All right, so now we're into the book where there are a lot more changes into the plot itself, and it's where if there are no changes, it won't be involved. It mostly includes missions, and because there are so darn many, I can't tell you every single one. So in this book, if the mission is not included, then it's going like it would in the game.
Enjoy!
Two members of the keyblade are in the Organization fold, number XIII and XIV, Roxas and Xion, and unlike all of the other members, neither have memories of before the Organization. However, of entirely different reasons but only a few know why. But the true reason for their importance is the fact that both can wield the powerful weapon called the keyblade. The only weapon that can properly claim the heart stolen by the Heartless.
Axel, number VIII, has been given the task of handling Roxas until the teenager boy would show any signs of awareness, which was met with a lot of fake complaints from the fire-wielding man, but still, he took to the role quite well. For some reason, no one was tasked in looking after Xion. Only Vexen did from time to time check up on them before disappearing back to his laboratory to do whatever the hell that mad scientist was doing down there, leaving Xion standing around either in the Grey Area or inside their room.
Over time, Roxas started to show awareness. At first, his missions were simple and meant to train his mind for the Heartless battles to come. Each of these missions was with the other members, all who taught him certain skills and others would explain why it was so important to have a keyblade. Roxas's mind was still too new to fully understand his purpose, so he spent most of his early days learning and after missions, would join Axel on the clock tower to eat ice-cream. He enjoyed those moments the most, more so when he came to understand that Axel has been taking care of him when he was— as Axel called it 'spacing out.'
Axel called them friends, and Roxas might not understand what it meant, still felt it was something good.
Not long after, Axel left for a mission in Castle Oblivion with several other members. For the first time, Roxas felt bad and soon started to wonder when Axel would return so they could eat ice cream together.
With almost half of their members gone, it meant that the remaining had to put on extra work. Roxas didn't really mind but found himself unsure when Saix, probably the member he least liked, assigned him to teach Xion how to do missions. Unsure how to do that, Roxas resorted to merely show Xion by attacking whatever Heartless that would pop up. Xion only used magic and never spoke, which did make the teenager boy very unsure how to talk with Xion, more so that they left the moment the mission was over.
However, after a couple of awkward missions together, Xion spoke his name with a clear female, though unsure voice.
The next day after that, Xion pulled down the hood, revealing a teenager girl with raven black hair and striking blue eyes, she smiled to him. "Let's work hard again today, okay?" She spoke, giving him a sweet and cheerful smile. It caught Roxas off guard, but he quickly agreed with himself that he liked her talking over that eerie silent treatment she gave him at the start.
They went on a mission, and when he got in trouble where his keyblade got hit out from his hands, the word of her being able to wield a keyblade was proven correct as she took his keyblade and struck the giant Heartless. After that, Roxas took her up to the clock tower the same way Axel did to him during the first mission.
He told her what Axel had told him that friends do this sort of thing.
"Does the mean we're friends?" Xion asked.
Well, Roxas wasn't entirely sure, he needed to ask Axel about it but must admit that he liked the idea of having Xion as a friend as well.
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"What do you mean everyone was wiped out?" Roxas demands to Xigbar after having gotten the news from both him and Demyx, he didn't understand fully what "wiped out" meant, only that it made his chest feels like its getting squeezed by an invisible hand.
"They have been terminated, gone, never to be seen again." Xigbar explains the boy, and much to his annoyance, Demyx exclaims, "Whoa there, you can't say it like that old man!" That's possibly the worst insult anyone can call him. Sure he is old but does not like to be reminded about it. He whacks the younger member hard over the head, almost knocking Demyx out. He then turns to Roxas when the kid asks: "What? What happened?"
"That's none of your concern." Saix, the second-in-command of the Organization tells Roxas in his constant icy and harsh voice, not at all caring of have lost so many members other than those that remains has to pick up the slack. Not that Roxas understands for the kid continues to asks questions: "What about Axel?"
This does make him think for a moment. About the man who he shared a close past with but he cannot feel sorrow for the loss. He cannot care, and besides, there are more urgent matters than pretending to be grieving over what remained of his past. "Gone, he may have disappeared for good." He replies Roxas, finding himself unable to meet the boy's eyes. He shouldn't be able to feel. It's only his memories that gives him the illusion of grief, he cannot feel sorrow. "In any case," He decides to focus on his job. It will help to distract his mind from this unfortunate loss. "your mission today will be with Xigbar." He opens a portal to send them off.
Xigbar quirks a smirk at how cold and uncaring Saix is from have lost so many of their members, especially when he knows that one of those happened to had been the best friend with Saix here and it better not make Saix go rouge on them. Now that Xemnas no longer has that over Moon-boy. "You heard the man, gear up and let's go." He tells Roxas, who seems quite affected by the whole deal.
Heading out on the mission, Roxas is unfocused and has forced Xigbar to save his butt more times than he likes to count.
Okay, that's it. Time to put an upgrade on the kid. "Still with me there? I've seen you spaced out before, but this is ridiculous." He teases the kid, and as hoped, it snaps Roxas back to reality. "Alright, kiddo. As much as I love saving your skin, I would prefer not having to haul you back." Xigbar throws blue and yellow yellow-five pointed star to the kid.
Roxas catches it, blinking in confusion at the token. "What's this?"
"Put it near the keyblade." Roxas does, and the light from the keyblade makes the token into a keychain, Xigbar smirks in how the kid jumps in surprise from how it made the keyblade change form. "Nifty trick isn't it? Not only does it change the appearance of your little toy, but powers it up at certain places." And right on time, Heartless appears, "Why don't you try it out?"
With the changed keyblade in hand, Roxas attacks and realizes his keyblade is lighter and thus allows for more aerial attacks. With the last Heartless taken out, he watches the heart float away, and it makes him wonder. "Hey, where do the Heartless go when they're destroyed?"
Xigbar stops his walk in search of more Heartless, eyeing the kid with his remaining eye. "They don't go anywhere. They're gone. only the hearts they held remain," He tells Roxas in a simple matter of fact, and already knowing where this is going. "and we Nobodies aren't much different. 'Cept, we don't leave anything behind as we shouldn't exist in the first place."
This scourging hot desert suddenly feels incredibly cold. "Then… whoever was at Castle Oblivion—"
"Gone"
"And I am never going to see them again?"
Xigbar smirks at this, "Nope." the kid looks so broken, but it's not like he got the heart to care, wouldn't even if he had one. Xigbar starts walking again, "You coming?" but it seems Roxas just has to be a big pain in the ass. For right there, the kid passes out for no apparent reason. "Great…" He groans to the collapsed body lying not far from him.
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As Roxas is still in his coma, everything depends on Xion, and that one was not doing a good enough job collecting hearts. Xemnas decides to put the puppet through training, and the one who should do it would be the one not giving it any slack: Saix.
Saix is not particularly pleased to have received such a command. In his eyes, it was a waste of time. The creation of Vexen might wield the keyblade, but every time he looks at Xion, he sees something that fills him with such a pain that it makes him angry. It takes a lot out from him not to summon his claymore and eliminate the puppet right where it stands, but he is smart enough to know that it's unwise to argue with the superior.
After having given the other members their mission, Saix turns to Xion, wishing that one didn't have that obnoxious ability. It would save him from been be reminded of everything he has lost. "You will be going through some training with me." he tells Xion coldly, though it's a struggle not to sneer at it.
Xion winches, she does not understand why, but of all the members, Saix seems to hate her in the manner he speaks to her. She is afraid to look into his yellow eyes, did it once and that was more than enough. Those eyes were cold, but past it was something that truly scared her.
"Meet me down in Hall of Empty Melodies when you're ready." Saix tells it and leaves, merely wanting this over with.
Preparing herself, both mentally and in stock for this training session, has the feeling Saix will beat her way harder than any Heartless ever have done. Xion reluctantly heads to the area, finding Saix is waiting for her. She is scared about how this will turn out. Xion always feels like she is approaching something dangerous every time she gets a mission from Saix and shudders to think that she might see what has made her wary of him since the beginning.
The moment she is close enough, the looming man speaks. "The Organization needs you at full strength, I will test your skills and afterward train you to an acceptable level." He summons his weapon, Xion does the same but is unsure what to do.
Annoyed that it hesitates, "Well?" Saix asks it impatiently; the puppet winches, though gets the hint and attacks. He easily blocks the keyblade and the next after this. Saix is not impressed and shows by catching the puppet by the hood during a sloppy attack and throws it to the other side of the floor. "A Dusk fights better than you." He tells it harshly, Xion flinches, but again, he does not give a darn. "This might work on a lesser Heartless, but this sloppiness won't take down those we want you to slay." And commands it, "Strike me again," adding a warning, "and you better get a hit in, for I will not be this merciful the next time."
Xion winches of the clear warning, she picks up her keyblade and charges at Saix, desperately trying to hit him, but all of her strikes gets blocked by his claymore. She forgot to stuck up on magic attacks, focused more on healing, and perhaps that was a wise choice, for after the third block, Saix turns his weapon and strikes her hard over the arm, breaking it on impact. Xion screams in pain, leaps away and heals it with a cura spell.
Barely healed and she got struck again by Saix, this time the hit threw her into the nearest wall. She fell to the ground, air completely knocked out from her, and her stomach hurts from that strike.
"Pathetic." Saix speaks, "It's no surprise the collection of hearts has been so low since you got on the duty." he does not care if it's only a month old, that's no excuse in his mind. Xion tries to get up but is unable, another sign of weakness. "I can see I got my work cut out." He walks over, forces it up and when it has healed itself, he attacks again. Xion, this time goes on the defensive, so it's not completely stupid. He beats it down three more times, each time allowing Xion to heal up.
The fourth time Xion tries to get up without healing, observing this. "Run out of magic and potions?" It does not answer, but there's no need; the fake desperation indicates enough. For a moment, he sees a younger vision of himself where the teal eyes stare at him in fear yet defiance. This takes him off guard but Saix refuses to let it show. It enrages him that this poppet dares to remind him of who he once was and should consider itself lucky that Xemnas wants it alive.
Saix dismisses his weapon and leaves, "We'll resume training tomorrow, don't be late."
Xion struggles to stand, only allowing her legs to collapse under her the moment Saix is out of sight. The pain from the injuries she got from Saix and whatever is going through her chest almost makes her choke. She does not look forward to the next session but is very aware she does not have a choice.
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The next week, Xion is getting beaten and insulted by Saix, she is trying so hard to get better, prove to the man that she is not useless as he so often told her. But no matter much, she just cannot get a hit in and always ends up beaten, and the pain inside her chest strengthens. Another strike and she lies on the floor.
Saix sneers. "You're not worth keeping, might as well dust you here and now. Save us all the trouble."
For some reason, that made it flood over, the pain got too much and Xion… well, she does not fully recall what she did, only that she got up and attacked Saix. When she calmed down enough, she is standing before him, her keyblade is deeply embedded into his chest, blood and darkness leaking out. Xion stares in horror at the wound, then up to Saix, it's the first time she sees something other than a cold stone face or the sneer, this time he looks genuinely surprised.
Saix stares down to the blade still stuck inside his chest, barely moving.
Something hits Xion hard along with the thought: 'The others are going to dust me for this.' Which made her swiftly remove the blade. Saix collapses onto the floor, but she did not check if he was alright, this new thing raging in her mind made her turn tail and flee from the castle, into the dark city below.
He had expected Xion to get angry, but not to suddenly be able to make a Blitz attack and hit him right in the chest. The wound is bad, and yet he did not heal himself right away, his mind is too startled of what face suddenly met him from the puppet, something that threw him back to the more innocent days. Fortunately for him, Saix snaps out from his shocked stupor before he couldn't keep his body together and cast a healing spell over himself. The large wound healed, only the torn cloak and the mix of blood and darkness shows any signs of what just had happened.
Saix struggles onto his feet, he knows he should feel enraged by how Xion almost killed him, but his mind is too much in a mess to really pretend the anger, way busier trying to wrap his head around in who he just saw.
Could it really have been her?
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They had once again snuck into the castle, almost got caught by one of the guards but he and Lea managed to slip away just the right moment.
They hurry deeper inside, checking any room for something special. They found something inside a room, a girl, hiding in the shadows. She had middle long raven hair, making those light-blue eyes stand out a lot. She was dressed in all black and didn't seem much older than him and Lea.
He walked over to this girl, "Hey, are you alright?" he asked, having the sense she wasn't. The girl didn't answer, merely staring at him with those bright blue eyes. He reached a hand out to her. "It's alright, I'm Isa and this is Lea." His friend gave her a wave as a greeting, turning back to her. "What's your name?" She didn't answer; instead, she reached a hand out to him.
"You two again?!" One of the guards yelled, this time it was the one with the torn red scarf, and before either, he or Lea could do anything. The man caught them, asking them with an annoyed grin, "Now, how many times have we thrown you out by now?"
"Well, I think this is the fourth time." Lea cheekily said and he, cast a glance at where the girl was, but she's gone and not wanting to reveal her location for this obnoxious guard. He added to his friend's remark. "Of the ten times we have snuck inside the castle. You're getting sloppy" The guard wasn't amused by either of their cheek and dragged them outside. He spotted the girl at the door, watching him with those unique sky-blue eyes.
I will try and put as many abilities from the games into the story, like how the keyblade changes form by introducing a particular token to it, making it into a keychain. So all those keyblades Roxas could get in the game? Yeah, it's merely him getting new keychains to his keyblade.
Funny, it's Xigbar that taught him that trick. :3
Oh, and the whole lore about Xion has utterly been changed, I wanted her to get a bigger part of the whole series and this sure is going to get her that. You will see what I mean in later chapters.