I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING FOR SO LONG. SO SOOO SORRY. I HAVE LEARNED THAT ONE SHOULD NEVER CRAM PROGRAMMING. College is driving me insane, and I still have to write two programs for my finals. Really, I'd rather be writing fanfiction, but no dice. To make up for it, this chapter is long as hell. Really. 6000+ words and COUNTING. And IT IS A CLIFFHANGER. So SORRY FOR THAT.
Erm.
The 250th reviewer will get a oneshot courtesy of yours truly, numina-naminé, any pair (het, yaoi, but no yuri, thankyouverymuch), any genre, any rating. So. I'll PM the 250th reviewer, and I'll get it up in a week, if I'm lucky.
T for language and violence. ROXAS WILL BE A JERK. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
KH is not mine. Obviously. But someday it would be.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------
XIX: Discovery
----------------------
"Your Majesty?"
Rinoa sighed, and collected her energy, letting the excess power overflow into her white sorceress wings. Whoever it was, she was sure to look intimidating. Somehow, people with amber irises and white wings scared the hell out of people. Especially amber eyes.
The armored guard squirmed uncomfortably, not daring to look at her post next to King Mickey's bed, opposite Queen Minnie's. "There is someone who wants to see His Majesty, Queen Minnie, Sorceress Rinoa. He is cloaked in black and--"
Mickey made a weak whimpering sound, and Queen Minnie immediately tended to her husband. Rinoa cast a Curaga before standing up. "I'll see the guest first, if he does not object."
"Well..." the guard disappeared for a moment, then returned. "...he says fine."
She swept out of the room, leaving the royal couple behind closed doors. The guardsmen flanking the doors flinched as she passed them. Rinoa smiled, and walked up to the hooded figure leaning against a white marble pillar. "It's nice to finally be able to meet you, Xemnas."
Astonishment shook his voice. "I...did not expect the sorceress to be so...young."
"I stopped aging nearly twelve years ago," she replied calmly, flaring her wings. "What about you?"
"Seven. Once I got a shard of the Wielder's heart, the years have caught up with me," he drew back his hood, and it was her turn to be surprised. Amber-orange eyes the color of clear twilight gazed down on her, and she felt herself blanch. So that was what she looked like if she called on her sorceress powers. It wasn't a pretty sight. "Ah. The infamous Sorceress Rinoa."
She turned her back on him, biting her lip. Once she saw his face the memories came rushing back. "So."
"I was only Ansem's apprentice, Rinoa. I had no power to change his mind over sending you---"
She gritted her teeth. "Why are you here?"
He crossed his arms, uncrossed them, and crossed them once again. "I always come here to check up on the King. And to give a report on the boy."
"You're lucky the Cornerstone's still Disabled."
"Same to you."
She blinked. "I don't use the Corridors of Darkness."
"Stop disillusioning yourself. You're of the darkness--"
Rinoa hastily changed the subject, lest she turn berserk and annihilate Disney Castle. "How's Sora doing?"
Xemnas stared at the floor, refusing to speak. Sighing, she concentrated and started to delve through his memories. However, she was immediately blocked --- nobody in her entire life had been able to do that. "What the ---"
"Don't waste your time," he said condescendingly, smirking."I was going to tell you, anyway."
She gritted her teeth, seeing the former habits of Xehanort surfacing. The lab assistant was like an older (and very mischievous) brother to her, since they both had connections to Ansem's rule --- he was Ansem's apprentice, and she was the daughter of Ansem's right hand, General Caraway. And she was also the close, very close friend, of Ansem's adopted son, Leon...but that was far from the subject at hand.
"What do you already know about the boy?" Xemnas' voice broke her out of her thoughts.
She shook her head slightly. "All King Mickey can give me is fuzzy; even his thoughts are vague --- Sora gave him a good hitting. I know Sora stabbed himself with the Dark Keyblade, and I know that he's now half-Heartless and half Nobody. And he's pissed off."
"True," he nodded, "but only when his control is not around."
"Roxas. I know him from Twilight Town."
"Naminé's powers did not work on you?"
She rolled her eyes and walked next to him, sitting precariously on the marble ledge. "Obviously."
"You know a lot of things, don't you?" he asked bemusedly.
"I inherited all the memories of all the former sorceresses," she said boredly. "That's about two-hundred thousand years' worth of information. Scrambled and some of it vague, but information nonetheless."
"Anything there about a fallen Keyblade Master?"
Rinoa fell silent. "...all Keyblade Masters in the past had a heart to protect them. Riku was the first to fall, but Sora brought him back from the brink."
"There's no-one who can bring Sora back now."
This time, they both fell silent.
The statement was hauntingly true. Knowledgeable as they are, she a Sorceress, him the Superior that Nobodies acknowledged, they had absolutely no idea what to do about the 'Sora situation'. Keyblade Masters weren't meant to be renegade. They never were really meant to do anything except give their lives to wielding the Keyblade. Unfortunately, Sora was the first to break that rule.
And he paid the price.
----------------------
"I love you, Naminé!" he bellowed, gesturing to himself desperately. "Me! I love you, not Kairi! I love you not because I'm Sora and you're Kairi, I love you because I'm Roxas and you're Naminé! Stop ignoring that fact!"
His shard of heart pounded painfully, and his mind seemed to be nothing but a whirl of disbelief and anger. Stormy blue eyes stared into clear cerulean ones.
Naminé stared at him, flaxen hair and blue plaid skirt fluttering in the afternoon breeze.
Roxas straightened up, waiting for her reply, not caring if people were now wondering what the hell he was talking about. All he cared about was breaking through that damn philosophy Naminé had created. He loved Naminé, because he loved her. Period.
Cerulean eyes blinked slowly, and pale lips opened. "...are you insane? People are staring at us, Roxas! Xemnas will kill you!" she whispered through gritted teeth.
"I don't care," he whispered back ferociously, volume of voice rising with every syllable. "I don't care what they think! I just want you to know that I love you so stop yapping about me not being able to love!"
She stared back at him once more, appearing to consider his words as she wrenched his hands from her shoulders with brute strength. He looked past her, and saw the crowd of students. Damn, they just had to fight when the bell had just rung dismissal. People had formed a circle around them...Roxas felt a kind of vindictive pleasure violating the Superior's strict rule about uncovering their...erm...situation as Nobodies. He could hear them whispering amongst themselves, but he focused on the blonde girl before him, who had backed away a good five feet.
Naminé blinked, seemingly gathering anger.
"...Shut up, Roxas!" she roared back. "Stop thinking that you're off in your freakin' perfect world where we have everything! God! We're Nobodies! We can't feel!"
He was taken aback by her outburst; Naminé had never shown her emotions like that before. Cerulean eyes blazed furiously in anger, and pale fingers clutched convulsively at thin air.
"You're not in love with me! You're in love with the idea of falling in love!" She added furiously.
Roxas opened his mouth, and closed it, at a loss of what to say. So that was what she was harping on and on and on about! "Didn't you think I already thought of that already, Naminé?" he said condescendingly, starting to walk around. Naminé walked in the opposite direction, and they circled each other like hawks.
"Ha," she narrowed her eyes. "As if a delusional Nobody like you would think about that."
"Why can't you just accept the fact that I love you?"
"Because I know you don't!"
He seethed and sprinted to her, grabbing her roughly by the arm as he forced her to face him. She yelled indignantly, face even paler with anger. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Roxas!"
"I'm not stopping until I get through that thick head of yours that I love you and you feel the same!"
Slap!
The crowd gasped collectively, a loud 'whoa' rippling through the wind.
Roxas staggered back, holding a trembling hand up to his right cheek. His fingers came away slightly bloody; she had hit him with her Nobody strength. But her rejection and denial stung him even more.
"Shut the goddamn up! Stop lying to me!" She screamed, putting her hands over her ears.
"I am NOT LYING!" He bellowed once more, voice cracking. No-one laughed, however. Creator have mercy on them if they did. Naminé stared at him in disbelief as he slowly raised his gaze to meet hers, and he raised a hand.
"You dare hit a girl?" she choked out.
Slap!
This time, Naminé was the one who staggered back, holding a hand gingerly to a raw-red cheek, cerulean eyes wide and disbelieving. Roxas was seething, Roxas was furious, Roxas was just feeling pure hatred right now. You always hate the ones you loved the most, it seemed.
"You're not a girl," he spat venomously. "Like you said, you're a Nobody."
Ignoring the tears starting to course their way down her pale-porcelain-white cheeks, he walked away without a second thought.
--------------------
"What?"
Kairi turned halfway, staring back at the direction of Destiny Academy. Somehow, she felt a faint surge of hatred that had nothing to do with her --- therefore, it must've been her Nobody's. Naminé was definitely furious.
"What's wrong?" Riku asked worriedly.
"Something's wrong, Riku," she murmured. "Something's definitely wrong. We need to go back to the Academy."
------------------
Naminé's footsteps pounded on the pavement. The crowd gave her a good ten feet's worth of space as she hurtled through, trying to scrub away the tears that overflowed down her cheeks. It hurt everytime her hand touched her sore cheek and jaw, but his words stung harder.
You're not a girl, you're a Nobody.
She ignored the crowd and the loud whispers running through them. Hopefully they'll attribute the Nobody mentions to them being furious; chaining down the memories of a crowd this huge was not a pleasant thing to do.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't little miss Naminé."
She stopped short of ramming into a girl. A classmate. One of those who dubbed themselves Roxas' future girlfriends --- fangirls, Somebodies called them. Fanatics. This one had sleek black hair thrown carelessly over one shoulder...and a spear held securely in one beringed hand.
"Get out of my way," she said quietly, voice quavering with anger. However, the girl and her companions seemed to think it was of fear.
"Ah ah ah, Naminé. Good thing Roxas slapped you --- you rejected him, when all of us could plainly see that he was crazy over you. How could you be so heartless?"
"I hold only a shard of heart," Naminé ground out, throwing all the stupid rules of secrecy out of the window. "Don't make my day any worse."
The girls tittered among themselves, and weapons were suddenly drawn out. "Oh, you poor little girl," the ebony-haired one said sweetly. "You're about to learn what happens to people who hurt our Roxas..."
"I'm saying only one more time. Don't make my day any more worse."
"Ooh, so scary. But as he said...you're only a nobody."
Naminé blinked, and clenched her hands at her sides. Anger rose up in her, anger and hatred and pain at being used, at being hurt, at being a Nobody and not being able to feel her own emotions!
They raised their weapons. spear and sword and arrow and shortsword---
"So sorry to disappoint you," she said in a deadly whisper, "But I am a Nobody. And I am going to show you what this Nobody can do."
She swept out her hands, and summoned her Dusks --- all of those she could call. The girls shrieked in horror...but Naminé smiled in delight.
-----------------
Roxas walked away, internally struggling with himself. Half of him wanted to sprint back and apologize profusely to the girl, but half of him just wanted to kill her. All he did was love, was that such a crime?
The crowd whispered around him, but one glare made them all fall silent instantly.
How he hated them --- Somebodies ---
"---Oh, here he goes looking all surly!"
"Yeah, what a coward! Hitting a girl!"
Roxas raised his gaze, only to be me with the sight of a rather large group of boys, the same age as him, blocking his way. All were armed, and from the looks of it, were ready to beat him to a bloody pulp for slapping their precious Naminé. As if they owned her, anyway. Dream on. "What do you want?" he asked, words slurred together in anger.
"You on your knees and apologizing to Naminé," the auburn-haired boy in front said. Roxas vaguely recalled him as the guy who was hitting on Naminé the day Zexion came to teach. Rahnel, was it...?
"There's no way in hell I'm going to do that," he said firmly, walking towards them and attempting to shove his way through in a Keyblade-less fashion. The urge to summon his real weapons was overwhelming. "Back off, jerks."
Rahnel tutted. "Jerk? Who's the jerk? Not us." His companions nodded in agreement.
"I said, back off."
He drew out his weapon --- a metal-spiked mace that looked remotely threatening. Pssh. "Let's give him a good ass-kicking, boys."
They advanced, but Roxas stood still on the spot, eyes flashing with anger. "Don't make me hurt you."
"As if you could---"
His words died in his throat as Roxas, gritting his teeth, ignored all the warnings the Superior told him and summoned his Keyblades; Oathkeeper in his left, Oblivion in his right. Screw secrecy; Roxas was furious and right now, really pissed off.
Rahnel recovered quickly, and smirked. "Whoa," he sneered sarcastically. "Come on Roxas, d'you really think we'd really fall for that trick? Imitating Sora is just so low. Keyblades my a--"
"I am not imitating Sora, damn it!" he yelled, brandishing his Keyblades. Electricity made of raw power crackled between them, and power surged through Roxas himself as he drew deeper on both light and darkness. A flicker of fear crossed Rahnel's face, but the boy quickly smoothed it into an unconvincing cocky grin. Roxas growled. "Nobody insults number Thirteen!"
"He's nuts," he heard someone say.
"Thirteen? As in Organization Thirteen?" Rahnel laughed. "Oh c'mon, you could at least come up with a better story than that!"
Roxas snapped. First, he has to cover up for someone who in all honesty had killed the entire Organization. Next, Naminé had just rejected him, when they both knew that they loved each other. Now, this wiseguy laughs at Organization XIII, and laughs at his credibility as a Keyblade Master! He was, as of now, officially fed up.
"Shut the hell up," he said coldly. "If you don't believe in the Organization, well, you sure are screwed right now."
He almost smiled in satisfaction as Rahnel yelled, jumping to avoid the Slayer that swiped at his feet. Roxas snapped his bare fingers and Slayers answered his call instantly. He distantly heard another uproar at the opposite side of the quad at roughly the same time, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see the Dusks dancing death. Naminé had lost control too.
He just knew today wasn't his day.
-------------------
"Aaaah! Dona! Get out of here!"
Naminé watched in satisfaction as the Dusks wrought havoc in the quad --- they had cornered Roxas' 'fangirls' between Pavilion II and the Library, and were about to teach them a lesson they would never forget. Good thing remorse was something of a more submissive emotion right now. The girls screamed, and Naminé brought down a hand with a single command.
"Attack."
"Slayers! Intercept the Dusks!"
She whirled around and felt her eyes widen in disbelief. Roxas had just issued a command to stop her own Dusks. He had just saved them! The huddled girls burst into tears with relief and happiness that the object of their affection had just saved them. Naminé was definitely not impressed.
Was she feeling...jealous?
I give up, she yelled mentally, narrowing her eyes at the smirking blonde boy. Screw feeling. All I know is that I want to kill Roxas.
"What the hell, Roxas?"
He shrugged, the very epitome of calmness among the panicked students behind him. He snapped his fingers and the Slayer assembled behind him. She gathered her own Dusks in the same way, leaving an eerie silence in the air as the crowd watched them in both fear and awe.
Roxas tilted his head thoughtfully as he spun Oathkeeper in his left hand, and rested Oblivion easily on his right shoulder. "Why're you so mad at them, Naminé? Are you jealous?"
She stared at him murderously, biting her lip. She was not going to take his bait, thank you very much.
"What? Cat got your tongue...? Or are just too blind to see that you do feel?" Roxas smirked even wider. "What an irony. Witch."
"That's it!" she bellowed, tears blurring her vision again. How she hated him! She hated him! "Prepare to die!"
Naminé screamed and summoned the most powerful Nobody she could: the Twilight Thorn. Roxas' stormy blue eyes widened in recognization; it was the Nobody he had fought long ago in the Keyblade's resting place: the Station of Calling. He was obviously stunned that she could summon it, judging from the way he gaped at the massive Nobody as it rose from a portal on the ground.
Some students screamed, and more than a few professors ran out of the building to see what the fuss was all about. No matter. Her Dusks were more than enough for them, for they could only be defeated completely by a Keyblade Master. And right now, Roxas was the only one in sight.
He blinked, and suddenly chuckled, to her amazement. "You are really something, Naminé."
She forced a smile as she spread her palms wide, summoning her wildcards --- and she really did smile when Roxas gasped, staggering back.
"You haven't seen the best of it, Roxas," she breathed in a sickeningly sweet voice. "It does go without saying that I," she crossed her arms, "can wield any weapon I choose. After all...I am a memory witch."
He yelled.
Naminé sprinted forward with the agility and the grace she had lifted from Riku's memories earlier, the speed of a Keyblade Master. Way to the Dawn and the Soul Eater glimmered in her hands --- both crafted from the fragile material called memories. But Naminé had learned that sometimes, memories are the most powerful weapons on could possibly have.
Roxas leapt into the air just in time to avoid a slash of the Way to the Dawn, and he flipped around in the air, landing behind her. She whirled around and shouted, "Dusks, Twilight Thorn! Take his Slayers down!"
He yelled for a counterattack, and the quadrangle burst once again into chaos.
She charged and jabbed both Keyblades in rapid succession, and each and every time Roxas managed to either block it or dodge. He brought down Oathkeeper and Naminé blocked it with the Soul Eater; they each pushed off each other and landed a good twenty feet apart.
"Nice one, Naminé," he cocked his head. "But sadly, I am the only true Keyblade Master here."
"Light!" Roxas crossed his Keyblades over his head and a circle of light traced itself around him, pouring out from the pavement. He released Oathkeeper and Oblivion, but both hovered inches from his palms, spinning rapidly and crackling with raw energy. He himself actually floated a good foot above the ground, and two orbs of light followed his every movement.
Naminé then remembered that Sora's forms were only a manifestation of Roxas' power, and what she was seeing now was the Final Form. All he was missing now was the clothes and ---
flash
Great. Just great. Roxas grinned sadistically, a look that Naminé did not think he could pull off in a million years. Now she had a black-coated, Final-Formed Roxas.
Like it mattered, anyway. Probably, he did not remember that she herself had touched the memories of Kairi, Riku, Sora, and even Roxas himself, when he was uploaded into Twilight Town. That's quite a lot of artillery she's got. She concentrated and reverted back to her original clothes: a pure white sundress --- signifying that she's innocent...not.
He stared at the demonstration of her own powers as she herself changed her memory-wrought Keyblades to Oathkeeper and Oblivion.
"Shall we dance, Roxas?" she called, summoning more of her Dusks.
He crossed and uncrossed his Keyblades, hovering in one place. "It would be my pleasure, Naminé." Roxas charged, and Naminé met him with her own Keyblades.
"Be careful not to trip," she whispered as they came face-to-face, laughing.
------------------
Kairi stared, speechless.
Riku had to pull her out of the way of Slayer's roaming razor-sharp fin. The Way to the Dawn coalesced in his hand, and both of them gazed at the chaos before them.
Nobodies danced among the crowd, Slayers against Dusks and a massive solitary Nobody with a blue scarf wound around what he presumed was a neck. The students and professors had their weapons out, panicked, but no Nobody actually attacked them --- they were too preoccupied with killing each other.
Riku realized the crowd had formed a rough barricade around something, and he strained to see what it was.
"C-Creator," Kairi gasped as Naminé leapt into view. She was looking downwards as if avoiding something, and she immediately spun around to block a follow-slash by Roxas.
Now, he was quite impressed by the feats Naminé was doing, but that was not what stunned him. He had absolutely no idea how the pale blonde Nobody was able to get hold of her own Oathkeeper and Oblivion. He pulled Kairi closer to himself and shoved his way through the crowd (which automatically parted when they saw who was coming through), staring at their duel.
"Are those Keyblades?" she asked in an awed voice.
He shrugged, watching the two battle it out. Maybe Roxas and Naminé had just snapped.
Kairi clutched tightly to his arm, beryl eyes trained on both Nobodies. "What the heck is happening?"
"They finally got fed up with each other," he said shortly, and the auburn-haired girl shivered.
"Shouldn't we stop them? I mean, what are people going to say after this?" she pressed on. "They'll ask awkward questions about Roxas' Keyblades and Naminé and everything...Riku..."
Riku bit his lip. "No. It's up to them to decide." As long as they keep Organization XIII under wraps, it's fine. It's going to be fine.
--------------------
"Hey. I just wanted to check up on --- I've already overused that."
"Larx! Just wanna know if you'd like those two Megalixirs I found the other day -- wait a second where the heck am I going to get two Megalixirs?"
Axel stopped in the middle of the Corridors, berating himself mentally for not coming up with an excuse beforehand--it went without saying that Larxene would go berserk if he told her the real reason why he went to visit her.
He scratched his chin and shrugged, running a hand (and almost getting it stuck; Marluxia just did not want to let go of the wide-toothed comb today) through his unruly red mane. Like it made any difference anyway; he shared the bedhead-hair trait with Roxas and Sora.
Speaking of the two...Roxas will certainly be surprised if he knew what Axel wanted to ask of him. As for Sora, Axel had not seen the brunet the whole day.
"Eh...what about...'Larxene, I'm about to profess my undying un-love for you.'...nah...sounds too forward," he said to himself as he stepped out of the expanse of the Corridors into Destiny Academy, in a secluded spot right behind Pavilion II.
His jaw dropped open as two Dusks strolled by him, with a Slayer slinking behind them. He whipped around the corner, not bothering to change into his commoner clothes. So what if the Spellcasting professor was wearing a black coat, anyway. Ears pricking up, he caught the sound of number Thirteen yelling something incoherent (to him, anyway) to an equally vehement memory witch.
Superior was so going to kill them for this.
He narrowed his eyes nervously when he caught the unmistakable shape of Keyblades in their hands. Axel pushed his way into the crowd that had formed around them, ignoring the yells of 'Professor Axel!' and 'What are they doing?'. Naminé was going to have to do one hell of a lot of chaining down after this.
"Hey you t--" he started, but his voice was quickly drowned by another shout.
"Dalmasca, Hikari! What do you think you're doing?"
He looked over his shoulder, and he could swear he felt his shard of heart stop beating. A waist-length, flaxen-haired woman in all white was watching the duel, stunned and panting, as if she had run a long distance. Her emerald eyes were wide and horrified. Beside her stood a lilac-haired man in all black, who observed the happenings with a slight trace of amusement etched on his face.
"Larxene!" He yelled, elbowing his way to her. "Throw kunais at them or something!"
"No!" she exclaimed, turning her gaze on him. "T...They'll be hurt!"
Axel stared at her, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "Larx, your kunais do hurt, but Nobodies can stand so much more damage! You should know that!"
She stared at him.
Naminé yelled a Thundaga spell, but Roxas deflected it with a last-minute Reflectga, countering with a Firaga Strike of his own.
"Larxene if you don't do something they'll end up killing each other!" he yelled once again, panic creeping into his voice. He knew for a fact that if Roxas was furious he was a ruthless killer. Naminé, on the other hand, seemed dangerous because of the fact that she could use memories as her weapon --- Axel had never known that she could do that before. "Roxas! Naminé! Stop dueling; you've already revealed too much! The Superior will kill you!!"
Roxas looked over his shoulder at his best friend, glaring. "Like hell I care. I don't even exist anyway!"
A collective gasp.
"Have mercy on Naminé!" he pressed on, spreading out his palms. "Chaining down the memories of an entire quad will be hard work!"
"Like I said, I don't ca--"
"Oh, Axel," the blonde cut in as she slashed her Oblivion across where Roxas' neck would've been if he hadn't jumped away, "Who said I was going to chain their memories down?"
Axel blinked in disbelief. "What?"
She shrugged and ducked to avoid a Blizzaga. "I'm not chaining anybody's memory down. I'm tired of living in the dark like this; I'm tired of hearing Organization XIII becoming a joke. It's high time they learned that you guys aren't a my--ahh!"
Naminé gingerly took a few steps back, holding a pale hand to a six-inch slash across her side. It drew blood, but not deeply. Incredibly, she turned to Roxas and rolled her eyes. "What?" she asked, casting a Curaga. "Afraid of hitting a Nobody...?"
He paused for a split second before crossing his Keyblades and sending pillars of light after the girl, one of which she was nearly caught in. "Haha. You wish!"
Palming his forehead, he turned to number Twelve, who was currently eyeing the two with a knotted brow. "Larx, shut them up, maybe we can do some damage control..."
"B-but!"
"Now!"
Sighing deeply, she summoned no less than five kunais in each hand and chucked all of them, one after the other, at the two dueling Nobodies. All of them found their targets: two kunai lodged itself in Roxas' thigh and another three in his upper back, while four had lodged themselves into Naminé's stomach and back, making her double over and collapse onto the ground in surprise, one solitary kunai in her right shoulder. Roxas screamed and dropped into the pavement, using both Keyblades to hold him up as blood slowly dripped from the kunai wounds.
Some in the crowd swooned, and those who weren't unconscious was either staring at the two blondes, transfixed, or staring at them themselves in mixed horror and awe.
"What the heck, Arlene?" Roxas yelled in disbelief as he jerked out the kunai from his thigh, wincing in pain.
Axel stared at the blonde woman, and a reason of why she was in all white suddenly came to him. Zexion bit his lip, and Axel suddenly had the horrible feeling of not knowing something that he was supposed to know. "What?" he asked loudly as he took a step towards them, panic definitely coursing through his veins.
"Axel..." the blonde said faintly. "I'm not Larxene...My name is Arlene."
The world stopped moving.
Axel stared at her, gaze unblinking, disbelieving.
"B-but...Y-you're number Twelve, Larxene!" he choked out. "You...you..." he trailed off, ignoring Kairi's vehement exclamation of 'What is Axel doing here?!', mind slowly going numb. Arlene's gaze softened, and she bit her lip, tears shimmering at the edge of her eyes.
"I, too..." Zexion said quietly, and Axel turned and gazed blankly at him, knowing what he was going to say. "Zexion, number Six, is gone."
"Axel..." he heard Roxas say pleadingly in the distance, but right now, everything seemed to be a blurry haze of confusion, Naminé pulling out a kunai from her stomach with a sickening squelch, Riku trying to calm a hysterical Kairi down, students watching in awe and disbelief, Zexion--no, Ienzo now, comforting a silently-crying Arlene.
He was too late.
That hurt. Very much.
It took all of his self-control not to set the entire Academy on fire right now.
Swiping at his eyes, he summoned a portal soundlessly, intending to lock himself in his room until...well...until he was over it. Either that, or burn the Castle down. It seemed equally plausible.
"Axel!"
A delicate hand placed itself on his shoulder, and he looked back into Arlene's tear-streaked face. He didn't have the willpower to speak right now, so he just tilted his head in acknowledgement.
She looked down. "...Larxene loves you. I just wanted to let you know that she really does; she's just too scared to admit it to you."
She...loved me?
"Even if you were the one who betrayed her in Castle Oblivion, she's still grateful for you and your company. You do make her feel that she has her own heart."
that's my line...
"I'm so sorry!" Arlene burst out, before whirling around and running into Ienzo's embrace. The lilac-haired man met his gaze for a second, before bowing his head.
Nodding hollowly, all thoughts of Keyblades and such gone from his head, Axel portalled out.
-----------------
Naminé watched as Axel portalled out with an expression on his face that she couldn't quite describe. It was quite a pitiful sight to see a depressed number Eight.
Wincing, she propped herself up into a sitting position and dismissed her memory-wrought Keyblades. She looked up just in time to see Arlene and Ienzo portal out. Arlene or Larxene, that woman sure knew how to drive a kunai deep. Wrenching the kunai free from her stomach, she staggered to her feet, blood staining her dress a very nice shade of crimson. Her Dusks and the Twilight Thorn was still squaring off the Slayers Roxas had summoned. Speaking of the boy (in very loathsome terms), he was still crouched on the pavement, seemingly finding out a way how to get the kunai out of his shoulder without tearing it too open. She watched it with great amusement --- it served him right.
Oh, how she hated him right now. Her fingers curled themselves into fists as soon as the thought occured.
"Naminé...!" Riku's voice cried out helplessly, and she tiredly swung her gaze in their direction. The silver-haired Wielder was trying to calm a furious Kairi down. "Please!"
"It was Axel, Riku!" the redhead yelled angrily, trying to wrench herself free of his grip. To do what, Naminé had no idea, nor did she care. After all, she was only her Nobody.
Nobody...
Anger bubbled up in her. If it wasn't for Kairi, she didn't have to live this half-life she was existing; maybe she didn't have to experience the horrible emptiness and the feelings of false love and the terrible feeling of rejecting and hurting and --
"Naminé! Chain her memories down!" Riku yelled.
"Enough!" she bellowed, breathing in great shallow gasps now. "I am not a tool, Riku! You can't just tell me to chain down memories! I don't want to be used anymore! I don't want to be just her shadow anymore!" she screamed, pointing an accusing finger at her Other.
Naminé snapped, and the chains she had placed on both the platinum-haired Wielder and the Princess of heart fell.
She couldn't care less.
An eerie silence filled the quadrangle as a wide-eyed Kairi fell silent. Her blank look soon turned into horror in roughly the same time as Riku blanched. Presumably they were both remembering the incident at Twilight Town. Serves them right!She was tired of hiding the fact that she was a Nobody, that other Nobodies existed! They were already deprived of the right to live, but the right to mingle with Somebodies? The only difference was their hearts! "I will not be used anymore."
"Naminé..." Kairi trailed off, tears forming at the edge of her eyes.
Not even sparing Roxas another glance, she portalled out.
------------------
"...d-did you see what just happened?"
"They summoned all those Nobodies!"
"So it's true...Organization XIII is true!," One student said hysterically. "And we have three of them for professors! C-creator! Three!"
"Wasn't that a portal of darkness just now?" another asked. "...Sora wasn't joking after all..."
Kairi listened, words meaningless to her as she watched her Nobody portal out. The chains on her memory had fallen, and all that she could remember was that last night, she saw Sora. Someone who looked like Sora. Her head spun impossibly as the memory of seeing the note came back to her.
Sora...
She turned to Riku, but the platinum-haired Wielder was already helping Roxas up and casting curative spells. She ran soundlessly next to him. " --- you thinking! Now everyone will know for sure Sora resurrected Organization XIII," he said in what he obviously thought was a quiet voice. "Oh, how Kairi will react..."
She stood, frozen in the spot. From that tone of voice, Riku wasn't even surprised. He was expecting this..."Riku?"
He turned his head to stare at her, stunned. All the color drained from his face. "K-Kai, that wasn't what I..."
"You knew?" she demanded shrilly. "You knew and you didn't tell me?"
"I didn't think it was necessary to let you worry about something ---"
"Worry! Riku," she paused for breath, gasping, "You just said Sora ---"
"Roxas told me he's okay," Riku cut in quickly, heaving the blonde up as he tried to extract another kunai from his back. "Right...?"
The blonde boy blinked, and stood, free of Riku's support. He gazed at them, and his stormy blue eyes narrowed. She could feel the anger radiate from him. "Oh, suuuure. Sora's doing just fine," he said sarcastically.
"You had contact with---"
"Oh for crying out loud!" he yelled. "He tried to kill me, that's what! Stupid Sora! Giving me a shard of his heart then trying to take it back by force!"
Riku straightened up beside her. "Shard of heart...?" he said slowly.
Kairi stared at Roxas as if she had never seen him before. What the heck was he talking about?
"That's it. I am sick and tired of covering up for somebody who's trying to kill me!" number Thirteen suddenly burst out, whipping a small black notebook from his coat pocket. "You two don't have any idea what Sora's been through! You didn't even try to find out why he wasn't coming back for so damn long!"
He walked over to her in one smooth movement and pressed the notebook into her hands. "Having a heart and breaking someone else's! Kairi, Riku, you two betrayed Sora, not the other way around. You Somebodies make me sick."
Roxas turned around, and vanished in a portal of darkness.
------------------
Sora, once again, panicked.
Of all the places...he should've known this was the spot that he would be attracted to.
He's so screwed.
The call of Kingdom Hearts was almost too much to bear. Antiform was giggling madly in his head. And Sora suddenly remembered...the reason why he felt it so much was that he hadn't even sealed it, all the times he had been here.
Gritting his teeth, he summoned the Reverse Keyblade. Darkness or not, it was still a Keyblade, and he sure hoped it would still be able to seal.
Why, of all the places...?
Stepping back, he prepared to seal Destiny Island's Keyhole. He glanced once at the chalk-painted walls; at the pictures; at the paopu fruit exchange between a chalk Sora and a chalk Kairi.
Only in chalk.
Only in chalk.
"I hate this."
His voice echoed with words that have been already said in this cave, the Secret Place. Where Kairi shattered his heart. Where it all started.
Wow, buddyboy. Such emo things to think about.
"Shut up," he groaned as he directed his Keyblade at the Door To Darkness.
------------------
Trembling, she opened the blood-stained notebook with pale and clammy hands, afraid of what was within, even if she had no idea what --- or whose it was.
Precise handwriting graced the first page.
Walking this road,
Without you,
To remake forgotten promises and meet you at road's end.
Faded Memories,
Reconstucted Memories,
A dream - a dream of you,
In a world without you.
A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory.
A far-off memory that's like a scattered dream.
I want to line the pieces up --
yours and mine.
This journal is the property of Sir Sora Hikari, Keyblade Wielder.
If you're reading this without my consent, it means you broke that seal that only a Keyblade Master could break. That means you, Roxas. You know what I can do.
She turned the page to the very first entry, which was mercifully free of bloodstains.
November 03, 2083 A.E
12:34 AM
Hi. I've started to keep a journal, obviously.
Well, where do I begin...
There's the note. I don't need to expain that
So there I was in Twilight Town after finding the Keyhole. Roxas annoyed me so much I went berserk and opened Kingdom Hearts, bringing Organization XIII back. Stupidly enough, I got locked inside after.
It's no fun being locked in Kingdom Hearts. Poor Riku, that must've been what he felt.
So then I get outta there because I get dumped in the ocean...right in front of Destiny Islands. I found out Roxas and Naminé were going to the Academy too.
Uhm. So for short, I got my heart shattered that night.
...and she doesn't even care, since I've put on my happy face. I've got to stop doing this, but I hate seeing her sad. It was my fault anyway...
Roxas and Naminé haven't told them anything, except for Riku. But...
Whatever.
I'm going to sleep.
'Night.
"He...he got locked inside Kingdom Hearts and brought back the Organization and you knew and you didn't tell me?" Kairi asked in the most dangerous voice she could manage. Riku actually choked on his words.
"It was for yours and Sora's sake--"
"Heartless!" somebody screamed, and sure enough, Neoshadows were storming the quadrangle, and once again it burst into chaos. The remaining Nobodies clashed against them, the Twilight Thorn devastating Heartless ranks. However, she didn't even care. She was much too stunned to do that.
"For Sora's sake!" she said incredously. "Are you insane?"
"Kairi, please..."
"I...I can't believe this, Riku! You didn't tell me because you didn't want me to worry about Sora! You just wanted me to think about you!" she yelled shrilly, tears overflowing.
He took a step back, stung. A hurt look twisted his face.
She spun on her heels and ran away, Sora's journal clutched tight in her arms.
---------------
"Oh, hell no."
Sora checked his other pocket.
"None here, either."
He groaned and crouched down, head in his hands. He could feel the presence of Heartless nearby; probably ten platoons or such. Not that it mattered; all Sora felt now was the excruciating craving that signalled bloodlust. It had gone, but now it was back with a vengeance.
Antiform laughed. Stupid.
He dismissed his Keyblade, checking himself all over again in desperation.
"Greeat. I forgot to bring a blood pack," he muttered. If he didn't get blood right now, Antiform would break free. "I think I have to portal back over to the Castle and get another one."
Hoping he didn't meet anybody in the Corridors, for he was sure he wouldn't be able to control himself and he'd attack whoever it was, he summoned a portal back to his room.
eh?
"Footsteps," he muttered quietly. Sora immediately dismissed the portal and sprinted to the shadows, not thinking, as a person suddenly burst into the Secret Place.
Oh God, no. No. Not now.
A panting Kairi collapsed on her knees, sobbing.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SO SORRY FOR UPDATING SO LATE.
Read and review. Thank you. Flamers can go ahead.
"Roxas, Naminé, you idiots