THIRTY-EIGHT: ATLANTIS(5)
The door into the King's palace was blasted open as Roarke and his men flooded into the place.
"Knock knock." Vinny stated.
"Room service!" Mole laughed.
The guards pointed their spears at the intruders.
"Tell them to drop their weapons now!" Helga commanded, aiming her pistol at Kida's back.
The King spoke up, giving the command to his men, who did just that.
"Spread out, search everywhere!" Helga ordered as everyone started scouring the room.
Roxas glared at Roarke, who in turn looked over at Namine, which just made him bite his lip as he started assisting in the ransacking of King Nedakh's palace.
"You're not applying yourself enough, son. There's gotta be something else here!" Roarke shoved the journal in Milo's face.
"Well there isn't! It just says the heart of Atlantis lies in the eyes of her king." Milo explained, looking at the page again.
"Well then maybe old King Cole here can help us fill in the blanks!" Roarke stormed over to him. "Where's the crystal chamber?"
"You'll destroy yourselves with its power." he warned them.
"Maybe I'm not being clear enough!" he punched the King in the gut, knocking him to the floor.
Kida cursed at him in Atlantean.
"Roarke, this wasn't part of the plan." Sweet glared at him.
"Plans change, doc. I'd recommend you get a bandage on that bleeding heart of your's." Roarke taunted. "It doesn't suit a mercenary." he sat down on the King's throne.
Roxas's hands balled up into fists as he watched Roarke.
Xigbar entered the room next. "So how's diplomacy working?!"
"It's failing, as usual." He aimed his gun at King Nedakh. "You're going to tell me where the crystal is now."
"That's more like it." Xigbar laughed. "I got a better one for ya tho." he aimed an arrow gun at Kida. "Tell us where the heart of Atlantis is, or your precious daughter gets it."
"You're bluffing." Namine spoke up. "She's one of the reasons you're here, right?!"
"Destroy one pure heart and another will crop up in its place, it's really not that big a deal." Xigbar shrugged his shoulders before Roarke sat up in the throne with a sudden realization.
"The eyes of her king…"
Xigbar smiled now. "Clever old coot." he looked over at the floor in front of the throne as well just as a couple of soldiers entered the room with a restrained Xion in tow.
"Xion?" Roxas walked over to her, but was shoved aside as she was dropped down in front of Roarke.
"Sir!" the soldiers saluted.
"Impressive." Xigbar admitted. "Didn't think your boys would be able to catch Poppet. Although, I guess with her being her own worst enemy right now, it helps."
Another dark corridor opened, and Subject X emerged from it.
"You've got her now, so what are you waiting for?" she asked with her arms crossed, glaring at Xigbar.
"Easy there, we can't risk blondie over there getting any bright ideas." he pointed at Roxas. "He might do something to spite us all out of our prize if anything happens to her right away. You can wait a little, can't you?"
"Not after what she nearly did to me." X grit her teeth, glaring at Xion who held her head low.
"Now then…" Roarke discovered the lift down into the crystal chamber below the throne. With his gun held forward, he ordered Milo, Kida, Roxas, and Xion down with him and Helga.
Of course, Xigbar and X also volunteered themselves to accompany the group down into the chamber.
"Bit of a tight fit, don't you think?" Roxas snarked with his arms crossed.
"You really need to learn to keep your mouth shut, kid." Roarke warned him.
"You really have no idea what you're messing with down here. This could be bad for everyone." Milo tried to warn again.
"All the better for our potential buyers." Helga smirked as the lift began to go down.
The crystal chamber was a massive cavern with stalactites hanging from the ceiling over a seemingly bottomless underground lake.
"Jackpot." Roarke approached the large floating structure.
"Wait a second." X held her arm out, blocking him from advancing.
"What now? If this is about your percentage, my deal was with-" Before Roarke could bicker any more, a large shadow looming around the floating amalgamation of stone masks moved slightly out of the shadows. It was a heavily armored, four-armed heartless that wielded two spears, its outer shell resembled that of the mechanical Leviathan and its armor was a deep blue color.
"Roxas, Xion…" Xigbar spoke up. "Why don't you make yourselves useful to us one last time." he freed Xion of her restraints as she stumbled to her feet now.
"Xion, are you-?" Roxas barely had any time to speak as the Mystical Lancer landed atop the water, the lake glowing brightly for a moment as Xion stepped out onto it, it seemed that whatever this crystal was, had granted them the temporary ability to tread on water beneath it in order to eliminate this monster.
Xion summoned her keyblade and Roxas summoned his two. The pair simply nodded to each other before moving forward to attack this heartless.
The Mystical Lancer thrust its Spear forward, clearly aimed at the group gathered behind Roxas and Xion, but a barrier from X deflected the attack.
This made Roxas grit his teeth in annoyance while Xion tossed her keyblade at the large heartless, striking it's back as it spun around and swung widely with the spear at her, forcing her to dodge roll under it as Roxas's attempt at flanking it was stopped with a block from it's other spear.
"Roxas, we need to keep its attention divided!" Xion explained as she jumped back from a stab that created a wave of water that made the "ground" they were standing on uneven.
"So we're not gonna catch up right now?!" Roxas asked, spinning his keyblades in front of him and launching a light orb at the massive heartless, making it stumble back slightly.
"We don't have the time!" Xion argued back as she stopped a stab with her keyblade.
"Let me take over again!" The other Xion again insisted.
"No Wait!-" it was too late as Xion felt the control of her body slip.
"Xion?" Roxas seemed confused now as he saw the Mystical Lancer aim both of its spears for her.
They didn't hit their mark as a Reflera barrier appeared around Xion that quickly exploded, making the creature stagger back.
Roxas ran towards her as the heartless was starting to pick itself up. "Xion, what's going on?!"
"Xion's not here right now, Roxas." she took a step forward, shoving past him as her keyblade again changed to a pitch black.
The Mystical Lancer spun around, creating more uneven terrain in the arena that made Roxas stumble with his footing, but Xion stood still.
Heavy Spear swings came her way that she parried with relative ease before jumping up. "LET IT RAIN!"
With her keyblade held up she smirked as light pillars began raining down on the Mystical Fencer.
It struggled to deflect the attacks, but ended up losing a hand in the process.
Roxas ran around it and warp-slashed through one of its spear-holding hands, causing the spear to drop into the water below.
"Gotta say, Poppet's still got it." Xigbar chuckled.
X simply scoffed at this display from the pair.
"You better not damage my treasure!" Roarke called out.
"Relax, it's all safe where it is." Xigbar crossed his arms. "And if any damage does come to your prize, you'll be compensated for any lost profit. Scout's honor."
Helga rolled her eyes as Milo and Kida watched in awe how in-sync Roxas and Xion seemed to be, in spite of Xion's possessed state.
"Roxas!" Xion called out with an outstretched hand as the Mystical Lancer attempted to dive down and hit her with its one spear.
"Right!" he tossed Oathkeeper to her hand and she held both of the keyblades above her head, blocking the attack before with one heavy push of her foot, she sent the spear flying into the air.
"NOW!" She called out again as Roxas vaulted off the Heartless's body and with Oblivion raised, swung as hard as he could into the back end of the spear, launching it right into the Mystical Lancer's body, impaling it.
It held the spear in its body while struggling in its death throes. It started to sink into the lake before finally a heart floated out from the water.
"And we're done." Roxas walked over to Xion with a smile. "Just like old times, right?"
She didn't respond at all and just stared up at the heart of Atlantis, her eyes flickering between blue and yellow before finally settling on yellow.
"This heart belongs again to darkness." she spoke in a monotone voice
"Xion?"
"All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. Even this one." her grip on the two keyblades in her hand tightened, Oathkeeper starting to stain in black like the Kingdom Key. "The heart is no different."
Roxas put his hands on her shoulders and shook her. "Xion, snap out of it!"
"Darkness sprouts within it, it grows… Consumes it. Such is its nature." She raised Oathkeeper to Roxas who quickly moved to block it with Oblivion.
"In the end, every heart returns to the darkness from whence it came." she swung with the stained Kingdom Key as well, forcing Roxas to back away as Subject X stepped forward.
"So, that's what you really are." X stood between Xion and Roxas now.
"Will someone tell me what's going on!" Roxas demanded to know.
The light surrounding the heart of Atlantis began to glow red, almost like it was responding to Xion's current state of being as well as the unworthy presence of X.
However, the light responded differently to Kida as she stepped onto the water with the others and started towards the heart of Atlantis.
She turned her attention to Roxas and spoke in Atlantean.
"What?" Roxas was just baffled as he didn't know the language at all.
Milo nodded at him, clearly assuring him that what she said wasn't some sort of curse.
Xion grit her teeth and attempted to stop her, but was interrupted by X stepping in her path and blocking her attack with her barrier. "Not this time." she grit her teeth, struggling to keep Xion at bay while the heart of Atlantis brought Kida up inside of it.
The two combatants quickly scattered away when the masks fell into the water and a completely bright blue, almost crystal-looking Kida landed on the water.
"Tch." Xion ran for her again and seemingly cut right through her with the stained Kingdom Key.
But nothing happened. "What?" She swung at Kida again, but still nothing affected her incorporeal form.
X charged towards Xion now, rapier of glass formed in hand.
Roxas was about to interject as well, but Xigbar stepped out in front of him. "I don't think you want any of this action, Tiger."
Xion tried to cut through Kida with both of her keyblades, but the second that missed, X's blade came right through Kida's body, infusing the glass her weapon was made of with the power from the Heart of Atlantis.
It struck Xion directly on the chest and made her stagger back, dropping both of her held keyblades into the water.
"XION!" Roxas shoved past Xigbar now and ran towards his friend.
Her eyes flickered between yellow and blue once more as her body began to sink into the water.
The effects of the Heart of Atlantis's power were starting to take effect over Xion's body as it began to crystallize while she sank.
"Roxas… Axel…" She coughed before it finished spreading over her body, a shocked expression frozen onto her face as she sank into the abyss in the Crystal chamber.
"NO!" Roxas dropped to his knees and attempted to grab for Xion through the water, but it didn't matter, he couldn't even get through the surface.
"Xion…" he felt tears well up in his eyes as Kida walked towards Roarke, Xigbar, Helga, and Milo.
X stared at her magically enhanced weapon, deciding to keep it on her person for the time being as she grabbed Roxas by the arm.
Roxas's hands were restrained in a pair of steel fist cuffs to ensure he wouldn't be able to summon his keyblade as Kida was loaded onto a truck.
"Step back." one of the sergeants warned Milo who tried to push past him to get to Kida.
"Where are you taking him?" Namine asked Xigbar after she was finally released from her restraints.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" he chuckled.
"So I guess this is how it ends, huh? Fine. You win." Milo started pacing around the soldiers. "You're wiping out an entire civilization, but hey, you'll be rich."
"Congrats Audrey, guess you and your Dad will finally be able to open up that second garage after all."
Audrey avoided eye contact with him as she entered the truck.
"And Vinny, you can start a whole chain of flower shops. I'm sure your family's gonna be real proud."
Vinny looked away regretfully, but steeled himself.
"But that's what it's all about right? Money."
"Get off your soapbox, Thatch." Roarke stood up from the driver's seat of his truck. "You know this is just natural selection at work, it's like I said before." he looked at the angry Namine as well, Mog not too far behind her.
"Commander, we're ready to go!" Helga called out to him.
"Yeah, just give me a minute. I'm forgetting some stuff." he pondered in thought for a moment before "I got the cargo, the crystal, the kid, the crew… Oh yeah…" he threw a punch at Milo, knocking him to the ground.
"Look at it this way kid…" he wiped Milo's glasses off for him while tossing them his way. "You were the man who discovered Atlantis, and now you're part of the exhibit."
Namine grit her teeth and quickly slapped him in the face in response to what he did. "You're worse than any Heartless I know!"
"That really the best you got, girl? I know all too well how to properly hit a girl."
Namine braced herself as Roarke reeled his hand back, but oddly enough, it didn't seem like any hit came. Opening her eyes, she was surprised before suddenly getting blindsided by a backhand slap that made her stumble, holding her cheek while a bruise was left on her face.
Roxas struggled more with his restraints, his mouth was gagged to prevent him from speaking up anymore. His eyes were filled with rage directed at Roarke who casually walked back over.
"Let's move, people." he commanded them.
Audrey was notably holding her truck's door open as Milo stared down at the picture of his grandfather he had brought with him as Namine knelt down next to him, resting a hand on his shoulder.
"That was an order, not a suggestion, let's go!" Helga commanded.
Audrey grit her teeth and walked over, helping Milo off the ground and standing by his side, giving Namine an approving smile while the three of them glared forward.
Vinny walked over to their side as well, putting an arm around Milo's shoulder.
Cookie and Mole walked over next.
Packard blew some smoke from her cigarette with a sigh. "We're all gonna die." She stepped out next, standing at Milo's side with the others.
"Oh, you can't be serious." Roarke groaned.
"This is wrong and you know it is!" Audrey called him out.
"We're this close to our biggest payday ever and you pick now of all times to grow a conscience?!"
"We've done a lot of things we're not proud of. Robbing graves, plundering tombs, double parking, but no one ever got hurt." Vinny argued. "Well, maybe somebody got hurt, but nobody we knew."
"If that's the way you want it, fine." Roarke shrugged his shoulders while walking back to his truck. "More for me."
They drove off now.
"Roxas!" Namine called out to him as he looked at her. "I'll come get you!"
"No one's coming to get you." Xigbar knelt down in front of him. "Get that idea out of your head, pal."
Roxas narrowed his eyes at Xigbar before looking back towards the city, taking a deep breath, all he could do was put his faith in Namine.
X let out a sigh while walking towards the back of the car her and Xigbar were in. "Our deal ends once we get to the surface, right?" she asked.
"Yeah, it does." he confirmed.
"Then our job's as good as done here. I still have some unfinished business to take care of." X stood at the edge of the truck now.
"That old flame of yours?" he asked her.
She said nothing as she stepped through a dark corridor, leaving Xigbar alone with Roxas.
"We gotta stop him!" Milo wanted to immediately go after Roarke, but Vinny stopped him.
"Wait a second!" He pulled him back.
Without warning, the bridge was completely destroyed, and with it, seemingly all their hopes of pursuing Roarke.
Namine fell to her knees, feeling the hopelessness of the situation as Mog floated up to her and sat on her lap, hoping to comfort her in any way he could.
"It's hopeless." she felt tears well up in her eyes. "Some help I turned out to be…"
"Don't tell me you're quittin' on Rox already Nam's!" the familiar voice of Axel spoke up from behind her as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Axel!" she pulled herself up and ran over, hugging him tightly.
"H-Hey, easy there. I'm here and I'm glad to see you too." he hugged her back, holding her as Sweet stepped out from the palace.
"Milo, you better get up here, fast." he insisted. "You guys as well." he looked to Namine and Axel. "The King's not looking good."
Commentary: This was quite the heavy chapter to write out, admittedly I did make another add-on boss fight with that Mystical Lancer, but more on that heartless in general in the New heartless section.
As far as Roxas is aware right now, both of his best friends are gone and he's just broken about that, not at all helped by the fact that as far as he's aware, he's leaving Namine for dead on a dying world.
Xion's situation I feel I've kind of spelled it out more obviously in this chapter than any other chapters with Xion's alter ego. There's a reason why I've always described her as "The Other Xion" I mean I wanted to call her like "Another Xion" but I feel like that would make it almost too obvious as to what this alter Xion entity is. Now, her identity will be spelled out more obviously next chapter, but given the words she spoke, you can almost certainly guarantee that whatever's inside of her, has a link to Xehanort.
And with Xion's apparent death, things seem bleak for our heroes, but Axel's at least there now, so maybe things can start to turn around?
New Heartless Variants:
Mystical Lancer: A heartless of a similar type to Kurt Zisa, this time though, this heartless has a more "crab-like" design and takes its inspiration from a certain lancer of Celtic mythology...
