Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories
Chapter 19: Castle Oblivion part XIX
Spells blazed through the air, while powerful impacts shook the floor and walls. The group of five friends managing to keep the four Organization members at bay, to the point of reaching a stand-still. Thanks to Mickey's ability to read the battle field and make quick decisions, they were able contend with the individually more powerful foes they faced. Something that frustrated Marluxia most of all, as he initially sealed the mouse away to prevent this exact problem.
"Looks like I underestimated your ability for escape." the pink-haired man claimed as he blocked Mickey's Keyblade slash.
"Maybe, but I don't think either of us will be allowing that to happen again." the king responded before spinning and swinging his weapon in a flurry of attacks.
Each one being precise in where they targeted, keeping Marluxia on the back-foot. At the same time though, Riku ducked and rolled away from Lexaeus' powerful downward slam with his weapon. As the silver-haired boy moved away, he dashed by Mickey and handed the mouse his weapon. Upon doing so, the king's attacks instantly doubled and overwhelmed Marluxia, knocking him against the wall behind him.
Lexaeus narrowed his eyes slowly while rushing forward, to which he then slashed down at his now weaponless opponent. However, he was hit in the back by Goofy's shield, knocking him off balance. This being just enough for Riku to avoid the attack by rolling to the side, during which, he resummoned his Keyblade. Then with a quick and powerful thrust against the large man's chest, Lexaeus was pushing onto his back with a loud thud. "This is proving troublesome." he muttered, swiftly blocking Riku's follow up stab and kicking the teen over his head.
During this, Goofy caught his shield and blocked the lightning coated daggers coming toward him. As he did, Kairi peeked out from behind the anthropomorphic dog and pointed her staff toward the charging Larxene. The blond quickly finding herself becoming more sluggish as gravity around her rapidly increased. But she just narrowed both eyes and let out a brief growl of annoyance; "That won't work on me." she uttered out as an aura of lightning sparked across her body, to which she vanished an instant later.
There being a streak of electricity that shot through the air and toward the pair. Yet as Larxene stabbed three daggers at them, she ended up hitting a large shield that shimmered ahead of her. The blond's gaze narrowed as the lightning aura began arcing out and around her, still trying to strike against her foes. But Larxene's eyes quickly snapped toward Donald, as he had his softly glowing staff pointed up in the air.
Although, he was also rushing out of the way from several bursts of fire from Zexion's book. These nearly singeing his tail feathers, causing him to squawk loudly during his run. In the middle of this however, Mickey's Keyblade streaked through the air and hit the back of Zexion's head, making him lurch forward and groan painfully from the impact. As he did, Kairi took this opportunity to send a beam of ice to his feet. This not allowing the young man to catch himself as he nearly face-planting on the floor.
Sending a glare in Kairi's direction, Zexion groaned in annoyance as he managed to pull free of the ice and stand back to his feet. "This is really getting out of hand." he muttered to himself as he readied another spell.
Amidst all this chaos however, a dark corridor swirled at the far end of the hall. This garnering everyone's attention, as everyone knew the balance of the fight would be tipped, depending on who stepped through. But because the nature of portal, all of them expected a member of the Organization. Instead though, Sora came through with a small smile on her features and wearing very different attire.
Her now having tight black pants formed fully to her legs, yet they were mostly covered by her similarly colored jacket. Of which had sleeves similar to Axel's, as they were fitted to be close to the skin. Her black gloves now covered each finger, and ebony boots she wore seemed somewhat reminiscent of her usual ones. Only now, they had a silver hue for the lining, along with each of the buckles and laces.
As everyone gazed to the girl in surprise, Sora herself glanced to each of her friends quickly. Seeming to be making sure they were not hurt, before altering her expression to a sheepish one. "I get the feeling I've missed something." she muttered out while clearing her throat.
"I was about to say the same thing." Kairi stated as she stared at her friend in confusion.
"Why are you wearing that outfit?" she continued, gesturing to the brown-haired teen's clothes.
"Oh this?" Sora began in a nonchalant tone; "After seeing how cool all of them looked, how could I resist getting something similar for myself." the girl added with a gesture toward the Organization members.
With a wide and rather prideful smile, the brown-haired teen did a quick twirl to show off these new clothes. "What do you think?" she asked while facing everyone once more.
Though Kairi briefly gave the other girl a firm expression, she eventually sighed and shrugged. "Oddly...I think it looks good you." she commented with a small smile curling her lips.
"Black suits you pretty well." Riku added, tilting his head slightly as if surprised by this.
Sora took on a small grin upon hearing this, to which she slowly approached the two groups. "So...did you guys finally decide to drop the pretenses and attack head on?" she questioned, looking from one member of the Organization to the next.
"And what if we have?" Larxene asked back in an almost challenging tone.
Turning toward the young woman, Sora just shrugged her shoulders and waved a hand. "I was just curious, as I was actually hoping to talk with all of you a bit more. I felt like maybe we could be friends." she stated, making the four Organization members blink a few times in response.
Though, the teen then turned her glance toward Marluxia and huffed briefly. "Except for you, you've been really mean almost this whole time." Sora continued, crossing both arms in the process.
A sudden silence filled the hall as everyone was left either dumbfounded, or were trying not to laugh. Although, Larxene appeared to be caught between bewilderment and insulted, as she felt like she should be the one Sora would call 'mean'. But the quiet was soon broken, as the sound of clapping was heard on the opposite side of the room. "Well said, Sora." Axel declared with a small grin on his features.
Him having arrived without anyone even noticing, something that unsettled many of the others. The red-haired man ignored this however, as he kept his gaze on Sora. "But I am curious as to why you wanna 'befriend' us, I'm sure you've pieced together what our aims are for you." he began, raising a brow curiously.
Sora stared at him for a few seconds before a soft smile curled her lips. "Honestly...it's because I want to help people. It's just part of who I am, and it's simply what I do." she responded softly, all as the teen's signature smile appeared on her features.
Another moment of silence spread throughout the room, the girl's words seeming to create a pause within everyone. Whether it was because of a confirmation from her friends in knowing this side of her, or the surprise from the Organization in being taken aback by her declaration. For one person in particular however, gears began turning in their mind of how to use this against Sora.
But Axel was the first one to speak up, him merely offered a smile as he did. "That was a nice answer, in both a literal and figurative sense."
Grinning a bit wider, Sora merely gave a bow of her head in thanks. "Why thank you." she responded, yet used this moment to glance around to everyone else.
Her making sure no one was making any slight of hand attempts to re-spark a fight. When doing so, the girl noticed that all the Organization members had one hand behind their back. This letting her deduce that they were getting ready to flee, now that Sora's inclusion would tip the scales away from their favor. "Well..." she started with a slow nod in understanding.
"...before you guys go, I do have one question." Sora continued, her expression becoming a bit more firm.
"Would you be willing to just let us leave with Namine?" she finished as 'that' was her only reason for still being here.
Immediately following this question however, even before anyone else could respond, Marluxia spoke. "Not even a little." he claimed before disappearing in a corridor of darkness.
"Well...you heard him." Larxene added as she too vanished.
Though Lexaeus and Zexion left without saying a word, their eyes were shifted away from her when they did. Lastly, Axel merely shrugged his shoulders to the brown-haired teen; "I guess we'll find out when you reach the last level." he called out, his voice echoing through the hall while fading from sight.
A few moments after they all left, Sora turned to her friends with a wide smile and rushed toward them. While they all gave her a group hug, Riku and Kairi were the ones to hug her first. "Sorry I made you worry." she whispered out softly, returning this embrace.
All the while, Marluxia was looking down in thought as a small smirk curled his lips. "I think our plan will be even more successful than I initially expected. Her drive to help others will certainly make her fall into our trap the moment she 'saves' Namine." he declared in a confident tone.
Despite all of the others nodding their heads in agreement to his words, there was a hesitation. Even though it was their mission from the start to manipulate Sora, the longer they interacted, the more they felt endeared toward her. Something of which, should be impossible for any of them. 'Something just feels...off.' many of them mused to themselves.
Within Vexen's laboratory however, the scientist himself had actually found the answer to this. "It's Sora's heart." he muttered silently while looking almost excitedly at the display of Sora on his computer screen.
"She can create bonds within people far more easily than normal beings, even with those without hearts. If that's true...I think I found the 'bond' I need to complete my replica project." he declared with a wide grin.
And there you have it, a prelude to what is to come. Not just for my own inclusions of the story, but also the over-arcing story as a whole. I will say, I'm really glad I went back to change this part of the story, as I really didn't like how I treated some of the characters...Sora especially. Anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed these chapters and will let me know what you thought. I'm thinking I'll have chapters 20-22 for next week, then the last three chapters the following week. If there will be any other chapters after those, I'll be sure to let you know. Until next time.
