FORTY: ATLANTIS(6)
King Nedakh was in critical condition and Sweet was keeping close watch of him, but shaking his head.
"Is it really that bad?" Milo asked while walking over.
"Internal bleeding." Sweet explained while moving away as Milo and Axel approached the old man. "There's nothing I can do about it, I'm afraid."
"What a nightmare." Axel looked away.
"And I brought it here." Milo frowned.
"Don't go beatin' yourself up about it, he's been after that crystal since we found the journal." Sweet shook his head.
"Greedy bastards like that always rub me the wrong way." Axel admitted. "I know I didn't stick around with your expedition or show up till now. But maybe if I was around and didn't make that stupid sacrificial play then he wouldn't have-"
"Axel, please." Namine took his hand and looked him in the eyes. "This isn't anyone's fault other than Roarke's."
"Wait… The crystal! That's it!" Milo had an idea. "With the healing energy from these crystals, we can-"
"No…" The King shook his head as Milo held up his crystal. "Where is my daughter?"
"Well she's… She um…" Milo wasn't sure how to say it.
"She has been chosen, like her mother before her." King Nedakh leaned back, and looked over at Axel.
"We meddled in this world too much, didn't we?" Axel sighed.
"You and your friends aren't to blame." The King admitted. "Our arrogance is what brought those people here…"
"What do you mean by chosen?" Milo asked.
"In times of danger, the crystal will choose a host, one of royal blood to protect itself. One with a pure heart." the King added.
"So then that would mean-"
"Princess Kida is the Pure Heart of this world we were looking to protect." Namine finished Axel's sentence for him.
"Yes, I've long since forgotten the role that Keybearers like yourself are meant to play… They are meant to help keep the peace, and to protect those chosen with protecting the light."
"What do you mean by choose though? Do you mean to tell me the Heart of Atlantis is alive?" Milo asked King Nedakh.
"Yes, in a way. The Heart of Atlantis is the very heart of this world."
"But if the heart of this world is stolen…" Namine trailed off.
"Everything we're standing in will die." Axel finished.
King Nedakh leaned back more and looked between the three standing before him. "The crystal thrives off the emotions and hearts of those who came before us. In return, it provides power, longevity, protection, and gives this world its life."
"I think I've heard this theory before… That the heart of all worlds is dependent on the residents of those worlds." Namine recalled. "It's a theory that Ansem's research team believes, and it's partially why Radiant Garden never let Mako Energy become their primary fuel source."
"As the heart continued to grow, it developed a consciousness of it's own."
"Now that I've never heard about…" Namine admitted. "A world's heart developing awareness?"
"Yes, child. Our world's heart very much has a mind and will of its own. It is similar to us all in that regard." King Nedakh coughed. "In my arrogance, I sought to use it as a weapon of war. Its power was too great for anyone to control. It overwhelmed us and led to our destruction."
"That's why it was hidden under the city." Milo commented. "To protect all the worlds out there…"
"And to protect Kida from suffering the same fate as my beloved wife…"
"What are you talking about? What's gonna happen to her?" Milo asked.
King Nedakh attempted to sit himself up now. "If she remains bonded to the crystal, she could be lost to it forever…"
"We won't let that happen." Namine took a confident step forward. "Right, Axel?"
"As long as I'm still standing, you've got my full support," he nodded. "We gotta save Roxas too, anyways."
"The love of my daughter is all that I have left…" The King took Milo's hand. "My burden would have become her's when the time was right, but now, it must fall onto you." he gave Milo his crystal.
"Me?" Milo was surprised.
"As for you, young Keybearer… I only regret that I cannot apologize for how I've treated your ilk in the past. I hope you find it in your hearts to forgive me. I realize now that the masters of old that I encountered weren't following the righteous path like you and your friends are now.."
Axel hung his head. "Don't worry, I'll keep it memorized… But what do you mean by masters of old?" he asked.
King Nedakh turned his attention again to Milo and held his hand firmly after giving him his crystal. "Return the crystal, save Atlantis, save my daughter."
He passed away upon letting go of the crystal and Milo and everyone bowed their heads respectfully.
"So what's it gonna be Milo?" Sweet asked.
"What's it gonna be?" Milo grit his teeth in annoyance. "I led a plundering team of vandals to the greatest archeological find in history, allowing them to murder and kidnap the royal family, and doom the entire civilization's world to destruction!"
"Milo-" Namine wanted to talk but he just kept going.
"-Not to mention delivering the most dangerous weapon ever into the hands of a military nutcase who's probably going to sell it to some warmongering criminals!" Milo tossed the journal to the ground now and sat down, feeling hopeless
"Hey pal." Axel grunted and walked past sweet who was about to speak up. "This sounds like a hell of a lot of self-pity." he pulled Milo to his feet. "Look at me, you've only failed if you give up."
"And the only place to go when you've hit rock bottom this low is up." Sweet affirmed.
"And who told you that?" Milo looked at Sweet.
"A fellow by the name of Thaddeus Thatch." he explained.
Milo glared forward, looking at the King's crystal before tossing it into the air and catching it. "I have a plan."
"Now that's more like it!" Axel grinned.
As everyone stepped outside, Milo was fast to jump onto one of the deactivated warships and inserted his crystal into it.
"Well I'll be damned." Axel remarked as it sprung to life.
"Got anything sportier? Like a tuna?" Vinny asked.
"Eh, I'm more of a barracuda guy myself." Axel joked.
"You sure? I figured you more the clown fish type." Namine elbowed him in the gut.
"And I liked it more when you didn't steal my thunder." Axel groaned as he watched Namine march towards one of the smaller ships that looked like a hammerhead shark. "What do you think?"
"Sure you can't find HER a Clownfish?" Axel asked while walking over, Milo merely rolled his eyes.
"C'mon we need to gear up and get going." Milo insisted as a few more of the ships started to pick up off the ground.
A sudden hail of glass shards rained down from the sky, which forced the ships to scatter.
Axel stopped himself from climbing onto his ship when he saw the source approaching them from the lower temple steps. "X." He walked forward to meet her.
"Lea." She summoned her magically enhanced Rapier just as Axel summoned Flame Liberator.
Namine turned her ship towards X who merely glanced over with her eyes before Axel outstretched a hand. "Namine, go."
"But Axel-"
"If we all die here, then there'll be no one left to save Roxas. If you guys go on ahead, you'll have a chance." Axel insisted. "I hate to do this to you again Nam's, I really do, especially after the last time. But… I can assure you this time…" he conjured a ring of fire around himself and X. "I ain't going anywhere!"
X looked around their enclosed arena. "And here I thought you lost this kind of power when you stopped being a nobody."
"I'm full of plenty of surprises, X." Axel chuckled.
"Don't disappoint me then, Lea."
X's eyes narrowed his way as she prepared her battle stance, her glass barrier forming around her as Axel transformed Flame Liberator into his chakrams. "Let's dance!"
An explosive shell was shot right through the ceiling of the underground volcano the expedition team had fallen into earlier, creating a direct opening towards the surface.
After all the rubble had fallen, Roarke walked over and stared upwards, smiling. "I love it when I win!"
"You and I both, pal." Xigbar chuckled from where he sat on a higher chunk of rubble.
The restrained Roxas glared at them and struggled more as Helga pulled him along by the collar. "Come on now, kid. We gotta get going."
She loaded him onto a vehicle that Xigbar was now waiting by and watched as their crew began to prepare for departure.
"You know, Roxas…" Xigbar sat up on top of a railing. "When we get to the surface. I'll be taking both you and the heart for myself." he summoned one of his arrow guns. "That old coot's foolish to think I'll allow him to make off with something as valuable to us as the heart of an entire world."
Roxas struggled in his restraints more after Xigbar made sure to chain him to the railing. "There, nice and comfy. Wouldn't want you accidentally falling out or anything."
Massive balloons began to protrude out of the vehicle, lifting it off the ground, revealing it to be a slightly more advanced hot air balloon.
The balloon was starting to take off with the Heart of Atlantis hanging from the bottom when a squadron of airships flew in.
"We've got company!" Roarke called out as his men started opening fire.
"Always something, isn't there?!" Xigbar snapped his fingers, the soldiers around Roarke and Helga started to ache and groan, a powerful darkness emanating from their hearts.
"What are you doing?!" Roarke called out.
"Give it a second." Xigbar crossed his arms as all of Roarke's men suddenly changed on the spot, converting into sniper nobodies, vaporflies, and air soldier heartless. "That just means a bigger paycheck for you by the way." Xigbar waved a hand as the monsters all started attacking the approaching ships while Roarke ran over and boarded the hot air balloon with Helga at his side.
"Take her up!" he insisted now.
X lunged towards Axel directly, her blade getting deflected by a chakram while his other slammed into her barrier as he spun around.
"Now that's not fun at all!" Axel jumped away from another stab as X attempted to hit him with a shard of glass launched from her shield that he deflected with a fast swing of a chakram before tossing his other towards her, watching as it bounced off her shield. He saw clearly the cracks between her barrier.
Dodging the next attempted stab, Axel attempted to strike at her from between the cracks in her barrier, grazing her arm and making her jump away from him.
Pointing her rapier upwards, she closed the barrier up around her and began launching chunks of it off at him, starting from the back of her barrier, forcing him to back away, dodging and deflecting anything that got too close.
As Axel started moving around the battle arena, he began to close the distance between him and X before transforming his chakrams back into Flame Liberator and clashing weapons with her, quickly parrying a stab while striking her in the chest with the teeth of his keyblade, making her stumble back.
Gritting her teeth she readjusted her stance and deflected a stab with a lower swing of her rapier while then trying to lunge forward and capitalize on this opening, but her attack was stopped by a chakram.
"I dealt with Xion." she spoke up as Axel jumped back, tossing both his chakrams at her, the weapons both being blocked by her rapier as she held it in front of her before with a burst of magic, the blade shattered, sending the chakrams flying back into Axel's hand.
The floating shards of glass enchanted by the Heart of Atlantis were now floating around X and formed into a barrier while she formed another plain rapier in her hand.
"Well then I'm going to have to deal with you then!" he held his chakrams to his sides, heating them up, before charging at her, and bringing them both down on her barrier, but instead of destroying the barrier, the barrier blasted him back.
"You can't break this one, Lea." She taunted while running towards him , conjuring glass shards outside of her barrier that she sent his way.
The best Axel could do was hold one chakram next to his head while running from her in their battle arena before tossing his other chakram at her.
The barrier again withstood the attack as she smirked and decided to send one enhanced part of the barrier in his direction.
Axel quickly transformed his chakrams back into Flame Liberator and spun his keyblade in front of him, halting the piece of barrier in front of him before he swung at it with his keyblade, launching it back towards X.
"Right back at ya!" he called out as the piece of barrier collided with X's main barrier, shattering it, and leaving her exposed while he held one chakram in front of her.
"Don't make me mad!" he called out before tossing one flaming chakram towards X that she blocked.
He warped away and tossed another one at her that she again deflected before warping back to the first one and tossing it again, this repeated, with each attack getting deflected before he jumped down in front of her slamming down on the ground and knocking her into the air.
He then ran along the walls of his ring of fire and clashed weapons with her a few times before with one heavy swing of Flame Liberator's Keyblade form he knocked her to the floor of the ring of fire and slammed his weapon down towards her.
She created another bit of barrier just in the knick of time to stop the attack, but Axel was starting to power through it, forcing her to roll away and quickly create a new rapier in her hand before Axel jumped back and launched a couple of Firaga orbs in her direction that she quickly deflected.
"This is exactly what I was expecting when I heard about how skilled of a fighter you were, Lea." X commented. But unfortunately your bought time isn't going to do much to save Roxas!" she sped forward , nearly stabbing Lea in the heart if he didn't catch the tip of her rapier with the teeth of his keyblade.
Now in a bind, Axel shoved forward, intending on pushing her back but she quickly ducked down, bringing her blade with her and struck Axel once in the chest with her rapier, knocking him away as she grunted, tired.
Axel held his chest with a groan while she prepared to strike him again.
"It's time we end this, LEA!" she called out and lunged for him again.
He knew he was too tired to move again, all he could do was raise his keyblade up in defense, but thankfully that wasn't needed.
In a flash of light, X's intended killing blow never hit its mark, instead Xion stood between the two, wielding a new Keyblade that was holding firmly against X's rapier.
"What? HOW?!" X demanded to know as Xion shoved forward, forcing her back. "I killed you!"
Xion held Astra Florum in front of her now and smirked. "You thought you did. But honestly, all you did was give me some time for introspection, and to find myself." she held a hand over her heart. "There's plenty I could thank you for in all honesty, stuff like my name, and completing me when I was just an empty replica in that pod. But that doesn't matter now." she pointed Astra Florum at her.
"How do you even remember that?!" X asked, outraged by this turn of events.
"Introspection, maybe you should try it sometime. It'll help you remember that you're not just some tool to be used by the Organization. You're a person with your own will and desires." Xion smirked while glancing back at Axel who had just finished healing himself up with a cast of Cura.
X glared between the two as the ring of fire around them vanished. "Petulant puppet! I'll-" she was cut off when Xion ran at her aggressively, clashing weapons with her a few times before swinging heavily, forcing her to jump further away from her opponents.
Axel and Xion stood before her now just as she was at the edge of the temple steps, with nothing but dense forest behind her.
"Guess my mission's a failure then." She let herself drop into the foliage, covering her escape.
"Wait, X!" Axel ran forward with a hand held out for her, but Xion stopped him.
"We'll get through to her soon. I'm sure of it." Xion nodded and smiled at him before he felt tears well up in his eyes and he suddenly hugged her.
"Why do you and Roxas always gotta worry me sick?"
"Shouldn't we save this talk for when we get Roxas back, too?" she asked, patting his back as they shared a hug.
"You're right." he nodded and looked over at one of the Atlantean ships that remained. Holding flame Liberator forward he used it to activate the large piranha-shaped ship.
"Let's go help him out!" Xion hopped on right behind them and they sped off to save Roxas.
Commentary: We're back in Atlantis now and not too late as Namine, Axel, and friends race to come up with a plan to save Roxas and Kida from Roarke.
Okay with this chapter, I'll admit, I veered a little off Kingdom Hearts with how this Boss fight went. It was originally just gonna be a plain fight between X and Axel, with both going all out and matching each other in strength and having a good time. Which is partially what happened, X did start with an unfair advantage by having some of her glass enhanced by the Heart of Atlantis still from prior.
The way the fight veered off from Kingdom Hearts is that I partially made it a Metal Gear Rising reference. If anyone reading this has played that game I'm sure you can pick up the couple of references I made with Axel's dialog and the general layout of the fight of X gaining a shield that explodes upon impact with it.
I did once again have to make dialog adjustments to account for this story taking place within Kingdom Hearts continuity, but it wasn't that bad all things considered. Big plus side is that Axel and Xion are reunited, all they need to do now is find Roxas, who thinks they're both dead still.
ANNOUNCEMENT: I've decided to Migrate this story over to Archive of Our Own, so if you want to read it after this chapter, you're gonna have to go there. Thanks so much for keeping up with me on here. I've been teetering on the thought of moving it over there, and well with me making a big jump IRL into something new and unfamiliar, I thought I'd do the same with this story. So if you wanna see the end of this world and what comes after it, you'll need to follow it over on Archive of Our Own.
