"Are you still watching the kid?" Larxene remarked walking towards Axel as he gazed into the crystal ball. "You know we have an actual job to do, right?"
Axel didn't even bother turning towards her, "Come now Larxene, pretending to be a good solider doesn't suit you."
She laughed, glancing into the crystal ball, watching as the kid ran though the maze of rooms that led towards the next floor.
"He's almost there..." Axel murmured, he turned away to exit the hall but Larxene teleported in front of him with her hands on her hips and a sinister smirk drawing on her face.
"Hold on there big shot, don't you know it's rude not to let a lady have a turn."
Axel smirked in amusement for a moment, growing more serious as he glanced into Larxene's eyes, staring into her killer intent. "Don't break him."
Larxene tilted her head coyly, a playful grin drawn on her face. "Ooh... Do I detect a soft spot? Does our Axel care about Marluxia's whittle toy?"
Axel turned away at her comment. "Just don't get too distracted, if we're going to take over the Organization-" He was silenced as she placed a finger over his lips, smiling a half toothy grin at this opportunity that was just handed to her.
"I know that you're in on it, too... But keep it under your hood at least until the time is right." She remarked before disappearing into the darkness, leaving Axel alone with a bemused smile.
"You would have been wise to have done the same, Larxene."
He'd lost count of how much time they spend within the castle. Each floor had even more rooms to traverse, almost always leaving them in the same hall they began in. But eventually, Sora opened the large door's easily towards a large hall, he gasped as he stared at a pretty yellow haired woman who smiled at him eerily. Immediately he reached for Jiminy, taking his friend out of his hood before he walked towards the black coat, readying his magic. "Are you one of those creeps too?!"
She smirked playfully," Oh, what a clever little boy," She remarked, heavy with a condescending tone. "I'm Larxene. So...are you enjoying your stay at the castle? I bet it's nice to peel away all the worthless memories and awaken the true memories..." She was unable to hold back her laughter. "that lie deep in your heart."
True memories?
"Although...it seems that you're still forgetting the most important thing here." Larxene tapped her cheek as she faked a sympathetic tone. "When that poor girl hears that you've forgotten her name, why… it'll just...it'll break her heart."
"Poor girl? Do you know her?!" Sora took a step forward, edging towards desperation but Larxene just laughed as she saw the expression on his face.
"Tell me, is she here?" He questioned hesitantly, knowing exactly what kind of a person he was dealing with.
"Yes, she is," Her smile was nefarious, as though she was enjoying taunting him. "You see, the bad guys are holding her captive somewhere deep inside the castle. And you obviously are the hero, so you have to go save her. Although..." She teleport directly in front of him far too close for comfort, lifting up his head in her hand as she smirked playfully. "I'M a bad guy, so you have to go through me!" The playful smirk swapped into a sadistic toothed smiled as she grabbed his throat, squeezing him harshly as she electrocuted him pointblank.
Just as he was about to fall to his knees, Larxene kicked him in the gut sending him flying across the room.
"Sora!" Jiminy called out as he saw his friend struggling to get up, placing his hands on the ground as smaller lighting waves sparked around him after the shock.
"Oh, Come on now, I thought you'd at least put up more of a fight than that!" Larxene said as she swiftly kicked the back of Sora's head so his forehead hit the floor of the castle. "After all," Larxene knelt down, lifting up Sora by his hair to make him look at a star charm in her hand. "I thought you were looking for this."
Sora winced as he was grabbed, stammering out. "Is that...mine?"
"What?!" Larxene gasped. "You've been looking for it all this time and forgot what it looked like? No… That's not possible. The memory has to be engraved somewhere deep inside your heart. Sora-you think carefully, now. What oh what could it be? And who gave it to you?
A star shaped charm…that someone important game him…?
"Na... Na...mi..."
Larxene smiled, "Sora... Sora... You're getting it now! Release the memory from within your heart!"
"Nami... Naminé." Sora murmured to himself, something resonating within his heart.
Larxene smirked, "Well, it's about time. That's right...Naminé. Yes, she's the one that gave you that tacky little good luck charm." she released her grip, standing over Sora, almost mocking him as he could only watch her observing the charm even further.
"Not that you even bothered to remember. No surprise there seeing as you also couldn't remember her NAME." She mocked as Sora struggled to stand. "Talk about heartless! I can't believe you! It'd serve you right if I decided to smash this piece of junk!"
"No!"
Reflexively Sora shot a powerful fire spell that knocked Larxene back as he caught the charm, holding it close to his chest.
"Naminé gave me this. It's very important to me!"
"Oh, it's important to you is it?" Larxene gritted her teeth together as she grew furious, lightning fell from above as she summoned several knives in her fingers. "Ten seconds ago, you didn't even know what it was!"
She swiped her hand down and releases a charge of lightning that he evaded, the two clashing their respective magic against each other.
...
Both were winded as they could both feel that they were near their limits. Larxene threw her knives directly towards Sora, he deflected with a barrier, before he shot a powerful fire spell that consumed her. For a few seconds he thought that he won, until Larxene teleported behind him, stabbing her knives into his back as he was pummeled to the ground. The wounds weren't enough to kill him, but they were very painful as she pulled them out, teleporting near the door out of his range as he casted another barrier around him.
"Hmph. You're not as bad as I thought. You really are a hero. A heartless hero." She said, gasping for breath with a smile on her face.
Sora just turn glared at her, covered in cuts.
"Oh, does it hurt because it's the truth? You are just a baby. And if you're gonna be a baby, then I'm not gonna tell you where Naminé is, "thanks." Ta-ta!"
"Wait-" Sora ran towards her but she disappeared too fast, leaving him only with a deep guilt in his heart. "Ugh..." Sora gripped his fist tightly as he ran towards the next door.
"Sora, not so fast!" He turned to see Jiminy run up to him. "You need to wait."
The young boy couldn't believe what he was hearing. "We don't have time! They've got Naminé. We gotta rescue her!
"Sora."
He flinched slightly looking down at Jiminy's disapproving expression. He clutched the star charm pressed against his chest, shutting his eyes tightly as he fell to his knees. The cricket placed his hand on his knee comfortingly as the cricket spoke gently.
"Now, I know that you really care about your friend, and right now you're confused because of your memories. But you need to remain level headed, these people in black coats are dangerous-"
"And that's all the more reason we need to save Naminé as soon as possible! What if they're hurting her like they're hurting me?!"
"Sora." Jiminy sternly said, but still held a gentleness in his eyes that calmed the boy down. "You still need to remain calm. Now, take a deep breath."
Sora complied, breathing in and out slowly as Jiminy instructed.
"Are you calm now?"
Sora nodded in response, lifting Jiminy up to his shoulder as he winced through his cuts. The Cricket patted his cheek, the only comfort he could offer.
"I hate this... why'd I need someone like that to bring back...Naminé's memory?"
"Sora," Jiminy said gently, "you were young when your friend disappeared, anyone would need help recovering memories from that long ago."
"I know but...we abandoned her, and even though I had this charm, I couldn't even remember her name. Just thinking what she must have gone through..." Sora's words faltered as he sighed for a moment, shaking his head as he stumbled to stand.
"Careful-" Jiminy warned, "She really did a number on you."
Sora smiled at his friends words, "It's okay Jiminy, a few scratches won't slow me down."
"That's not what I'm worried about sonny." The cricket mumbled to himself as Sora walked towards the next hall, head up and his eyes bright with hope.
Larxene: Whew... Throwing that battle wore me out."
"Really? It looked to me like you just plain lost to me, or are those burns because you felt sorry for him." he smirked.
Larxene glared at him. "How dare you! You don't appreciate the nuances of-"
"An ungainly effort."
"Huh?" Larxene and Axel glanced behind to see a man with dirty blond hair and wearing a black coat appearing in the room with a disapproving expression on his face.
"Vexen." Axel greeted.
"How could you be humbled by someone of such limited significance? You shame the Organization."
Larxene grumbled to herself, about to say something as Axel then stepped in front of her to interrupt what she was about to say.
"How can we help you, Vexen? It's not very often we see you topside."
"Marluxia has intrigued me with his plans. You obviously believe this Sora has much potential, but I remain unconvinced he is truly worth such coddling. I think an experiment would show if he really is of any value to us."
"Hmph." Larxene smirked, "Here we go again. It's just an excuse so you can carry out your little experiments. That's all.
"I am a scientist after all. Experiments come with the field." Vexen remarked with a deadpanned expression.
Axel just sighed, shrugging his shoulders, "Whatever. You can do what you want. But you know, Sora is more capable that he appears, just ask Larxene." He smirked as he could feel the anger radiating off of the woman behind him.
"Hmm...then perhaps he may prove to be of some use in further developing the replica."
"You mean your toy?
"He is the product of pure research, given time he could become a great asset to the Organization."
"What he actually is, is just a little toy for you to tinker around with." Larxene remarked.
Vexen was taken aback slightly, glaring slightly."He is the product of pure research, thusly, it would be natural if he were to break or make mistakes. You on the other hand have no excuse, Larxene." he smirked.
Larxene bared her fangs, summoning her weapons to attack but halted as Axel placed his hand on her shoulder. "Save it for round two." Causing her to pout as she shrugged him away. "Anyway... Since you came all this way, you're gonna need this. A humble gift to my elder. I hope you use it to put on a very good show." Axel said throwing 2 cards at Vexen who eyed the black card in interest as it radiated a dark aura.
"Intriguing...where did you get this?"
Axel smirked, crossing his arms. "One holds the precious memories of Sora and Riku's friendship; the other is their destruction, Sora's darkest memories. Naminé found it locked away in the depths of his heart. I'm sure that you both could find some use for it."
Vexen glanced at the card, a sinister smile drawing on his lips, knowing exactly what to do with such a opportunity.
"It's just a card. What good is that?"
All turned to see the replica of Riku walking in from the shadows.
"With a little help from Naminé, you'll have all the real Riku's memories. Maybe we can get her to make you forget you're nothing but a fake. In other words, we'll remake your heart so you can be-exactly the same as the real Riku, 'kay?" Larxene informed with a condescending tone in her voice.
Replica was taken aback, partially offended by their intent. "You want to remake my heart?! The real Riku is a wimp who's afraid of the dark! What do I want with the heart of a loser?!
"Any objections, Vexen? After all, you do want to test Sora, don't you?" Larxene asked.
Vexen simply shrugged, "It must be done."
Riku Replica flinched openly, taking a step back "How can you? Are you betraying me?!"
"Betraying you? Dear boy, I could only betray you if you had any semblance of "being" to begin with. All you are is just a puppet given purpose, and now your purpose is to turn your weapon against that boy."
The replica gripped his fist, glancing towards Naminé who didn't so much as acknowledge his existence. "But-"
"Relax, kiddo. I don't think it's going to hurt that much!" Larxene chuckled
"I'll hurt YOU!" Replica snapped as he dashed towards Larxene with his weapon drawn, but she knocked him back with a powerful lightning spell, knocking him against the wall as Larxene cackled in amusement.
"Stupid little toy! Think you could defeat me? Where would you ever get a thought like that?" The Riku Replica looked up in fear as Larxene began walking towards him with a sadistic expression on her face. "But- hey, look on the bright side. Along with everything else in your head, Naminé will erase the memory of me knocking you flat. Instead, she will implant the loveliest little memories you could ever hope for! It's no big deal if they're all lies."
"No...NOOO!" The Riku Replica cried out as everything went dark for him.
Naminé only turned away as Larxene dealt with the replica, now scratching away the picture of Riku from the drawing of the the four friends with a red crayon. Leaving only her and Sora next to each other, holding hands.
/Notes/
- So disclaimer from a review question. Sora is actually my favorite character from the franchise, this story is just an angst fic that aligns with the themes and main elements of the main series. And the reason is that Kairi is so strong in the story is because in Traverse Town she was desperate to not let the keyblade be taken, and the Olympus chapter she had her friends to help (also I based the game-play aspect after my own the play-through; In which I may have leveled up Sora to 50 on proud before I left he islands :T )
- Naminé has a "evil" intent, she is like a darker side of Kairi going for a lil' bit of a yandere vibe. :3 (I still love her tho)
- fun fact: Vexen was actually one of my favorite members of the organization in COM, he was my favorite to kill. :
- Jiminy is Sora's dad friend now and both of them are still doing their best, I love them both TuT (also by now Sora knows Fira)