Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories

Chapter 5: Castle Oblivion part V

Floor after floor, memory after memory, Sora continued to move through the castle. Her even beginning to apologize to the very memories she was losing, as the act of forgetting felt like betraying the experiences themselves. But she pressed forward, all while actually coming to enjoy the times Larxene showed up to fight. Despite Sora usually just trying to to hold a conversation with the blond, Larxene herself seemed very determined not to do so.

Most of their interactions involved the older teen insulting her, with the brown-haired girl ignoring these comments. While their battles became progressively more intense with Sora's growing power, she did start notice a bit of a trend. Larxene usually increased the difficulty for Sora during each fight, usually around the same amount each progressive time. Giving Sora the feeling that Larxene's true reason for fighting her, was to simply get the girl to a particular level of power by a certain point.

Something Sora was starting to believe she had reached, as the last fight between them held no raise in the difference in power than the previous fight. 'I hope she won't stop coming to see me...I feel like we were finally starting to get along.' Sora mused to herself with a small smile, despite the opposite likely being true on the blond's side.

Though, the teen's thoughts slowly shifted toward Axel, as the man usually showed up at the end of these fights. But while they would have a bit of banter, the red-haired man would leave soon after. It beginning to feel as though he was deliberately avoiding conversation with Sora for too long. But whether this was of his own volition, or an order, was unclear. 'Well...so long as it wasn't something I said to make him made at me.' she thought silently as she approached the last door before she would finally be fully out of cards.

However, she soon paused and sighed heavily while rubbing her eyes; 'Oh great...I'm starting to like and even feel bad for my 'kidnappers'. I never really thought the whole 'Stockholm Syndrome' was a real thing, but I can now see how it can be.' she thought with a bit of a grimace.

Yet she shook her head of these thoughts while patting both cheeks with her hands; "Alright...here we go, lets see what they have in store for me now." Sora uttered aloud before opening the doors and stepping through.

In the next moment, the brown-haired girl found herself in a much grander hall than all the previous ones. There being symbols on the walls, light blue designs on the floor, as well as pillars and pedestals that lined both of the long walls. At the far end however, was a gold-colored door that immediately made Sora think that 'this' is the exit that she could take to leave. But as the doors behind her closed, the girl couldn't help but wonder if perhaps she should just leave.

'If I simply go and find the others, we could all come back and storm this place. Then it'll be easy to find out what's actually going on here.' she thought to herself while looking down slowly.

'I mean...Axel did say that I'd remember all my lost memories when I leave. Although...I guess I can't take that for face value, there is probably some kind of trick behind it...if not being an outright lie. In which case...there would be no way to regain those memories if I do leave.' Sora continued in a sad sigh.

"Well...I guess so long as I didn't forget about someone important, it shouldn't be too bad." she uttered aloud before beginning to step toward the exit.

With each footfall however, she began naming off all the friends she's met along her journey. Yet as she reach the end, she then started thinking about the friends from the island as well. 'Kairi, Riku, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, Yuna, Paine, Rikku and Na-' but as she began to think of this last name, her mind couldn't recall it.

This immediately caused Sora to stop in her movement forward, to which she placed a hand to her forehead. The teen slowly beginning to grow desperate in trying to think of whom this friend was, yet nothing came to her. Sora then recalling the fact that there was a brief vision a few floors ago, of someone she didn't recognize. 'And it was right after I felt my memories of that world fading. Was the memory of her also taken away?' she thought quickly in a near panic.

'Wait...'her'...I do remember that she was a girl. She was...around my age, right? Or was she younger? But she was definitely...blond. Or was it white?' Sora continued, her gaining a feeling of shame.

"Oh no...I actually forget one of my friends." Sora whispered silently, her head tilting down.

'Was the price of the power I gained too much for the memories of that world? Or maybe, my memory of her is attached to that world somehow? I don't know.' she contemplated rapidly while looking toward the exit.

'If I do remember everything when I leave this castle, then none of this will matter. But if it's a lie, then I would need to continue moving up through the castle, or else I'd lose my memory of her forever.' the girl added, slowly shaking her head as a fire of determination was lit in her eyes.

'I won't take that risk...I'll keep moving and try to use this whole exchange to remember more about my friend, rather than to gain more power. I can always retrain myself between levels...so I won't let my friend be forgotten!' she declared inwardly before turning around to face the doors she came from.

In front of them however, stood the hooded figure she had first met when appearing inside the castle. "Well done...you've reached the exit. Now what will you do?" he questioned in a knowing tone, obviously already perceiving the teen's decision.

This making Sora herself just huff lightly and cross her arms under her chest; "As if you don't already know." she started while shifting her weight to her back foot, as to be ready for a possible attack.

"But if I'm going to be here for longer, I do want to know two things; what it is you have planned for me...and what is your name?" Sora asked in an almost exasperated tone.

"You clearly want to make me powerful, just without a bunch of my memories. But what for? To make me a mindless weapon you can use? To have me to defeat someone you can't? What?" she questioned further, yet the man just stood quietly as she spoke.

As these silent seconds passed, the figure slowly brought his hands up. This made Sora's right hand twitch briefly, as she readied to summon her Keyblade at any sign of a fight. However, the man merely removed his hood, causing a few sakura petals to fall from it. It also revealed his handsome features, and piercing blue eyes. His pink hair was roughly shoulder-length, but also very spiky in its styling.

"It seems you've figured out much on your way up here. But I'm afraid that I cannot tell you the answers to your questions. But I will however, tell you my name is; Marluxia." the man stated as a small smirk curled his lips.

Sora blinked a few times from this before she let out a heavy sigh; "This just isn't fair." she muttered in a bit of a huff.

"Hmph...I'm afraid if you wish to know more, you must be willing to forget in order to learn." Marluxia claimed in an intentionally cryptic manner.

"I'm not talking about that." the teen started while looking to the man.

"Why do all of you have such cool sounding names? 'Axel'...'Larxene'...'Marluxia'? They sound so awesome!" Sora continued, almost sounding as though she was complaining.

"Though...they all have an 'X' in them...I wonder what my name could be if I added an 'X'." she hummed out silently, thoughtfully tapping her chin briefly with a finger.

Despite Marluxia keeping his composure, there was a brief moment when his eyes narrowed slightly. Yet he slowly took on a small smirk while shrugging his shoulders; "Regardless...I shall leave you to your final decision." he stated, stepping to the side in order to allow Sora to head for the door.

"Once you step through, you'll be heading toward the top floor and be unable to turn back. So make sure you you steel yourself for what's ahead." the pink-haired man claimed while throwing a blue card toward the teen.

Whom caught it between two fingers as Marluxia then vanished in a swirl of darkness. Once he was gone, Sora looking to the card briefly before glancing to the exit from over her shoulder. 'Even if I keep forgetting things, I won't let myself forget my friends...ever.' she declared inwardly before stepping to the doors that led her here.

"I swear I'll remember you again." Sora promised softly as she opened and moved through the doors.

"Perfect..." Marluxia began as he, Axel, Larxene and three other figures watched the teen through a large crystal.

"...she's fallen into her guilt for this 'make-believe' friend. And now all we need to do is keep feeding into it so we can bend her to the Organization's will." he continued, glancing around to the others around him.

"Hmph! I'm going to enjoy watching Namine twist this brat's memories around." Larxene muttered with an almost petty huff as she crossed her arms.

"I wonder if she'll somehow guess his name now that she has the idea of adding the 'X'." Axel said silently, as if to himself while tilting his head slightly.

"Please stay on track, we have a job to do and we can't get distracted." one of the other figures spoke up, sounding almost like he was trying too hard to be serious.

This individual had bright aqua colored eyes, but only his left one was visible, as the right was covered by his long, layered bangs. His hair itself was steel-blue in color, yet was long in the front and quite a bit shorter in the back.

"Yeah yeah, I know Zexion." Axel said, waving a hand to this person.

"Anyway...you better hope that she doesn't keep stopping so much between levels. Those imbeciles will be arriving within the hour, and we can't have them joining forces before we're ready for it." another figure spoke out, his tone being one of condescension.

This individual being a rather tall man with long platinum blond hair, which had bangs that framed his face. He also had rather large, bright green eyes that looked to each of the other occupants in the room. "I would like for her to at least get three levels ahead, otherwise we'll be scrambling to keep up." he continued in both an intelligent, but also very self-important voice.

"Whatever you say Vexen...you've barely been doing anything in the first place. We've been the ones doing all the work so far." Larxene declared while rolling her eyes and gesturing to herself, Axel and Marluxia.

"What was that?!" Vexen growled out, narrowing his eyes on the blond.

"Enough." the last of the other figures in the room called out in a very strong tone.

This one being a very tall and muscular man with very angular features, and narrowed blue eyes. His hair was ginger in color, and slicked back into messy spikes. Yet he turned to both Larxene and Vexen with a hardened gaze, as if demanding that they be silent.

"Indeed Lexaeus." Marluxia concurred, giving a nod to the larger man.

"We still need to work together in order to pull all this off. As the moment she reaches the peak of her power, we'll all be in danger of her suddenly turning against us. So therefore..." the pink-haired man continued, shifting his gaze to each of the four around him.

"...we should each do what we can to make sure this mission succeeds. The Organization depends on it." he finished, to which each of the others nodded in response before they all disappeared one-by-one.

Once they were gone, the lone figure sitting in the corner of the room just looked down silently. "What have I done?" Namine whispered as she looked to her most recent drawing.

It being of a yellow star with a silver chain leading out from one of the points. "I'm so sorry Sora." she said while closing the pad of paper.


Alright, and there you have it, chapters 3-5. I hope you've enjoyed these new changes and alterations to the story and even to Sora herself. I felt like she was way too angry and kinda angsty in the original. So I'm staying a bit more true to her actual character, a smart and fun-loving person whom still tries to get along with most people. Heck, she's kinda made friends with Maleficent before all this, so she's no stranger to getting along with villainous people. Anyway, I hope you've all enjoyed and will let me know what you thought. Next week I'm gonna see if I can get chapters 6-10, so until then.