymore..."
"You really want to seek out the truth, Xion?"
"More than anything..."
'I guess that I should let her go off.' Not without a sign that she meant what she said of course. Holding out my hands I asked her to move me out of her way. She rose off the bed shaking her head in disagreement.
"I can't fight you without a weapon that can protect yourself, Auxaq." Grinning, my hand threw out a fire spell at Xion showing that I wasn't completely helpless in a fight.
"You want to make yourself disappear? Then, you have to make it look convincing Xion." She hesitated for a few seconds but quickly defended herself when I charged in to kick her in the chest. She had gotten better at this, her movements were not as slow, her strikes with the keyblade hitting much harder than last time, and she looked more confident in herself and her strength.
"Not bad Xion."
"Thank you, master."
Heh. Master...this brought some good memories of a simpler life. Despite my own spells being more advanced, Xion was able to overcome my magical attacks while landing some painful hits to my arms and chest. She dropped her keyblade when I tried blasting her with a spell directly to her face, and suddenly I felt the keyblade slice up through my body sending me back into the wall. I was grateful the sensation of pain running through my body was merely fake.
"Auxaq!"
"I'm-owww fine don't worry. I couldn't afford to hold back on you because that is ah what I needed to see from you. Consider that a crash course lesson about not letting those who you care about stand in the way of your ambition." She realized what I was doing and nodded in understanding.
"I hope that we can see each other again once we find what we're both looking for in this place." I knew that was a certainty as she quickly ran off while I waiting for Axel to return in order to tell him a not-so-complete lie about Xion running off into the castle's hallways after rendering me immobile. While I knew that we were making more work for our friend, in the end, we shared the same agenda of finding something that makes us who we are in the universe. She looks for the truth, but I sought out my full strength to wake my friend up from his slumber. Hopefully, things will go right for the both of us...
Destiny Islands: Mainland ( Kairi's POV )
- Day 276 - Disorder
"Again!" Huffing through the pain shooting up my arms I moved my weapon to either block or strike back against the huge gunblade that was coming near my face. My trainee wasn't giving me an inch as we had been working out in the gym with Yuffie being the referee in our little match. I was doing better at deflecting Squall from striking me too much with his own blade.
"You have to push yourself further, Kairi! By this point in your training, you should be capable of fighting against more human opponents!"
"The difference is I never fought powerful witches or sorceresses who tried consuming time and space!" His experience along with Yuffie's skills outweighed my accomplishments, and even if I took out that heartless who held Aqua's heart it was nothing compared to Sora. He saved me, the princesses of heart, Riku, and all the other worlds under the threat of being submerged into the deep darkness. I wasn't sure why I seemed to be comparing myself to him except for maybe my own resentment of not being useful besides as emotional support until I gained this newfound power within myself.
'How would he feel once he can remember who I am? That I've had a small taste of the hardships he endured while protecting the other worlds with only Goofy and Donald as his company.'
Fighting against these beasts at such a young age like I was isn't easy, but I've come to realize the world is not always safe, shock after shock came to most of the staff and students when they got a small preview of what the terrors lurking in the shadows were like. Even Rufus couldn't hide that behind his seemingly endless amount of munny, the fear and dread everyone felt during that last attack by the heartless, giving mostly everyone a near-death experience or worse considering that some of those beasts are created from somebodies like myself.
"Stop daydreaming!" I had to roll out of the way of a projectile blast from Squall's gunblade, his weapon continuing to fire at me in rapid succession. I fired back with my own magical spells, the weapon easily cut through them however while Yuffie was actually cheering me on instead of her teammate.
"You can do it, redhead! Show that guy who will be the master and not the student much longer!"
"Easier said than done!" I was nowhere near the level of a true keyblade master like...Aqua. The fact I was struggling against someone who had intelligence and didn't rely on sheer instinct was proof of my need to continue with this training process. Pointing out my arm to blast him with light, his legs charged at me while his blade was trying to deflect the blast away from him. I had to act fast, so I used my own blade as a distraction so that I could grab hold of his own weapon throwing it near his face while grabbing the hilt of his gunblade before falling to the ground in pain.
"Just as you cannot use my weapon I'm unable to properly wield a keyblade. Although if that wasn't the case I would be more than capable of defeating you even without my trusted weapon." Looking at him stand above me I took advantage of his distracted mindset while lecturing me, kicking his leg with my own feet while rising up to hold my keyblade near his neck. I couldn't believe this just happened when I was only trying to avoid getting hurt again and not gain the upper hand.
"Don't let down your guard! Finish the enemy while you can!" While I can-
"AHH!" He was able to grab his weapon to fire off another round that forced me off to protect myself. As I knocked back a few shots Squall looked over at Yuffie, she was still supporting me instead of being swayed into rooting for her friend like before when things went south for me. I waved back when she called out for me, but then I saw my trainer changed his direction...to her!?
"You have a friend...and a target..." What are you doing? Gotta stop him before he does something stupid like hurting his friend like this! Running in front of Yuffie I took the blast head-on expecting a world of pain to be inflicted on my body, the next thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a huge bubble of wind covering me from harm.
"What's the big idea, Leon!? You can't just attack me like this for no reason!" She told him exactly how I was feeling about that stunt when he continued firing at me with those blasts despite this strange spell I somehow cast protecting me from harm.
"I see...Aero, not bad Kairi."
"Not bad?! You just tried hurting your friend, so why are you acting so nonchalant about-" I couldn't say anymore as Leon's gunblade suddenly grew bright.
"Oi...Leon, there is no need to use Limit Break on the poor girl like that..." Limit Break? Is that what that huge beam sword that is now extending out of his weapon is? I only had a few seconds to brace myself when Leon charged after me in the bleachers where Yuffie had been, his blade easily cut through this Aero spell that I somehow cast sending me onto the floor while leaving more than a few cuts and bruises over my legs.
"That's enough! You've proven your point that she isn't ready, Squall."
"No you both don't get it! They are still out there...the beings who are much worse than the heartless. It is only a matter of time before you're forced to confront them in battle." Is he talking about the nobodies? I wanted to say something, but I couldn't bring myself off the hard wooden floor that I was laid out on after that attack which tore apart some of the rows of seats in the gym.
"Don't worry I'll tell Quistis to get you to a nurse." Yuffie took hold of my arm to help me back onto my feet while Leon just looked at me with a frightening glare.
"You must be prepared for anything those people will do against you; beings without hearts will easily take advantage of your weakness of that heart beating in your chest..." Is he trying to make me understand that Organization XIII was my enemy? From what I've seen with Auxaq and Roxas that didn't seem to be the case. How could people like that who only want their hearts back be worse than the heartless? While Yuffie took me to the nurse's office while apolizing for Squall's behavior I knew that either way I would need to get better at this in order to save more worlds and lives.
"Yuffie, do you think that he's trying to push me into fighting those nobodies?"
"I don't know what his deal is right now, but the important thing is we girls need to stick together when guys act like this."
"Hehe, I guess you're right on that."
[ As you can tell the small differences are building up into a bigger series of changes in the canon story, but it will mostly stick to how things go down like with all of the traitors being taken out for example. With that expect more things to get mixed up in the upcoming chapter updates for this story. Next time things pick up with Xion abandoning the organization and how everyone will react to that, and as usual thanks for reading and reviewing guys. FYI expect a new KH update instead of more HXH since that story is nearly complete. ]
