Marluxia
Marluxia's mind was currently plagued with uncertainty.
Normally calm and straightforward, he acted according to what he decided was right and necessary, regardless of the lives was lost. The Keyblade Graveyard held a similar philosophy. It was a world that existed solely to be a battleground between the light and dark. It served no other purpose than to spread despair, and subsequently, death. It was a straightforward world. The end of everything.
Marluxia assumed that being summoned to the graveyard would be just like visiting any other world. Appear, do the mission, leave. There was a sense of detachment with every world he's come and gone to. However, the graveyard turned out to be different.
The moment he stepped foot into the lands. Marluxia felt a twist in his non-existent heart. A sense of dread that he has not felt since dying at Sora's hands. He couldn't stomach looking at the dozens upon thousands of oxidizing blades at their feet, burying bodies of soldiers that fought an endless war that lingers on till today.
Lives lost for nothing. Tears shed, for nothing.
He wasn't quite sure where these emotions came from, nor did he try to understand. Whether it was a leftover memory from his previous life or something else, it was a distraction from who he was now.
Xemnas told them they were keys towards a forgotten history of ancient keyblade wielders.
Luxord contemplated it for a while before he dismissed its possibility despite being intrigued. Larxene and Demyx bought into the scam. Marluxia however, was no fool. The weapon has been nothing but a nuisance to his plans since the very beginning.
Yes, the keyblade was a tool that would return everything he's lost to him, but it was also a tool that repeatedly thwarted his goals; particularly by a keyblade wielding brunette by the name of Sora. Marluxia only held contempt for the weapon.
If he was, in any way, connected to keyblade wielders of old, how come he felt this much hatred for it? How could he feel dread just by being in this wasteland. If he spent more time scouring the world for immediate reprieve, maybe he'd be at peace. However, Marluxia also knew there was no point in seeking out these dead-end inquiries.
He was no longer whoever he once was. He was Marluxia, a vessel of Xehanort, one of the thirteen darkness's; and he had a job to do.
Marluxia returned to headquarters not long after he collected his thoughts. If he disappeared for a minute longer the higher ups could grow suspicious of him again. Marluxia wasn't opposed to taking down Xemnas for the second time but doing so wouldn't really benefit him nor the other Nobodies re-recruited for this new organization.
He was already part Xehanort. It was only a small piece but Marluxia could still feel what this part of him wanted to do. Summon Kingdom Hearts. Form the X Blade. Restart the world, the right way. Ignore it as he may, the need and drive to heed it prevailed.
While juggling his thoughts silently, Marluxia caught an unfamiliar child darting across him from the hall. Larxene followed close behind, screaming profanities as per usual. He shadowed them from behind, curious, as it has been quite some time since the castle was bathed in some form of anarchy ever since their numbers were changed to about five different incarnations of the same person.
Larxene successfully cornered the child by the end of the hall and yelled at them to burn the drawing behind them. The child shook their head defiantly and Larxene summoned a lightning coated knife to her side. She threw it overhead the child, an attempt to scare them, but the child didn't even flinch. They bucked their knees, dodging the blade, then sprinted past her, their drawing cradled safely in their hands.
"COME BACK HERE YOU CHEEKY BRAT!"
Marluxia stepped aside as the child crossed his path, and Larxene, who ignored his presence, pushed him to the side with murder in her eyes. Whatever that child drew, it clearly embarrassed Larxene enough to decide that killing them was the best option. Truly, a rare sight.
He left them be, certain that Larxene wouldn't really hurt the young child. Whatever their involvement was in the grander scheme of things, he simply felt that they were important. He wasn't told, he merely felt it as something he shared as a vessel of Xehanort.
The child was important to one of them, and that was enough to make sure that the child was kept safe and within the castle. Oddly enough the next time Marluxia crosses paths with the mystery child was a few days later.
They sat crossed legged on the floor, watching the large doors of the castle as though it was the most interesting portrait in the hall. They were as still a mouse, staring at the closed doors like a caged bird silently longing to be set free into the world. Finding himself in the same bubble as the child, dipped in silence in the desolate room, with nothing but the chill air of the dark everlasting night outside for company, Marluxia found the sight rather sullen.
It wasn't pity he felt. No. He felt no such thing as empathy. However, there was something about this situation that felt oddly familiar. It urged him to step closer, so he did.
The child briefly turned their head to regard him, and Marluxia stopped, meeting their dead and empty eyes, almost as if they were lost in a world buried in their mind, unseen and untouched by those around them - a striking contrast from the defiant child he'd first seen run away from Larxene. This was but a ghost of what once was a child with purpose, a lost soul trying to find its way back home.
The longer he studied the child's androgynous features, the more Marluxia felt that they'd have met before. A time long forgotten by either of them, or perhaps taken from them. Regardless of which, Marluxia felt, knew, as though they were far more connected to each other than some unfounded history with ancient keyblade masters.
The child blinked, their eyelids fluttering awake from the haze that clouded their mind just a few seconds ago. They stared up at Marluxia, confused about their looming presence above them. They tilted their head, a silent question hanging between them.
"Do not mind me, I was merely observing the door with you," he casually explained, and the child turned their attention back to the door. They pulled out a small piece of folded paper from their pocket, a list of phrases already written in what Marluxia recalled as Larxene's penmanship.
'Let me out.' they pointed at the paper, and Marluxia shook his head regrettably.
"I'm afraid you and I are both stuck in here until it is necessary for us to leave." Marluxia could leave any time he pleased as long as he was here the moment the war was set to begin, however with nothing better to do, he was just as trapped here as the kid.
The child crumpled the paper in annoyance and stormed out of the hall, disappearing into the hallway. Just like a caged bird, Marluxia thought. A fledgling that can't leave the nest.
As much as Marluxia told himself to forget this feeling of familiarity towards the child. The possibility of them knowing each other from the past continued to bother him. It made no sense that a man of his age would be acquainted with a child as young as they were, but nothing in this world ever really did.
He tried to be subtle about his musing about the child. Marluxia dared not ask Larxene, in case she dumped the responsibility of looking after them to him and instead looked for them on his own.
Marluxia didn't see the hide nor hair of the young child until he passed along the hallway of spacious laboratories.
"This is preposterous!" shouted a familiar scholar.
It was terribly uncharacteristic of Vexen to cry out with so little patience so Marluxia snuck a peek from one of the lab's windows. He spotted Vexen pacing in front of the child, who was seated on one of the test beds.
"We've tried everything to materialize the darkness. It should be simple! It all came natural to us. What makes you so different?"
The child picked up a large sketchbook and wrote something down. Vexen paused to read, but failed miserably to interpret it. "Bah! I cannot understand this dead language."
"They're asking, and I'm paraphrasing, how you woke them up," Larxene translated from somewhere in the room. "Maybe there's a clue there or something."
Marluxia tried to make out the foreign letters but was dumbfounded. How curious that Larxene could understand it but neither he nor Vexen can.
"Do not assume I have not tried. U.E absorbs darkness. They live off it," the scholar explained for the nth time as made obvious by the way the child rolled their eyes. "Without it, they perish. Their dependency is unheard of and thus, I hypothesized that they could call for its aid whenever necessary. In doing so they can summon the keyblade Ansem claims they have."
"However," Vexen moved from the bed to the large displays to their side, "In the numerous trials we have conducted, U.E expended their darkness much faster than they can replenish it. The equilibrium tips far too off balance, whenever they call the darkness inside the out in the open, forcing them into another bout of sleep."
Vexen sighed. "Until we can find a concrete solution to that hurdle, every attempt to remedy it is counterproductive. I've already lost valuable time as it is with the Replica's program. I would need to rearrange my priorities."
The child looked down, eyes apologetic before glancing to Larxene who flicked her hair. "Not our problem. You're the one who decided to take on both at the same time. How's their memories?"
Vexen pressed his temples, reminded with yet another thorn to his side. "Similarly without progress. The heart is connected to our memories, without one, we also lose our memories. In case, their fragmented heart has also fragmented their memories into incomprehensible pieces. "
He presented a couple of video feeds, showing black silhouettes moving in a darkened, undecipherable background, waving every now and then almost like memories being played in murky water.
"In every memory I've taken, a layer of darkness has blocked me from clearing it any further. There are memories present, yes, but they are useless. Not until the darkness allows us too. Whether this is a subconscious or conscious defense mechanism of UE to defend themself remains to be seen."
The child shuffled in their seat and Vexen continued, "I'm inclined to believe the former. They're reliant on the darkness to live, and so it is entirely within the realm of probability that the same darkness is protecting them from memories that could potentially hurt its host."
Larxene hummed, head hurting from all this scientific memory talk. "I was this close to cutting my ears while you yapped on and on about geeky science, but I'll bite. So their darkness exists to keep them alive, and… safe?"
"It would seem so."
"Well, in that case," the blonde shrugged, let's cut the brat." The child flinched. "If we can't teach them to control it, then to hell with it. Let's force it out."
"You mean to say... we apply stressors that would potentially trigger a protective response?"
"Fuck if I know. I'm just saying what sounds like what could work based on your science babble. If the darkness keeps them alive and protects them from recalling bad shit, but only once at a time, then maybe putting them in danger would force it to do both."
The child flinched, their arms folding in on themselves.
Vexen caught the slight discomfort on their face and glowered. "You knew?" The child turned away as Vexen stormed over and slapped their face. "INSOLENT CHILD. Hours' worth of senseless data and we could've done this from the start?!"
The child rubbed the sore spot on their cheek and happened to glance by the window where Marluxia watched. He instinctively looked away. It was time to leave.
Before he could disappear, a hand with yellow coated fingernails kept Marluxia back. "Hey Marly~" Larxene sang. "What a coincidence to see you here, sneaking around, eavesdropping? You're losing your touch."
"I would not call it sneaking as much as I was passing by."
Larxene nodded, unconvinced. "Don't care. You know that little duck I've been babysitting for a few days now? Yeah, we're gonna need your help trying to kill 'em."
"Remind me but, between us, aren't you more suited to this task?"
"I'm not the one called the 'Graceful Assassin', pinkylocks. And besides, I've thrown knives at the kid far too many times. They dodge surprisingly well. It won't trigger anything different."
Marluxia pondered upon it silently, and Larxene smirked.
"What do you say, Marly? Feeling up to terrorize a child like old times?"
Marluxia stood on the opposite end of the hall with Graceful Dahlia at his side. The child stood awkwardly on the other side with a makeshift blade on their hand. They looked up at Larxene on the viewing deck with pleading eyes.
Larxene casually waved them off and yelled out a half-baked good luck cheer, much to the kid's displeasure. Larxene has never been the nurturing type. Tough love was more her brand. Even if she belittled the situation as much as she did, it was obvious she wanted to help. Larxene just had the heart to do what was necessary.
"We will not stop until I gather the results I require, understand?" Vexen said. The child held up the weapon shakingly, amateurishly, and Marluxia sighed.
The child was no younger than Sora when they first fought. At least back then, Sora had experience with slashing and hacking thousands of heartless with the keyblade. This child did not have the same instinct for battle.
Marluxia walked forward, swinging his weapon around him to gauge a reaction from his petite opponent. Their arms trembled, eyes focused on each mark carved by the blade on the floor.
This fight was a waste of time.
He wanted to speak with the child alone, but after finding out they were mute and amnesiac, perhaps this was the only way. Memories have always been a fickle thing. Perhaps if they still had Namine, this could've been avoided.
"Prepare yourself, I will show no mercy."
Marluxia dashed forward and dragged the blade up as he closed in. The child stepped back, their balance impeccable as they held their ground and blocked it.
What reflexes, Marluxia mused. It was one thing for Larxene to say the child held impressive reflexes but it was another to see it in action himself. If the child ever was a keyblade wielder in their forgotten life, they may not remember how to fight, but their body certainly did.
Marluxia spun the scythe around his body, forcing the child to jump back and gain some distance away. He let the child have some breathing space before chasing after them with a similar approach. The child kept their weapon up, ready to defend, but Marlucia stopped halfway, confusing the former.
Marluxia darted forward; his silhouette pouring out flowers to the ground and metal met with wood. He vanished the next second and appeared behind them.
Too slow to react, the back end of Dahlia throttled the child forward. Marluxia teleported to their side and swung the scythe again.
The child cried aloud as he fell, their wooden blade sliding across the field and out of sight. They pushed themselves upright with a frustrated growl. Marluxia smiled. Clearly the terrified child from earlier had vanished and was replaced with a fighter.
Marluxia whipped his hair, now intrigued in this futile fight. Perhaps the child would show him something unexpected if continued to pressure them. That was what Vexen expected from him after all.
To his surprise, the child did not move to pick up their weapon. Instead, they held their ground with an arm hanging idly to the side as though grasping for some unseen weapon.
Just like Sora.
Delight pulled up Marluxia's lips and he chucked Dahlia into the air. It spun towards his enemy, but the child stayed put as though ready to take it head on. They struggled to pull something out of nothing, but as the scythe rolled closer, the child eventually pulled away.
The scythe cut a portion of their shoulder, making the child stumble as they ran towards their weapon.
Marluxia swiped his hand to intercept, guiding the scythe to stop them. The child dropped to their knees, narrowly missing the magenta blades that spiraled across their neck. They successfully picked up the weapon and Marluxia caught his scythe, throwing it again not a second later.
The child brought up the sword and broke in half as they were thrown back, groaning. Marluxia waited for them to stand, ever so slightly glancing up at Larxene who now bit her thumb. The child looked worse for wear, already bruised all over with a bleeding arm, and their hair sticking out everywhere.
"Ready?"
The child once again took their weaponless stance, and Marluxia dashed forward disappearing halfway and appearing a good height above them. He swung the scythe downwards as the child shoved their arm forward again to intercept the attack without a weapon on hand.
It was then when it clicked for Marluxia what the child was trying to do.
It was a bold and dangerous. Marluxia can't help applauding the kid a litte. If the child was willing to endanger themselves that much to achieve progress, then he would indulge them. He channeled the darkness across the blade, coating it with more intent to kill than just scare.
The child kept their ground, unflinching, but it was all for naught. He felt his scythe cut through flesh, and the child screamed. Blood spilled to the floor, and all of a sudden the room was engulfed in a storm of purple, red, and black clouds.
Marluxia was thrown towards a pillar at the other end of the room, alarming himself and their spectators. Vexen laughed maniacally as data flooded his data pad. Amidst the raging winds, Marluxia could hear the child screaming from within the mess. Their voice almost dried out from the unimaginable pain running through them.
He swung his blade trying to cut through the clouds that prevented him from locating the child anywhere in the room. He pushed forward, fighting the push that kept forcing him back. The closer he got to the eye of the storm, the closer he'd be to helping the child.
This darkness… It was too much for a child their size should be able to live with. Larxene was right. Endangering the child would force it to protect them. They succeeded in their objective, and now came the hard part. How to make the child control it without it consuming and destroying them.
His first move should be to separate the child from whatever hold the darkness had on the child. Marluxia swung his blade, coated in darkness of his own, towards the thicker band of darkness caging the child inside. It bounced off, as though it was nothing.
His darkness was not enough to cut through. How terrifying. No wonder Ansem took an interest. "Alright, let's take another route."
Marluxia slammed Dahlia to the ground and summoned a large mass of energy beneath the child. Large wispy tendrils cut off the barrier around them and Marluxia approached with his weapon raised. The barrier, unable to take multiple attacks, shattered in one final slash.
The storm abruptly ceased, leaving only the embers of darkness within close proximity of the child. Its residual power crackled into invisible vapors into the ceiling, while the leftover darkness crawled towards the child.
The black and red energy pulsed silently up their arm, staying there as the child began to calm down.
He waited. Larxene waited. Vexen leaned forward, his eyes blown wide in mad fascination. Then the child shook, unsteadily standing on two legs and gripped the energy that danced along their side.
Marluxia watched with silent fascination. Was this it? The final push they needed.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU BUFFOON!?" Vexen hollered. "KEEP GOING. WE CAN'T LOSE THIS MUCH PROGRESS."
Not left with much choice, Marluxia spun Dahlia around him with increased intensity. The child did not move nor react to it, still too dazed from whatever it was they just did. Marluxia feared they might actually kill the kid without meaning to this time but decided it's futile to be merciful now.
He kept going and to his surprise, found his blade meeting with something metallic in the child's hand. Marluxia thought they had finally succeeded and the child summoned their keyblade, but upon closer look, it seemed like the child was holding a pin that glowed in the same color as the energy wrapped around their arm.
The energy burst out, and Marluxia had to defend himself from projectiles that followed his every move. Larxene gripped the railings from the balcony and shouted everyone's thoughts aloud. "Magic?!"
Marluxia cut one energy volley in half but was caught off guard when the child suddenly slammed an invisible weapon on the handle of Dahlia. It was still a rough silhouette of a blade, and not quite solid enough to pressure him into going on the defense.
The child lost their balance when the weapon seemingly fell out of their grasp and they fell to their knees. Marluxia kicked them across the chest, and the child rolled back to their feet, reaching out to the energy that lingered to their side.
It wrapped around empty air, once again taking the form of a wispy, unfinished sword.
They were close. The child raised their half distinguished blade upfront and Marluxia twirled Dahlia in response.
"Prepare yourself!"
The child threw another pin in the air as Marluxia approached. They hopped over the blade as it slashed towards them, then flipped in midair to swipe their weapon at the free falling object.
Before Marluxia could intercept, the room was bathed in a bright flash of purple.
A/N: Insert GIF: "Surprise bitch, thought you've seen the last of me"
I literally just come back from the grave every time there's KH Union X news, and this time, it was the announcement that KH Dark Road and Union X's story will be coming to a close. I'm sticking to medals as key kid's way of fighting, idk I kinda like it. Also I totally pulled shit out of my ass to explain how the key kid's darkness physiology worked.