Echo in the Void

"The exit…

High above, it is visible.

The shimmering moonlight peering through the depths of the ocean.

Swim towards it."

Two

The white coat, like much of everything else, made no sound as it touched the ground. Following it were the black and white finger-cuffs and the similar patterned wrist band.

Oblivion had disappeared, Roxas quickly realized that he had needed only one keyblade for most of the battle.

Beads of sweat combined on his forehead to create small rivers that slid down the length of his stern face. A single bead dripped into his left eye, forcing him to close it.

One monster leaped at him, seizing the slight distraction as a chance to attack. It reared backwards in midair. Raising its claws, it prepared to attack.

Shink!

Which was a mistake, it seemed.

One swipe and the creature was gone in an instant, fraying away to join the blackness of the void just outside the bluish hue of the pillar.

"Now," Roxas sneered, unzipping the vest he wore underneath his jacket. The smell of the leather was unusually pleasant, he noted. "who's next?"

Two of the shadow creatures titled their heads in response to hearing his voice. Possibly seeing this as an invitation, they attacked. One leaped high, swiping its claws at Roxas' face, the other one made a beeline for his legs.

He didn't miss a beat. There were no sounds from his feet as he took off in a sprint towards the attacking creatures. Then, at the last minute he planted both feet and leapt sideways through the air. Roxas twisted his body horizontally and spun directly in-between both creatures. He opened his left hand and, in a small puff of darkness, Oblivion reappeared in his grasp.

Both keyblades were held out now. Combined with his horizontal spin this move resembled that of a propeller on an airplane. Each keyblade hit their mark on the creatures, one high and one low, and before his feet touched the ground again both of them were gone. Discarded into the void.

The rest of the creatures were easily dispatched. One leap, one slash. A spin and a dodge. An abrupt attack, a skillful parry into a forward thrust. In moments the remaining shadow creatures were all taken care of.

Roxas spun the blades in a flourish once the last monster was taken care of. The weapons shimmered like a strobe of white and black until he dismissed them. Then, as suddenly as they appeared, they were gone. The boy stood upright and looked up towards the heavens.

It only took a moment for the light and the voice to reappear.

Impressive, boy of Twilight. Most impressive.

"Yeah. But hey, could you consider installing a ventilation system? It feels like the first day of Summer in here."

Humor. How cute. The voice was not amused.

Roxas clenched his fists, the sly grin melting away to reveal a deadly serious look. "I finished your test, I'm through with this void. I want answers and I want out!"

Oh, you are far from finished, boy of Twilight.

The ground began to shake, Roxas suddenly felt as if he would fall off of this platform and instinctively dropped to one knee. He watched intently as his jacket and things slipped off the side of the platform and disappeared into the abyss. In front of him a staircase that seemed to be made of light formed at the edge of the platform and, just past that, a similar pillar grew out of the darkness to join with the staircase of light's top end as soon as it finished it's completion.

In order to find what you seek you must fight your way towards the light in the heavens. Roxas rose and stood upright, summoning Oblivion and Oathkeeper. But, before you ascend I will indulge you with an answer to one of your questions…

"All right." Roxas nodded. It did not take him long to decide what he wanted to ask.

"Why am I here?" He held out the hand that held Oathkeeper away from his body. "And, what is this place?"

That is two questions… But, seeing as how generous I am, I will answer them.

Roxas lowered his arm, listening intently to the voice. He opened his mind to fully perceive the words the voice spoke and, as a result, began to vaguely recognize the voice… Though he could not remember who it belonged to..

Where you find yourself now, boy of Twilight, is Between the Between…

"Between… the Between." Roxas repeated, curiously deciphering the meaning.

Yes. It is neither the realm of existence or oblivion. It is the void. The world of the non-existing death…It is where those that do not truly exist are born and thrive and, conversely, where those that do not exist return when they are killed.

"What… What does that mean?" He questioned, unable to fully understand the voice's words.

The voice ignored him, simply moving on to his next question. As to why you are here, Roxas; it is simple. You have faded. Such is the result of forgetting that you once lived. As a result… you have slipped into the void in a state of living death. That is, until you remembered…

"But what about my memories? And you… who are you? And these pillars… none of it makes any sense."

Continue on, boy of Twilight. I will answer you no more until you further prove yourself to me.

"Damn it." Roxas cursed under his breath, lowering his gaze from the light above and instead shifting it towards the staircase made of light. "I guess I'll just have to keep moving."

The blade of light was lowered and shifted behind his back, held tightly by his right hand. The blade of darkness was lifted, the left hand resting it on his shoulders. With one last glance up at the light Roxas took off towards the staircase.

Once reaching it he hesitated, questioning within his mind whether or not the staircase made of light would hold him. Closing his eyes, he stepped on the first step. To his amazement, he did not fall right through.

"Good." He bit his lip and walked up two more stairs until he was no longer standing on the pillar at all. Suddenly a massive rumbling identical to before shook the area. Roxas looked back out of curiosity and watched as the pillar he was once standing on crumbled into the void.

This void is a very peculiar place. You wished to climb higher, and thus a new pillar and staircase were created. Then, as the older pillar became no use to you it was destroyed.

"Are you saying that… because I wanted something to appear it… appeared?"

Not quite. It wasn't a want. It was a need. A need you cannot summon on a whim. The new pillar and staircase appeared there simply because…without it, you would be lost.

"Does that mean…"

Quickly. The voice cut Roxas off.

He turned back and saw, to his horror, that the staircase of light was flickering out.

Gritting his teeth, the young man bounded up the staircase of light. His feet frantically pounded each step as the second ( and now only ) pillar grew closer to him. Roxas dismissed the blades and reached for the pillar with both arms, hoping to at least grab the ledge if the stairs did, indeed, fade away.

Three more steps and he would have made it.

His right foot slipped through the staircase just as it had faded completely from sight. Letting out a slight yelp, Roxas held out his arms for the staircase hoping that somehow he could fly. Unable to grab anything, he closed his eyes and slipped towards the abyss.

Or perhaps, he might have had he not just hit solid ground.

"What…" Roxas whispered to himself, opening his eyes.

Curiously, he had somehow ended up in some sort of circular room made entirely of the color white. In the center of the room was a strange symbol that he vaguely recalled seeing somewhere before. And, peering about this room he noticed several very high seats that circulated about it. Shifting his focus upward, Roxas caught the sight of the light that was still far, far above him. He was still in the void, but where exactly was he?

Just then, a voice alerted his attentions. Strangely, the voice was his own.

There, seated at one of the high chairs, was himself. Dressed in a full black cloak of some sort.

"Kingdom… Hearts." His other self said, slipping back into his throne-like chair.

Another voice cut in, Roxas peered across from where his other self was sitting and found someone else sitting on another seat. He recognized it immediately as the man from the pillar's image. Axel.

"Kingdom Hearts," Axel intertwined his fingers, peering at them as if trying to pick his next words carefully. "with it, we speculate, we can become whole. True people."

"But…" The Roxas in the seat questioned. "how do we achieve it?"

Axel lowered his hands and pointed across the room towards the Roxas sitting upon the white throne. In his hands appeared one of the keyblades, Oathkeeper. "With that."

"The keyblade."

"What is going on?" Roxas questioned, looking up at himself and Axel entirely confused.

"Each Heartless you destroy with the keyblade releases a captive heart," Axel cut the air with his hand, as if to simulate a fatal blow with the keyblade. He then pointed skyward. "The free hearts join together to create Kingdom Hearts. Xemnas believes that those hearts will make us whole again, and more powerful than we can imagine. That is why we need you. You are the key, the Key of Destiny."

"So, Xemnas is using me."

"Not quite. We all need you, Roxas. Without you Organization XIII can't operate," Axel peered about the room to see if anyone was listening in, apparently he could not see the other Roxas standing on the ground there. Once sure no one was around, he leaned in towards Roxas and spoke in a hushed tone. "If Xemnas were to die, the Organization would continue to operate. But without you, without another keyblade, there is no Organization. In a way you are the Organization. And, in a way, you even have power over Xemnas himself."

The Roxas in the black cloak dismissed his keyblade and lifted his hands, peering at them in wonder. "Power over power."

Then as abruptly as they appeared, both Axel and the cloaked Roxas faded away, leaving the real Roxas alone in the room.

"What was that?"

"What do you think it was? It was a memory."

Roxas whirled around to meet the one that just spoke to him. He came face-to-face with Axel.

And it was no apparition.

"Axel!"

With a smirk on his face Axel approached Roxas. He grabbed Roxas' right wrist and turned it upwards, with his free hand he placed some sort of folded paper in his grasp. Axel then closed Roxas' fist around the paper.

"Once you leave this place... the man you want to look for is named Cornelius." He brought a finger up to his temple and tapped it once. "Got it memorized?"

Axelmoved past Roxas who peered at the small piece of paper in his hand. Lifting his hand, Axel snapped his fingers. Roxaspocketed the paper andlooked up quizzically as a dark portal began to materialize just feet away in the wall Roxas was facing. He then turned back towards Axel.

"Keep moving." Axel said simply.

"But…" Roxas began, but was abruptly cut off by Axel who held out a hand to stop him.

"I said we'd meet again in the after-life, right? Well I held up my bargain. Now it's your turn."

"My… turn."

Axel nodded. "Listen. Promise me you'll do what you think is right. I haven't known you to do anything for anyone else. So now is not the time to start. Head towards the light and don't stop. Not for me, not for anyone."

"I…" Roxas took on a look of reluctance.

"Just go!" Axel began walking away, leaving Roxas to the portal. Roxas was shocked to see Axel suddenly become transparent.

Roxas bit his lip and faced the portal, stepping towards it. He then stopped one last time and turned towards Axel who had almost completely faded away. "I… may not remember you but I'll find a way to come back for you. I promise."

Axel stopped and closed his eyes, a large smirk forming on his face. He then faded away completely.

Once he was gone Roxas turned at once and ran towards the portal. He though breifly about stopping,but it was already too late. His feet had left the ground,leaping right into the dark gateway.

Clack.

On the other side he felt his feet hit solid ground. For a long while his vision had escaped him, (a possible side effect from leaping through the portal with your eyes open,) but he knew immediately where he was from the familiar voice of the enigmatic man.

I see you managed to survive your trip through the depths…

"I had some help," Roxas said, rubbing at his eyes with his hands. "and I think the memories are starting to come back to me."

No matter, draw your keyblades. Danger approaches.

"Wait! I can't see!" Roxas shouted, calling upon Oathkeeper and Oblivion. He closed his fists, immediately feeling the lightweight weapons in his hands.

Do you expect a real fight to stop simply because you have a handicap? No one will wait for you to be in top form, in fact, they will wait until you are disadvantaged. Fight and use your inability to see in your favor!

"How do I--" The question was cut short as the sharp feeling of claws slid across his face, a white hot heat filled his cheek as he was knocked to the floor.

Roxas attempted to get to his feet but was quickly knocked down again by one of the dark creatures. He was pinned this time and could feel the claws of the creature as it attacked his face. The blades were dismissed as his hands were brought up to block his face.

Soon he finally managed to push the creature off of his body and rolled out of the way, rubbing frantically at his eyes.

"Come on damn you!" He felt something touch his leg and he sprung to his feet and moved out of the way.

"Help me!" He growled, swinging his arms viciously through the air.

Then there was a strange noise followed closely by varying sounds of a struggle taking place around him. Roxas stopped swinging at the air and instead stood quietly, listening to weapons of some sort cutting into the bodies of the dark creatures. A moment later there was total silence.

His vision came back and what he saw confused and startled him.

Several creatures, completely different from before, stood around him. Each held a blade of some sort that seemed sharp enough to cut Roxas to ribbons and each appeared vastly different from the dark creatures from before in that they were white. Strangely, they did not attack him.

"What?"

Hm. It appears that you have unlocked an ability long dormant within you.

"And that would be…" Roxas lowered his arms, the white creatures rolled up into nothingness, leaving the young man alone with the voice.

The ability to summon those creatures under your control.

"Those things killed off the dark creatures. The… Heartless?"

Yes. Apparently since you were too incompetent to deal with the creatures in your current state the attack instead woke the part of you that was able to command those white creatures to your side, the Nobodies.

Roxas ignored the voice's comment about his ability and instead continued on with his own question. "The Heartless and the Nobodies... So you're saying that I can call upon them when I need to?"

Well. You once were. But through certain circumstances you lost touch with the abilities you were able to freely use in the past. Through selective amnesia and … well, forced assimilation, you grew weak and feeble. Undeserving of the existence you sought.

"I don't understand." Roxas held out his hands in question. "What do you mean by 'selective amnesia' and 'forced assimilation'? Why is it that I was able to control these Nobodies and how is it that I managed to end up in a place of 'non-existing' death?"

There was another rumbling. However, this time it did not affect him in the slightest. Another pillar rose from the abyss and climbed much, much higher than the one he was now standing on. Soon another staircase of light, similar to the one before, grew from the pillar he found himself on and spiraled upward towards the next.

It is time you learned about yourself, Roxas. To the next pillar with haste. I, myself, will be waiting for you there to explain everything to you. No longer shall you have to continue on as a stranger to your very own being. From this moment on I will cut your strings and you will be free as you once were…

Roxas nodded and proceeded to the next staircase without hesitation. He would finally get the answers he was looking for and soon the mysteries of his past would be revealed.

The only question was… Once he learned of his past, would he come to regret it?

To Be Continued…

Author's Note: Sorry guys for the long wait. I was sick and didn't feel much like writing. But I'm back now so no need to worry. I hope you enjoyed the read, it was originally much longer but I had tocut it in half because of it's length.

Much thanks for those who reviewed the story. I hope you all continue to review and tell me what you think of thewhathas happenedthus far. Also, keep checking back for the next part as it should be up soon enough.