Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories

Chapter 11: Castle Oblivion part XI

As Sora and the others exited the memory of Destiny Islands, there was a much greater confidence in each of them. The four believing that so long as they were together, they could get through this castle without worry. Though they soon saw Axel appear in a corridor of darkness, offering a quick wave of his hand in greeting. "Hello again~." he hummed out while slowly approaching the group.

"Seems like you had a fun time fighting Zexion, huh?" the red-haired man continued, tilting his head to the side.

"If you can call it that." Sora muttered silently with a shrug, yet her eyes slowly began losing their light.

The process of forgetting and remembering beginning as usual, yet it was far more intense than normal. But because of her being behind the others, they didn't notice the girl slowly reach up to clutch her forehead. All the while, Kairi just huffed a bit while looking to Axel. "Well...now that we found Sora, are you gonna tell us what exactly it is you wanted us here for?" she questioned in a somewhat demanding tone.

The man smirked lightly to the girl, before briefly glancing toward Sora. "Well...if you really wanna know. You're all here to help us, by helping Sora." he started with a shrug.

Axel then started walking to the side, seeming to be oddly coy, as though he were trying to stall for time. Something that made Kairi narrow her eyes slightly along with Donald and Goofy, each of them simply watching the man carefully. "What do you mean by that?" the auburn-haired teen asked in a highly suspicious tone.

The man himself merely smiled a bit wider with another glance to Sora, whom seemed to have finished with regaining her senses. "Why don't you ask her...I'm sure you'll find the answer quite interesting." he claimed, taking a step back as the brown-haired girl took in and let out a deep breath.

Both her eyes were closed for a moment, but as she opened to see all attention was on her, she just blinked in confusion. "Um...is something wrong?" she asked curiously while looking from one friend to the other.

"Axel said that you would know how and why we're here to help them...by helping you" Kairi responded, gesturing to the red-haired man across from them.

Sora looked to him briefly before turning back to the others; "How would I know? I've been just as lost as the rest of you to be honest." she responded with a shrug, causing Axel's eyes to widen briefly.

"Oh?" he hummed out silently, quickly regained his composure.

"Well...it seems you're not quite ready then." he continued on while shrugging slowly in a regretful manner.

"I suppose we'll have to continue waiting for you, Sora." Axel stated in a sigh, giving her a solemn gaze.

"We need your help after all." he finished before disappearing in a swirl of darkness.

Once he was gone, the four just stared to one another in confusion, not sure of what he was talking about. However, the red-haired man immediately appeared directly beside Namine, whom had her head tilted down. "I told you to alter her memories to the story I wanted her to believe." he started in a firm tone while crossing his arms.

"If she thinks we're all trapped here, it'll endear her to us. Then she'll be easier to manipulate...without anyone getting hurt." Axel continued on, letting out a heavy sigh while narrowing his eyes on the blond.

"I'm trying to be the nice one here...if you don't do things my way, then Marluxia is just going to do things his way. Which will likely involve kidnapping or even killing Sora's friends." he continued with a serious tone as he clearly didn't want to do that.

"I know...I know..." Namine started silently as her head was still tilted down.

"I just...I don't know if I can go through with any of this." she continued in an almost voiceless manner.

"I've caused her so much pain already, I don't know how much more either of us can handle." the blond said while closing both eyes, trying to fight the tears welling up in them.

Axel raised a brow for a moment as he just stared at the girl; "You make it sound like you have a heart...but we both know that's not true, regardless of the special circumstances in your creation." he stated to her, to which she simply nodded slowly.

"I know that. And even if this pain in my chest are false emotions from my real self...they're real to me." Namine declared, placing a hand over her chest and clutching at the edge of her white dress.

Despite letting out a sigh, Axel simply nodded slowly while turning to the side. "Yeah...I guess we're all doing the same thing to be fair. So it can't really be helped." he muttered, gazing toward the entrance of the room.

There being a long pause of silence as the man seemed to be thinking things over, and weighing all his options. Yet after placing a hand upon his own chest, he began recalling the moments of feeling actual joy during his encounters with Sora. While the first time could have been just a shadow of a long gone emotion, the following times made it undeniable. After coming to this conclusion, his eyes slowly shifted to Namine briefly before sighing and starting to walk away.

"And I suppose..." the red-haired man continued while opening a corridor of darkness ahead of him.

"...it can't be helped if I left this doorway open a few seconds longer than usual." he finished as he stepped through and vanished into the swirl of black.

With a blinking gaze, Namine quickly gained a determined expression before rushing through the corridor as well. Which snapped shut immediately afterward, as the girl traversed through the darkness for just the right point to exit.

At the same time, Vexen growled silently as Marluxia had taken his Riku Replica to fight against the real Riku and King Mickey. "You cannot deny, it has had a wonderful effect on Riku himself." Zexion commented as the two watched this fight through a crystal ball.

"I don't care how it might affect the boy...my concern lies with Sora and her growth." the platinum-blond man stated in a huff.

Zexion nodded briefly to him before he glanced to the side as Lexaeus arrived in the room. After a quick exchange of nods, the two swiftly disappeared in unison. This pair obviously about to initiate Marluxia's plan for Sora, leaving Vexen alone in the room. Whom continued to watch the fight continue, which let him witness the fact that Riku's fighting style was now much more similar to Mickey's. While not quite as acrobatic, the silver-haired boy was a far better swordsman than before. And with faster strikes, as well as flourishing parries and dodges, it was easy to see that he was already an equal match to his replica counterpart.

"Hmph...I suppose his growth is not entirely without worth." Vexen conceded to himself, rolling his eyes and crossing both arms as he did.

Before this battle started however, Riku and Mickey had just reached another level. Them already being halfway to the lowest floor, despite not actually realizing it yet. But their eyes narrowed heavily when Marluxia arrived with the hooded Riku Replica. "Come to bother us again?" Riku demanded as he and the mouse summoned their weapons.

"Only for a little while. I've simply come to inform you that Sora has reached the basement, but is in quite a lot of trouble. It seems she will need your help after all, so we're here to test to see if you have what it takes to save her." the pink-haired man claimed with a small smile curling his lips.

"As if we're going to believe that." Riku claimed in an entirely untrusting tone; "You were the ones who brought her here to begin with."

Marluxia turned his gaze slowly toward the boy before chuckling lightly; "Oh~, but you're entirely mistaken. The one whom brought her here is the same person who beckoned all of you here as well." he declared simply, yet with the confidence one can only have when telling a harsh truth.

Narrowing their eyes, both Riku and Mickey gave a quick glance to one another before back to the pink-haired man. The pair seeming to have a silent agreement that Marluxia was indeed being honest, making it clear that they needed to hurry to reach the bottom floor. In seeing their shift in demeanor, the man in black just smirked lightly and summoned a long scythe into his hand. "Now that you seem to be on board with all this, lets see just how ready you are to reach the bottom level." he claimed, just before their clash began.

Halfway to the top of Castle Oblivion however, Sora sat together with Kairi, Donald and Goofy. Each of their expressions seemed rather concerned as the brown-haired girl spoke; "After I came here, I lost all knowledge of my powers and abilities. But as I traveled up, I started regaining some of them...yet it was in exchange for certain memories."

Looking down and letting out a sigh, Sora continued on in a clearly regretful tone. "And before I knew it, I had forgotten someone from the island. Though, after returning from that memory...I think I've regained a bunch of those lost memories." she added with a small smile on her features.

"You lost memories?" Donald uttered out, blinking many times as he glanced to the other two.

Both of whom shook their heads as they turned to Sora once more; "But...we haven't been losing memories as we've gone through each floor." Kairi claimed, her becoming even more suspicious of this 'Organization XIII' group.

In hearing this, the other girl blinked a few times before sighing lightly with a nod. "I figured they were only doing it to me, so I guess that simply confirms my theory." she muttered silently in a thoughtful manner.

"Though, I really hope these memories I gained of 'her' aren't just made up." Sora continued silently, just as a pair of dark corridors swirled into existence just to the side.

As they quickly turned in this direction, Zexion and Lexaeus stepped through. "Sorry for intruding again...I just thought that it would be more fair if we 'leveled the playing field'." the former claimed with a small smile.

"My name is Lexaeus...and I will be helping to test your worth." the larger man declared as the two immediately summoned their weapons of choice.

With a heavy sigh, Sora stood up slowly along with her friends. "I feel like you guys are interrupting us on purpose." she muttered in a huff while summoning her Keyblade.


Well, I didn't get through as many chapters as I wanted, but I did get 11 and 12 done this week. So I hope all of you enjoy them.