Chapter Six: Path

Secret Report: Zexion I

Roxas' capabilities in the field are mixed. He has no mind for subtlety. Maintaining a masquerade with him and avoiding alerting the populace shall be a challenge. Fortunately, his prowess with combat as well as rapid adaptation to circumstances are exceptional.

As such, my request to monitor him is proving most prudent. As a senior member of the Organization, my interest has gone unchallenged. With my guidance, I can ensure he develops into a suitable member of the organization.

At the very least, he should have better instruction than I once did.

Pigments on a page formed the gentle dunes of the beach. Blending with white seafoam into the blue ocean. A shining sun set on the horizon. But even so, the girl in the picture didn't cast a shadow. Not yet at least.

Naminé looked over the picture once again, the train of thought having returned again to her original self. To Kairi, watching the horizon, searching her heart for a path.

And how Marluxia was enraged at how likely it was for that path to lead here.

"This impediment is far too substantial for us to ignore. Her presence will jeopardize everything we have worked for." Leaning closer in her face, Marluxia's gaze narrowed, and she could hear his leather glove tighten, as he asked "Why did you not think to warn us?"

Naminé failed to meet his glare, but managed to get out, "You...didn't ask...and you didn't want me to be distracted."

"Your dedication is commendable." At his answer, she began to relax.

Then Marluxia pulled out his scythe, "Your lack of foresight is a liability."

She froze, simply looking ahead to the crystal ball, "I...I thought the plan wouldn't be changed so much!"

The times she tried to dissuade Marluxia and Larxene from it to no avail drilled it into her mind. Nevertheless, his cold glare drilled into her. "This is still salvageable. But there is one possibility I would like for you to be ready for."

As always, she listened like her life depended on it, "Whatever you say Marluxia…"

"Naminé…"

"Naminé?"

"Oh, Roxas." She looked up and saw him. Again, with a meal in hand and eyes on her. But this time, he seemed a little shaky. As he walked over to him, she shook her head, "It's probably not a good idea for me to give you all your food. You need to keep up your strength."

He stopped and began to look down at the plate, thinking aloud, "W-Well, maybe I could give you one or two things?"

Naminé smiled at the offer, "If that's the case, I'll just have the bread with my porridge." At the very least, she'd be better fed than usual. As Roxas handed over her chosen meal, she asked, "How did today go? You seem...off."

He sighed as he sat down with the rest of the food, "Just...getting used to things being back to normal. Wonderland was pretty crazy."

She winced, "Right, that was one of Sora's first worlds." A world where logic and reason were a suggestion. No wonder Roxas was a little rattled.

He shook his head as he began cutting into his food, "I don't know what was worse, the place, or the people."

Swallowing a bite of her porridge, Naminé began to think, "From what I can remember from seeing it, despite the world's architecture being strange, it was rather beautiful."

As he took a bite of the meat, Roxas nodded, "Mmm. The castle garden was kind of nice." He then grimaced as he continued, "It's too bad the queen was just absolutely nuts."

She winced, "I guess she decided to cut off your head?"

Swallowing the last bit of meat, Roxas shrugged, "Well, she probably would have if I stuck around. She was threatening to do that to a princess, Alice."

That's right. It was where Sora first met one of the other princesses. Though at the time he had no idea of who they truly were. Or how close one had gotten to him in so many ways. It was that bond between them that not only saved him from being trapped as a heartless, but...also...

Naminé realized that Roxas was staring at her, mouth slightly agape. She asked, "Yes?"

The word shook him from his reverie, "Oh, it's just...you look...pretty enough to be a princess, that's all."

Naminé froze reaching for her bread as her mind spun into overdrive. That's all?! Well, a compliment was nice and all, and she was really glad it was from Roxas! B-but actually hear someone say something like that about her was—

"What're you drawing?"

"Ah! Yes! One of Sora's dearest friends, her name is Kairi!" She was all too glad to show him the notebook. Anything to get her mind off that compliment.

As nice as it was.

"It's beautiful." Roxas tilted his head as he inspected the picture, "But she looks familiar."

Familiar? That definitely got her attention, "Where did you see her?"

He pursed his mouth as he contemplated it, "A scattered dream...like a far off memory. She was there with Sora and another boy." Then he looked up at her, "I saw you there too."

Of course. "You must have been able to tap into the memories he had while you were asleep." Echoes of those shared memories had begun to leak into the people close to Sora. Like Roxas, Riku,

...and perhaps her other half as well.

Naminé looked away, "And you've probably seen what I was doing to them."

Roxas set the notepad down, "Right. You wanted to change them."

Naiminé folded her hands and shook her head, "It's not perfect. If I worked too fast, he would spot the lie and it'd all come apart. But given time, I could make him forget certain things, or believe other things are real."

He grimaced as his part in that plan was recalled, "But I messed that up."

She shook her head, "It's not your fault. And besides, even if I can't make him forget, I can give him new memories."

"New memories," Roxas' eyes widened as he put the pieces together, "Memories of you!"

Naminé nodded and continued, "Originally I was supposed to make Sora forget Kairi and have him believe that I was the one he cares the most about."

"So...he'd listen to you?" Roxas' lips tightened for a moment before he asked, "Do you feel the same way?"

"It doesn't matter how I feel about it." She looked over to the picture of Sora in the corner, "But...I hear he's nice. So maybe it won't be so bad. I wouldn't be alone anymore." Turning back to her bread, she finished off the last few bites. Despite the fact that it wouldn't last, she still yearned for a chance to mean something to someone. Even if that bond was fake.

Roxas however seemed to look down at the floor, arms starting to wrap around himself, "If you do end up meeting him…"

"That would mean I wasn't strong enough."

Naminé's stomach dropped at the realization of the two futures she had. That meeting Sora meant losing the one person who seemed to care at all about her. On the other hand, "If you win, I'll just be here as I always have been."

Alone.

Roxas' eyes widened at that, and he began pacing. But after a moment, he snapped his fingers as he hit upon an answer, "Well, what if when I win, I help you find a friend? Someone nice who can be here with you!"

That he was willing to offer something like that lightened her worries. But on the other hand, "Is there any reason you couldn't stay as my friend?"

Roxas stammered, putting a hand to his chest with a nervous smile, "O-Of course not! There's no reason I wouldn't want to be with my friend!" His smile wavered however, as he asked, "We...are friends, right?"

In a way, Naminé knew it was already true. Roxas tried to visit her, and seemed to enjoy her company. Just as much as she enjoyed talking with him about what they could.

Still, it was nice to say it for real. So she answered with a smile, "Yes, we are."

After he left that night. Naminé went back to the notebook she had hidden. The one with Roxas' picture. Picking up her crayons, she began to sketch out the forest of Wonderland. And eventually, her friend was drawn on the paper, wandering about the new world. It wasn't a huge sketch. She still had to maintain her focus for the drawings she used to focus on Sora's memories.

But it was a nice distraction while she waited.

"You know, you can't just spend your entire summer waiting for Sora and Riku to get home?" Selphie, spoke up from beside her on the pier's edge.

"Well…" As much as it pained Kairi to admit it, her friend had a point. Sitting around, pining for the two to return was hardly the way she wanted to spend what little time off she still had.

Though now that she thought about it.

Was she forgetting someone?

"Do you think there might have been someone else, who left the island?" Kairi stared out into the ocean waves, "If they're still out there, we ought to go find them."

Selphie raised her hands in apprehension, "Wait, what's with the we? I mean, I miss Sora and Riku too. But this mystery person you're talking about out of nowhere seems weird." Selphie crossed her arms and walked away, "Don't you think Sora and Riku would have mentioned them by now? What do they even look like?"

"They..."

In the darkness in memories she saw her...

"They're a girl, in white with blond hair?"

"Another girl?" Selphie looked back at her in surprise at the answer, "Well besides that, don't you need one of those Gum Ships?

Oh right, there was that problem. She had no way to get there, "Gummi ship, but yeah. I mean I had to go find Cid to get a ride to…"

Or did she?

"But I didn't…I used…" A door. A doorway to the light. That was the only way she could describe what led her from Cid's workshop to The End of The World.

"Wait, what did you use?"

"It was…" She just had to remember. Remember what was going on when it appeared. What was happening. What she was thinking of.

Who she was thinking of.

Sora. He was probably still searching, even now. For all she teased him about being a lazy bum, when he stopped napping and actually worked, he gave it his all. Nothing stopped him, no matter how hard it was to do.

And Riku, even though he had fallen to darkness, he still believed he was doing what's best. Despite how aloof he could be, he always cared about the two of them. Even when he was in Ansem's grip, he fought back, gave them a chance to escape.

There was no way she could forget either of them.

But the girl. Who was she? What was her name?

"Naminé"

Selphie tilted her head, "Huh?"

"Her name is Naminé."

"Whoa, what the heck!?" Selphie's exclamation roused her from her thoughts. And then she noticed it again. A shining portal.

And she knew her friends were on the other side.

She ran over to the nearby docks and began searching the boats.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking to see if they kept them...Aha!" and Kairi held up the weapon she had found.

"Kairi, that's a toy."

"Well, if it worked for Sora, it can work for me." And with that she began charging toward the portal.

Selphie shouted after her, "Kairi, do you even know where you're going?!"

"Wherever they are. And I'd know they'd do the same for me!" And in a flash, she vanished along with the portal she had run into. She didn't hear Selfie call out to her.

"Kairi, there was never anyone called Naminé! Agh! Her dad's gonna be so mad!"

"A door of light you say?" Vexen raised an eyebrow at Marluxia's explanation.

He nodded as the rest of the group looked at him, "The princess of heart bound to Sora will be looking for him using that. According to Naminé, she managed to pursue him to The End Of The World before. Simply through concentration on the keyblade wielder."

Axel nodded, "So basically, she's on her way here because she can still remember Sora."

Larxene grumbled as she crossed her arms, "And without Naminé taking the time to put herself in Kairi's place, trying to make her forget would just be giving our little witch a lobotomy. And if she manages to find Sora, that's going to make Naminé's work that much harder."

Lexeaus looked directly at Marluxia as he spoke, "This turn of events on top of Roxas' ordeal is most irregular. We should report to Xemnas."

Marluxia closed his eyes calmly, "Not necessarily. While the task Roxas is assigned is critical to our organization, it is not too far from our original plan to strengthen him via management of the heartless. As for the princess, we may be able to mitigate her interference if we act swiftly on her arrival."

At the question, there was the sound of a sniff. Everyone turned to Zexion as he continued to smell the air in his own way.

Vexen tapped his cheek, "Are you smelling pure light, perchance?"

Zexion nodded firmly, "I believe so."

Marluxia nodded before commanding, "Use the scrying orbs. Find her." And with that the group vanished into their dark portals.

He watched the castle from darkness, in the place he could only call zero. In the beginning there was the boy, Sora. Wielder of the keyblade, naive as he was. So then he brought another, Riku. An opposite of the hero, but still strong.

But then, in a flash, he saw another intruder arrive.

A girl.

And memories stirred. They clamored in the front of his mind. And he immediately asked.

"How...how can she be here?!"

His mind turned toward the object he held. Often he had wondered why he still kept the blade.

Perhaps her arrival here was not a coincidence.

…

He would see for himself.

"At the very least, I must look after her." And so he wove what darkness he could to hide her from their magic for a moment.