Chapter Thirty Seven: Stranger

Roxas aimed his keyblade at the stranger in the black suit, his words hanging in the air as he stared. "You don't know a thing about me."

The boy scoffed as he uncrossed his legs, "Oh I know enough, Nobody." Easing himself from his perch, he dropped feet first, slowing down mid air before he hit the ground. "And I also know you're lucky just to have a face, borrowed or not."

That got Roxas' attention instantly, keeping his keyblade trained on the stranger he began to approach. "You know why Ventus and I look alike? Who are you?!"

"It's a very long story. But you can call me Vanitas." He held out a hand as Roxas got closer, calling a red and black keyblade to his hand. With some defense, Vanitas watched from behind his mask as Roxas stopped his advance before shaking his head and chuckling, "Personally, I don't think you've got the brains to understand half of it. Then again, what do I care about what you know?"

"Get to the point already!" Roxas was already ticked off from this morning, and was itching for any reason to cut loose.

Vanitas pointed his keyblade towards his opponent and scowled, "You want an explanation? You're just a warm up session before I take down Ventus."

"Perfect! Then let's go!"

And with an almost ideal excuse, Roxas leapt forward and swung his keyblade at Vanitas' hand to try and knock it away. Though a step back from Vanitas caused him to hit the weapon instead, it was enough force to knock Roxas' enemy off balance. A good set of slashes from his keyblade knocked Vanitas back, and a follow-up shot of ice sent him flying into the air.

But as Roxas chased after him, he came to a stop, realizing that Vanitas had seemed to freeze mid-fall.

"Too slow!"

When he heard those words in Vanitas' voice, every fiber of Roxas' being screamed 'Move!' and he jumped back. As he did so, he saw the image of Vanitas hanging in the air vanish right as the real one was swinging where his head was a second ago. As the black keyblade struck the ground, fire began to erupt and spew balls of flame everywhere.

Roxas took aim and shot them down with a hail of snow from his keyblade, feeling more attuned to the Diamond Dust gathering around him. Vanitas seemed to move in a flash, throwing slow moving balls of fire as he advanced. Roxas ran in to try and catch him, but the projectiles suddenly exploded into a flurry of flames that all moved to him.

Gritting his teeth, Roxas began to focus, and used his ice infused keyblade to knock away the barrage. Each deflected fireball caused the cold aura to hiss and create a mist as he defended himself. But with the last of the flames extinguished, Roxas noticed something move closer in the thickened vapor. Vanitas burst forth to grab Roxas' blade, and on instinct, Roxas moved to catch the opposing keyblade. He gritted his teeth, feeling the weapon dig against his glove straining to hold it back. Roxas glared at Vanitas' black helmet as he chuckled, "You know, you're not half bad, actually got some guts but yARHG!"

Whatever long winded speech Vanitas had, Roxas was far from interested. The knee that he rammed into Vanitas' stomach should have sent the message clearly. The blow was enough to send him stumbling back, breaking the lock. Vanitas managed to bark a laugh as he found his footing. "Now that's a cheap trick."

"Told you you didn't know me!" Roxas shouted, and with a final burst of ice he pressed the advantage. Icicles exploded around him, knocking Vanitas to the ground. Seeing his opportunity, Roxas ran up and planted his foot on his prone opponent. "Now tell me what you know!" He wasn't going to waste this opportunity to get some answers.

"You know, for a Ventus knockoff I expected someone a bit more soft, but you're real vicious in a fight." Vanitas tried to push himself up, but Roxas pressed harder and pointed his keyblade to Vanitas' throat. He sighed and shook his head, "Alright, I'll tell you something interesting." At his words, the helmet seemed to almost burn away with a yellow glow, revealing a boyish face with yellow eyes and spiky black hair. Vanitas grinned and wheezed out, "Do you see this face? It's the face of the other person who helped me become real. Just like Ventus helped with you."

Roxas narrowed his eyes, not moving his keyblade away from Vanitas. "How is someone's face supposed to be important to me?"

Vanitas rolled his eyes and shrugged from the ground, "Fine, I guess I can tell you his name. It's Sora."

"Sora?" A pit of unease began to grow just hearing it. Even if it was a piece of the puzzle Roxas faced, it still didn't explain how Ventus figured into it. "If I'm his nobody, then why—?!"

His question was cut off as he felt his leg being knocked out from under him. As he fell, he managed to catch a glimpse of the small Unversed that had snuck up behind him. Vanitas leapt to his feet and conjured a dark portal, calling the small creature to his side where it seemed to melt into him. "If you don't know where you came from, maybe you should think about what else your Organization is hiding from you."

Roxas tried to get up quick, shouting out, "Hey, wai…!" But his words died as he saw the boy vanish into darkness. Slamming his fist into the ground, Roxas growled as he realized that all he got for his trouble was a name. And sadly for his mission, that meant nothing. With a sigh, he dusted himself off and began to look for heartless again. Hopefully Luxord hadn't taken out too many.

Across the neon landscape the two bikes and glider raced, their lights leaving a trail. Naminé held on for her life, not just to avoid falling, but to make sure she didn't fall to be caught by one of Sark's patrols. That being said, holding on to Ven this tightly wasn't just difficult because of the speed. She had managed fine before today, but now this closeness was a nerve wracking experience in and of itself.

The strangest thing is that she didn't really want it to stop. Ever since he rescued her, she felt safe alongside him. Whether on his glider or fighting by his side, Naminé had come to trust him. Yet now that she had realized what might be stirring in her for Ventus, she was having a hard time trusting herself. Whether it was her powers going awry, or causing mistrust, or even the simple thought of what to even say on the topic. Naminé just wasn't sure what to do except to hold on.

But as they came to a small cave hidden in the hills, Tron's lightcycle slowed. The four of them followed his lead till they came to a stop at the mouth of the a flash, the roof of Tron's cycle vanished as he stepped out, before the whole vehicle changed back into the stick in his hand. Soon after Yuffie and Leon did the same. Hopping off his glider, Ventus helped Naminé down before turning to Tron with a smile. "Thanks for your help Tron," he thanked as he walked toward Tron,, holding out his hand and introducing himself, "I'm Ventus, but you can call me Ven."

"My name is Naminé," she continued with a nod and a smile.

"And finishing the roll call, I'm Yuffie," the young ninja pointed her thumb to herself before sticking it over to the driver, "and this is Squa—."

"Leon. Call me Leon."

Yuffie sighed at the insistence before snatching the stick that used to be the lightcycle from Leon's hands and walking up to Tron. "So! Is there any way we can take this with us?"

Tron shook his head as he pocketed his lightcycle. "To the best of my knowledge, there is no software on the system to construct originally digital beings. If I knew how, I'd definitely let you, since your arrival bought me some time."

Everyone looked at themselves at the end of Tron's answer, though Ventus was the one to ask the question that it now posed. "Bought you time for what?"

Tron sighed as he glanced over at the glowing city they had left in the distance. "I've been on the run for countless cycles from Sark and his troops. They were closing in on where I was hiding before they pulled back."

Naminé couldn't help but frown at hearing the story of another living on the run. At this point, it was disheartening to meet so many without a home like her. She stepped forward and asked "Why were they trying to capture you?"

"To try and disable my functions so they can quarantine me in the game grid." Tron reached behind his back and pulled out his data disk. "I've been hindering the MCP's access as much as I can. He's determined to spread his control not just in this system, but beyond it."

Ven smiled as he put a hand to his chest, "Well, I'm glad you were willing to repay the favor for us taking the heat off you."

Tron shook his head as he began to lead the way into the cave. The rest followed as he guided them inside and continued, "When I saw they were trying to capture users, I had no choice. I'm programmed to serve the users…"

Naminé furrowed her brow. On the surface, it was just a program fulfilling their function. Yet the way he trailed off made it sound like something else was a part of it. "Was there any other reason?"

"It just seemed right."

Her eyes widened as she heard his reason. By all rights, it made no sense for a program to have a reason like that to do anything. Just as it made no sense for a being with no heart to object to a plan that could hurt others so long as they had some temporary benefit.

How could it be possible? That her and Tron could be driven by some undefinable sense of something more, even as hollow beings? Was it possible that they could truly grow beyond what they were?

Yet Naminé held her questions as they arrived at a door embedded in the cave wall. With a touch from Tron's hand, the door disappeared into light, revealing a simple living space with a computer in the corner. "You should be able to use this terminal to return back to your world. I'll recharge a bit here before heading out."

Naminé winced. Even with a way out, it wouldn't be right to just leave Tron to his fate. "Is there anything we can do to help you?"

Everyone turned to her in surprise at her outburst, but Ven soon nodded and looked back at Tron. "She's right. Even if we did take the heat off you, there has to be more we can do."

Tron was wide eyed as he heard the offer to help, and as Yuffie and Leon began to nod in agreement he started to smile. "You really want to help me out? You really are Users." He turned to the console and began to type, bringing up an image of a large building with a red light on top. "Try to find a way to get to the MCP. If we can connect to him and lower his defenses, we could stop him for good."

Yuffie crossed her arms and smirked. "Sounds like a new project for Cid."

Leon nodded as he made his way over to the console beside Tron. "We'll definitely let him know. We don't want the MCP causing problems when we're trying to rebuild."

With his request made, Tron continued to work at the computer before bringing up a prompt with the words 'TRANSFER? Y N'. Stepping away, he let Ven, Naminé, and Yuffie join up with Leon before he began the process to send them back into the real world.

As he pressed the button and light began to surround them, Naminé looked over to Tron and said, "We'll be back, I promise." Ventus nodded in agreement.

As they began to disappear in the digital world, she saw the program smile back, saying, "Thank you."

When he had arrived in Hollow Bastion, Erxart wasn't sure where to start. The rebuilding effort had turned what was once one castle into a burgeoning city. Even so, with something so valuable as a computer, it only made sense that it would be in the main castle, right?

But as soon as he had glanced at the fort in the far end of town, Erxart was drawn to it. He hadn't seen it before now, and yet it burned in his mind like a phantom memory. At first he was willing to chalk it up to intuition. But the deeper he went in its halls, the more his unease grew. The sickening sense of Déjà vu seemed to taunt him the more he explored. He was waiting for some kind of sign. A plea from the armor to remember, for Roxas or Ventus to suddenly show up. Or to open a door and find…

Erxart's hand froze on the doorknob as he saw the portrait on the wall behind the desk.

It was his portrait, but it wasn't his had his face, but nothing else was had no idea who this was, or where the picture came from. The only thing Erxart knew for sure is that it made him utterly sick to look at.

And he realized it was just the same way he felt about Xemnas.

He walked toward it, placing a shaking hand on the canvas and whispered, "Who is this?!"

"Either it's Xemnas' schoolbook photo, or your evil twin." Erxart whirled around at the sound of Larxene's voice, spotting her leaning against the doorway to the study. She made her way over to an entrance to a metallic passageway, and muttered, "More importantly, this looks pretty conspicuously technological."

Erxart didn't have the energy to talk back, his mind was still muddled from trying to understand the picture of his doppleganger. Still, he followed down the passage, pausing as he heard gleeful laughter ahead. Jogging forth, he saw Larxene in an observation room grinning as she presented the computer with a disk reader she had found. "Looks like we've hit paydirt! Now let's read our disk and get Xemnas' dirt!"

That finally snapped Erxart from his stupor and he narrowed his eyes. "What about Axel?"

The question caused Larxene's joy to stop for a moment before she snapped at him, "What about Axel? If you're worried about him finding us, relax. He's on the other end of town." Erxart couldn't hide the flinch at the news, causing Larxene to raise an eyebrow and cross her arms. "Unless you actually want to tattle to him?"

Sighing, Erxart shook his head and conceded, "No. Not at all." At this point, he couldn't risk leaving Larxene alone for too long. If she found something dangerous on the disk, it would be worse if nobody was warned.

He only hoped Axel would understand.

Larxene smirked at his anwer. "So glad you could see things our way." She raised a hand to her mouth and called out, "Alright boys! Coast is clear!"

"Good," Turning around at the voice, Erxart saw Lexaeus entering from the walkway. "I would rather avoid causing undue harm."

Following behind, Marluxia walked up to Larxene with a growing smile. "At long last, we can finally uncover the secrets Xemnas has kept to himself for a decade." Larxene pulled the data disk from her pocket and brought it closer to the cd drive. But before it made contact a shrill series of beeps came from the machine as a droning voice spoke words that appeared on the computer screen.

ERROR CODE 1137-DIGITALIZATION CAPTURE FAILED

MATERIALIZATION TRANSFER INITIATED

"Digitalization capture? Materialization?" Larxene tilted her head in confusion before waving over Lexaeus. "Any idea what this means, big guy?"

Lexaeus rubbed his chin before bringing his hands to the keyboard. "A old project to convert real people into virtual data and back. Let's see if we can check the transfer list"

GETVAR(TransferList)

TransferList[Ventus, Naminé, Yuffie, Leon]

Erxart's eyes widened at the names being read out, whispering,"Ventus?"

Larxene sighed and shook her head, "Well, looks like we've got company." In a flash, a copy of herself appeared next to her with a grin. "Good thing I've always got some more friends on hand."

Axel regretted not sticking closer to either Erxart or Larxene when they started searching. The way this city was getting rebuilt, finding them was a lot harder now. He had asked for some assassins to try and track them down, but relying on them for tracking organizations members was a roll of the dice. A comparison he was sure Luxord would love, but Axel didn't have time for games.

He sighed as he walked into the open courtyard, but he paused as he got a better decade underwater had certainly taken its toll, but it was a little hard to forget an old childhood haunt. Usually, a place he could run to when some antics had gone awry, or if he needed to blow off steam by challenging any daring kid to a fight.

That's right, he played with Ventus here a while back, didn't he? He had almost forgotten it over the years, but seeing Roxas had jostled the memory slightly. Of course, seeing the boy that had been seemingly sent to the future by 10 years made it much easier to remember. Not that it did much good, since Ventus effectively burned that bridge.

Axel shook his head and crossed his arms, how could he even care? They only really met once, and even if Axel tried to mess with him when they met again, he and Ventus weren't actually friends. More acquaintances than anything. Besides, he had actual friends to worry about. Erxart, Roxas, and not to mention there was Saïx.

Even if he kept Erxart and Roxas at arm's length for his investigation.

Or if he hadn't spent some time with Saïx in forever.

What did it matter? So what if he had some shady dealings, practically every Organization member did. It wasn't like it would really drive them apart, right?

"It's not like you to be this quiet."

"Saïx?" Axel started at the unexpected voice, turning to find the speaker walking towards him from a dark portal. Scratching the back of his head, Axel grinned and shot back, "It's not like you to pop in unannounced."

Saïx walked up beside Axel as he explained, "We have received intel that requires immediate attention." Folding his arms behind his back, Saïx looked to the fort standing in the corner of town, "Through planning and fortune, many of our targets have come together. And with your help, we shall neutralize some of the greatest threats to our organization."

"Wait, we?"

At Axel's question, Saïx simply smiled as two more figures in black cloaks emerged from the portal.