Silver Linings
Chapter 8: Stop Holding Back!
A/N: Sorry for ending the last chapter right before a massive boss fight. I'll try to make it up to you by releasing this as soon as possible. If you skipped right to the last chapter and haven't read Chapter 7 by now, please page back.
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Roxas' final mission...
When Roxas could see again, he was in a world he hadn't yet visited. It looked like a parlor or other room in a house, but everything was huge. All the furniture was so big that Roxas, Axel, and the thing Xion had become all looked like mice. Speaking of Xion, she spun into the air, then spread intricately decorated wings and brandished a large red sword. She spoke in that distorted voice. "Now you'll see! Sonic Blade!" Xion dove straight at Roxas so fast that she looked like a blur. Roxas had already jumped to the left side, and it saved his life.
Axel hopped to the right, and held his left hand over a disk of conjured fire. "Namine... Now I see why they called her a witch. Xion, tell me! What did she do to you?" The flaming disk burst and revealed one of Axel's chakrams, a ring-shaped weapon which spun rapidly until he gripped it.
Xion leveled her sword at her side, concentrating on her next strike at Axel. While Roxas was still dealing with the shock of the whole situation, she answered the question. "She told me everything. The true power of the Keyblade and Kingdom Hearts... Xemnas' ambitions... And also why I exist."
"She's manipulating you! She acts like she's right, but she's pulling your strings like a marionette!" Axel summoned his other chakram.
Xion growled. "What did you call me?" She began to glow, and her sword pulled back slightly.
"It means you're being her puppet, Xion! Got it memorized?" Axel threw a chakram straight at Xion's face, but she made no effort to block. The spikes dug into her featureless mask, then the ring rebounded to Axel's hand, leaving no mark.
Xion then launched her attack, a horizontal swing with such strength behind it that Axel couldn't possibly hope to block. "I am not a puppet! I'm doing this of my own will!"
An attack with such an obvious telegraph couldn't hope to catch Organization XIII's trained assassin. He leaped straight over it and launched a fireball at Xion's back. The flames left a blackened patch, like his enemy was made of fabric, but if Xion felt any pain, she didn't show it. Axel yelled over his shoulder. "Roxas! Help me out here! I'm not doing enough damage on my own!"
"But...I don't want to hurt Xion!" Roxas protested. If Axel had been looking, he would have seen tears fall from the boy's eyes.
Axel blocked Xion's overhead swing with the flat side of his chakram, but she used the rebound to spin into a thrust that went under Axel's guard. "Agh! Neat trick, Xion! Where'd you learn to fight like that? Roxas! Whether you want to hurt her or not, she's trying to destroy you! At times like these, you can either fight back or die!" Axel threw another chakram, which bounced off Xion's torso to no effect.
"But..." Roxas was still indecisive.
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With Lambda...
Across the room, however, an outsider was just getting her bearings. "Rebooting...loading...loading... Complete. Environment change recognized. Scanning...Current area is...Error. Memory quarantined. Open quarantine Y/N? ...Ugh, N. Why am I back here?" Lambda looked around, noting that she was small here again. The unmistakable sounds of clashing blades and roaring flames reached her from around the central table. "What is...? Better safe than sorry. Summoning Lux Sanctus! IDEA Engine linked! Murakumo, activate!" Now properly armed, Lambda moved around the table. The first thing she saw was the boy from her last day at Beast's Castle. Roxas, she recalled. He was crying as he looked at the battle, which came into view next. A man in a Black Coat with cherry-red hair that instantly screamed "FIRE" at anyone looking was exchanging blows from his chakrams with a strange being. "New targets acquired. Target 1 is a Nobody, likely a member of Organization XIII. Target 2 is...target identified as Xion? What happened to her?!" Lambda turned and got the attention of the only familiar face in the room. "Hey, Roxas! That's Xion, isn't it? What happened just now?"
"Who are you?!" Roxas jumped away from Lambda, and finally summoned his Keyblade.
"I'm the one of the 'impostors' the Organization was looking for, but my real name is Lambda. I got caught in that wave of Darkness, and it looks like I missed something big!"
"I was told to search for Xion after she went missing, but when she found us, she started talking about puppets and memories, and she looked like some guy she called Sora, and then she turned into that and brought us here to try and kill us!"
"Well, that makes no sense whatsoever..." Roxas had to be missing some info on what caused Xion to flip out like this, and his explanation wasn't much help to Lambda.
"But it's happening right now! If you're not here to help, then stay out of our way!" Roxas turned to the fight and ran in.
"Did you finally pull it together, Roxas? See if the Keyblade can hurt her!" The red-haired man yelled as he blocked an overhead swing and dodged the follow-through.
"I'll try, Axel!" Roxas circled behind Xion, only to have the Replica turn to face him instead of Axel. He swung horizontally as Xion swung vertically, and both blows connected. Roxas took a hit to his arm, stumbled and had to jump back to make some room, but at least Xion had received visible damage in the form of a rip in her cloth-like outer layer. Nothing but Darkness was visible inside. "Ow! Xion, why? Cure!" Roxas raised the Keyblade skyward and cast a simple healing spell. The cut on his arm glowed green and sealed up, no longer releasing the characteristic black smoke from a wounded Nobody.
Lambda called, "Roxas, can you keep using that healing spell?"
"I can only cast Cure four more times today! What of it?"
"Save it for life-threatening wounds! You could have taken three more hits like that and continued to fight! Geez, what do they teach you at the Organization?"
"Lexaeus was more of a school of hard knocks, as I recall, and Larxene was totally unqualified to teach anything to anyone, much less teach Roxas magic," Axel piped up. "It hardly matters, since both of them were terminated at C.O.! You're the impostor, anyway! Why would you care?"
"Because Roxas just did the most visible damage yet! You need him alive and effective to win this!"
"And you care about the outcome...because?" Axel jumped back to dodge Xion's combo, which slashed three times at thin air while Roxas was cutting at her back.
"Because I can't leave! The Darkness isn't responding to my attempts to make a Corridor, and I think she's the reason! And also... Xion, I'm sorry!"
Xion suddenly froze mid-swing, and held herself completely motionless. "Sorry for what?"
"I apologize for what I said at Beast's Castle. I went over the line, especially since I'm a lot like you. I'm as fake as a person can get, eleven times removed from both the template I was copied from and just as far from being what my creators wanted. They wanted a sword to kill gods, and I'm not it. But I am me, and you should be, too!"
Xion held still for one more second, then shook her head. "You don't really understand. If I keep being me, Sora loses his chance. Roxas will suffer, and I'll be used against the worlds! I'll show you how hopeless my existence is!" Xion curled into the fetal position and levitated into the air. Lambda summoned a sword to knock her down, canceling the attempt to create a healing barrier.
"I'm sorry for this, too, Xion. It looks like you won't back down, and I need to get out of here or Riku will worry about me. So I've got to beat you as quickly as possible."
Surprisingly, Xion's wings and sword vanished in golden sparkles. Was she done fighting? "Fine by me. Haaah!" No, she wasn't finished yet. Xion spread Darkness from one hand, covering the area again.
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Halloween Town: Oogie's Mansion Ruins...
The new battleground was a giant stone clearing surrounded by a spiked fence, in...Halloween Town, Lambda's scans revealed. A barrier immediately formed around the perimeter marked by the fence, trapping the fighters inside. Xion was now in the center of the area, fifty meters away, and carried a strange weapon, which looked like a cross between a sword and a pair of jaws. "How's this?" Xion rose into the air, with her jaw-sword wide open in front of her. Orange energy began to gather between its teeth. "Ragnarok!" The orb of energy split into twenty projectiles that spiraled through the air in three groups, with each group homing in on one of Xion's enemies. Lambda responded with a storm of daggers from her Legacy Edge attack, canceling all the projectiles headed her way and knocking Xion out of the air.
"Xion, stop it!" Roxas pointed his Keyblade right at Xion. "All I wanted was for the three of us to eat ice cream at the special spot together! What happened to us being friends?!" A beam of Light lanced from the Keyblade right into Xion as she got to her feet.
Xion screamed as the Light tore a clean, circular hole right through her chest. "I wanted to be friends, but you said we had to ask Axel, remember? I'm not going to grasp at a false friendship that can only end up making you weaker! Even if you end up hating me for it, I'm doing this for more than just me or just you!" Xion's voice was as defiant as it had been the whole time, but her body slumped over, and her jaw-sword disappeared. She recovered swiftly, though, and punched the ground beneath her, sending out yet another wave of Darkness.
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The Cave of Wonders: Lamp Chamber...
The new area was considerably smaller, with four stone blocks around the perimeter creating higher vantage points. Lambda jumped to the one on her left before taking a good look at Xion's latest form.
Mostly, she still looked like a Sora puppet, and her recent wounds had vanished. However, she now had four arms, each carrying a massive scimitar. The blades glowed as she chased Roxas down with several slashes. "Can you keep up?" Axel tried to get in a few attacks from behind, but then Xion called out, "Ars Arcanum!" She followed the shout by spinning horizontally through the air with blades extended, like a pinwheel of sharp death. Axel was torn up by the attack, and dropped back out of the fight for now. Roxas barely managed to roll clear of Xion's flight path.
Lambda, however, had spent the time locking on, and dropped a Calamity Sword right on Xion's head as she came to a stop. The puppet was forced to her knees. "Target damage: 60%. If you keep this up, you really will die, Xion!"
"You! I won't let an outsider like you ruin this! This is between Roxas and me! AaaaAAAH!" Xion clutched her head as all four scimitars and the two extra arms vanished. Her scream turned from a screech of anger to a howl of pain as she rose into the air. Darkness rushed out of her as the puppet form she'd taken on up to this point was ripped apart.
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In a black space...
"Did she die?" Lambda wondered, looking around. "Where are we?" They hadn't reappeared in a new battleground this time. The whole place was pitch black.
"Thanks for your help, whoever you are!" Axel called over to Lambda. "If you hadn't been there, she might have killed us instead! Still, where is-"
Roxas interrupted. "Xion!"
"No, I meant to ask about an exit..." Roxas wasn't listening. He was chasing after an image of the black-haired Xion he knew, an image only he could see. He'd almost caught up, and she turned around. He'd see her face in a second... but the Darkness ripped open, dispelling the illusion and revealing that he and the others were standing on thin air, level with the secret spot in Twilight Town. An ironic place to have to battle Xion's completed, enormous puppet form... She wielded two identical swords that were vaguely reminiscent of Keyblades, each one more than three times longer than Roxas was tall. She still had the vague silhouette of Sora, but there was a lot more armor and detail on her now.
"Scanning... Target's damage is at 85%. Target's threat level has increased to SS. Danger. Recommend maximum firepower." Lambda finished scanning and took up a spot at the edge of the invisible barrier on which they stood.
"Why, Xion? Why go this far?" Roxas was crying again.
"Because it has to be done." Xion didn't offer any more explanations as she crossed her swords. Two golden tassels floating around her shoulders began to glow, then thin beams of Light blasted from the ends and etched a cross into the invisible battlefield. An explosion followed, knocking all three combatants into the air.
"Lambda? Lambda!" From below, Lambda heard a voice she'd been missing since the mishap in Beast's Castle. Riku charged up the ramp, blindfold turned up to stare directly at Lambda.
"Riku! Can you help? We're fighting a demigod-level Replica up here!"
"I'll see what I can do!" Riku summoned Soul Eater, and leaped straight up. He crashed through the barrier, leaving a jagged hole of visible energy like broken glass. "What is that?"
"That's Xion, the one we met back at Beast's Castle. She's gone berserk! She thinks if she kills Roxas here, it will help Sora wake up, or something."
"Then which side should I fight for? I want Sora to wake up, too!"
"I...I can't believe I totally forgot about that. I guess we should withdraw for now; like she said, this is between her and Roxas. We shouldn't have interfered." Lambda jumped down through the hole, and Riku followed.
"Thanks a bunch, impostors! Yeah, just leave us to fight a demigod-level Replica all by ourselves!" Axel pushed himself up off the barrier. "You must have a death wish, Xion! Well, come on, then!" The redhead allowed flames to lick around his body, then heaved both of his chakrams at Xion as flaming disks. When they simultaneously collided with the giant, who was far too large and slow to even think about dodging or blocking, a giant explosion blasted her. "And that is how we burn, baby!"
"Is that your best, Axel?" The smoke cleared to reveal that Xion was entirely unharmed. "Stop holding back!" Xion placed her blades together in parallel, and channeled Light into them. Then she launched a pillar of energy skyward. Lambda grabbed Riku and got under the unbroken part of the barrier as pillars of Light lanced down all over the battlefield. Roxas rolled left and right, but found himself drawn into a vortex of wind right where most of the pillars dropped. Axel didn't fare much better, having cleared the vortex trap only to be caught by three pillars in rapid succession.
Roxas pushed himself to his feet. "Okay, Xion. You asked for it. I won't hold back anymore!" He began to glow with a shining aura, and his Keyblade was covered in a giant sheath of Light that effectively doubled its size. He launched forward in a wild string of slashes that ripped Xion's armor asunder. The final blow raised Roxas' own pillars of Light to swirl around him and rush off in all directions, slicing Xion's giant arms clean off. At last, the giant Replica fell out of the air in the spot she'd hovered all this time. There was a sound like a single bell, followed by the barrier cracking beneath them. As the invisible floor shattered, Roxas and Axel fell to the ground, but they landed lightly.
Xion's giant puppet form dissolved into Darkness, leaving behind the familiar black-haired girl... But it seemed she wasn't so familiar anymore. Roxas clutched his head. "Who are you...again? It's weird, I feel like I'm forgetting something really important..."
Xion fell to her knees at Roxas' feet. "You'll be...better off now...Roxas." She slumped over to the side, all her strength gone. Roxas dove to catch her in his arms, dismissing the Keyblade.
"Am I the one who did this to you?"
"What happened to everyone's memory?" Lambda whispered to herself, a safe distance from the tragic parting about to take place. "I know exactly what we did just now, who that is, everything."
"Then who is she?" Riku asked at Lambda's side. "It's all pretty fuzzy to me."
"I think we should just listen for now." Lambda and Riku began to pay attention just as Xion worked up enough strength to answer Roxas.
"No, it was my choice...to go away now. I belong with Sora. And now, I'm going back to be with him. Goodbye, Roxas. See you again. I'm glad I got to meet you. You're my best friend, Roxas. Never forget." Xion reached a gloved hand up to softly cup Roxas' cheek. "That's the truth." And as soon as she said it, her touch restored truth, and Roxas remembered with perfect clarity.
"No! If you go away, we'll never have ice cream together again! How can we be friends then?"
Axel stumbled over to Lambda. "Everything Roxas knows, he learned from me. Everything. I told him friends are people who laugh when they have ice cream together, so that's his whole view of the concept of friendship. Don't mock him for it; he's just a kid, after all. Got it memorized?" With that, Axel opened a Dark Corridor. "I hate this whole state of affairs, but someone has to tell Sai'x we're going to be down two Keyblade wielders. Might as well be his own 'friend' who breaks the news to him." He stumbled through the Corridor and out of sight.
"...I need you to do me a favor. All those hearts that I've captured... Kingdom Hearts... Set them free." Xion murmured to Roxas. Lambda had to strain to hear her.
"Free them? Why... Wait! Xion, you...!" Xion's body began to crystallize, forming jagged chunks of ice and solid Light power from her feet up.
"It's too late...for me to help them. But you can't let Xemnas...have Kingdom Hearts. You can't. I...have to go now. See you again, Roxas..." Xion's eyes shut for the last time, and she vanished into sparkles that rose high into the air. All that was left in Roxas' hand was a single seashell.
"I remember... You left these for me while I was sleeping. You were thinking about me the whole time. I won't forget you, Xion. I'll free Kingdom Hearts for you, and we can be together again." Roxas pocketed the seashell, and formed a Dark Corridor.
As soon as Roxas disappeared through the Corridor, DiZ's voice echoed around the plaza. "Riku, after him!"
"Why? What's wrong? What the heck just happened?"
"Part of Sora's memory has returned to him, but the other part is with Roxas. If he tries to go through with this, the Organization will tear him apart. And unlike...the other, whose name escapes me, if he dies out there, he won't be able to return his share of Sora's memories and power. Go, now! There's no time to worry about the Darkness!" DiZ opened another Corridor, and Riku nodded.
"I'll get him back. Lambda, you coming?"
"Definitely. I'll tell you what everyone forgot on the way." Riku and Lambda entered the Dark Corridor hand in hand this time.
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The World That Never Was: Memory's Skyscraper...
Riku and Lambda emerged from the Corridor in pounding rain. They were atop a pitch black building covered in unreadable neon signs, the tallest structure in a city that spread out as far as the eye could see. Above them, Lambda could see a small, heart-shaped Light, like a moon, but it was hanging in the sky below the storm clouds. "Is that Kingdom Hearts?"
"Yeah," Riku answered. "I can tell. I can see it perfectly, right through the blindfold. But where's Roxas?"
"Scanning... Roxas located. Axel located. Roxas is headed toward us at walking speed...and his power is off the charts! How much was Xion keeping from him?"
"Well find out soon. I just hope we're strong enough..."
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The World That Never Was: Alley to Between...
Roxas appeared in the city, far from the Castle That Never Was. He didn't want to give away his mission too early by starting inside, where Sai'x would question him. He grit his teeth and started forward.
Around the corner, Axel was leaning against a wall. Roxas walked past him without a word, his purpose clear in every step. Axel let him pass, but said, "Your mind's made up?"
Roxas stopped walking, but didn't turn around. "Why did Xemnas need the Keyblade from me? I have to know."
"You can't turn on the Organization!" Axel burst out. "You get on their bad side and they'll destroy you! I should know... I carried out that system myself. Got it memorized?"
Roxas continued walking, casting his words casually over his shoulder. "No one would miss me."
"That's not true!" Axel called out on instinct. Then he slumped over and whispered, "...I would." Surprisingly, Axel meant what he said. He would miss those days on the Station Tower with Roxas. Am I...sad right now? How...? Axel saw that Roxas would not be swayed. He was doing as his heart commanded, something no member of Organization XIII could achieve.
Roxas had always been different. Now Axel saw just how much the boy had actually grown during his tutelage. Well, time to report back to the Superior. This was the ickiest job Axel had ever pulled.He braced himself for his next mission, which would probably be to bring Roxas back.
As for the blond, he heard Axel's every word, but his only response was to put up his hood. As he passed out of sight of the fire master, Neoshadow Heartless rose from the ground. These powerful Heartless were the reason the newer members of the Organization weren't allowed in the city; each one was as strong as the Darkside he'd beaten with the help of...Who was it again?! It was important! She was important!
Operating on instinct alone, Roxas summoned a Kingdom Key in each hand. He raised them over his head, and channeled his overflowing emotions into them to alter their shapes. Xemnas was lying! He claimed emotion was forever beyond a Nobody's reach, but now Roxas would take this grief and turn it into power! He cut through Neoshadows three at a time. The white Keyblade, Oathkeeper, and the black Keyblade, Oblivion, ripped through the horde of boss-level Heartless like they weren't there. And when he was done, they weren't. He dashed ahead, barreling towards his fate at full speed, until it led him to the empty lot in front of Memory's Skyscraper.
There were more Neoshadows here, but Roxas wasn't concerned. Instead, he looked up at the dark presences he felt above him. At the top of Memory's Skyscraper, silhouetted against the nascent Kingdom Hearts, were the impostors, Riku and Lambda. Roxas dodged around Neoshadows as they pounced and tackled, making his way to the skyscraper. Then he took advantage of the absolute Light power flowing through him and the world's already unstable physics to run straight up the side. Riku jumped off and dove downward at him, unarmed. Enraged, Roxas hurled Oblivion up towards him, but he miscalculated how far it had to go. It slowed down just as Riku passed by, allowing the blindfolded warrior to grab it by the handle. Roxas ran up, Riku dove down, and they locked hidden eyes as they passed each other as if in slow motion. Then Roxas kicked off the building and landed in a crouch just as Riku did.
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Riku's perspective...
As Riku grasped the inexpertly-thrown Keyblade, something tugged at his heart. As he passed Roxas and stared into the darkness under his hood, he saw a series of images. Another hooded figure, defeated on the ground, screaming in despair. A girl with black hair, collecting seashells on the beach. The same girl, dying in Roxas' arms. X...
Then the memories, both his and hers, faded into static. The image finally cut out, and Riku and Roxas realized they were on the ground, surrounded by Neoshadows. Before they could deal with each other, they cut up the horde of Heartless with equal ease. Roxas' Oathkeeper spun around, slicing through even the Neoshadows that tried to ambush him from behind. Riku was the one doing the ambushing on the other side of the clearing (the cardinal directions were as meaningless in this Realm as everything else). Once the field was clear of Heartless, the two realized again that they were enemies, and jumped to opposite sides of the lot.
"Who are you, anyway?" Roxas tore his hood down to glare at his opponent.
"Someone from the dark. I can't have you just wandering around. The Organization will destroy you."
"But I've got to set Kingdom Hearts free! If I do that, everything will go back to the way it was! Axel and...the other girl...we can all have ice cream together at last!"
Lambda jumped off the Skyscraper and landed next to Riku. She hadn't been needed before, but now the true battle was about to begin. "Other girl? You mean Xion, right?"
Riku knew what Roxas was going through better. "It's a struggle just to remember the name now, isn't it? All our memories of her are following her back, alongside our memories of Sora."
"Sora, Sora, Sora! Enough about Sora! I'm getting Xion back, and freeing Kingdom Hearts is the only way!"
"So you remember her last request, but not where she said she was going. She's returned to Sora. Come with us, and we'll take you to him." Lambda extended a hand toward Roxas, but the Nobody swung Oathkeeper in challenge.
"I'm not going to listen to you people! I'll go to him...by going through you!" Roxas tried to summon Oblivion back to his hand, but it remained in Riku's hand. "What? You...! I'll kill you!"
Roxas charged forward, bouncing off Riku's Dark Shield. But before Riku could retaliate, Roxas slipped behind him and struck at his neck. Riku did a handspring to escape.
Lambda entered Battle Mode. She caught Roxas by surprise with Sickle Storm, grinding at his legs and causing the rogue Nobody to stumble. However, Roxas vanished into a shining ball of Light and zoomed into melee range. When he reappeared, he did so with a swirling barrier of Light pillars, and Lambda was forced to backdash. Riku leaped in from overhead, but Roxas jumped after him and knocked him to the ground.
Roxas carefully watched Riku's prone form. Riku yelled, "Why? Why won't you come with us?"
"Shut up!" Roxas moved to strike, but Riku did his famous kip-up attack. Just like all those duels on Destiny Islands, Riku turned the tables and got back in the game. Now Roxas was the one flat on his back.
Riku walked over, and seeing that Roxas did not respond, thrust Oblivion into the street next to his head. Almost as soon as he did, though, Roxas reached over to grab it and came up swinging.
Riku jumped backwards halfway across the lot. "Come on, Sora! I thought you were stronger than that," Riku taunted, using the same words that always motivated his rival into action.
"Get real! Look which one of us is winning!" At this point, Roxas' rage faded for a moment, as he realized he responded automatically to the wrong name.
"So it's true. You really are his Nobody. I guess DiZ was right for once."
"What are you talking about?! I am me! Nobody else!" Roxas rushed forward again, running right through Riku's Dark Firaga and sundering his Dark Shield. Where was he getting all this power? Riku was unarmed, and now badly wounded. He fell to one knee.
"Riku! No!" Lambda rushed over to his aid, but Roxas raised Oblivion skyward and dropped three pillars of Light on Lambda, each one hitting with deadly accuracy and three times the power of the similar attack Xion used. Lambda fell to the ground, and Murakumo disappeared.
Riku! You have to stop him!
Something inside Riku snapped at that moment. He forced himself to his feet, and brought a hand to his head. "Fine. You've left me with no other choice. To save Sora and now Lambda, I have to release the power in my heart...the dark power that I've been holding back." Riku undid his blindfold, and let it fall to the ground. Roxas froze as he saw Riku's eyes.
They were golden.
"I'll do it... Even if it changes me forever! RrrrAHH!" A massive column of Darkness blasted out of the ground at Riku's feet, lancing skyward and shrouding him from view. The power blowing out of the column pushed Roxas back several paces.
The Darkness cleared, and both onlookers were shocked at what they saw.
"What...?"
"Ansem...?"
Ansem, dressed in a Black Coat and with his Guardian floating behind him, smirked at Roxas. Before the moment of shock wore off, he moved with blurring speed, seeming to appear directly in front of Roxas. The Guardian reached out and took hold of Roxas by the neck with both of its dark hands, choking the Nobody with undeniable strength. The last thing Roxas heard before he passed into unconsciousness was a completely different voice. If domination and ruin had one voice, they would sound like Ansem. "I have accepted it."
Oathkeeper and Oblivion fell out of Roxas' hands. As they clattered to the ground, they vanished in mirrored flashes of white and black. The Guardian slackened its grip and lowered the unconscious Roxas to the ground.
Lambda pushed herself to her feet. She feared the worst, but her scans identified the man as Riku, albeit a Riku with exponentially greater command of the Power of Darkness. "Riku...?"
Riku turned to look at Lambda with Ansem's eyes, but she could see the affection in them. When he spoke, he did so in his true voice. "Yeah, it's me. This is what I was afraid of: that following where the Darkness led would lead me to become Ansem. But I'll do it, if it can help you guys in any way."
Lambda smiled. That was the Riku she knew. "Don't worry. I know it's you. I do hope you can one day get your own face back, though. Remember what I said about your eye color?"
"Heh. Yeah, I remember. Oh, here comes DiZ. Mind if I mess with him?" Riku drew his hood up as DiZ approached.
"I see you've succeeded. We must make haste."
Riku spoke in Ansem's voice. "DiZ... He could feel Sora."
DiZ paused for a moment, but it was anyone's guess as to whether the enigma noticed Riku's change in height and voice. "He told you how he 'felt,' did he? Ridiculous. A Nobody cannot feel anything."
"He would disagree. Isn't that what matters?" Lambda asked, but DiZ merely scoffed again.
"If he had met Sora, things might have been different." Riku picked Roxas up and carried him through the Dark Corridor DiZ had come through, followed by Lambda.
DiZ chuckled to himself as he stood alone in the rain and Darkness. "I'm still a fool, aren't I? I've held onto blatantly false hypotheses for so long, I'm just as bad as him. But I can't stop now. Xehanort...I'll defeat you yet." The red-cloaked enigma followed the children through the Dark Corridor. There was much to do.
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A/N: Thus ends the Kingdom Hearts: Three Five Eight Days Over Two (what a ridiculous title for a game!) section of Silver Linings! Next chapter will deal with Kokonoe's attempts to resolve the Time Break, and at least part of Roxas' brief stay in a digital Twilight Town.