Chapter 214: Battle's Over, Another Begins

Sora's Shadow skidded to a halt and shielded his eyes as the outer barrier went down. It shattered just like the one from earlier did, and its shattering jostled Sora's bones. Sora's Shadow swore, and Sora grimaced, not liking how the words felt on his tongue.

The barrier hadn't been down four seconds before another went up.

It's Mickey's, Sora said, without hesitation. He could feel it was Mickey's. I'm sure he knows what he's doing. Just relax and focus on Maleficent! We've almost got her!

Maleficent's spell casting had become more frantic, and less accurate, as she tried finish them off before they could finish her. Fortunately, Sora wasn't tired, nor much wounded. At this rate, Maleficent wouldn't last much longer.

They ran at her again, but only got two steps. Sora's Shadow was flung out of Sora's body, and the force of it sent both of them flying. Sora skidded backwards a few yards, while his Shadow rolled and tumbled and nearly hit the barrier.

Sora pushed himself up, and gagged. His Shadow's stay in his body had lasted too long, and now Sora just felt woozy. And like he was going to lose his lunch. He tried to control his rebelling stomach, but he felt sick all over. His skin crawled. There was bile in his throat. And there was a pounding in his head that felt like it was going to beat his brains out.

Maleficent cackled, and Sora clutched the grass to anchor himself. He had to get up and fight. He had to get up and fight.

"How will you finish me off, now?" Maleficent asked. "Neither of you look in good enough shape to move." Despite her gloating tone, she struggled to get her words out. They were on opposite ends of the battlefield, and still Sora could hear her ragged breathing.

He turned to look at her, to prepare himself for when she inevitably came over to attack him, except she was heading towards his Shadow.

"I should've finished you off when I last saw you," Maleficent sneered, pinning Sora's Shadow to the ground with her staff. He cried out, and Sora cringed in sympathy. "But I guess it won't hurt to do it now. And once you're gone, I can take Sora back—"

"NO!"

Sora felt more than saw what happened next. Felt the fury. Felt his Shadow get to his feet and felt the darkness explode from him. When the blast cleared, Maleficent was gone, and then the barriers went down.

"I thought you couldn't hurt her…" Sora said, glaring at his Shadow.

His Shadow had collapsed onto his back, and squinted his eyes up at the sky. "Hell if I know," he muttered.

Sora started to pester, but then his stomach flipped again. He turned and promptly lost his lunch by one of the hedges.

"Curaga!" Daisy called. The healing energy flooded his veins, for which Sora was grateful. Unfortunately, it didn't do anything for his stomach, and he puked again.

"Sorry," he mumbled, wiping his mouth. No one appeared to hear him.

"Are you okay?" Minnie asked.

Sora looked up, but she wasn't asking him. She was asking his Shadow. Sora scrambled into a more upright position. That was a bad idea. His Shadow wasn't in a good mood—Sora'd been too busy puking to notice it ten seconds ago, but now he did. Their hearts were still connected, and Sora could feel how upset his Shadow was, even though he wasn't sure why his Shadow was so upset.

"I wouldn't do that—" he warned, but his Shadow vanished the moment the words left his mouth. "Oh," he sighed.

Now that his Shadow had left, Sora couldn't feel his emotions quite as clearly. They were still there, but they were noticeably weaker.

Minnie opened her mouth to say something, but didn't get the chance.

"Your Majesty!" came the unmistakable voice of Donald.

"Yer Majesty!" and there was Goofy. "We fixed it!"

"Yeah! Everything's solved!"

The two came bursting into the Garden, and Donald nearly mowed over a hedge in his excitement.

"What's solved?" Mickey asked, looking between the two of them.

"The problem with the Cornerstone!" Donald explains.

"Oh but, there's a magic door you need to come lock," Goofy said. "Then it'll be solved!"

"Huh?"

"We'll explain on the way!" Donald said, already taking off. "Hurry!"

"I'll look after Sora!" Minnie said, when Mickey turned back to look at her. "Go go!"

Mickey didn't hesitate a second more.

"I'm okay," Sora said, before Minnie could start fussing over him. "Really. Just a little shaken up, that's all." He pushed himself upright, and dusted himself off.

"Oh!" he could hear Goofy say. "D'ya think someone should go untie Pete?"

There was a pause.

"Did we leave him tied up?" Donald asked.

"I think we did…"

Sora chuckled a little at that. Maybe later he'd have to ask them what happened…

Something nudged him in the side, almost impatiently. He turned to see what it was, and nearly laughed when he found one of the enchanted brooms. It was carrying a sloshing bucket of water, and was angrily trying to sweep him to the side. It probably was here to clean up the, uh, mess he'd made.

"Sorry," Sora told it, moving. It, of course, didn't respond.

xxx

Namine sighed, set her blue pencil down, then took a good long moment deciding what color she wanted to do next. Riku was in Hollow Bastion—he'd wanted to return Aerith's book, seeing as he'd finished it. He said he wasn't going to be gone long, but Namine knew better.

It was fine, though. She hadn't exactly wanted to go with. She'd prefer not to be distracted while she was working on this picture.

Then again, if she hadn't wanted to be disrupted, maybe sitting in the Main Room had been a bad idea. Joseph and Toby were chasing each other around the room like normal—they'd leave down one of the hallways, but they'd always be back eventually. And, of course, in the usual silence of the Castle, almost every noise was distracting. She supposed she could move to her bedroom, but then she'd have to pack up her pencils to move them and…

…and that was a dark corridor.

She looked up, half expecting Riku, and was very surprised to see Xigbar.

"You!" he called, pointing a gun in Namine's general direction. She had a feeling he wasn't aiming to shoot, but it got the point across.

Namine swallowed. Swallowed again. Riku. She had to get to Riku.

She started to form a dark corridor—a bullet clipped her shoulder. She yelped in surprise, and pain. Xigbar simply reloaded his gun, took a few steps closer to her.

"I have orders to bring you in! Preferably unharmed." He paused, smirked. "We can make a couple exceptions, though. No one will know."

"I will!" Joseph cried. With surprising agility, he launched himself over the couch and landed nimbly in front of Namine.

Xigbar just clucked his tongue. "It'd be a shame if you got hurt, squirt!" he called. "So step out of the way!"

"No!"

"J-Joseph-" Namine croaked. Her heart pounded in her ears. Her hands were shaking so much she had to put her pencil down. "Step- step aside."

She couldn't have him getting hurt. Not because of her.

"No way!" Joseph shot her a look, appalled. "Riku'd kill me!"

"No he wouldn't," Namine replied, automatically. She swallowed again, trying to breathe deeply (it came out more in gasps). Terror was squeezing her heart and it was hard to think.

At least, she knew one thing: she couldn't run now without risking Joseph.

"What do you need her for!?" Alpha shouted, rushing over. "You already have Vexen!"

"And what if we need Namine, too?" Xigbar asked. "Is it really a tragedy?"

"You aren't getting her," Alpha said, and he summoned his lexicon. Joseph nodded firmly and took something of fighting stance.

It was all happening too fast. Namine could hardly find air to fill her lungs.

Xigbar rolled his head in an exaggerated eye roll. "Greaaat, now I've got you and the squirt to deal with!"

"And me!" That was 29, bustling over until he was between Joseph and Xigbar. He sent a look over his shoulder at the boy. "Joseph—"

"I'm not moving."

"Well… why don't you get Namine out of here?" 29 said, lowering his voice.

He shouldn't have bothered. Xigbar heard him, and immediately straightened.

"Now that!" he said. "I can't have you do that!" He aimed his gun straight at Joseph. "Don't take a step towards her or I shoot."

"I wouldn't if I were you." 29 took a step forward, further shielding Joseph.

"If you don't want your boy gettin' hurt, then you best keep him out of harm's way!"

29 turned to Joseph.

"Joseph, please—"

"I said I'm not moving!"

Namine closed her eyes shut, trying to focus. She didn't want Joseph to get hurt. She didn't want any of them to get hurt. She couldn't run. She couldn't stay.

This has to end.

The thought surprised her, but then it didn't. She was tired of this. They were sitting ducks here in Castle Oblivion. Now that the Organization had Vexen, it was only a matter of time before Xemnas decided to just get rid of them all. And since no one wanted to get Vexen…

…but everyone wanted to protect her.

It was obvious.

She got to her feet. "No, you're not moving," she said, pushing past Joseph, then 29. "But I am." She tried to look Xigbar in the eye—found she didn't have the courage too. Oh well. She was standing here. That was enough.

"Ohhh! So I am gonna get this done without a hitch!" Xigbar laughed.

Joseph grabbed her arm. "Namine, no!" he shouted. "You can't go with him!"

She pushed him off—though his grip was tight—and kept her attention on Xigbar.

"You- you won't hurt them, right?" she asked. "If- if I go with you."

"Didn't plan on hurting anyone unless it was necessary," Xigbar said.

Namine nodded. Took a deep breath. Stepped forward—

"Namine!" Alpha shouted after her. "Please! Riku will kill us if he finds out we let you do this!"

Namine shook her head. They were wrong about that, so wrong. Riku might get angry, might yell, yes, but killing any of them was an exaggeration. He'd only kill Xigbar, and the rest of the Organization while he was at it.

And then it would all be over.

"Namine you can't!" and now Alpha was blocking her, gripping her forearm tightly. He leaned closer and hissed in her ear: "They are going to Rewrite you and there is nothing I can do about it. I don't have a copy of your file. A copy of your file doesn't exist yet and it's not like I can just grab it before they edit it. I mean it's possible but there is no guarantee." He paused. Swallowed. "We won't be able to fix you."

Namine was trembling, now, and she dug her teeth into her lip. She shouldn't go. She didn't want to go. She had to go.

But the risks…

But the risks of staying.

"I- I'm… but-" She broke off, not sure what she was trying to say. She swallowed. Tried to continue without her voice cracking. "It's going- going to take them, what? T-two hours? At least, right?"

"I'd give them two hours at most."

That didn't help her nerves. Two hours and she'd be Rewritten, unless Riku could get to her before then.

She took a shuddering breath. Tried to laugh it off.

"Well, how long can it really take for Riku to rescue me? Not- not long, right?"

She said it more for her sake than for Alpha's.

She had to do this.

"I don't know—and are you really willing to risk the alternative?" She'd never heard Alpha so frustrated before. Well, frustrated, yes, but not like this. This was a different kind of frustration. This was a scared kind of frustration.

"Well—"

"Because if Riku doesn't get to you in time!"

He didn't finish. He didn't need to.

They'll rewrite me…. Namine finished for him, silently. And there's no going back…

She swallowed yet again. Gulped, really.

"I know," she said, and she stepped forward and into Xigbar's reach.

Alpha didn't try to pull her back, though Joseph shouted. Xigbar said something about how easy this had been, along with something else, but she hardly heard him.

Her heart was hammering.

She'd just signed her life away on the slim chance her debtors would die before they could claim their pay.

It was a risky gamble, and one she wasn't sure if she was going to win, either.