Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories
Chapter 13: Castle Oblivion part XIII
"Stopja!" a voice called out, just as Marluxia's scythe arced down toward Kairi, Donald and Goofy.
However, the man was instantly frozen in time, along with each of Sora's friends. The brown-haired teen herself however, blinked many times in shock as she was still able to move. In realizing that she was excluded from the spell, she swiftly began looking for the caster. Whom she saw just to the side of the group; a familiar blond in a white dress. "Sora..." Namine whispered softly as she slowly and almost cautiously approached.
"Namine..." the other girl uttered out instinctively, simply watching the teen come closer.
"I heard that you didn't want to see me." Sora continued, offering a sheepish smile and tilt of her head.
"That's only halfway true." Namine began, tilting her head down slowly.
"However, we don't have much time, so I have to skip to the part where I answer the questions you have, along with a few you haven't even thought of yet." she stated in a clear hurry, briefly looking to Marluxia as she knew the spell wouldn't last long.
"You...You and I have never truly met. Your memories of me are ones I myself implanted within your mind." the blond claimed, her tone and demeanor being very apologetic.
"And I know you're really mad at me for doing that...I just...I..." she spoke, yet trailed off while looking down once more in obvious shame.
"I wanted you to save me from this place and these people." Namine continued, avoiding eye contact entirely.
After these words, the girl went silent. This led for Sora to slowly offer a soft smile and take one of Namine's hands into her own. Doing so made Namine lift her gaze to the other girl, all while blinking a few times to her smile. "Admittedly...memory manipulation isn't the best way to make friends." Sora began, shrugging her shoulders as Namine started to shift her gaze down once more.
"But...now that we've officially met, I can consider us friends." she continued as the blond immediately looked to Sora once more in utter surprise.
"And if you want me to help you...I'll do whatever I can to do exactly that." the brown-haired girl finished, causing Namine to go entirely speechless.
Despite the crushing guilt urging her to counter these words, nothing would come, as Namine just stared in shock. Though, this moment between them came to an abrupt end when a few black wisps began swirling around Namine. Someone obviously discovering her disappearance, and was calling her back. "Well, we'll talk more later. Just know...I'm coming to get you." Sora stated confidently as the blond was rapidly forced away through a corridor of darkness.
The last thing Namine herself could do was offer a thankful smile before she was gone. In the same moment, the girl's spell came undone. However, Sora had grabbed Marluxia's lead arm before he could complete his swing, making his eyes widen. It seeming as though the teen just vanished and reappeared at his side to stop his attack. "I don't think so." she whispered silently, clenching her free hand into a fist and driving it into the man's stomach.
The blow itself knocked the air out of Marluxia, as well as lifting both his feet off the floor briefly. But while he should have been thrown backward, Sora kept a firm hold on his arm, preventing him from going anywhere. Though, the girl's attack had made him drop to both knees when he landed, both legs just buckling under him. As Marluxia gasped for breath though, he slowly lifted his gaze to look at Sora in complete bewilderment.
"I hope you weren't planning to actually hurt my friends." she growled out silently, clearly showing that she was quite upset at his attempt at the trio's lives.
Seeing and hearing this, the pink-haired man immediately disappeared in a swirl of darkness. The painfully tight grip Sora had on his arm, instantly faded along with Marluxia's form. 'So they can do that even if you're holding them. It's definitely handy for a quick escape.' she mused inwardly, though it was in a somewhat bitter manner.
Meanwhile, the other three blinked a few times to this interaction, none of them even realizing Marluxia was there until Sora hit him. Said brown-haired teen turning to her friends and offered a small smile; "I think we finally earned ourselves a break." she claimed in an exasperated tone.
"Yeah, I second that notion." Kairi hummed out in a sigh, yet she still scanned around them in order to make sure there were no more surprise 'guests'.
"Though...it definitely feels like; the further we go, the more relentless they get." she continued, to which the others all nodded with a deep sigh.
The four then each moved to one of the corners and sat down against it, two on each side. "Though...you guys did really good against that Zexion guy. His magic was quite a bit more impressive than I was expecting." Sora hummed out with a soft smile, looking to each of her friends.
All of whom gazed back to her with a nod, accepting this compliment. "You did really good too. We all definitely felt those shock waves. So it was quite the spectacle to have seen you trading blows with that Lexaeus guy." Kairi claimed in an impressed tone, which made Sora flush slightly.
"He really looked like a tough feller, I sure hope we won't have to fight him ourselves." Goofy added as he glanced around the room, there being many cracks on the floor where the impacts had occurred.
"Yeah...I was about to come over and help you out." Donald said while shrugging and crossing his feathered arms.
"But I figured that you would muscle your way through somehow, like you usually do." he continued, to which he looked to Sora with an almost smug smirk.
Seeing this made the brown-haired teen pout to him, obviously catching onto his underlining message. "Hey...I'm not a 'muscle head'!" she claimed in a near whine as Donald simply shrugged once more.
"You could have fooled me." was all he answered with, leading for Sora to pout a bit more while the other two just laughed.
After a few moments of letting themselves relax, Sora briefly glanced around the hall before back to each of her friends. "By the way...once we finish resting up, there is something I'd like to talk to you guys about." she said in a near whisper.
With raised brows of curiosity, the others each seemed as though they wanted to question what she wanted to say. However, the serious gaze the girl gave simply led for them to nod in response. "For now though, lets relax." Sora added, leaning against the wall and letting out another heavy sigh.
During all of this, Riku was facing his replica with a heavily, and untrusting glare. Marluxia having disappeared together with Mickey, leaving the two alone to fight. As they clashed however, neither one seemed able to get the better of the other. The replica's dark power not being strong enough to contend with Riku's own more polished techniques. While Riku's movements and flourish were still unpolished, he was managing to keep up with his counterpart.
Even after the shock of seeing the fact that he was confronting his own replica, Riku still kept pace. Something of which the replica was becoming more and more frustrated, as he couldn't seem to land a solid blow. At least not without also getting hit in the process. But as both combatants delivered matching kicks to one another's chests, they were swiftly knocked backward and to opposite sides of the room. With a quick breath however, they immediately lunged right back toward one another.
"You can't keep this up forever!" the replica called out as his slashing swings were blocked each time with a parry.
"Neither can you!" Riku retorted before swiftly attempting to sweep his foe's feet, whom lept over this kick.
In doing so, they both appeared to gain the same idea and thrust their blades toward the other. With a heavy impact into each other's stomachs, the two attacks flung the pair to opposite ends once more. This seeming to be a constant result, as they appeared to not only think similarly, but also react as such as well. Even now, rather than jumping back to their feet, the two took a few moments to stand up. Both sending dagger-like glares toward one another, as the realization dawned on them that there would be no clear winner of this fight. Taking a few deep breaths, Riku just tilted his head to the side while gazing to his foe.
"If you're a copy of me...or whatever you are...then you must have a reason for why you're doing all this." he called out from across the rather scorched and scarred hall.
"So what is it?" he demanded, almost a bit frustrated at himself for not knowing.
Gazing to the other teen, the replica huffed lightly while wobbling on his feet a bit. "I do have a reason, though...I'm not about to tell you." he countered in an angry tone, a dark aura surrounding his form to draw all the power he could into a final strike.
"So I'm gonna finish this right now! And prove that I'm the real one!" the replica declared firmly before rushing forward, the darkness gathering around his blade.
Watching him come forward, Riku clutched his own weapon tightly. 'The 'real one', is it? Looks like at least a portion of his reasoning has to do with proving himself.' he thought, taking in a slow breath while readying himself.
'That's something I understand all too well.' Riku finished, just as the distance between the two closed and they both swung their Keyblades in unison.
Though the replica's momentum carried him forward a few more steps, the two remained stationary for a several seconds. Yet as the echo of their clash died down through the hall, both combatants dropped to their knees before falling unconscious upon the floor. As the minutes ticked by, Vexen eventually appeared through a corridor of darkness. Upon which, he huffed with a shake of his head, gazing toward the replica. "Hmph...it seems you're not quite ready to defeat him yet." he muttered silently before vanishing once more, his creation seeming to disappear along with him.
Many more minutes passed before Riku himself finally awakened. Gasping and quickly jumping back to his feet, the teen glanced around rapidly. In seeing no sign of the replica, nor of any other foe however, his nerves relaxed slightly. 'Looks like it was a tie.' he thought in a bitter manner.
Though, his thoughts immediately turned to worry, as Mickey was also still gone, leaving him alone. There not even being any signs of where the king had went, as he simply vanished when Marluxia threw him into a corridor of darkness. 'Looks like I'm on my own for now.' Riku mused to himself a bit nervously.
Yet he quickly shook his head and turned to the next door, his eyes narrowing slowly as he did. 'He can handle himself far better than me, so I'll have to trust he'll make his way back. For now...I need to keep moving, Sora needs my help after all.' he declared in conviction before moving forward.
Alright, I did manage to get chapters 13-15 finished. I'm thinking I might try this method of having two chapters one week, then three chapters the next week. Anyway, I hope all of you enjoy these chapters. Until next time.
