Kingdom Hearts: Nonexistence
12: Disillusion
.oOo.
A white light.
"Where am I?"
No one answered.
"Roxas? Where are you?"
Naminé's voice echoed through the void of white surrounding her. She was lost in what seemed to be nothing. She was scared, but at the same time, she felt…different. It was strange, a foreign feeling.
She felt as if she belonged in that void of white, as if it were her destiny to float in the desolate space in which she resided.
"Naminé! Where are you?" Roxas shouted. He'd heard her call out for him, but he couldn't see anything but a white void. He was utterly alone, but could still hear the overwhelming concern in his friend's voice for him. They were separated, yet were still together.
"I can't see you, Roxas! Where are we?" Naminé demanded. It was evident that they could communicate, but could not see each other.
"I see…a bright light," Roxas murmured. "It's hurting my eyes."
"Mine too. Let's get out of her, Roxas."
Roxas shook his head. "How, Naminé? We can't even see anything."
"You forget, Roxas: we're not just any Nobodies. We're on our way to Nonexistence, the afterlife of Nobodies. But can we really call ourselves Nobodies? We found our former selves and reunited with them, sharing their hearts. We belong with them, not in this white void. We came here for a reason. Let's get that reason over with."
Roxas was silent for a moment, then held out his hand. He grasped at nothing, but felt a strange tangibility in the white void. He clasped his hand around whatever it was that he felt, and Naminé came into view, her hand in his and a smile on her face.
"See, Roxas? We don't belong here, no matter how we feel about this place," she told him. "As long as we can prove that we're not just Nobodies, nothing can stand in our way."
"You're right," Roxas agreed. "Let's find Axel."
The light became brighter, but this time it was centralized in a portal. Hand in hand, Naminé and Roxas stepped through and felt themselves enter the light together.
- - -
Axel slashed through a Dusk that charged him as he ran down the twisting corridor. One after another, they charged him, and one after another, he slashed them to bits, dissolving them into nothingness. The corridors inside the Castle That Is were becoming more densely packed with Nobodies and Heartless following the commands of their "master," Sora. Axel, on the other hand, was leading an army of his own: himself.
As Axel charged through another doorway, he found himself in full knowledge of where to go. The Castle That Is was an exact mirror image of the Castle That Never Was. Axel had realized this almost immediately after stepping into the castle's domain for the second time, rushing ahead to the end that he knew of: the Altar of Naught. Or, as Axel called it in his mind for Nonexistence, the Altar of Being.
As Axel mindlessly slashed through his adversaries, one thought kept rushing through his mind: was existing really all that important? If he died, what would happen to him? The afterlife of a Nobody…it led to having a heart and being whole. If one could freely give that up, would they? If it meant being enslaved by one who didn't exist, then yes – Axel was willing to give up all that he'd fought for.
That resolve was what had pushed the fiery Organization member through the trials of the Castle That Is. The world was a blur to him – Dusks perished by his hand, Assassins died instantly, even Samurais and Berserkers were quickly put down. Axel's chakrams were blurs in themselves, twisting, spinning, slashing, and dicing everything that appeared before him. Not only was the castle guarded by imprisoned Nobodies, but also by Heartless, which confused Axel in the back of his mind.
If those who have hearts do not exist in Nonexistence, and those without hearts exist, then where do the Heartless, who are made of hearts, fit in?
The question was present, but ultimately ignored.
It didn't take long for Axel to reach the Nonexistence equivalent to Proof of Existence. Standing there in its entryway, Axel gazed longingly at the portals that represented the members of Organization XIII. Why were they still here, in Nonexistence? Didn't Sora rule this realm?
"Bunch of idiots," Axel muttered. He took a step and stopped. The hair on the back of his neck was standing on end. He dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding a jagged bolt of lightning striking the ground where he'd stood milliseconds before. Axel dodge-rolled to the side, coming up with his chakrams at the ready.
"Who's there?" Axel shouted. The room seemed empty, but Axel could feel the presence of someone else. They were there. Too bad Axel couldn't guarantee how long they'd stay there.
The exit of the room seemed to blur in Axel's vision. He blinked fiercely, but the blur remained for a few moments, before clearing up to reveal a magical blockade barring his passage. He'd been locked in the room of holy representation of the Organization.
Two of the portals in front of him lit up. One was Xigbar's, the other Xaldin's. The number two and three portals were activated, leading to where Axel knew trouble, and the answer to reaching Sora, lay.
Axel took one step forward before he heard, "Axel!" from behind him. He turned around and saw a blonde-haired teenage boy and a similarly blonde girl running towards him. His eyes widened and he dashed forward, not for a friendly hug but for a dashing shove.
"Get down, you idiots!" he cried. Flames erupted from somewhere in the room and sailed over their three heads as they fell to the ground in a messy pile.
Axel sat up, off of his friends, and sighed. "What the hell are you two doing here?" he asked with a smirk.
"Not exactly the hello I was expecting," Roxas replied, similarly rising to a crouch. Naminé was sitting on her knees as well. "Isn't it obvious? We came to help."
Axel shook his head. "Not what I meant. How'd you get here? I thought I was yanked back before we figured anything out."
"You were," Roxas grinned. "But you're not the whole brains of the outfit, you know."
Axel laughed. "Coulda fooled me."
Roxas gave him an impressed smile. "You really do have a heart."
Axel nodded with a grin. "What, you think I was lying? Nonexistence changes ya, man."
"We have more important issues," Naminé reminded them. "Those portals and the way to the Altar. We have some unfinished business to attend to."
"Right. Let's go," Axel said. He stood to his feet and summoned his chakrams to his side. He armed himself and made a mad dash towards one of the portals with a wild grin on his face.
Roxas was on his feet as well, the Oathkeeper and Oblivion Keyblades in his grip, racing towards the second of the portals. Naminé turned and faced the entrance to Proof of Existence, as she'd heard the rustling of Dusks behind her. Raising a hand, she ignited the air above her hands in a ball of flame.
The three most unique Nobodies of them all were about to rock the realm of Nonexistence.
