Chapter 217: did this
Mickey and Sora arrived in the World that Never Was.
Sora summoned his blade, figuring it was better to have it ready, and took a look at their surroundings. They were in a room that looked vaguely arena-like. The large balcony above them was clearly where you were supposed to stand to watch whatever was going on in this area below. Sora gulped, a little nervous, not exactly liking their current position.
"Where do we need to be going?" he asked, turning to look at Mickey.
"Not sure," Mickey replied, his voice lowered quite dramatically. "But maybe ya should try 'n keep your voice down. We are in Organization 13's stronghold, and there's no need to draw any extra atten—" His voice cut off as the sound of a dark corridor opening reached them. "Never mind," he sighed, summoning his Keyblade.
"Well isn't it just a party around here?" Xigbar called.
At the sound of his voice, Sora looked up. Xigbar was standing up on the balcony above them, and even from the distance Sora could tell he was grinning.
"We've already got Riku screwing things up in one half of the castle, and now we have you. Isn't that wonderful?" It sounded like Xigbar was being sarcastic, but the grin seemed legitimate and what he said next made Sora doubt the sarcasm even more. "Not that you two can screw anything up—in fact, you two being here just helps us."
Sora glared and tightened his grip on his Keyblade. He started to shout out in protest, but Mickey beat him to it.
"Whaddaya mean?" Mickey called. He didn't seem angry. Just a little worried.
"You mean you haven't figured it out yet?" Xigbar laughed. The more he spoke, the less Sora liked the tone he was using. It was too casual. Too laid back. "And here I thought you were trying to figure out what we've been up to. Man, you're slow."
Mickey glared, but he said nothing. Sora bit his tongue to keep himself from saying anything. If Mickey wasn't going to respond, then he wasn't either—even though that was an incredibly rude thing to say. And Xigbar was already annoying enough as it was…
"I'll go ahead and spell it out for you," Xigbar continued. "Every Heartless you kill with those Keyblades of yours? Goes right into our Kingdom Hearts."
Sora perked up at those words, remembering what Mickey'd said earlier about Kingdom Hearts. How powerful it was. Xigbar pointed out one of the large windows in the ceiling above them, and Mickey gasped. There was a yellow, heart-shaped moon hanging in the black sky, pulsing with a dull light.
"There's nothing you can do about it, either!" Xigbar laughed. "Unless, that is, you want the Heartless to kill you."
Before Sora could completely process the business about Kingdom Hearts, about two dozen Heartless—he couldn't name all of them, but he knew they weren't Pureblood—appeared around him and Mickey. Sora took a step back, gripping his blade tightly but refraining from dropping into his battle stance. If the Heartless he killed went to helping Organization 13 get Kingdom Hearts…
"Uhm," Sora sent a nervous glance over at Mickey, who was also eyeing the Heartless warily.
"Go on!" Xigbar called, still laughing. "Fight 'em! Or don't, I guess. Doesn't matter either way, seeing as we've got our own Keyblade wielder and all."
"What!?" Mickey gasped.
But the sound of a dark corridor opening told Sora that Xigbar was gone.
Sora took another step backwards, away from the Heartless. He could feel Mickey behind him, though, so he didn't dare take another step.
"They have a Keyblade wielder?" Mickey asked.
"Yeah," Sora replied, squinting at the Heartless. He didn't want to attack them, but, then again, not attacking them wouldn't exactly help. The Organization did have their own Keyblade wielder, and from what Sora knew, he was dang good at his job.
"His name is Roxas," Sora told Mickey. "He's, uhm, a nice guy. I guess. Apparently he's a Replica of me? Not a perfect Replica, though. He looks nothing like me."
"…I forgot they had a Replica Program," Mickey said, slowly. There was a slight… hostility to his voice.
Sora sent him a look of alarm. "Well you can't… destroy it!" he blurted, then winced. "I mean… there are a lot of people who rely on the Replica Pr—"
"I wasn't plannin' on destroying it," Mickey interrupted. "It wouldn't help, anyway. Our top priority needs to be figuring out what to do about that Kingdom Hearts. "
Sora looked warily at the Heartless again, who were inching ever closer. Thankfully they hadn't started attacking yet. Sora had a funny feeling he knew why, but also figured there were more important things at hand.
"Do we, uh, need to be worried?" he asked.
"Well…" Mickey sent a glance up at the Kingdom Hearts in the sky, then directed his attention back to the Heartless. "A little, yes."
"Just a little!? But they have Kingdom Hearts—"
"No they have a Kingdom Hearts," Mickey corrected. "A fake Kingdom Hearts. Well, okay, fake isn't exactly the right word, and it's still incredibly powerful, and Organization 13 should be stopped, but they do not have the Kingdom Hearts and there's no reason to panic."
"Y'sure?"
"Yeah…"
Mickey sounded a little uneasy, though.
He cleared his throat.
"Listen, Sora, I'm going to go look into things and, uh…" Mickey paused a second, choosing his words, until he settled on: "Well, you'll be fine on your own. From the sounds of it, Riku's nearby, and Kairi should be with him. Just try to find 'em and stick with 'em. And I guess try and keep the Heartless killin' to a minimum, if ya can."
Sora scrunched his nose, taking a second to process that. "O-okay," he stammered, finally, just as Mickey jumped over the Heartless.
"And if you see their Keyblade Wielder—if ya see Roxas—" Mickey called. "Try 'n convince him to… Well. Never mind. Don't worry about it! That'd only be a temporary solution, and Xehanort can still do a lot with what he's already managed to put together." Mickey sent what looked like a smile back at Sora, then started down the corridor he was in front of. "Don't worry about it!"
"Xehanort?" Sora called after him, confused. He'd never heard that name before, and he thought the leader of Organization was called Xemnas or… something. Not Xehanort.
Mickey was already gone, though, and Sora doubted his question had been heard.
Sora sighed, and took one look around him, surveying the situation. He really didn't feel like fighting the Heartless, and he knew as soon as he attacked they would attack back. After a moment he headed in the direction Mickey did. It wasn't that he was hoping to catch up to Mickey, it was just that the Heartless were thinner in that direction.
xxx
Axel drummed his fingers on the desk in annoyance, his eyes fixed on the screen that had the best angle of Riku and Roxas's battle. Roxas was holding up just fine—for now. He was fighting too recklessly for it to last.
And the words he'd said before attacking…
"It's YOUR fault she died!"
But that wasn't true…
"Good to know the failsafe works," 26 commented, casually, only half watching. The rest of his attention was fixed on his computer, his fingers typing away. Axel wasn't sure what he was working on, and didn't care to know. He was more worried about Roxas.
"We need to stop him," Axel said. His nose was nearly pressed to the computer screen in his fixation.
"Why?" 26 didn't even look up. "He's holding up just fine."
Axel just glared at the screen.
Roxas was holding up, yes, but it wouldn't last. It couldn't last. Riku's rage was too sharp, his determination too strong. He'd do anything to get to Namine, and plow down anyone in his path. And now that Roxas was bent on revenge, as opposed to merely stalling, he wouldn't think to get out of there when things got rough.
And the fact that Riku had Kairi on his side couldn't help matters. Kairi was doing quite a lot of fighting, and had plenty of magic to keep Riku Cured. Axel doubted she'd be nice enough to Cure Roxas, and even then, it was Roxas's sudden hunger for revenge that Axel was most worried about. The problem here was less keeping Riku from killing Roxas, and more keeping Roxas from attempting to kill Riku.
His revenge was directed in the wrong direction, anyway.
"Turn off the failsafe," Axel ordered.
26 paused, then, and looked up from his work to scowl at Axel.
"No."
Axel narrowed his eyes, and when he spoke, he found himself shouting. "He's going to get himself killed!"
"And?" 26 just looked back to his work, clearly not bothered about the issue. "We can just build him again. Or, Sora's in the Castle—" 26 gestured at one of the other computer screens, where Sora and Xigbar were arguing. "A fresh scan of his data couldn't hurt. Maybe we could properly replicate him this time."
Axel stared. He could hardly believe the words coming out of 26's mouth.
"What are you saying?"
"That Roxas is only as valuable as his Keyblade, no more," 26 said. He looked at Axel, his face expressionless. "I can build another Replica with his exact same skillset, and with less… temperament issues."
"Excuse me?"
"I know you wanted him exactly like he was last time, for nostalgia's sake or whatever, but you can't deny he has trouble controlling his emotions." 26 shook his head. "The fact that I even had to install a failsafe only proves it. Besides, how do you know Riku's going to kill him?"
Axel tried to protest 26's statement on Roxas's emotions, but couldn't think of anything good to say. He shut his mouth. Grimaced. Answered 26's question.
"It's two on one."
"And I doubt the girl can make much of a difference."
"She can make enough of one"
"It doesn't matter," 26 said. "I'm not disabling the failsafe."
Axel grunted in annoyance. Figured, though. 26 never had done anything Axel'd asked of him. "Then disable the corridor proofing on the area. I'll go down there myself."
"Can't do that, either. You'll ruin things."
Axel about punched his fist through 26's computer screen. At least that would get the Replica to look at him while he spoke.
"Ruin what?" he demanded.
"You'll let Riku go on, and—"
"Just disable it!" Axel shouted, shoving 26 against the wall. He'd had enough. One hand wrapped around the Replica's throat. The other hand stayed at his side, sparks dancing across his fingertips, prepared to summon a chakram or just catch on fire. Either would be suitable.
"No," 26 said, his voice tight. "I won't let you screw this u—nghh!"
Axel'd gone ahead and summoned a chakram, then shoved it right through 26's chest. It wasn't long before he was dead. Maybe it was a little mean of him, but Axel'd gotten more than tired of 26 long ago, and this disregard for Roxas was too far.
Besides, I'm better off without you, Axel thought, banishing his chakram.
Then he remembered that he had no clue how to actually disable the corridor-proof on the area himself.
That, and he wasn't exactly sure how to disable Roxas's failsafe, either.
"Well… crud," Axel said. He considered the situation for only a second, and then he was out the door.
He needed to get to Roxas before he got himself killed. He could figure out the rest later.