No update on the day between 8 and 9. I'd updated at least a chapter a day for 10 days straight, so I figured I could use a day off. What do I get in return? I update Nonexistence and begin a new Card Captor Sakura story in one day. (smirk) Dem's the breaks.
This is the greatest disclaimer in the history of fanfiction.
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Kingdom Hearts: Nonexistence
9: Real Obligations
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"And you're telling me that you don't remember me at all?" Sora asked Axel.
Axel had apologized to Selphie and the others, insisting that it was really important for him to talk to Sora, and that he'd acted out of frustration. Tidus and Selphie had forgiven him quickly enough, but Wakka now sat the farthest away from the Organization member. The seven of them were sitting in a loose circle on the sand, Selphie and Kairi sitting on the ridge separating the dirt and beach with Tidus, Sora, Riku, Wakka, and Axel splayed out in the sand.
Axel shrugged. "Sorry. Just Roxas."
"Well that figures, I guess," Sora figured. "He was an Organization member, after all."
"Not just that," Axel corrected the Keybearer, "he was my friend."
Sora raised an eyebrow. "I thought friends required hearts?"
"It's complicated," Axel laughed. "We weren't 'true' friends, I guess, since neither of us had a heart, but we made each other feel like we were. Kind of a 'satisfaction at making someone pretend to be happy' sort of deal."
"I'm not sure I understand entirely," Kairi admitted, "but he evidently was important to you if you came here to find him."
"I guess so," Axel sighed.
"So explain again why you don't remember Sora," Riku commanded. "I still don't understand this."
Axel sighed again and nodded. "I'm dead. What you see now is a digitized projection that Ansem the Wise from my afterlife concocted in order for me to travel to the living realm in order to speak with Sora. Sora's counterpart in the afterlife is a horrible dictator that rules over the Nobodies that found that they exist. Thing is, Sora is suspended in the rift between existence and nonexistence because he still has Roxas in him. In order to make it so that we can defeat the 'Evil Sora' in Nonexistence, I have to find a way to get Roxas away from Sora in the living realm."
Sora looked up at Kairi with a worried look on his face. They both looked at Axel, concerned. "But the only way for a Nobody to be created is for a Heartless to be made," Sora told Axel.
"And I don't know what that would do to you, Sora," Axel admitted.
"Well I do," Riku said with a shrug. "He'd become a Heartless and try to hurt us all."
Selphie gave a little kind of gasp at this, but Kairi wasn't so sure. "No, wait – when Sora became a Heartless before, he kept his intelligence about him – he didn't attack me, Donald, or Goofy once."
"I think that had something to do with you, Kairi," Riku replied. "Your heart was resting inside Sora at the time. He released both your hearts. Naminé and Roxas were both born at the exact same time."
Kairi was silent for a moment, her hand over her heart. She had been awake all that time inside Sora's body, watching as he went through peril after peril to find her. It wasn't an easy thing to think about. "Maybe there's another way for Roxas to see Axel," she suggested finally.
Sora looked doubtful. "Like how? I can't even talk to him, and he's inside me."
Riku bowed his head in deep thought. Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka just kind of looked around the group as if they were speaking a foreign language. Kairi and Sora were both staring at the same seashell sitting half-buried in the sand. Axel sighed and leaned back on his hands to look up at the beautiful blue sky. There wasn't a cloud up there.
"How did Sora release the hearts before?" Tidus asked.
Riku looked surprised by the question, but it was Kairi who answered. "He used a special Keyblade created using the hearts of the other six Princesses of Heart. He 'unlocked' his heart and mine at the same time, leaving him to be a Heartless."
Selphie looked down at the sand, lost. Tidus and Wakka weren't far behind her. Riku, on the other hand was beginning to see something. "The, uh, excuse the pun, but the key was that he used a Keyblade of darkness to do it."
"Was is really dark, though?" Sora asked, tilting his head in inquiry. "I mean, it was made by Xehanort's Heartless, sure, but it was created using the Princesses of Heart. I don't look at any of them with a 'you're dark!' finger, you know."
"But I was the one who wielded the Keyblade," Riku replied, standing up. "Ansem couldn't have made that Keyblade without my body."
"So?" Sora asked. "He used you. We've been over this, Riku. We've already forgiven you."
"Not that, you blockhead!" Riku cried with a grin on his face. "The Keyblade. We might be able to use it to unlock your heart again!"
"Then I'd turn into a Heartless again," Sora said, raising an eyebrow. "I don't see where this is going."
Riku slapped himself in the forehead. Axel, on the other hand, stood up quickly, smiling. "Right! If we turn you into a Heartless, Roxas will be released again!"
"Woah!" Sora stood now, his eyes widened in alarm. "I am not being turned into a Heartless again! What if we can't get me to come back this time?"
Axel was silent at that. After consideration, he shrugged a shoulder and said, "We, uh, keep your Heartless here until I can get Roxas back to you?"
Sora raised an unimpressed eyebrow.
"Fine, I got nothin'!" Axel admitted, throwing up his hands and plopping back down onto the sand.
Riku looked over at Kairi. "What about you, Kairi?" he asked.
Kairi looked over at Riku, confused. "What about me?"
"How did Sora come back the first time?" Riku asked.
"I said I'd be the one to protect him for once," Kairi said, a tear in her eye. She hated thinking about Hollow Bastion. "He just came back…"
"I heard Kairi calling out for me in the darkness," Sora added. "I had almost forgotten everyone, but Kairi's voice guided me back to the light. My heart returned to me."
"That doesn't make any sense!" Axel cried. "Nobodies are born of the body left behind! Why didn't Roxas disappear when your heart went back to your body?"
"Like I'd know," Sora muttered.
"Wait, you said Kairi was there?" Tidus asked. Sora nodded.
"She was there," Sora confirmed. He looked up at Riku. "She was there when I saw through your disguise, too."
Riku averted his eyes. That was a touchy subject, even now. "I'd rather not talk about it," he said quietly.
"We have to, Riku," Kairi said tenderly. "It might be able to help us with Axel's problem."
Riku sighed and crossed his arms, looking at the sand next to Axel. When he didn't say anything more, Sora continued.
"Anyway, Kairi saw you for you when you looked like Xehanort's Heartless. After you'd given into your darkness and become what you had tried for so long to beat. Well, not given in," Sora corrected himself, "but you used the darkness inside of you."
"She did see me for who I was," Riku agreed.
"And I kept calling you Ansem or Xehanort's Heartless," Sora reminded him. "I didn't see it until Kairi connected us."
"What are you getting at?" Riku asked him, to which Sora put up a hand in asking for patience.
"Just a sec. Kairi is the key," Sora said with a grin. "I'll bet that if it had been anyone else, I wouldn't have returned to my body. Naminé wouldn't have been born, either, if it had been a normal girl, but Kairi is the seventh Princess of Heart. I'd always wondered why they were called 'of Heart.' I'd be willing to wager money that it was Kairi's influence that let me see you for you." He looked up at Kairi with a wide smile. "She's not just a normal girl, you know."
Kairi blushed and smiled shyly. Axel was beginning to see how this could work for them now. "So if we were to unlock Sora's heart while Kairi's present, it's entirely possible that she might be able to restore his Heart."
"It's possible," Riku agreed, "but I seriously doubt that it works that easily."
"Oh, quit being such a downer, Riku!" Selphie cried. "Your friends need your help, and you're going to double-guess everything they say?"
Riku seemed to gulp at these words. He was silent for a moment as Sora and Kairi looked over at him, then he said in nearly a whisper, "I betrayed them once, I can't do that again."
The silver-haired boy lifted his head with a cocky grin. That grin was amazingly familiar to those present. Even Axel. That realization shocked Axel. Why would Riku, a boy Axel had never met, remind him of someone?
"Let's do this," Riku said.
- - -
The plan was simple enough: Riku would use his Keyblade in the attempt to unlock Sora's heart and remove it from his body while he held hands with Kairi. Such a physical connection with her, they believed, would be enough of a tether for Sora's heart to return to his body, attracted by one of the Princesses of Heart. Axel sat off to the side and watched silently. The other three, by demand of Riku, had gone home. He didn't want them to see a Heartless if he could help it. Axel, Sora, and Kairi had all backed him up, and Tidus and the others had grudgingly paddled back to the mainland.
Riku stood opposite Sora, whose hand was interlocked with Kairi's. The Keyblade that Axel had seen in the silver-haired boy's hand earlier that day was pointed straight at Sora's chest. Sora and Kairi were gazing at each other, both secretly worried but both confident in their combined strength.
As Axel stared at the Keyblade in Riku's hand, a mysterious blue light encompassed it and began to light up the area. The sky itself seemed to deepen to accommodate the beautiful light that began to lance out at Riku's friend and Axel's last hope. It struck square in his chest and the light burst forth from Sora's entirely body. Axel watched in earnest as the light continued to grow brighter.
But something was wrong – the light was spreading to Kairi's body!
"Riku, stop!" Axel cried, waving his arms.
"I can't!" Riku replied. He held up the inactive Keyblade. "It's doing it on its own, now!"
The two turned back to their friends to see Sora and Kairi both erupt in magnificent light that bathed the entire island. Axel was sure that he'd seen two glowing, heart-shaped objects fly through the air through the light, but he couldn't be sure.
The light dimmed completely, leaving Riku and Axel standing there to let their eyes readjust.
"Sora?" Riku called. "Sora? Kairi? You guys there?" He was rubbing his eyes fervently, trying to get them to work again.
Axel heard a faint coughing sound and he realized that he saw two blurry forms lying on the sand. "Riku, they're still here!" he cried, dashing to their side.
Axel held Kairi upright, as she was the one coughing, and watched Riku do the same to Sora, who was beginning to stir as well.
"Wow, that was scary," Riku admitted. "We thought that we lost both of you."
"I…" Sora coughed and Riku sat him up straighter. "I saw Roxas, Axel. He and Naminé were holding hands, just like we were."
"They went to see Hayner," Kairi added. "They went to Twilight Town."
Axel shuddered. Twilight Town, also known as the birthplace of Nobodies. He hadn't been there since trying to…
Axel stared over at Sora with new realization. "We fought side by side," Axel whispered.
Sora smiled weakly. "It's nice to be remembered," he managed to say. Then he sighed and fell asleep as Riku laid him back down in the sand.
Riku stood up and looked over at the mainland. "We'll leave in the morning," he said, looking at the darkening sky over the town. "Shouldn't be too hard – you've been there, Axel. I think you might be able to take us straight there."
Axel's brow furrowed as he contemplated that. Yes, he knew he'd been to Twilight Town, but he didn't remember…
A vision of Axel staring Roxas down emerged in Axel's mind. The ever-twilight skyline! Axel had a vision in the wastelands of Nonexistence…that had been Twilight Town!
"I can!" Axel exclaimed with a grin on his face. "I can take us there!"
Riku nodded. "Good. Let's get some rest. These two look like they need it."
Axel nodded. Finally, he was going to meet Roxas again.
.oOo.
Haha, there ya have it – how they got Roxas out of Sora.
Read and review if you wanna, but it makes me work harder if you do, remember that. 3
