Inverted Sky: KH 358/2 Days
Chapter 21: The World That Never Was part X
"Just as I told you to do in my letter."
As Roxas heard these words, his eyes widened briefly before swiftly narrowing. "That's a lie." he claimed firmly, his hands clenching into fists.
"You doubt the validity of my words?" Xion questioned instantly, clearly anticipating his denial.
"Obviously. You planned to release all of us from the Organization...not to continue serving it." he declared, feeling almost offended that Xemnas was twisting his friend's intentions.
Despite not responding, Xion's expression shifted slightly into what looked to be an arrogant smile. It looking very unnatural on her features, as if an invisible force was pulling at the corners of her mouth. However, it immediately made Roxas take pause. 'Wait...if she mentioned the letters. Then that means Xemnas knows about her giving them to Axel and I.' he thought quickly, his eyes shifting around as he could almost feel the shadows growing stronger around them.
'But if he knows about the letters, then he must also know...' Roxas continued, his eyes widening in realization.
"All of you, get out of here now." the blond almost ordered, all while summoning his Keyblade.
'We all assumed Xemnas didn't know about Xion's plans, because he never acted after she was taken. But why would he need to take the time to form an assault on us, when we were planning to come to him from the beginning?' he continued inwardly, to which he looked over his shoulder toward the others.
Whom had yet to do as he said, but he swiftly realized why. They were all frozen in place from time magic, the only one left free being himself. This made the teen's jaw clench tightly in frustration, as there wasn't anything he could do to free them without leaving himself open to attack. 'We fell for his trap.' Roxas cursed, his eyes rapidly shifting toward the other Organization members.
Xigbar held a very smug expression, as though he was silently confirming this fear. While Luxord appeared entirely neutral in his stance, Xaldin was ready to fight with his own. Meanwhile, Demyx seemed quite hesitant to get involved, still not very interested in battle or confrontation. Lastly, Saix was gazing toward the floor in a contemplative manner, his thoughts elsewhere and not at all focusing on what was going on.
'They can't take our side yet...not when we're on the losing side.' Roxas thought while taking in and letting out a breath.
"Alright then...I guess we'll see just how well I stack up against the rest of you." he claimed aloud, moving into a battle stance.
Without another word, Xion took another step forward and waved her hand briefly through the air. As she did, the other Organization members instantly summoned their respectful weapons. The girl did the same soon after, to which her eyes narrowed slowly on Roxas. A tense moment stretched between them before Xion snapped her fingers, signaling to begin their attack. The first to charge forward being Xaldin, whom was already poised to rush in.
Roxas' eyes focused heavily, and his grip on the Keyblade tightened. He held back during his fight against Xion, as to avoid injuring her too badly. Now however, he would have to use his full power or he be defeated. 'They still need me for something, so if nothing else...' Roxas mused while swiftly deflecting all six lances that Xaldin slashed or stabbed toward him, keeping them from also hitting his friends.
'...I'll be able to bide some time for the others to get free.' he finished before flipping away from Saix coming up from behind with a mighty downward swing.
The blond shifted his eyes from side to side while in the air, memorizing where everyone was and their possible routes to reach him. Though, he immediately closed both eyes and took in a deep breath. As Luxord threw a series of cards toward him, they each bounced off a shield spell that shimmered around the teen. Whom gained a small smirk as he landed on the floor with a nearly soundless impact, to which he broke his silence by slamming the tip of his weapon into the ground. This creating a massive burst of white energy that radiated outward from him, which stopped just short of his allies. Yet it forced each of the Organization members to stagger backward slightly, some even almost falling over.
Roxas' eyes then snapped open, showing a white power radiating from them, before he disappeared in an instant. In the same moment, the boy materialized in front of Xion with a slashing strike. The girl however, blocked his attack with ease, causing Roxas to gaze at her with a bit of surprise. "You really are stronger than I am." he whispered out softly as a small beam of light shot from a finger and into the ceiling above.
The blond then flipped higher into the air, using Xion's own strength to spring board himself upward and away from his frozen allies. Him landing on one of the higher platforms of this oddly shaped hall floor. He then leapt to the side with a flourish flip, continuing to move further away, as well as avoid the first four shots Xigbar made. The fifth one though, he deflected perfectly to head in Demyx's direction. Said man letting out a near yelp as he was in the middle of summoning multiple water clones of himself. Despite dodging the arrow, it destroyed several of the water clones. Seeing this, the man groan silently and lifted his gaze toward his foe.
"Alright Roxas, you wanna play?" he questioned in a bit of a huff.
"Then lets play!" Demyx called out, strumming some of the strings on his weapon.
As he did, a series of fast moving water jets shot at the boy, forcing said teen to deflect them just as he was about to land. Each of these impacts against his Keyblade pushing back into the air, which simply let him move further away from everyone. 'He's actually pretty strong, when he puts his mind to it.' Roxas mused briefly before finally landing on the floor again.
Once he did though, Xaldin's lances and Luxord's cards all stabbed toward him rapid succession. But they never made impact as the light in Roxas' eyes flashed even brighter, causing pillars of light to burst out from him. These scorched the ground as they moved, as well as blasted the pair's weapons away. With the group dodging away from these towers of energy, they soon noticed Roxas had vanished once again. Just as they were about to look around for him, the teen made his presence known by slamming a powerful swing into Saix's stomach.
After exhaling an inaudible gasp of pain, the blue-haired Nobody was sent flying backward and out of the castle itself. His form swiftly disappearing into the darkness, the impact being too strong for him, at least whilst not in his berserk state. After seeing this, the other Organization members quickly realized that they too needed to fight at full strength if they were going to win this fight. Even with overwhelming numbers, they could still be beaten if they didn't take it seriously. Roxas himself just turned to the others with a calm and focused gaze, not sweating or panting yet.
"Hmph, and here Xemnas said he wanted to take you alive...as if." Xigbar huffed out in annoyance as he readied his arrow-guns for another round.
"Well...you're gonna have to try harder than 'this'." the boy claimed as he tilted his head to the side, avoiding a burst of water from behind.
This instantly drawing the boy's attention as he turned toward Demyx, whom visibly gulped. "Uh-oh..." he uttered in a nervous tone, just before being kicked in the stomach and letting out a harsh exhalation of air.
Roxas having closed the distance between them in an instant, and delivered a heel kick to Demyx's diaphragm. With only a whimper left in his lungs, the older blond was sent flying back into a nearby wall. The surface of which dented from his collision, to which he simply crumpled to the ground. "I...I think you broke something." he wheezed out, trying to catch his breath.
Rolling his eyes, Xaldin just pushed past Demyx and rushed at Roxas once more. Him holding one lance in both hands, while the others floated around him in a swiftly rotating circle. The blond boy narrowed his gaze slowly on the man, yet still made sure to take notice of Luxord moving behind him. Along with this, Xigbar shifted himself just out of view before seeming to vanish, likely to conceal where he teleported himself.
But as Xaldin reached Roxas with a thrusting strike, the teen deflected the attack with his weapon. Just as the man readied to command his other lances to attack, he suddenly found himself lurching upward. The weapon in his hands being drawn toward the ceiling, as Roxas finally activated his gravity spell. With Xaldin temporarily distracted, Roxas turned his gaze to Luxord as he summoned three large cards. Two having the Organization logo on the face, while one had an 'X' shape. These swiftly turned on their side, then flew in Roxas' direction. Each one moved over and under the others in a shuffling-like manner, attempting to hide which one was which.
Swiftly understanding this 'game', Roxas ducked under the first card before deflecting the second and third with his Keyblade. As Luxord watched, he just gained a small smile and nodded in approval. The card that had been dodged, swiftly struck Xaldin, just as he freed his lance from the spell. The raven-haired man turned toward Luxord in a growl and narrowed gaze of clear annoyance. "Sorry! My powers of fate aren't well suited for fighting in a group!" he called out with a shrug, offering another small smile as he did.
Roxas gained a similar expression as he knew this was only halfway true. While his powers could favor only himself, his love of games always offered his opponent a fighting chance. Therefore, it was less of a fault in his abilities, and more of his own choice to do so. 'Out of everyone in the Organization...he's definitely a wild card.' the boy thought to himself quickly, to which he turned swiftly to block more arrows from Xigbar's new location near of Roxas' friends.
As he noticed this, the blond clenched his jaw in frustration. So long as he stayed close to them, Roxas wouldn't be able to counter his attacks. But his eyes swiftly shifted when seeing a blur of black in front of him. Xion swinging her Keyblade straight toward his face, yet as he wince in anticipation of the hit, she suddenly stopped. At the same time, an echo of something hitting the floor filled the hall. Which led for everyone to turn in the direction in which it originated; "Not so fast." Kairi claimed with a small smirk, to which both Xion and Xigbar were swiftly thrown into a far wall.
"You weren't going to hold us for long." the auburn-haired teen continued, to which Namine and Zexion came up beside her.
"You both broke the enchantment even before I could...impressive." the steel-blue-haired man uttered out with a slow nod in approval.
"Lets even the odds." Riku claimed with a hard gaze, both he and Lexaeus focusing their eyes on Xaldin, whom seemed the most ready to fight.
"This is still apart of the trap, so remember to get out of here the first chance you get." Mickey reminded, just as he rushed toward a reemerging Saix.
"Take them." was all Xion ordered, to which the other Organization members immediately charged at their new foes.
Though, thanks to Roxas' proximity to them, he noticed an ever so slight shimmer in most of their eyes. 'What was-?' he started, yet never finished as Xion suddenly appeared in front of him.
Before he could even attempt to block, the girl placed her open hand on his chest and pushed him backward. Though the action looked effortless, the force of it was enough to throw Roxas back into the next chamber almost fifty meters away from the main hall. The blond groaned slightly from the wind pressure his body was put under, yet he managed to finally stop himself and come to a sliding halt. Yet as he heard the echoes of the others calling out to him, Roxas' eyes simply focused on Xion.
The raven-haired girl having followed him and took a few steps forward to come within three meters. As the two stared one another down, Roxas raised a brow slightly as she was silent once again. "What? No more comments?" he questioned in a slightly taunting, but mostly curious manner.
Upon receiving no answer, it quickly made the boy quickly understand the reason. "I see...so it's not that he's speaking through you." he started while nodding briefly.
"He simply left 'messages'...along with retorts to whatever he assumes our responses will be." the blond continued in a low growl, hating the fact that Xemnas has been using his friend in such a way.
"I swear I'll free you Xion! Axel might still come back, and when he does...we'll both be there to greet him." Roxas declared firmly, gripping his Keyblade a bit tighter.
Though Xion herself remained emotionless, there was an ever so slight twitching in her right eye lid. Seeing this slight strain in her expression, the boy gained a small smile. "Keep fighting it Xion, we're getting out of this. I promise!" he declared before immediately rushing forward, to which his friend did the same as their Keyblades clashes against one another.
And so the showdown begins. I plan to give each fight their due, with Roxas VS Xion being last. I think it'll take two chapters to get through them all, but I guess we'll see. I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter and will let me know your thoughts. Until next time.