Chapter Thirty Six: Target

In Castle Oblivion Naminé never even dared to believe that she could find real love. Even the facade conjured up from fabricated memories would one day fall apart. But despite the lectures to "Get over it" and carry on with the plan, some part of her ached for someone that cared about her for who she was. Not an illusion or fabrication, just her.

Of course, such an end to her loneliness was nothing compared to her wish for freedom. When Ventus had saved her from the castle, seeing the outside world had pushed the thought of romance away. In the weeks since, taking a stand against the Organization and Maleficent were far more of a priority than flights of fancy.

But now Yuffie's comments had put a pin on the thought she once entertained. Tossing out the idea of flying and calling it a date for fun seemed to be something Yuffie did more on a lark than any serious comment. Today, she seemed to enjoy calling it that, even as Ventus and Naminé tried to correct her. Even as she called everyone to whatever she had found, she called them 'lovebirds' as though it was second nature. But if that was it, then perhaps she could just ignore it as teasing, or just an honest mistake. Besides, how could a Nobody even fall in love?

Yet Naminé couldn't just say that she saw Ven as simply a friend, and it wasn't simply because he rescued her. The way he wanted to help everyone as much as he could. Even despite his own pain he tried to try and find some way forward. To try and grasp some kind of happiness once again. Even if it was as simple as some time spent with his friends.

And perhaps it was the way he looked at her with fondness. How warm his hand felt in hers. How the two of them had found some strength to stand against the Organization.

Was this how Kairi felt with Sora? A chance encounter which slowly led to a fond friend becoming something precious beyond words?

Of course, she really shouldn't jump to conclusions. For one thing, after the discussion this morning, getting into such feelings so soon might be suspicious. And although she abhorred the idea of manipulating Ventus into such a relationship, there was no real way anyone else at Hollow Bastion really could know for sure. Not to mention, Ven hardly seemed sure himself of what relationship they both had if his fit of stammering was anything to go by.

And of course, finding answers about Terra and Aqua was a bigger problem right now.

Fortunately, as they entered the massive room Yuffie had found, Naminé suspected they were very close. As they stood on a walkway overlooking a colossal room of tubes and machines, Yuffie spread her arms wide. "Take a look at this place!" She said as she opened the door to the observation deck. "All these machines have to be for something big!"

Leon walked past her into the room and muttered, "We'll see if that something big has anything to do with Ventus' friends."

Ventus had recovered from his momentary blushing fit, and looked over the expanse. "What are all the jars for?"

Leon scowled as he looked over the machinery through the window. "Before Hollow Bastion fell to darkness, Ansem began extracting hearts from people to experiment with them and create heartless."

If the amount of jars were anything to go by, he had a lot of research material. A fact that made Ventus pale, and Naminé had to admit the implication chilled her stomach as well. Though briefly sobered, Yuffie tried to smile as she patted the keyboard in front of a black screen. "Well, this thing has to have a ton of info on what happened." There was no time to dwell on past injustices, especially when a chance to right some of them was before them. "Let's see if we can run a search." She began to type away at the keys, the screen coming to life with a green glow as words appeared with each keystroke.

search

But on hitting the enter key, a blaring voice was heard as more words appeared on the screen.

ACCESS DENIED. DO NOT INQUIRE FURTHER.

Leon raised an eyebrow at the machine's refusal. "It's locking something that basic?"

Yuffie huffed and resumed typing again. "How about just help?"

help

NO. I DON'T THINK I WILL HELP YOU.

Ventus raised his eyebrows at the more blunt reply. "He sounds pretty grouchy."

Naminé crossed her arms and sighed. "It's a computer program. I'm not sure it can even be grouchy in the first place." Even if it was designed well enough to mimic people, programs could only go so far in being personable. Just as she continued to have that nagging doubt that she could only go so far in being human.

Would the semblance of a heart she could find be good enough for him?

I AM MORE THAN A SIMPLE PROGRAM, USER

However, the unprompted comment from the machine brought her ponderin to a halt. It left Leon and Yuffie frozen with open jaws. Ventus just stepped forward, baffled at the outburst. "You can hear us? Who are you?"

I AM THE MASTER CONTROL PROGRAM. I OVERSEE THIS SYSTEM AND AS SUCH PREVENT UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS.

Leon rubbed his temple with one of his hands as he turned away from the screen. "Meaning us."

Ventus walked towards the machine as he rubbed his chin. "You said he's locking functions." With a grin, he called his keyblade to his hand with a grin and held it up high. "Well, keyblades can undo any lock!" He wound back his arm, keyblade held high…

THAT ISN'T GOING TO DO YOU ANY GOOD. MY ADMINISTRATOR GUARDED ME AGAINST INTRUSION BY THE KEYBLADE.

Only to pause at the Master Control Program's words. Naminé nodded grimly as she pieced together who could have done it. "Ansem. He was the only one who knew about keyblades in this world."

"Well let's see how much he knew!" Ventus twirled his weapon in a bit of flourish, pointed it at the screen and shouted aloud, "Search!"

Everyone watched the screen for any change.

And a second later, they saw a new answer.

ACCESS DENIED. AS I SAID.

One just as dismissive as before. Everyone groaned at the refusal, though Naminé put a hand on his shoulder with a smile, "It was a nice thought Ventus."

YOU ARE VENTUS?

The question from the computer caused Ventus to blink before pointing to himself. "Er, yeah?"

PRIORITY TARGET CONFIRMED. COMMENCING IMMEDIATE DETAINMENT UNTIL RETRIEVAL.

Yuffie slammed her hands to the keyboard. "What?! Detainment?!"

BEGINNING EXPEDITED TRANSFER

Ventus took a step back from the computer as Leon put a hand to his gunblade. "How are you even going to keep us in one place?"

I THINK YOU'LL FIND THE GAME GRID IS MORE THAN SUFFICIENT

Yuffie scoffed at the Master Control Program's boast. "Games? You want games—"

A flash of light interrupted her, and everyone saw the machinery in the back of the room glowing. "VEN! MOVE!" Naminé tried to push Ventus out of the way of whatever was coming. But she was an instant too slow. As soon as she touched his jacket, the machine fired a laser which struck all four of them.

She wasn't sure exactly what was happening to Yuffie and Leon, but she saw what happened to Ven and felt it happen to her. Being broken up piece by piece.

Bit by bit.

Byte by byte.

The next thing she knew, she felt herself falling into the neon light.

"Okay, that's weird." Larxene wondered aloud as she raised an eyebrow at the now dead street lights. Every single one had powered down in unison, and the machinery repairing the main castle came to a stop. She jumped atop one of the wires, balancing on it with ease. Carefully, she leaned down and gripped the wire, trying to sense the current through the insulation. Faint as it was, there was still a trickle being pulled from whatever backup remained. Her eyes followed the electricity, all the way to the fort at the end of town. "What sort of science project are these bozos up to?"

She began to run along the wire, an electric spring in her step. But just as soon as she started, a smell on the wind caught her attention. A familiar scent of roses and rotting corpses, and she saw petals in the breeze. Immediately, she turned away from the fort to follow it. Because if she was seeing it, that only meant real trouble for her true agenda.

Sure enough, she spied a dark cloak down an alleyway fitting a familiar Body. Though someone else in the black cloak was there, it hardly mattered. Marluxia being here meant they needed to move now. Hopping down, she saw him pull down his hood. "Good to see you got my message." His guest did the same, revealing Lexaeus had decided to join.

"if you're here, then I assume that Castle Oblivion is either under control or out of control." Larxene pointed a finger to Lexaeus and groaned, "And if this musclebound dolt has left his post, I'll bank on the latter."

"Zexion ousted me from my position as the head of Castle Oblivion. He redesigned the plan for Sora to revolve around his illusions as well as Vexen's replicas."

"Sounds reasonable so far. But I'm guessing that plan didn't work." "Hm. Either way, I'm surprised Book Boy had the guts to try and lead."

"He did so with Xemnas' backing."

"What is more concerning is his behavior. I have known him for long enough to tell that his leadership went far beyond how he usually behaves. His illusionary power has also improved by leaps and bounds."

Definitely not good. Zexion was forceful in any kind of science or intelligent work. But when it came to actually running a whole operation, he hardly had the expertise nor the constitution to manage members of the Organization. Still it was better to keep quiet about the concerns for now, so Larxene faked a small yawn and asked, "Why should we care?"

Lexeaus clenched his fists at his sides. "Because it leads credence to a scientific theory that I have dreaded being real."

Larxene stifled a laugh as she walked towards Lexaeus with her hands on her hips. "A beefhead like you has scientific theories?"

Lexaeus snapped as he stomped forward, "As I was a prior research assistant to Ansem, yes I did. And it concerns everyone in the organization." Larxene stepped back with her hands before her, though she maintained her smirk. Marluxia simply watched as Lexaeus placed his hand on his chest as he explained, "We nobodies are empty. Shells of what once was that persists on will alone."

Marluxia nodded and moved to join Larxene's side. "As we know. Your point?"

Lexaeus gripped his chest, grimacing as he continued, "If we are empty, then what can be put inside of us? Light, Darkness, Memories, Hearts?"

"The organization's goal is to get our hearts back." Marluxia recited the mission statement Xemnas had given again and again for Organization XIII. Granted, she and Marluxia were perfectly fine as they were. Hence their intended rebellion.

Lexaus looked them in the eye sternly and waved his hand to his side. "And what if we were given someone else's heart? Would we care about the difference?"

And that was the moment the pin dropped for her. Just as it did for Marluxia gauging from his wide eyed expression.

From what she could tell, all hearts were practically the same. Floating motes of shaped light, one just as worthless as the other. If they had no way to tell which was which. But if the giver knew, then they could make any Nobody into whoever they wanted to. And the Nobody would hardly be able to stop as everything they were was just overwritten.

What was this inside her?

Why did her stomach suddenly turn to burning lead even as the weather was cold? What was this like? She tried to recall if there was anything like this before she was a nobody. She hated trying to remember those days, but she couldn't bear not knowing what this was!

There had to be something.

Anything!

And through the fog of time, one half remembered sensation surfaced.

Larxene was sick. And she couldn't stand it.

She hissed at Lexaeus, "Why didn't you tell anyone this theory till right now!?"

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Xemnas discouraged me years ago, saying only the mission was important. Without evidence I conceded the point."

Marluxia swallowed a lump in his throat and asked, "Any plan on looking further into this?"

Turning towards the end of town, Lexaeus pointed to the structure in the distance. "We should look through the fort. It is where we conducted most of our research into the heart."

Larxene hopped from wall to wall, reaching the rooftop. As she saw the entry to the fort, she saw a rather recognizable figure make his way up the steps. "Looks like Erxart's got the same idea." If the mystery rookie of the Organization was looking for answers there, this might end up working out for the three of them after all.

Ventus felt the ground at his back once he had come to. The metal ceiling was replaced with a strange sky, neon lights flickering up above. Looking around, there were buildings trimmed with glowing lines and circuits. He tried to push himself up from the ground, though it seemed a little difficult. A glance at his hand showed that it was clad in some kind of thin body armor he had never seen before, though it vaguely resembled his own clothes. Though the colors and even his skin seemed like a black and white photograph, with the exception of the blue circuits on his body.

And then he looked at his body, or rather, who was on it.

Even as he saw the color was gone from her face, she was still recognizable. as Naminé came to atop him, she groaned as she got her bearings. "Where are…Eep!" Only to squeak as she realized who she was lying on. She hurriedly pushed herself off Ventus and dusted herself off. "Sorry, didn't mean to land—!"

"It's okay! You were just trying to protect me." Ventus chuckled as he got off the ground and nervously smiled at her, before nodding and mumbling, "Thanks for that."

Though as he oriented himself, he realized that Naminé's outfit had been similarly replaced with a bodysuit and light armor with circuitry. However, she seemed to have a small helmet over her head. As he slowly began to run his hand through his hair, he stopped once he felt a helmet of his own.

As Leon got to his feet alongside Yuffie he groaned,"Thank her once we figure out if we're even safe." The two of them also had been just as changed by whatever took them here, black and white bodies, neon circuitry on new clothes, and a helmet.

The four of them looked around the strange platform they were on, walkways leading out to other buildings trimmed with neon. Ventus took a step forward as he saw the vast, sprawling, alien landscape. "Is this what it's like inside a computer?"

"Definitely a lot more interesting than the stuff Cid plays with," Yuffie pondered as she crossed her arms and turned to the three of them. "Either way, this is pretty big for a prison."

At Yuffie's words, strange flashes of light appeared around them. Naminé sighed as she pulled out her sword and cards. "Spoke too soon."

The digital light dispersed to reveal more strange creatures, but the symbol on their chest was unmistakable. "Heartless," Ventus muttered as he called Lost Memories to his hand "Are they the welcoming committee?"

As everyone else pulled out their weapons against the heartless horde, there was one final flash of data. Except when it dispersed, it revealed a man in white armor with red circuits and a hood. He looked over the four of them and spoke sternly. "I am Commander Sark. You are to be seized by the authority of the Master Control Program. Resistance will result in de-resolution." Ventus tightened his grip on his keyblade as Sark's eyes fell on him. "The MCP has briefed me regarding you, Ventus. User or not, you are coming with me."

Ventus held his keyblade up high and shouted, "You're not taking me anywhere! Thunder!" In a flash, bolts of lightning struck the heartless gathering around them. Sark moved back from the electrical barrage, pulling a disk from his back. Once he was out of range, he wound back and sent the disk flying towards them.

"Flame!"

Only for one of Naminé's spells to intercept it, sending the disk back towards Sark. With another card, she summoned a figment who began to strike at the gathered heartless along with Yuffie, Leon, and Ventus.

Sark scowled as the digital monsters began to fall. "So this is what a User can do. No matter." He raised his hand and more flashes of data appeared, replenishing the lost troops. "Our forces far outnumber anything you are capable of."

As Yuffie sent a Fuuma shuriken bouncing among the heartless, she backed up towards Naminé. "Maybe we should use Leviathan?"

The suggestion caused Naminé to pause, giving a heartless the chance to come close to her. Fortunately, a swing of her sword knocked it back as she shouted, "I don't think we want to find out what happens to us if we create a lot of water in a computer!"

Squall slashed through a group of heartless, that were just as soon replaced and growled, "Well, we've got to make an opening somehow!"

"Get down!"

The voice was unfamiliar, but everyone but the heartless ducked on reflex. And no sooner had they done so, then a blue and white disk went sailing over their heads and towards Sark. He tried to hold up his disk to defend, but was a little too slow. It collided with him and knocked him to the ground. As he struggled to get to his feet, Sark growled, "Tron!? Now you show yourself?"

The blue disk was flying back over Ventus' head towards another man in white and blue with a helmet."For Users? Of course." Tron then tossed his disk towards Sark again, but in a flash of data he vanished before the disk could hit.

With his departure, the heartless were at a loss, unsure how to proceed. And unfortunately for them, Ventus and his friends had gotten fairly good at taking down the heartless. Between Leon's charged gunblade, Yuffie's shuriken, and Ventus and Naminé's keyblades, the monsters were taken down with ease.

With that taken care of, Tron jogged towards them. "We need to move quickly. If Sark gets back, he'll be calling all the heartless he can on us." Reaching to his side, three sticks materialized in Tron's hand with a small spark. He took one, and held out the other two to the four of them. "I've only got three of these, so you'll need to partner up."

Leon took one of the rods, while Ventus held onto the other. "And what are these, exactly?"

Tron held the stick in front of him with both hands, and as he leaned forward, a sleek closed motorcycle appeared around him.

"Nice!" Yuffie cheered as she gripped onto Leon from behind. He simply sighed with a smile as he held out the staff as Tron did to create his own cycle.

Ventus put the stick in his pouch before holding out his keyblade. "I've got my own ride." With a toss, he transformed the sword into its glider form. He hopped on and turned to Naminé, and began to hold his hand out to her and call out for her to come aboard.

Only for any words to die in his mouth as he realized how close they would be if she rode with them. His mind tried to calm him down, to make him realize they had done it before without any issues. Asking what was so different between her riding and going with any other friend.

And his heart answered simply that she was more than a friend, leaving his brain at a bit of a loss.

Fortunately, the feeling of Naminé's hand in his helped him to focus again. He saw her give a small smile as she quietly asked, "Shall we go?"

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Ventus nodded as she pulled her aboard. "Y-Yeah, let's head out."

"Willing to wager your thoughts?"

Roxas didn't react to Luxord's words, he just continued to walk while muttering, "Just thinking about how complicated things have been getting lately." And if the bizarre architecture of Wonderland was the least of Roxas' concerns, that was saying something. Ever since that day in the Dwarf Woodlands, Roxas' simple life had been thrown off the rails. What's worse, he wasn't even sure where he wanted to go in the first place.

The only thing he knew for sure was that his friends mattered. And now he might be seeing them a lot less.

But despite the hurricane of questions in his mind, Luxord simply continued to chat as he kept pace ahead of Roxas and began to twirl a card in his hands. "Complicated Indeed. Play by play, this game has grown in complexity as more players have taken seats." He stopped and turned on his heel to face Roxas with a relaxed smirk. "Tell me, besides yourself which one would you bet on?"

Roxas might not understand everything that had been happening, but he did know who he could trust for sure. "Erxart. He's pretty strong, and there's a lot I don't know about him." Axel was a close second with his skill in spying on the traitors. But after a week of training and seeing what Erxart knew about the keyblade, Roxas was confident there was nobody stronger.

Luxord raised an eyebrow as he glanced at the card in his hand. "Truly? He is an interesting factor to be sure, but I confess it is Naminé that intrigues me." With a flip of his fingers, he revealed the card to be a two. "At first glance a pawn, fortunate just to be close to the table." As Luxord mused he flicked his wrist, the card moved from hand to hand. But as it stopped, Roxas saw the card was now a queen. "Yet she has had quite a string of luck, and taken advantage of that potential."

Roxas raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Are you just saying that because she uses cards like you?"

Luxord chuckled and put away his card. "Not exactly like me, but I admit it is refreshing to see another who plays the game in such a way." He turned back and began to walk through the mushroom forest. "Now enough idle chatter, we have our mission. Given the hearts we must procure, I believe we should split up."

Roxas sighed, he didn't like the suggestion. But given how hard it was to come by heartless in these woods, it was the best option to get today's work done. Still, there was one major problem. "What are the odds that the unversed show up?"

Luxord looked back with a raised eyebrow. "A fair question, would you care to wager?"

Roxas sighed at the nonchalance. "Nah, I get a feeling I'd lose." Again, Luxord cared more about his games than anything else.

The man simply continued on his way as he called back. "Prudence can be wise. But if you don't play the game at all, nothing is gained."

Roxas groaned as he continued on his own path. That was easy for Luxord to say, he knew what the game was half the time. Almost everyone else in the Organization seemed to know much more than he did. Even Axel had his little secrets. The only one who was straightforward with him was Erxart, but he was as new as Roxas was. Whatever the higher ups in the organization knew was being kept from both of them.

The sound of shadow gathering interrupted Roxas' thoughts. Looks like it was time for him to get to work. It wasn't a big group, some soldiers and a large body, but every heart counted. By now the soldiers barely even registered as a challenge for Roxas. A flurry of slashes and fire spells dispatched them with ease, a Firestorm built up as the last one vanished. With that, he turned to the larger heartless and used his improved speed and strength to dash around the heartless' defenses before it could react. Flame infused strikes scorched the mass of shadows to nothing.

As Roxas felt the burning energy within still smoldering without a target in sight, he pondered aloud. " Where am I going to find more heartless?"

But then from the bushes there was a chittering. The same chittering that he heard the other day when a new enemy attacked him from nowhere.

The unversed had arrived.

As the strange shadows flitted out from the underbrush, Roxas caught one with a scorching slash of his blade. The attack barely seemed to deter the other smaller unversed as they came to a stop before him. Feeling the power within reach its limits, Roxas unleashed the flame in a burst around him, disintegrating the creatures into specs of darkness.

Roxas grumbled at the sight. If these things were going to be attacking him, the least they could do is drop some hearts, right?

"Well, at least you're as good as Ventus was."

Roxas stepped back as he heard a voice sneering at him from above. Looking up towards the mushroom tops, he saw a boy in a red and black bodysuit about his size sitting on them. The boy looked down on him with a helmet that completely hid his face, one knee up as he leered at him, "Too bad Ventus was pretty pathetic."

Roxas pointed his keyblade at the stranger. "One problem with that. You don't know a thing about me."