Fans: There are so many, you'll apparantly die. -sigh-
Corita: GAH!
Sora53: Oh yeah. Corita doesn't like this chappie.
Joe: I'm sorry, Corita! Sora53 had to fit the battle with Larxene in eventually...
Riku Fangirls: RIKU! RIKU RIKU RIKU!
Sora53: Let's...get on with the chappie...Oo
Naminé: Good idea...before Corita kills someone.
Corita: GAH!
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or CoM, but I own Corita. FEAR THE DUN DUN DUN MOMENTS!
"Riku, I presume?" Asked a lone figure at the end of the gleaming hallway. Having gone through a few worlds alone, fighting only dark creatures, it was a bit of a shock for Riku to see someone else in the castle.
"Who are you? Are you with Ansem?" Riku asked cautiously.
"You are half correct." The figure answered calmly. He had long, tannish hair that rested lightly on the top of his black robe. Arms crossed, he was watching Riku with interest.
"Let us say that it's not the Ansem you know. He is Ansem and he is not...which is the say he is nobody."
"Nobody, huh? Sorry, riddles aren't my thing. Try making some sense."
"He belongs to neither the light nor the dark, but walks the twilight between. As do I. And for that matter..." he said slowly, surveying Riku. Riku's expression changed from that of cautious curiousity to shock. "Ha ha, that's right. We have much in common."
"Maybe we do... But so what?" Riku asked angrily. "Is that an invitation to join your club? Yeah, there's darkness inside me, just like you said. But darkness is my enemy! And you are, too, for making everything around here reek of it!"
Riku furiously grabbed his sword, readying to battle. The man stepped forward, eyes gleaming.
"Oh ho, so it's a fight you want. Very well — a fight you shall get!"
"Ha ha ha... This battle has made it clear. The darkness coursing through you is a tremendous power. All you needed was the right provocation." The man said after their battle was complete. Riku stood near him, watching him carefully. After the man said this, Riku lowered his sword.
"Great. So this was a trick."
"Precisely. Your fiery reaction provided just the data I needed. You have my thanks, Riku!"
The man vanished, and Riku sighed. Solving riddles, avoiding traps and not being tricked by other people apparently weren't his strong points.
The group's laughter echoed throughout the hall as Donald angrily trudged behind them.
"It wasn't that funny, you know." Donald said as they began to calm down.
"Yeah, Donald's right. It wasn't funny. It was classic!" Goofy said as he wiped a tear from his eye from laughing too much.
"Okay, that's enough." Sora told them as he stopped laughing as well. "We should be figuring out what to do. We ran out of the cards that Axel gave us."
In the front of the group, Corita's hand suddenly reached for her staff, something she hadn't done in a while. The group looked at her in surprise.
"What's wrong, Corita?" Sora asked.
"There's someone there..." Corita whispered. The group was turned towards where they'd come from, and had not yet turned to face the next set of stairs. Naturally, since Corita was acting like the person was very dangerous, they all turned to face the new figure immediately.
Standing before the next set of stairs was another black-robed unknown. Unlike the others they'd seen, however, she was female. She was tall, had blonde hair, and was looking down at them with ice-cold eyes, devoid of any sign of sympathy or mercy.
"You're with Axel, aren't you!" Donald called to the figure.
"Ooh, aren't you clever." She called back. Her voice caused Sora and Corita to wince, though they didn't know why. "The name's Larxene. Are you enjoying your stay in Castle Oblivion? I bet it's nice to peel all the worthless memories away...and awaken the true memories that lie deep in your heart."
"True memories?" Sora asked, walking forward.
"But you're still forgetting something, aren't you, Sora?" Larxene asked, moving towards the Keyblade Master. Corita's hand instinctively reached for the handle of her staff. "The most important thing." Larxene continued. "When that poor girl hears you've forgotten her name, she'll be heartbroken."
"You know her! Is she...here?" Sora cried. Larxene smiled and nodded.
"U-huuuuh. The bad guys are holding her deep within the castle. And you, the hero, have to go save her." Corita ran forward from where she'd been watching with Donald and Goofy, full of fury. Larxene looked down at her with icy eyes. "Sadly, there's a catch..."
At that moment, Larxene rushed forward, passing through Sora as if he were made of air. Sora was knocked to the ground, and something flew out of his pocket, something star-shaped...
Sora, who was lying on his back, feebly attempted to open his eyes. Everything around him was a blinding white...for a moment, he couldn't hear anything. Then, he heard a voice. A familiar voice...no, he'd never heard the voice before. He opened his eyes, and he could make out a blurry shape.
His own blue eyes were staring at him; the girl who owned them was calling his name. She had brown hair like his, but it was lying wilted on her head...
"Who..." Sora whispered softly, so softly that only he could hear it... "...are you?"
"Sora!" He heard her say clearly. How did she know his name?
"Corita!" Donald called from severel feet away. Sora's mind instantly snapped back into place. Of course it was Corita...
"I'M a bad guy, so you have to go through me!" Larxene's cold voice said, echoing menacingly through the hall.
"Uhhh..." Sora managed to say as he turned his head away from Larxene's cutting voice. Lying on the floor next to him was a small star-shaped charm that looked like a Paupu fruit.
"What's...that?" Sora wondered aloud softly. "Is that mine?"
"Tsk, tsk. You've been wearing it all this time, and you forgot? No, you couldn't have. The memory is engraved in your heart." Larxene taunted. She was now standing only a few feet away from where Sora was lying on the floor, and where Corita was kneeling next to him. "Now think, Sora. What oh what could it be? Who gave it to you?"
Sora's head was swimming; countless thoughts were running through his mind. He concentrated hard, trying to remember...
"Na..." He found himself saying softly as he stared at the charm. "Na...mi?"
"That's right! Free the memory from your heart!" Larxene urged as Sora gazed upon the charm. Corita's eyes turned away from her brother and stared instead at Larxene with pure hatred.
"Nami..." Sora said once more, his concentration fading. He looked at the charm once more, and his eyes flashed. "Naminé."
Larxene sighed impatiently. "Well, it's about time. That's right...Naminé. She's the one that gave you the cheesy good luck charm. Not that you remembered."
Larxene vanished for a moment, and then re-appeared in front of Sora and Corita.
"No surprise, seeing as you forgot her NAME." Larxene taunted lazily.
"Stop it!" Corita cried. She reached for her staff and grabbed it, pulling it away from where it hung like unsheathing a sword. In her blind fury, she forgot that she was in Castle Oblivion, forgot that she was yelling at someone who probably actually could blast her into oblivion if she felt like it...
Her fury left her through her staff, and a bright bolt of fire shot out towards Larxene. Larxene narrowly avoided it, and she turned her attention away from Sora and to Corita. Corita had a shocked expression on her face, and was looking at her staff in awe.
"How..." she whispered to herself as Larxene moved towards her.
"My darling little Princess," Larxene said, and Corita winced. She looked away from her staff to look up at the icy eyes that were staring into her own. "you'd be wise to stay out of things that don't concern you. Sora, for instance."
Anger boiled once again within Corita's heart. "Are you saying I shouldn't be concerned about Sora!"
"Well, I wouldn't say that." Larxene said lazily. "You might want to think things over before becoming too attatched to journeying in Castle Oblivion with him."
"What are you saying?" Corita roared. Larxene gave an evil grin. She turned away from the enraged Corita to speak to her twin, who had recovered and was kneeling on the floor.
"Poor little Naminé...you forgot her name! Talk about heartless! It'd serve you right if I smashed this piece of junk!" Larxene said, picking up the good luck charm that was still on the ground.
Sora's eyes flashed and he lept off the ground. He dashed forward, grabbed the good luck charm from Larxene's hand, and returned to where he'd been. "Don't you touch it!" Sora growled, clutching the charm with all his might. "Naminé gave me this. It's precious to me!"
"Precious? Spare me! Ten seconds ago you didn't even know what it was!" Larxene cried, a note of amusement in her voice. Sora summoned the Keyblade into his hands, preparing to battle.
"Hey, you're not half bad. Guess you really are a hero. A heartless hero!" Larxene taunted.
"Who asked you?" Sora cried.
"Does it hurt 'cause it's true?" Larxene asked in a taunting baby voice. "Grow up, Sora." she said, returning to her normal voice. "If you're going to be a baby, then here...play with these." Larxene nimbly tossed Sora some Worlds Cards, and the Keyblade Master caught them with ease. "They're more cards made from your memories. Say 'thank you' like a good boy. Ta-ta!"
"Larxene!" Corita cried, running forward. Larxene looked down at her for a moment. Corita, for a moment, saw something strange in her eyes. Larxene's eyes reflected the same amount of hatred as Corita's as they stared at each other.
Larxene wasted no time, however. She vanished, leaving Corita fuming and Sora running towards the thin air where she'd been moments before.
"Larxene! Wait!" Sora called.
"Where are you? Don't you dare hide from me!" Corita roared, running towards the next flight of stairs.
"Come back here! Show yourself!" Sora yelled, but no response came but their own voices echoing in the hall.
"Guys! Calm down!" Jiminy chirped. "She's not coming back!"
Corita turned away from the group and closed her eyes, thinking for a moment. Sora looked up at Donald, Jimimy and Goofy who'd just run towards them.
"I hate her." He choked, gripping the small paupu fruit-shaped charm. "It's not fair that she's the one who made me remember...Naminé is too special for that."
"Nahmeenay?" Goofy asked.
"Naminé" Sora answered.
"Well, Sora, any friend of yours is a friend of ours! Let's go help Nahmeenay!" Goofy chuckled.
"Yeah, Sora." Corita said as she turned around to face them, a funny smirk on her face. "I'll bet Nahmeenay needs us."
Sora smiled for the first time in a long while, and the group headed towards the next set of stairs.
"Whew... Throwing the battle back there really wore me out." Larxene said cooly as she approached Axel.
"Throwing the battle? Looks to me like you plain old lost the battle." Axel said, smirking.
"H-How dare you! You just don't appreciate the finer nuances of —"
"Axel is right. That was an ungainly performance, Larxene." A new voice said as a man entered the room.
"Vexen!" Larxene gasped. Vexen's long tan hair rested evenly on his shoulders, and a grin spread across his face.
"Humbled by someone of such limited significance. You shame yourself and the Organization."
"Grr.." Larxene growled, but Axel interrupted before she could start yelling.
"Can we help you, Vexen? It's not very often we see you topside." Axel said warily as Larxene calmed down from the insult.
"I came to lend a hand. I remain unconvinced of any potential in this 'hero' you've been coddling." Vexen told him coolly.
"Perhaps an experiment would put my doubts to rest."
"I knew this would happen. Everything's an experiment with you." Larxene said bitterly.
"I'm a scientist. Experimentation is what I do." Vexen told her.
"Whatever, Vexen. Do what you want." Axel muttered, crossing his arms.
"By the way." Vexen said, moving slowly towards the crystal ball in the center of the room. "I've heard rumors...Is it true? About the girl?"
"Seems so." Axel muttered. Larxene's eyes flashed. Vexen's eyes scanned the orb's depths, looking down at the miniscule form of Corita.
"Don't get your hopes up, Vexen." Axel said bitterly. "One experiment right now is enough."
"A Princess of Heart...fascinating..." Vexen muttered, apparently not hearing Axel.
"It's because of that little Princess that our plans almost collapsed." Larxene told Vexen with a touch of anger in her voice's tone.
"Yes." Vexen whispered, looking up from the orb. "A Princess's pure heart cannot be touched by the twisting magic you've been using up here."
"Twisting magic?" Larxene asked, a hint of fury in her cold voice. Axel, noticing this, quickly jumped back to the previous conversation.
"Cut the act, Vexen. Testing Sora is just an excuse to test your little follower."
"Follower? I'll have you know he's the product of much research."
"What he is is a toy." Larxene taunted softly.
"Hmph. I see I'm wasting my time."
"Have your fun. But take this with you. A wild card to keep the game fresh." Axel told him. He tossed a shining silver card to the older man, and Vexen caught it with ease. "Now don't tell me I don't respect my elders."
"I dare say I won't."
Vexen turned away from Axel and Larxene to greet someone else who'd appeared in the doorway, someone with shining silver hair...
Sora53: Um, dun dun dun?
Naminé/Joe: DUN DUN DUN!
Fans: Oh, that chappie was exciting. Did you have a nice vacation, Sora53?
Sora53: Um, yeah?
Fans: YOU KEPT US WAITING FOR 6 DAYS FOR THAT! NOW WE HAVE TO HURT YOU!
Naminé/Joe/all the other random people: YEAH!
Sora53: Uh oh.
Sora: Dun dun dun!
Corita: Fire spells, raging, and not forgettingness! And...LARXENE! GAH!
Joe: Corita...it was so brave, how you stood up to Larxene...
Corita: Thank you, Joe-
