Chapter 166: Oathkeeper
"Hey, Sora," Roxas said.
"Yeah?" Sora replied, slowly. He seemed maybe a little worried.
"This is gonna sound stupid," Roxas continued. "But, ah, you want to swap Keyblades for a few minutes?"
Sora raised his eyebrows. "Why?" he asked.
Roxas shrugged. "Why not?" He grinned slightly. To be honest, he was really just curious. Sora was the first—was he the first?—other Keyblade wielder he'd met. And there was something about Sora's Keyblade…
"Alright," Sora said after a moment, handing his Keyblade out to Roxas.
Roxas handed his Keyblade to Sora, and took Sora's Keyblade. As soon as his fingers closed around it, a jolt shot through him. He gasped. There was a rush of wind, a flash of light—
"Let's go to the beach!"
"Sure thing. Next time I get a day off."
"We could run away together."
"Why don't we just go?"
"Promise, Roxas."
"Promise."
Promise.
Roxas turned away slightly, shielding his eyes. Sora's Keyblade had taken on a different—brighter—form in his hand. It was almost painful to look at, it was so filled with light. But, looking at it… looking at it caused something to stir in the back of his mind. Something…
"A promise…" he muttered. "Xi—"
The word wouldn't leave his lips.
"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed, staring. "How did you—"
"I don't know," Roxas interrupted, staring at the Keyblade, but not really seeing it. His mind was elsewhere. "It just… happened." Xi—
"You okay?" Sora asked. "You look a little dazed."
"I…" Roxas laughed, slightly. "There's this… word. On the tip of my tongue. Xi- Shi… ah…. I can't finish it. It's gone. Whatever it was is gone."
It was gone, and all it left behind was a sound on his tongue. A word begging to be finished. A promise waiting to be fulfilled.
Suddenly the thought of holding this Keyblade made him ache. Part of him wanted to give it back to Sora, because it was almost unbearable. He'd broken a promise and he shouldn't be holding it.
But another part of him wanted to hold on, because maybe that would help him remember whatever it was.
"Finish what?" Sora asked. "All I hear you saying is 'she'."
"Yeah, well," Roxas sighed. "I don't know. It feels like… a name." A name? No. "A word. I don't know."
"What sort of name?" Sora asked. "A girl's name?"
Roxas thought he heard a bit of teasing in Sora's tone, but it didn't change anything. He just shook his head. "I really don't know. It's gone. All that's left is 'shi'—that sound."
Sora shrugged, unable to help.
"It's probably nothing," Roxas said. "Something from a dream or something." He laughed, then. "You ever have a dream, where you wake up and have this nasty feeling you've forgotten something really important about it, but when you finally remember it, it turns out to be something ridiculous like a dragon named Stanley? That's probably all this is…" He looked down at Sora's Keyblade again. "Why'd it change like this? I certainly didn't do anything."
Sora shrugged. "It's… ah, done it before. I think. Pretty sure it has. Last time. Someone else. Held it." His words were slow, like he was having trouble remembering something. Roxas knew that feeling.
"Mine changed, too," Roxas said, nodding at his. "It didn't used to look like that."
"Really?" Sora asked. He lifted Roxas's Keyblade up, looking it over. "So it wasn't all… dark and kind of evil looking?"
"It's not evil!" Roxas laughed. "But, no, I don't think it was always like that. I mean. I'm sure it wasn't. I just don't remember what it used to look like."
"Huh." Sora grimaced. "We gonna trade back?" he asked. "Or do you want to fight Heartless like this? I mean, I guess I don't mind, but, y'know, there's something about having your own Keyblade…"
Roxas nodded. "Alright." He tossed Sora's Keyblade to his left hand, and took his Keyblade back from Sora. Another jolt went through him the moment his fingers touched the hilt.
"Oi, leave some for me, won't you!"
"Hey, bet you can't kill twenty Heartless before I can!"
"You can wield a Keyblade, too?"
"…you have a Keyblade, why can't you—"
"Because I'm a—"
"Please, I can't let you—"
"…and Roxas, I'm sorry."
"Xi…"
Sora pulled his hand away, quickly. "What was that?" he asked, his eyes wide.
Roxas shook his head. It was throbbing a little.
"I dunno."
"Well, can I have my Keyblade back?"
"One sec…" Roxas swung the Keyblades around, slicing through the air. It was… familiar, somehow. Natural. He grinned. "Y'know, it'd be really cool to be able to wield two Keyblades all the time!"
Sora laughed. "Sure. I'd still like mine back, though."
"Can I try this out on some Heartless first?" Roxas asked. "We just have to go find some, and then I'll give it back."
"And you'll leave me defenseless?"
"Well…" Roxas frowned. "You can use magic, right?"
"I'm not very good at it," Sora muttered.
"I'm sure you'll be fine! You just have to survive for a few minutes!" Roxas smiled again. "Besides, it'll be great practice, y'know? For you. With your magic."
Sora sighed, but didn't argue.
xxx
Riku read for the rest of the day, and well into the night, despite his headache growing persistently worse. He didn't mention it, though, knowing Aerith would tell him to stop reading. He ended up dozing off about halfway through the final book of the series, exhausted for some reason, and his mind too filled with dragons and wizards to keep him up with worries.
Of course, that turned out to not quite being a good thing. He ended up having strange dreams about… being a prince—or was he a king?—and… running around trying to do something. Not that he could remember what. And Namine was there. Or was it Namine? He… thought it was her.
"What's it matter? It's not like you-"
But there were wizards chasing them, and the dragons weren't being helpful, and then Joseph was there, but he was a wizard, and—
Wait.
No.
What was—
Namine…
Namine… where are you…
"…going?"
A jolt went through him and he was on the ground. But not the grass he'd been running through. Cold. Hard. White floor.
He shivered, but he pushed himself up. Or, tried to. He didn't get far. Something was holding him down.
A… boot?
"Aww, what did he say?"
No.
"I can't have heard him right!"
You-
"You didn't…"
What?
"Namine!"
He couldn't see her from this angle. But he knew that she shook her head sadly, her blue eyes stained with sorrow, every one of her muscles slumped in defeat. There was no escaping their fate. For either of them.
But that doesn't mean we have to face it alone.
"Namine, how could you—"
"I'm sorry- I just-"
But.
"But I thought—"
"Oh you thought?" Larxene's laugh pierced through him, much like the lightning she wielded. "How precious! And what did you think, hmm?"
He couldn't see her. Not with his face forced into the floor like this. But he knew she was bending down next to him. Lips inches from his ear.
"Did you really, honestly, think that you loved her?"
No.
"No I-"
A searing pain shot through his head until everything blurred. When the pain finally subsided enough that he could open his eyes, he was surprised to see that he was face down on the wooden floor of Aerith's house. He quickly pushed himself up, and bashed his head on the coffee table in doing so.
Ah, so that'd be why his head hurt so much in the first place. He must've hit it on the way down…
Riku got up, slower this time so he wouldn't hit his head on anything again. He picked up his book from where it'd fallen. He opened it, trying to find his spot, when he heard something outside. Without second thought, he abandoned the book and rushed out the door.
It didn't take him long to notice the Heartless that were popping up all over the area. Most of them were just wandering idly about, looking for prey, but a few of the larger ones were going after the buildings.
He made his way over to them, killing everything else in his path while he was at it. Most Heartless died in one swipe of his blade. Some took a bit longer, but he didn't have to devote much attention to very many of them. Only the really big ones. It was a refreshing feeling.
I forgot how good it felt to be able to kill things like this, Riku thought, smirking.
If there was anything he missed, it was this. Staying in Castle Oblivion and only having to worry about fighting something once a week was nice, but killing Heartless was much more satisfying. There was no life or death. No panicking. No need to worry about anything. Because Heartless were tiny. Weaklings. They weren't a threat.
They were just a nuisance.
"Riku?"
That was Aerith. He turned around to face her, though he didn't pause in killing Heartless as he did so. Why bother? It's not like he was incapable of multitasking.
Aerith smiled at him. "I thought you'd be out here," she said, sending a blast of fire—maybe Fira? Firaga?—at the nearing Heartless.
"Where's everyone else?" he asked, slashing through a Bookmaster before it could start putting up barriers.
"I woke Cid up. He'll take care of it."
Riku raised his eyebrows. "Cid?" Of all people she could've chosen to wake up…
"Well, I yelled, and he responded," Aerith clarified. "I didn't have time to actually wake anyone up—I had to make sure you were okay."
"Were you really worried about me?" Riku couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. Clearly, he was just fine. He'd killed three Neoshadows in a matter of seconds.
"Well, I did promise Namine to make sure you wouldn't get hurt," Aerith said, a hint of laughter in her voice. "We all did. And you can never be too careful."
He smiled. "Right."
"Behind you!"
He turned and killed the Heartless that'd been aiming for his head without hesitation.
"I heard it coming, but thanks."
Aerith smiled.
"You're welcome."
xxx
"Where are all the Heartless, anyway?" Sora asked. He and Roxas had been walking for a few minutes now, and they hadn't seen any. Which was annoying, because Sora'd really like his Keyblade back.
Roxas shrugged. "The town's been pretty empty, lately," he said. "It's like something's getting rid of the Heartless."
Sora froze. That's right. Wasn't there something about a threat to the Heartless? That's why he was here. He was supposed to get rid of it.
Not that he'd be able to do much without a Keyblade. The sooner they found Heartless—just a single Heartless, even—the better.
Roxas started poking around behind a statue. "Maybe there's one… aha!" He jumped back, blades ready, as a… Search Ghost popped out. At least Sora thought it was a Search Ghost. It was in the same family as the Search Ghost, anyway.
"I'll take care of it!" Roxas said. He launched himself at the Search Ghost.
Sora watched him attack, eyes going wide. For someone who had most likely never held more than one Keyblade in his life, Roxas was fighting surprisingly well. Well enough that he made it look easy. It was practiced. Perfect. Each swing calculated exactly. Each blow preformed with a graceful precision.
It made Sora jealous.
He looked away, quickly.
"Stop showing off," he called, trying to sound casual and joking about it. He wasn't sure if he succeeded.
Roxas just grinned, now that the Heartless was gone. He handed Sora's Keyblade back to him. Sora snatched it away from him. Immediately it morphed back to its original form—plain and gold and silver, cracked in quite a few places. Just the sight of it disgusted Sora.
"You want to try?" Roxas asked, holding out his Keyblade to Sora.
Sora stared at him for a minute, then went ahead and took it. Almost surprisingly, it didn't change form—didn't break—once it touched his skin. He stared at it for a moment, then shifted how he was holding it, trying to get a better grip. It felt weird in his left hand regardless.
Sora shifted his stance, then took a few practice swings.
"Nice!" Roxas said.
He didn't sound impressed, though.
Sora wanted to scream. No matter what he did, no matter how he swung the blades, it felt awkward. Awful. Pathetic. Nothing like the precision Roxas could somehow wield them with.
He handed Roxas's Keyblade back before the feeling of being hopelessly inferior drove him mad.
Roxas was better than him. Roxas knew more than him. It was a surprise Sora had even survived out in the Worlds. In fact, if Maleficent hadn't needed him for whatever it was, he probably wouldn't have. He useless out on his own.
"Hey what's that?" Roxas asked, suddenly.
Sora turned, grateful for the distraction. Roxas had, most likely, been referring to the strange branch… claw… thing that was sticking out of the ground. Before either of them could get closer to examine it, it snatched up Heartless that was trying to scurry past and disappeared back into the ground.
"So that's what's taking the Heartless!" Roxas exclaimed.
"Where's it taking them, though?" Sora asked, eyes narrowing.
"Ahh…" Roxas thought for a second. "This way," he said, after a moment, and started off.
Sora reluctantly followed after him.