THIRTY-SEVEN: ATLANTIS(4)

Despite the ruins surrounding the city seeming to hint that it was long-since fallen, the inhabitants living there would prove that wrong.

Axel still felt like he stood out like a sore thumb for obvious reasons when he walked onto a marketplace street by the water.

"You… You're a foreigner." one of the marketplace vendors remarked as Axel walked over.

"Yeah, I don't want any trouble, I'm just trying to find my friends." he admitted.

"Ah yes… You must be with the other foreigners who entered our city recently. The King wants you all out of his city." the man explained.

"How welcoming." Axel sighed. "Look, I don't personally care to stay in your city myself, I just want to find my friends."

"Why not start by the palace?" the vendor suggested, pointing him in the right direction.

"I think I will then, thanks." Axel turned away and watched as more of the townsfolk were notably avoiding any direct contact with him, like he was some kind of foreign pathogen.

As Axel continued up the road towards the palace, he would stop in his tracks when he heard a woman screaming out for help.

Balling his fists up, he ran in that direction as another man who was wielding a spear attempted to stab at a Spear Lizard heartless that dodged his attack and smacked him across the street with its spear.

"Everyone stand back!" Axel called out as he summoned Flame Liberator to his hand, drawing the creature's ire as several others around it followed, notably including some power wilds and a few familiar looking Nocturne type heartless appeared around it.

Their bodies shimmered a bright platinum color and before Axel had any time to react, chunks of metal were launched his way that he had to dodge and deflect with his keyblade. "Okay, fine we'll play that way! BURN!" he shouted, blasting the Platinum Symphony heartless that hovered above him with Fira magic, effectively making the heartless start to scatter about around him while he ran forward.

Ducking under a Power Wild's kick, Axel grabbed it by the tail and slammed it into the ground in front of him before a large nut hit him in the forehead, making him stumble back. "Oh nuts… Are you kidding me?!" He deflected the next one that came his way and dodged more scraps of metal sent his way by the Platinum Symphonies.

"Thunder!" he called out, effectively blasting apart the majority of the heartless except for the metallic ones that floated above him.

One attempted to bash him directly, but would instead slam into a Reflera barrier, making it stumble back before getting blasted apart.

The last Platinum Symphony hovered back and began to prepare another volley of metal shrapnel to send his way, but Axel was quicker on the draw and tossed a flaming chakram right at it that bounced off a wall and right back into his hand.

"You're welcome." He dispersed his weapons as a few of the locals around him decided to thank him by offering some food to him. His stomach grumbled and he groaned. "Yeah, I guess I can stop for a bite."


As Roxas stepped out of another ruined building he let out a sigh. "Still no sign of her."

Roarke was following him around as he searched the city for Xion, having Helga assist in the searching as well.

"Empty." she shook her head. "Feels like we're going in circles in all honesty."

"If she's hiding around here, we probably need to spread out more." Roxas suggested.

"And take a risk with these locals?" Roarke asked him. "Kid, I know you're brave, but even with that weapon of yours, you'd get swarmed fast if they… You know?"

"If they what? They're people, not monsters." Roxas shrugged his shoulders while walking ahead of Roarke. "Commander, you've been acting weird ever since you told me about that page you had. Well, now that we're in the city, that page seems just about as relevant as ever. So why not give it over to Milo? Maybe he can help these people out? They're clearly struggling to get by."

"Do you hear yourself kid? You're sounding like a regular humanitarian." Roarke tossed the cigarette he was smoking away. "We didn't come down here to help people, we came here to earn a living, and quite frankly, we'll have a full lifetime's worth of living to do once we find what we're looking for, so why don't you be a good friend and help us locate the treasure instead of handling this fruitless search?"

This angered Roxas immensely as he summoned Oblivion, pointing it at Roarke. "You're forgetting who's the one with the keyblade here."

Helga aimed her gun at Roxas from behind. "And you're forgetting you're not the only one armed."

Roarke also pointed his gun at Roxas.

"Are you really confident in your ability to squeeze that trigger?" Roxas asked. "That I wouldn't be able to outpace your weapons?"

"You're bluffing kid." Roarke scoffed.

"He's not lying, given how he handled those monsters on our travels here." Helga reminded him.

"Yeah, well kid's running on fumes. There's no way his reaction time is-'' before Roarke could taunt him more, Roxas had quickly disarmed both him and Helga of their guns with a single swipe of Oathkeeper, which was now in his other hand.

"You were saying?" Roxas smirked. "If I wasn't looking for Xion right now, I'd have half a mind to turn you over to the Atlantean authorities to be tried for conspiracy. But considering how I can't know for certain she'll still be around here that much longer, I'm opting to let you run." he lowered his weapons. "If I see either of you again, I won't hesitate to stop you. You're better off stopping yourselves before you do something you regret."

The pair started walking away from Roxas, retrieving their weapons while Roxas turned away. "Regret, huh? Well I'm certain you'd be regretting what could happen to your precious friends if you don't work with us." Roarke spoke up again.

This immediately made Roxas turn around and immediately raise his weapons to Roarke's throat. "I warned you to back off!"

"And I'm warning you now to stand down." Roarke insisted as a few of his men stepped out from around a corner with a restrained Namine in tow.

"You don't know what you're doing!" Namine struggled with her arms stuck behind her back.

"Oh but we do." Helga smirked her way.

"You know, there's one thing I like about kids, more often than not, they'll listen to their elders, even if they hardly know them." Roarke began. "It's amazing how easily trust can be bought these days, especially when naïve kids like you go around parading your moral missions in front of us all."

"Word of advice, always go for profit before morals. It's how truly successful people are able to grow their empires." Helga explained.

"I don't get this, why go through all this trouble of getting to know us and inducting us into your team?" Namine asked.

"Easy, because we simply gave them a deal that was way too good to refuse." Xigbar's voice spoke up as he stepped out from around a pillar with Mog held under his arm, struggling.

"You." Roxas held a defensive stance now.

"Easy there, Tiger. You're forgetting whose lives are on the line here." Xigbar chuckled. "Or are you willing to throw away more of your friends' lives if it means going after little ol' me?!"

The blonde's grip tightened on his keyblades. "It's your fault! All of this is! You made Xion run away!"

"I did, didn't I? Well maybe, Roxas, you should learn a thing or two about getting in the way of other people's affairs!" he tossed Mog to the ground right in front of him.

"Kupo… The team we've been traveling with are the real bad guys…" Mog spoke up.

"A bit late on that news, Mog." Namine commented as she glanced over at Xigbar. "So, you still choose to align yourself with them, and for what? Some empty promises made by a senile old man?"

"Xehanort's promises? As if! Well, this is admittedly now just a passion project of mine now." he explained.

"So what? You just enjoy making our lives hell for fun?" Roxas asked.

"No, there's a reason for what I'm doing, I just don't feel like you're really worth the effort of telling." Xigbar shrugged his shoulders.

"Now then, you're going to listen to what we have to say, or we're going to hurt your little friends." Roarke threatened Roxas, who lowered his weapons now.

"I'm going to make you regret doing this." Roxas looked the man in the eyes.

"Again with that talk of regretting things? I know for a fact I'm not gonna regret this!" he punched Roxas hard in the stomach, making him curl up on the ground in pain, holding his gut.

"Easy on the merchandise there, pal. I need him in tact." Xigbar warned.

"Damaged goods are fine if they still work, right?" Roarke asked. "Besides, we'll need his strength for what we're going to do next."

Roxas glared up at him hatefully. "You're making a mistake working with someone like Xigbar. He'll backstab you the first chance he gets."

"Well then, it seems like I'm working with the right guy then." he punched Roxas across the face now. "Now pull yourself up, we have work to do."

Roxas grunted, his face half in a puddle. He stared at his reflection for a moment before he started to pull himself up off the ground.

"It'll be okay, Roxas." Namine assured him as he stood back up. "We'll be okay."

"I should have focused more on you than everyone, Namine." Roxas admitted.

"No, you weren't wrong." she shook her head. "Just because the commander's horrible, doesn't mean everyone else on the crew is."

"How cute." Helga rolled her eyes. "But you should really watch your tongue in front of Commander Roarke, girl." she slapped Namine across the face.

"Don't you dare… Touch her." Roxas threatened, standing up.

"Or what kid? We've got your number, we know your little weakness thanks to Xigbar here." Helga chuckled, pointing her gun at Namine's head point blank. "Feel confident about your ability to disarm us now?"

Roxas looked between everyone around him, he knew he could disarm Helga, but Xigbar was fast enough to keep up with him.

"Don't worry about little Poppet by the way, my guys and Roarke's guys are well into locating her." Xigbar explained. "You'll be reunited with one of your besties soon enough, isn't that great?"

"I'd rather her run away again than end up in this situation." Roxas spat back.

Commander Roarke then started walking off. "Where are ya goin' now?" Xigbar asked him.

"To get Mr. Thatch to lead us to where this fabled Heart of Atlantis is."


Xion let out a sigh while extinguishing the fire she had used to just cook herself some food in this ruined building she decided to hole up in for the time being.

"So you're that confident that you'll just get to sit here forever, then huh?" The other Xion sighed with her arms crossed, sitting across from her.

"Yeah, I am. I'd rather never be found again. This world seems perfect for that." she admitted, staring out a large crack in a wall towards the lush jungles that surrounded the city. "I'll just stay here, away from the locals."

"You see, there's one big issue that comes from becoming complacent and staying in one place all the time." The other Xion argued while standing up as Xion felt it too.

"Eventually, what you're running from will find you."

Several Sniper nobodies surrounded her.

"Xigbar." she summoned her Kingdom Key, and it quickly stained black as the other Xion assumed control over her.

"You wanna play? Okay!" Xion exclaimed as those streaks of hair turned white again and she charged forward, cutting through the first pair of Snipers in front of her as another one fired off a shot behind her that she quickly warp-striked back.

"Not quick enough." she taunted while deflecting some more shots fired her way. "WIND!" she shouted, scattering the snipers around the room with Aerora magic.

Moving forward again, she sliced through one of the downed snipers and parried one attempting to strike her as it got up.

"Take this!" she tossed her keyblade through it and teleported it back, then threw it at another sniper, pulling it back to her hand again.

Spinning around, she was surprised to see the next person she was preparing to throw her weapon at was a person wearing a full military uniform complete with a gas mask.

Before she could release her Keyblade in a throw, she dropped it to the ground as Xion wrestled with her alter self again. "NO! I won't hurt a person!"

"You're awfully persistent…" The other Xion slammed her fists to the ground. "We'll die if we're caught now!"

"I don't care! We're not doing this!" Xion internally argued with her before the next thing they saw was the butt of a rifle slam into their face.


"A toast to our new friend!" the woman Axel had saved earlier declared.

"Hey, thanks again for the hospitality." Axel smiled while taking a sip of his drink and helping himself to some of the strange foods he was given.

"It's the least we could do for your help." The woman reasoned as Axel enjoyed his food when the sounds of storming footsteps outside caught his attention. "Hey, you guys don't got like a marching band or something, right?"

The woman, her husband and child all shook their heads. "I figured not. I better go see what this is." Axel took a step outside and watched as Roarke's soldiers were starting to ransack the town.

"Well I don't like bullies either." he summoned Flame Liberator and marched forward. "Hey bozos! Didn't ya ever learn proper manners?!"

The group of soldiers stopped what they were doing when they spotted Axel.

"You're coming with us." they threatened.

"No, I don't think I am." Axel readied himself for a fight when one of the men shouted.

"We found one, here!" A couple of Sniper nobodies were now accompanying them.

"So that's how it is then, gramps?" Axel turned a corner and started running.

"AFTER HIM!" one of the soldiers commanded as they chased Axel into the alleyway.


Milo surfaced from some underwater ruins he was in the process of deciphering with Kida, only to see Roarke and the majority of the crew gathered around them.

"Have a nice swim?" Roarke asked.

"H-Hey guys, what's with all the weapons?" Milo asked in confusion. "Guys?"

He then quickly came to the realization when he saw the restrained Namine and annoyed Roxas looking away. "I'm such an idiot!" he slammed his fist down. "This is just another treasure hunt for you, you're just after the crystal!"

"Oh? You mean this?!" Roarke held up the page he had with him this entire time.

"The heart of Atlantis…" Milo looked down.

"About that, I would have told you sooner, but it was something on a strictly need-to-know basis. But now you know." he remarked.

"You're a scumbag." Roxas called out as Roarke had one of his soldiers smack him upside the head with their rifle.

"And I didn't tell you that you could speak out of line." Roarke glared back at him before turning his attention towards Milo again. "I had to be sure for a fact that you were one of us, Milo." he offered a hand. "Welcome to the club, son."

"I'm no mercenary." Milo swatted his hand away as Kida surfaced and was quickly grabbed by her hair and held at gunpoint.

She quickly tossed the soldier over her head and started fighting with the others, tackling one to the ground and stealing their combat knife. But before she could stab him, Roarke fired a shot from his pistol that knocked it from her hand.

She was grabbed by the arms from behind and dragged back.

"Mercenary? I prefer the term, adventure capitalist. Besides, you're the one that got us here, you're the one that led us straight to the treasure chest."

"You don't know what you're tampering with Roarke!" Milo warned him.

"What's there to know? It's big, it's shiny-"

"It's also probably the heart of this world." Namine argued. "If you take that, then this whole place will collapse and you'll probably doom these people to their deaths!"

"It's their life force!" Milo added.

"Well that certainly changes things." Roarke turned towards Helga. "What do you think, Helga?"

"Knowing that, I'd double the price." she smirked looking at the page and handing it back over to Roarke.

"I was thinking triple, actually." Roarke suggested.

"You're all monsters!" Namine shouted.

"You academic and peacekeeping types are all the same. You never want to get your hands dirty. Or you'd rather live in harmony." Roarke waved a hand while pacing away from him. "I mean just think about it, if you gave back every stolen artifact from a museum, you'd just have an empty building. We're just providing a necessary service to the archeological community."

"And what's so wrong with letting people continue to peacefully live their lives?" Roxas asked.

"Well, think of it more like natural selection, kid. Only the fittest may live, and if anything we're aiding that process along in showing how much more fit we are to live than these savages."

"So that's how little you think of my people…" Kida scoffed before getting shoved against the ground with a gun aimed at her back.

"Now then Milo, how about you make the smart choice here. Don't be like your grandfather." he held the map up in front of him.


Commentary: Things just seem to keep going worse for poor Roxas down in this city. Yeah, so as it would turn out, Roarke was working for Xigbar this whole time. Xion's been captured as well due to her current disposition.

The only wildcard left at play for our main trio is Axel at this point, especially since Roxas can't exactly try and fight anyone with his remaining friends being held hostage.

New Heartless Variant:

Platinum Symphony: Another variant on the floating Nocturne type of enemies, this one specializes in polarity powers, being able to use its powers to throw scraps of metal at its enemies.