Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters – they belong to Square and Disney.
Stare Into The Abyss – Chapter Twenty-One
Axel was taking longer than Kaze had expected. All he had needed to do was go in, ask what he wanted and come back out, so why was he taking his time over it? Probably because Sora had said he'd go in when he was done…It would be typical of Axel to make them wait longer.
Sora had taken up a position on the floor, back against the wall. He seemed deep in thought over something, so Kaze left him alone. Number Two was still standing off to the side, apparently making sure neither of them attempted to go in before Axel was finished. Kaze had tried to entice him into a conversation or at least get him to say something in reply, but the cloaked head hadn't even turned in his direction to acknowledge him.
Diverting his attention to the door, Kaze approached it. Number Two's head fixed on him immediately. "Oh, relax. I'm not going in." Instead he pressed his ear against the solid wood.
"What are you doing?"
He glanced over to an amused Sora. "Trying to see if I can hear anything." Pouting, he pulled away from it. "I wish they'd speak up a bit."
"If Axel were to come out now and catch you there, he wouldn't be very happy."
"I can't help it if I'm curious!" Kaze joined Sora on the floor, sitting alongside him. "Do you think sealing the Keyhole here will do any good now?"
"I'm not sure." Sora's expression grew troubled. For a moment he remained silent, but a brief smile flickered across his face. "We can still try though, right?"
"Right!" He paused before continuing. "Whether we can help this world or not…where will you go next, when you're done here?"
"I have to go back to Hollow Bastion. My friends should still be there." Sora shook his head slowly. "After that? I don't know. There are still other worlds I haven't been. And I still need to find this door that I'm supposed to open."
Kaze frowned, confused. Wasn't their job to seal and close stuff? But instead of asking about that, he voiced the other question that was on his mind. "Can I come with you?"
Sora appeared surprised at the question, but he nodded enthusiastically. "I can show you some of the other worlds!"
Kaze grinned, but as he was reminded of another issue they still needed to take care of, it vanished. "What about Riku?"
"I was hoping he could tell me something about that." Heaving a sigh, Sora looked away, towards the door. He suddenly scrambled to his feet.
As Kaze turned around, he realized why. "We're missing someone." Number Two was no longer standing guard nearby.
"He did his disappearing act again."
"Think that means we can go in now?" Kaze wondered.
As they moved to enter, the door swung open, nearly knocking them both down. Axel emerged from behind it, shooting them a puzzled look.
"Are you done?" Sora asked.
Axel seemed about to say something before he stopped himself and glanced around. "Where is he?"
"Number Two? We don't know, he… left."
Muttering something under his breath, Axel stalked past them both and wandered off further down the corridor.
"What was that all about?"
Sora shrugged. "Leave him to it." Summoning his keyblade, he cautiously entered the room.
Kaze followed him, his own weapons in hand. Just in case. His eyes were instantly drawn to the bloodstains that coated the walls and the floor. It took him a few seconds to notice that there was no one else in there.
"He killed him?" Sora groaned. "Didn't I tell him not to kill him?"
If he killed him, where's the body? Kaze bit his lip, hesitating over asking. He was a non-existent one, just like you…do you really want to know the answer?
Pushing the unsettling thoughts aside, he hurried after Sora, as the other boy left the room and set off running in the direction that Axel had headed. It didn't take them long to find him up ahead. He was leaning against a wall, rubbing his head with one hand. Kaze suspected his head was still sore from earlier. He didn't particularly feel sorry for him after he'd just pulled that little trick.
"Axel!" Sora came to a halt in front of him. "What did you do that for? You agreed you'd let me speak to him!"
"I never agreed to anything."
"You knew I wanted a chance to talk with him!"
As he removed his hand from his head, Axel smirked. "It slipped my mind." Folding his arms, he grew more serious again. "He wouldn't have told you anything anyway. You'd have just been wasting your time."
"You could have at least let me try." Sora glared at him for a second longer before his anger diminished. "He didn't tell you how to get your memories back?"
"No." He pushed away from the wall. "We should head back."
"We need to check the Keyhole here first," Kaze informed him.
A flash of irritation crossed Axel's face. "Fine. Just hurry up."
"Any reason you want to get back so fast?"
He pointed a finger at the wound on his head. "Maybe I'd like to take a break."
Axel started walking away, leading them back to the entrance hall. As Sora fell into step behind him, he spoke up again. "Did he say anything else?"
"…No."
Sora raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"
Axel stopped. He turned and locked gazes with him before responding. "Perfectly sure."
He may have been good at hiding things usually, but he was tired and drained from his fight earlier. Despite his best efforts, Kaze knew he wasn't telling them something. He just hoped it was something to do with his own plans and not anything that would prove important to them later.
Sora kept a close eye on Axel as they returned to the ground floor and began making their way to the back room. While he wasn't pleased that Axel had decided to go ahead and take care of Ansem without allowing Sora the chance to speak to him first, the fact that he didn't seem to be sharing what had been said was bothering him.
He tried to assure himself that it probably wasn't anything important, and simply something that only concerned Axel which was why he saw no reason to tell them… But if that was true, why did he seem to have such a bad feeling?
Ignoring it for now, he focused on his current task. The Keyhole was all that was important for the moment. Arriving in the familiar room, Sora made his way to the basement-like area beneath them. Joining him, Kaze carefully approached the hole on the back wall. He reached a hand forward, as though trying to touch it.
"It's gone." He gave a satisfied nod before stepping away from it. "No more barrier. Go ahead, Sora. Give it a try."
Sora called Oathkeeper into his hand and aimed it at the Keyhole. Light shot out of it and streaked towards the wall. As the solid ray connected with the hole, it bounced back. Sora blinked, confused, as the bright beam enveloped his keyblade
"Eh, Sora? Is this supposed to be happening?"
Looking up he saw that Kaze was holding out one of his own keyblades. What Sora recognized as Oblivion was also bathed in the same glowing aura.
Switching his attention back to his weapon, he noticed that Oathkeeper was completely engulfed by the glaring light.
"Light…"
Sora's eyes widened as he heard the voice. It was the same voice from what seemed so long ago…
"Sora? What's going on?"
Kaze's own keyblade was wrapped in the light much like his own was. The cold ebony metal of Oblivion was no longer recognizable.
"…and dark…"
…The same voice from when all this had started.
"Hey!"
Glancing over, Sora now saw that Kaze's hands were empty. The light surrounding Oathkeeper seemed to intensify before finally fading, revealing what appeared to be an entirely new keyblade.
Upon inspecting it further, he realized that the weapon he held in Oathkeeper's place was a perfect combination of its elegant white and Oblivion's solid black. The sleek shape of it resembled Oblivion, but the handle and tip seemed much more like Oathkeeper's.
"The third key."
Feeling his arm jerked forward, light once more shot out from the newly formed weapon, this time filling the Keyhole as it reached it. Once sealed, the keyblade disappeared.
A startled Kaze broke the silence that followed. "I'm guessing from the look on your face, that's never happened before."
Shaking his head, Sora attempted to re-summon the keyblade. The black and white weapon took form in his hand once more. "Light, dark and in-between…" Sora whispered as he examined it. He looked back to Kaze. "You try."
As Sora dismissed it, the weapon re-appeared in Kaze's hand. "We can both use it?"
"Looks like it."
"That's really nice and flashy, but what's the use of it?" Axel stood to the side of the room observing them both. He'd been so quiet, Sora had almost forgotten he was still there.
"Maybe it was needed to seal this Keyhole?" Kaze suggested.
"Maybe," Sora agreed. "I can already feel a change here. We should take a look outside."
"I thought we were supposed to seal this Keyhole at the same time as the one in that other world?" Kaze reminded him as they began to return to the entrance hall.
True… If that had even done anything, it would only of taken care of this world. But they couldn't exactly get back to the other one anyway right now. Not unless Number Two decided to make an appearance and take them there. "Let's worry about this world and seeing if that did any good first."
As they continued through the building, Sora felt some relief. It at least felt like that had worked. The air felt… lighter. That horrible creeping chill of the darkness had faded considerably.
As they stepped outside, Sora was grateful to see the faint rays of sun piercing through the thick clouds overhead. The darkness still appeared to cover most of the town, but around the area they were in now, it was gradually dispersing.
"It worked, Sora!" Kaze grinned at him brightly.
Sora was glad to see that they hadn't been too late. Glad to see that this world wasn't completely lost to the darkness because of him… but it wasn't completely fixed yet. It's a start…
With one problem, at least partly solved, it allowed him to concentrate on the other important one. The issue that was a little more complicated and that he still had no idea what he could possibly do about it.
Riku…
Lifting his head, he began walking to the train.
"Let's go and see how Namine is doing."
While that little expedition hadn't gone quite to plan, Axel was glad to be leaving that building behind. He hadn't exactly been lying earlier when he'd told Kaze he wanted to take a break. The throbbing in his head hadn't gotten any better. But even though they were now heading back, he might still not get that chance to take a rest. There was still Riku to deal with.
He'd held back on informing Sora of his idea. Sora would no doubt want to help his friend get rid of the part of Ansem within him, and that conflicted with Axel's own plans. He needed that piece of Ansem to still be there. He was counting on it. He'd just have to act fast and see how much use Riku would be to him before Sora could find a way to do anything about it…
And what if he isn't any use at all?
That minor detail along with the shooting pain in his head wasn't doing much for his mood. As they took the train back to the main section of the town, he kept quiet, as he had been doing for a while, hoping Sora and the other one would avoid speaking to him. It gave his headache a rest, as well as avoiding the questioning about his conversation with Ansem.
Taking one of the seats on the vehicle, he closed his eyes, wishing whoever had invented the thing and made it rock to the side while moving was suffering as much as he was right then.
"You look like you've got a bit of motion sickness over there, Axel." The far-too-cheerful voice of the noisy one called over to him. Gritting his teeth, Axel held back the urge to see how much he'd enjoy running around a rocking carriage while on fire.
With not much else to do, he allowed his mind to wander back to what Ansem had said when he'd asked him about his plans for this world.
"Hasn't he even told you that? Perhaps you should try asking him."
Where had Number Two taken off to and why? He would of loved to ask him…if he could find him. And if Number Two didn't want to be found, Axel didn't think he'd have much luck in tracking him down. He'd just have to wait until he showed up again. Axel doubted he'd stay out of the way for long. He seemed to have a thing for disappearing and showing up again when things got interesting.
It didn't really matter right now anyway. Riku was the priority.
Tuning back into the conversation that the other two were having nearby, his eyes fell on the newly formed keyblade that Sora was holding. He'd heard what the boy had said. Something about light, dark and in-between… A keyblade made from light and dark? What did that make it? A twilight keyblade? What was so special about it?
If anything…
The train gave one last sharp jerk, that didn't do any good for his head, as it finally grinded to a stop and pulled into the station. Axel gratefully left it. The sky outside was still dark, the streets still lined with deep shadows. The world didn't appear to be returning to normal as quickly as the darkness had infected it.
With Kaze in the lead, they began heading back to the Clock Tower. Sora remained opposite Axel, occasionally casting him suspicious sideways looks. Getting an opportunity to speak with Riku alone might prove harder than he'd thought. Obviously Sora was still not too happy about him going ahead and killing Ansem.
They aren't going to trust you enough to go have a chat with Riku after that, are they?
They entered the Clock Tower through the main doors at the front. Namine was waiting for them inside. "Welcome back," She smiled at Sora as he began glancing around, searching the room. "Don't worry, Riku's up the top."
"Everything's alright?" Sora asked her.
Namine's smile faltered. "I think so. Riku is fine, but he was acting…strange."
"Strange?"
"He went up to the roof a little while ago. He kept saying the same thing over and over again."
That caught Axel's interest. "And that was?"
She fixed her eyes on him, a small flicker of doubt flashing through them before she turned back to Sora. "He's coming. He kept saying that he was coming."
Not good…
"Him?" Sora inquired, puzzled. "You did kill Ansem, didn't you Axel?"
Axel stifled a laugh. Hadn't he caught the witch's look there? Or was he really that naïve? "I made sure of that."
"Why don't you go and see him, Sora?" Namine gestured to the stairs behind him that lead to the roof of the tower. Nodding, the boy left.
Kaze took a seat on one of the bottom stairs, effectively cutting Axel off from following. He couldn't exactly get past now without having an incredibly good reason why.
So, you'll just have to bide your time for a little longer…
Digging through the junk that was piled inside the cluttered room, he took a discarded piece of cloth and selected a corner. Taking out each of his weapons he set to cleaning them. Killing Ansem hadn't been quite as satisfying as he had hoped it would be. That arrogant smirk had still been there as Axel had delivered one final blow and it was stuck in his head now. Along with the last words he'd whispered to him...
"You killed them all, Axel."
Even aware that he was going to die, Ansem had enjoyed mocking him until the end. He'd known that assuring Axel he knew who he was, and that he wasn't going to tell him how to find out for himself, would be a perfect way to taunt him even as he was dead.
"He meant you, didn't he?"
The voice dragged him back out of his thoughts. The witch was standing over him, arms folded behind her back. Axel took a moment to realize what she was referring to. "Riku? What makes you think that?"
"Are you going to hurt him?"
He sighed, pausing to consider what he could reply to that with. "I just want to talk to him."
"I don't think Sora will be willing to agree with that." Kaze appeared, stepping out from behind Namine. "We know what happens when you talk to people."
Axel scowled at the comment. "That was different."
"Sure it was. What do you want with Riku anyway?"
"Does it matter?"
"Guess not." Kaze flashed him a grin. "But you might as well tell me. I'll find out anyway if I'm going to be coming with you."
Author's Note: This was an idea that I wanted to use for a while, but ended up deciding to include later on. I think that Oathkeeper and Oblivion are supposed to be symbolic – Oathkeeper obviously representing Kairi, Sora's "light" and Oblivion, Riku, and the "darkness". I actually remember reading somewhere that Oblivion was supposed to be named the "Riku blade". Anyway, I was wondering with the "twilight" theme of KH2 if the same thing could apply to the keyblades. The fact "third key" is accompanied by "change" in Deep Dive kinda fuelled the idea. Probably way off, but it worked for what I had in mind.
Ginger Ninja: I'd love for them to stick some scenes of BHK and Axel bickering in KH2. XD Hehe, have to wait until next chapter to see what Riku is up to!
Saddened Soul: I think the person who's hooded in that poster they shown at the SquareEnix party might be EM, you can sorta see a little of his face. Or it could be Riku, but he doesn't really look like him to me.
sorastalker08: I think I might not be catching you around because of time zone differences. Oh, no problem! I've been debating on trying to get another fic started, but I don't think I'd be able to focus on them both, so I'll get this one finished first. I'll be eagerly waiting for your next update though!
Crisis Haylo: Oooh, delicious eh? I hope this chapter was tasty for you too! XD And I have plenty more Axel and Kaze scenes in mind for upcoming chapters! ;)