Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories

Chapter 14: Castle Oblivion part XIV

"So, you met her?" Kairi uttered out in surprise, just blinking a few times in response.

"Yeah...she brought all of us here, though it seems that she wanted me specifically in order to save her." Sora answered with a bit of a whisper.

"We didn't get much time to talk, but it definitely sounds like these people are holding her here. And my current 'working theory' is that they saw me in the Realm of Darkness, somehow knew who I was, and brought me here with her help. But while they seem to have their own goals of what they want from me, she wants to be rescued." she continued, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"You always did talk about how you wanted to save a princess at the top of a tower." Kairi said as a soft giggle escaped her lips.

Sora blinked a few times before pouting and looking to the side; "S-So?" was all she countered with, a flush beginning to develop on her cheeks.

Seeing this made the auburn-haired girl smile a bit and wave her hand briefly; "Nothing bad...just make sure you don't fall into a trap with all this. Cause even if she's genuine...it doesn't mean this Organization XIII hasn't planned for her telling you this." Kairi stated, patting her friend on the shoulder.

Whom gazed back at her in a surprised manner, to which she tilted her head ever so slightly to the side. "'Organization XIII'?" she echoed back.

"Yeah...that's apparently what they call themselves." Donald responded as he and Goofy had merely been listening to the pair.

"That's...so unfair." Sora declared in a huff and pout; "They always have such cool names for everything!" she whined while crossing her arms.

Laughing lightly to the girl's reaction, the other three smiled to the brown-haired teen. Yet she soon took in and let out a long breath; "But yes, I'll be careful. We definitely can't fall into any traps. Especially if we're dealing with Organization XIII." she stated, yet sounded almost bitter when putting emphasis on saying this name.

"We seriously need to come up with a cool sounding name for ourselves. Otherwise, it'll just be a constant distraction." Sora continued in a sigh, making the trio merely nod their heads in response.

After a few extra moments of rest, the four slowly rose to their feet, ready to continue moving forward. "Alright...lets keep moving, we've gotta be close to the top by this point." the brown-haired girl commented before heading through the doors.

Upon doing so, they found themselves in Olympus Coliseum. Of which made Sora smile widely and nod confidently; "This is perfect." she declared while turning to the others.

"This is the perfect memory for us to spend some time training. And if we're lucky, it'll be enough to prepare us for the next time we take on any other members of Organization XIII." the teen continued, yet her spiteful tone toward this name was still evident.

"Are you sure that'll work? Won't they just appear in this memory to prevent that from happening?" Kairi questioned with a glance around, to which they could see Phil together with Hercules near the coliseum's entrance.

"Maybe...but we have the memory of Hercules on our side." Sora declared, a small grin curling her lips.

"He is really strong, and will definitely be a match for at least one of their members." the brown-haired girl said in an almost excited manner.

"Of course...if things get too crazy, I can probably get the memory of Hades on our side. So really, if there was ever a time or place to train...it's here and now." she finished, yet it was clear that Sora suspected Namine sent them to this memory specifically for that purpose.

"Well...if we're going to get stronger...we should probably take the chance to do it." Donald declared while nodding his head and glancing around briefly to make sure no one from the Organization was already there.

While he didn't see anyone in a black coat, for a very brief second, there seemed to be an odd shimmer off to the side. It looking like a hazy mirage of Hades and another shadowed figure speaking, yet in the blink of an eye, it was gone. Blinking a few times, the duck continued to look through the area, but found nothing else. His gaze then shifted back to the others, to which he followed them over to Phil and Hercules. None of them noticing the fact that Sora's shadow seemed to have become darker than normal.

But what might have been even more noticeable, was the fact that the girl's shadow seemed to have horns on the top of the head. "Almost ready." a directionless, yet familiar voice whispered from the shadow itself as the group just continued on unaware.

At the same time, Namine sat in a chair with each of the six members of the Organization surrounding her to some degree. Larxene just huffed lightly while crossing her arms and glancing around to the others. "So apparently...our little caged bird decided to fly off and do her own thing." she claimed with narrowed eyes and an annoyed tone, her having been the one to bring the girl back.

"Though...I definitely have a few suspicions as to who helped her leave said cage." she continued, immediately turning her gaze toward Axel.

Said man however, just smiled with a shrug. "I have no idea what you're talking about. If she's as smart as we all know she is, then who's to say she didn't figure out how to use the corridors on her own?" he asked smugly, despite his tone seeming to intentionally not deny Larxene's accusations.

Seeing and hearing this, made many of the others sigh in response, yet Marluxia cleared his throat and shook his head. "Not to worry, everything is still going according to plan." he stated confidently, though each of the others raised a brow in question.

"How so?" Zexion inquired, sounding curious as to the other man's logic.

"Indeed...there is no way that the plan isn't ruined now." Vexen stated in a highly annoyed manner.

"She is aware of our plans and meddling, which means that our method of altering her memories will just earn further and further mistrust. It'll be nearly impossible for us to control her." Lexaeus added with a heavy sigh of regret.

"At least not without altering nearly all of her memories...which could take weeks, if not months. And last I checked, she's less than ten levels away from reach the top floor." Vexen declared firmly, making most of the others nod their heads in agreement.

"Oh...but that's where you're all wrong." Marluxia began, slowly gaining a smile on his features as his gaze shifted to Namine.

"Our mission was to get Sora to trust Namine, and now she does. She desires to rescue her from us...so why don't we let her?" he continued on, to which the others slowly began to understand the man's new plan.

"We merely have to give Sora a good show, make her feel like a hero...and control her by controlling Namine from the shadows." the pink-haired man stated with even greater confidence than before.

"That would be a good plan, but I doubt this one will let us do that without a fight. Plus, we cannot trust she won't just 'rat us out' the first chance she gets." Vexen claimed as though it was obvious, pointing toward Namine briefly.

"Her compliance is only needed until Sora reaches the top floor. We need only for her to act as a proper hostage to make it believable. Then, we can be rid of her, and merely use a replica to continue our work with Sora." Marluxia responded, yet it merely made the platinum blond-haired individual scoff.

"It's impossible to create an exact replica of her...just like the rest of us." Vexen countered while rolling his eyes, the answer as to 'why' being known to all of them.

"It wouldn't need to be an actual replica, we would merely need something that looks and acts like her enough so that Sora wouldn't question it." was all Marluxia said, making it sound as though it were a simple matter.

Something of which led for Vexen to growl silently, knowing that he would be the one to make such a thing. "You're entirely infuriating." he growled out in utter annoyance.

"I suppose I wouldn't know." the pink-haired man said, shrugging his shoulders as all eyes shifted to Namine.

Said girl having her head tilted down as she could only hope that Sora would be able to see through these deceptions. 'Please be safe, Sora.' she almost pleaded, tightly clutching the edges of her dress.

'I'll be sending help soon.' Namine continued, tightening her closed eye lids.

All the while, Riku was only five more levels away from reaching the lowest area of the castle. Him having moved through each floor very quickly, as there were no further interruptions, and he didn't bother resting between each level. Now that the Organization was distracted with other things, he faced no opposition that stood in his way. Though, as he came to this level, the teen breathed heavily and just sat down against the set of doors he came through. 'Alright...I have to be getting close. The hallways seem like they're starting to get a bit darker.' he mused to himself, looking down in silence.

'Although...I'm getting a bit worried about King Mickey. He still hasn't found his way back yet.' Riku continued inwardly while slowly closing his eyes.

'You have other things to worry about.' Ansem's voice echoed out within the teen's mind.

The remnant of the Heartless having become a lot more conversational after Mickey vanished. Yet Riku just kept denying any response, not wishing to have any contact with him. 'I'm afraid you cannot ignore me anymore, boy. I think it's time that you start realizing your position here.' he continued, to which the silver-haired teen felt his consciousness slip away.

Upon which, he found himself facing Ansem within the dark void, just like before. However, Riku could sense there was something very different about this encounter, as it seemed like the man's very presence was stronger than before. "I haven't been using your powers at all, how did you gain any strength?" he all but demanded, which made the Heartless simply smile in response.

"Finally have your attention, do I?" he chuckled out silently before shrugging his shoulders.

"Unfortunately for you, ignoring the Darkness does not make you immune to its effects. And since you haven't tried to confront it at all...I've been feeding off of the Darkness in your heart. So I've grown more and more powerful." Ansem declared with great confidence and pride.

"Meanwhile...you've been toying around with your meager sword techniques." he continued in a taunting tone.

This made Riku growl silently before moving into a fighting stance, yet when he tried to summon his Keyblade, nothing appeared. In seeing this, the boy's eyes widened as he looked to his hand in shock. "Looking for this?" Ansem questioned as he held up the teen's weapon.

Laughing to Riku's horrified gaze, the man then pulled a wooden sword from the shadows around them and tossed it to the boy. "Try using this...it's suitable for someone without the power to stand up to the Darkness." he declared in an amused tone as the teen instinctively caught the weapon.

"Now then...lets test to see if you can even face the Darkness...or if you'll simply be consumed by it again." Ansem continued before rushing forward.


Get ready for a Riku-only chapter, I didn't feel like I gave him the proper treatment he deserved, so now I'm giving his character more prevalence this time around. Let me know what you thought of this one in a review or PM. Until next time.