Blade of Light: Byte Bashing
Date started: 7.25.06
Date finished: 8.8.06
Disclaimer: I own nooothing
Authors note:
Ah I'm sorry for not getting this up sooner, but I got sick and slept for like three day's straight and then I was off on vacation again so I couldn't bring my computer. I apologize for the near suckyness of the last chapter, it was quite boring and useless, so I tried to make this as long as I could, it is quite dramatic. Thanks to everyone who left me awesome reviews for the last two chapter's, you guys rock. Please enjoy! Oh, and see the end blabbing to see the songs that work out with the ending. I thought about making it happy, but then I was like, naww!
Roxas walked into Xemnas's study and bowed.
"I apologize for my absence this morning Lord Xemnas."
Xemnas looked up from his work to look at the brown haired boy.
"I assume you plan worked?" he asked looking back down at the crystal that sat in front of him.
"Perfectly, I have that idiot eating out of my hand, he'll do anything for us now." Roxas walked over and peered into the crystal, "What 'cha looking at?"
"The next phase of our plan," Xemnas said with a smirk, "Its going exactly as planned. Once we hacked into the security system and the MPC it was pathetically easy to take over the system completely."
"Have we hacked into the core yet?"
"No, not yet, we still cant figure out what the password to the DTD is. Vexen is working right now to hack into the core."
"Damn that Ansem, I figured that he left some sort of firewall. Your his nobody Xemnas, shouldn't you share his memories?" Roxas asked, pacing the study.
"You would assume so, wouldn't you? You know that research into our being isn't my field, it's Vexen's," Xemnas said, watching Roxas, "At any rate, I have no idea what this 'DTD' thing is Vexen keeps going on about."
"Should we pay a visit to the key bearer? Maybe he knows something about the DTD. Of course, I doubt he's smart enough to put two and two together, but I'm sure that one of his cohorts knows something about it."
"Tsk tsk, Roxas, your just trying to start another fight now. But yes, we will pay the key bearer a visit, will you be going personally again?"
"No, I think we'll send our eager silver haired minion first, the key bearer won't be able to resist a request from his 'beloved Riku' and then I think we'll mess with him a little bit."
"And how does that fit into the plan to take the key bearer's heart?"
"Well...uh...it doesn't really, except to prevent him from stopping us from destroying the world known as Space Paranoids."
"Oh? how is that?"
"By messing with him we leave him in a weakened mental state, which means that every step of the way, he will be questioning himself." Roxas smirked and banged his fist on the table, "Do you know what that means? It means that when he's faced with the decision to save Space Paranoids or save his beloved Riku, he'll hesitate, giving us the chance to get away with both."
"And you're sure that he will take it that hard? He might be stronger then you think."
"Oh, I'm sure, once he sees that Riku has completely forgotten about him, he won't be able to even remember his own name." Roxas turned to the door and yelled, "Demyx!"
A blond haired member poked his head into the room, "You called?"
"Tell Vexen to construct a transfer program and tell Riku to come to the study immediately."
"A transfer program?"
"Yes, we're going to pay a little visit to the world known as Space Paranoids."
"Yes sir, I will inform Vexen immediately."
Demyx left the study in a hurry and headed down the hall towards Riku's room.
Knocking on the door, he called, "Riku! Your boyfriend wants to see you!"
The door flew open to reveal a very angry looking Riku, "Damnit Demyx, what do you want?"
"Your boyf...I mean Roxas wants to see you in Lord Xemnas's study."
"Fine, is there anything else? Like why he wants to see me?"
"Something about a transfer program and Space Paranoids, thats all I know," Demyx shifted uncomfortably, "I have to go talk to Vexen, they request that you go immediately."
"Right, you're dismissed, go find Vexen." Riku said, disappearing behind the door again.
Riku walked across the room to a small table that sat between two armed chair's that faced the windows, on it sat a black blindfold. Picking it up, he pocketed the blindfold and walked out the door toward the study.
Sora felt someone poke his shoulder, "Sora," someone shook him, "Sora wake up."
Sora sat slumped over sleeping, his back against the wall.
"Just five more minutes Kairi," he mumbled, "I swear."
"Kairi? I do not know who this Kairi is."
Sora opened his eyes slowly and found himself sitting in a small cramped cell.
"Where am I?" he asked, momentarily confused.
"You are in the pit cell," Tron answered giving Sora a confused look, "Don't you remember? Did your memory crash?"
"No, I'm just disoriented thats all," Sora rubbed his eyes and stretched, "How long was I asleep for?"
"Nine hours and twenty three minutes exactly."
Sora stood up and paced around the cell, "When do the games start?" he asked, examining the door.
"When ever the MCP decides to hold them. If you're trying to escape, its hopeless, the only people who can open it are system administrators."
"Like that Sark guy you were telling me about?"
"Exactly, I used to have the power of a system administrator but I was stripped of my power's when I was thrown in here."
"Is there any way to get your power's back?"
"Well, while you were sleeping, I hacked into the mainframe and found out that there is a way to over ride the system and get back my powers, but its dangerous."
"So? I laugh in the face of danger!" Sora said puffing out his chest, "Whats the plan?"
"I found a hole in the system which would allow me to transfer you to another location in the system, the only problem is that I couldn't control where you were transferred to."
"Ok, so you transfer me out of here and then what?"
"Even though you would be out of the pit cell, you still wouldn't be able to transfer out of the computer. They have the whole system locked down, but if I can get my administrative power back, I can access the password's to the system and help the user's gain back control of the computer. So, once you're out of here, you must find a power core and activate it, then return here immediately."
"So I have to activate a power core, and then come back here? Will activating the power core give you back your power?"
"No, activating the power core should allow you to cross back over to the user world, but because of MCP has control over the system you won't be able to stay there permanently since we are sending you there as a piece of data."
"Wait, you mean like a hologram?"
"Precisely, its the best I can do at the moment. When you get to the user world, you have to find the password to the DTD."
"DTD? Whats that?"
"The Door to Darkness, its the door to this world and all the research that Ansem put into this computer about the heartless, nobodies and the heart. Once we access the DTD we control everything, including the MCP."
"Hmm...The Door to Darkness," Sora muttered, scratching his head, "That sounds vaguely familiar."
Sora was so deep in thought that he didn't realize that Tron had already crossed over to the terminal and started to access the the transfer program. As Tron typed away, Sora paced the perimeter of the cell, mumbling to himself.
"The Door to Darkness, that sounds almost like the door to the heart of all worlds. Ansem called it the door to the darkness when I faced him in Hollow Bastion. But I can't remember what he was going to use to open it..." Sora's face lit up with excitement, "Tron, thats it! I know what the password is!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, when I faced him in Hollow Bastion, he talked about opening the heart of all worlds by using the seven princesses of heart. He called that door the Door to the Darkness, if this Door to Darkness is anything like that one, then I'm almost positive that the password to the DTD is the names of the seven princesses of heart."
"Sora, I think you've done it, you've figured out the password to the DTD! Now all we have to do is get to the I/O tower and enter the password. Then we can shut down the MCP and save Space Paranoids." Tron's excitement suddenly disappeared, "But I forgot, we're stuck in this pit cell. There's no way that only one of us could make it to the I/O tower alone, there's all kinds of heartless and nobodies roaming around."
"Wait, I think I have an idea," Sora said, looking at his keyblade, "Maybe the keyblade can get us out of here."
Lifting up the keyblade, he pointed it at the door. A small, thin, stream of light shot from the top of the keyblade and into the door. After a few seconds, Sora heard a faint 'click' come from inside the door and the door slid open.
"Thats the power of the keyblade!" Sora said triumphantly, making a peace sign with his hand.
"Thats amazing!" Tron exclaimed, "Do all user's have a keyblade?"
"Uh, no, its kinda a special thing," Sora said shifting his weight from foot to foot.
"Ah, well, shall we proceed to the I/O tower then?" Tron asked, walking past Sora, "We don't have much time before the MCP notices we are missing."
Riku walked into the study and snuck up behind Roxas, snaking his arms around his waist.
"Boo," he whispered into Roxas's ear, pulling Roxas closer.
"Should I leave you two alone?" came a voice from beyond Riku's line of vision.
Riku looked up to see Xemnas standing over his crystal looking amused. Blushing, Riku reluctantly let go of Roxas and bowed.
"I apologize sir, I didn't see you there."
"No, no its ok, please have a seat." Xemnas gestured to a chair to Riku's right.
Once Riku had settled into the chair, Xemas began talking, "You are well aware of this next phase in out plan so I'll make this brief, you are to go to Space Paranoids and find the key bearer. Once you find him, you are to use any means possible to get the password to the DTD from him."
"But how do we know he has the password?" Riku asked, skeptical of Xemnas's plan.
"Even if he doesn't consciously know it, I'm almost positive that its buried some where in his subconscious." Xemnas said, "And once you dig it up, you are to contact Roxas immediately, understood?"
"Yes, but why do I have to contact Roxas? Can't I just come back here and give you the password?"
"That is none of your concern," Xemas said, frowning, "You are to do as you're told and not ask stupid questions."
"Yes sir," Riku said quietly.
"Good now go find Vexen, hopefully he'll have the transfer program done by now."
Xemnas sat down and started to shift through the papers that littered the table.
Realizing he had been dismissed Riku left the room.
Roxas turned to Xemnas and glared, "You didn't have to be so mean Xemnas."
"Ha, I was just being honest. He is nothing but an empty shell, a nobody, he shouldn't question his orders. Besides Roxas, what was I supposed to tell him? I don't even know why you're insisting on going to Space Paranoids, I thought the whole reason you wanted Riku to join us was so we could use him to get the key bearer, not show him off like some prize."
At this Roxas's face turned red, "Well, thats not what I'm doing is it! I am using him to get to the key bearer!"
"You could have fooled me," Xemnas said, smirking at the look on Roxas's face, "If you were really intent on getting the key bearer's heart, you would have already made you move now wouldn't you?"
"If you remember correctly we already tried to make a move, but that blew up in our faces didn't it? I'm taking a more psychological approach, I'll destroy him mentally and then when he's just a sniveling pile of drivel I'll put him out of his misery and take his heart." Roxas clenched his fist, and started laughing, "And then I'll get my revenge!"
"Thats enough Roxas," Xemnas said, giving Roxas a uneasy look, "You sound completely and utterly insane, if revenge is what you're going to Space Paranoids for, then I'll have to ban you from going."
"But sir, you know that I lost everything because of him years ago. Its taken me years to get back my power, don't try and sto—."
"No, you will go to Space Paranoids to prevent the key bearer from stopping us, but that is the only reason. If you lose it again and attempt to take his heart before our preparations are ready, then I will have no choice but to eliminate you."
"Yes sir, I understand," Roxas said, giving Xemnas an angry glare.
"Good, now get out of my sight, I'll call you when Riku contacts us."
"Suck on that!" Sora yelled as he cut down the last of the recent swarm of nobodies and heartless. It had taken them ages, but they had finally made it to the hallway outside the I/O tower. Upon arrival they had promptly been ambushed by a horde of nobodies and heartless.
"You are quite a powerful user," Tron commented impressed at Sora's fighting.
"Heh, not really," Said Sora, blushing, "I've just had a lot of practice thats all."
"Well thats a good thing for me," Tron said, smiling at Sora, "I don't think I would ever have been able to make it to the I/O tower with out you."
"I don't know about that," said a voice from the entrance to the I/O tower, "He could never beat me at anything."
Sora and Tron turned to see a silver haired boy, wearing a blindfold, step out of the shadows.
"Hey Sora, I see you've recovered from our last meeting."
"Ri—Riku?" Sora stammered, not believing his eyes, "Is that really you?"
"Yeah, last time I checked," Riku said, looking annoyed.
Sora's eyes became blurry as tears started streaming down his cheeks, "Riku, I...I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I couldn't save you when you and Kairi got kidnapped. I tried to find you after you disappeared but I had no idea where to start."
"Oh shut up will you?" Riku said glaring at Sora, "Save your sob story for someone who cares. I'm not here for fake apologies, I'm here for the password to the DTD."
"What? Riku I—" Sora said with disbelief, he couldn't believe what Riku was saying.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Riku said, his hand starting to become lost in a swirl of black.
"But why Riku? Why did you turn to their side?"
"You wouldn't understand," Riku said, glaring even more angrily at Sora, "You're not a nobody, you have a heart! You don't know what its like to feel empty inside, to know that something is missing, and no matter how much you try to cover it up with fake emotion, its still there, a great empty hole."
"Riku, what are you talking about? You're not a nobody! You have a heart, I know it."
"Don't waist your time trying to pretend its not true Sora, I've already excepted my fate. Now tell me the password to the DTD, so I can destroy this world and return its heart to Kingdom Hearts."
"No," Sora said with a bitter look in his face, "If you want it you'll have to fight me."
"Don't be foolish Sora," Riku said, smirking, "We all know that you'll never be able to beat me. Make things easier on yourself, tell me the password now and you won't get hurt."
"No!" Sora said, glaring at Riku, "I don't know what they told you, but I never stopped looking for you. And as much as a pains me to have to fight you, I'll never let the Organization win. So, lets go!"
Sora summoned his keyblade and crouched into a fighting stance. Riku gave him a cool smile and summoned up a keyblade that Sora had never seen before. It looked like the Soul Eater sword that Malifacent had given him when he had joined the heartless but it now had a wings sticking out as the blade and serving as the hilt. It also sported the heartless's sign as its key chain.
Sora charged towards Riku, and swung his keyblade down on him. Riku parried the blow with ease and launched a ball of dark energy at Sora. But Sora wasn't there, he had rolled to the side and was already attacking Riku again. Sora's keyblade connected and Riku was thrown backward into the wall.
"You have gotten stronger since we last fought Sora," Riku said, wincing as he got to his feet, "But I've gotten even stronger."
Riku gave Sora a sinister grin as he began glowing with dark energy.
"Tron, go quickly! Get to the I/O Tower! I'll stall him as much as I can." Sora yelled desperately.
"No, Tron will not leave his friend, Tron will fight to protect what is precious to him."
"Oh how touching," Riku said, spiting out a merciless laugh, "Well, if you insist, I'll destroy you both!"
Riku raced towards them at a frightening speed, leaping in the air he brought his keyblade down on Tron. Tron blocked the blow but Riku was faster, he grabbed Tron by the neck and brought his other arm back, where it started to collect dark energy.
"Riku no!" Sora screamed sprinting towards Riku and Tron.
Riku brought his hand forward and hit Tron with the dark energy. Tron was thrown clear across the room and hit the wall with a sickening crack. He slid down the wall and lay at the bottom in a motionless heap.
"NOO!" Sora screamed, running over towards Tron and sinking down on his knees next to him. "Tron please wake up, please."
Trons eyes flickered open, "I'm sorry Sora, I couldn't protect my friend."
"No, you did wonderfully," Sora said, tears streaming down his face, "You helped me more then you could have imagined."
Suddenly Tron became surrounded by a pink light, "Tron is glowing, why is this?"
"Your heart is being released," Sora said, starting to sob even harder, "You're data is being erased."
"Tron is...dying?" Tron asked, as small balls of light began drifting upward from his body and he began to disappear.
"Yes," Sora managed to choke out between sobs, "I'm sorry Tron, this is all my fault, I shouldn't have dragged you into this."
"Sora should not be sorry, Tron was proud to be able to be Sora's friend." Tron said, his body becoming almost transparent, "Tron will always be with Sora, in his heart."
Before Sora could say anything, Tron was gone, the last of the light consumed by the surrounding darkness of the hallway.
"You see Sora? Your foolishness has caused pain and suffering, now are you ready to surrender before I am forced to destroy another one of your little friends?" Riku was standing behind the kneeling Sora.
"No," Sora said, clenching his keyblade, "I'll never tell you."
"Oh I think you will." said a new voice.
Sora looked up to see Roxas standing behind Riku, holding a dagger to Riku's neck.
"Roxas, what are you doing!" Riku whispered, alarmed at the other boys actions.
"Just play along," Roxas whispered back. Roxas turned his attention back to Sora, "Now key bearer, tell me the password to the DTD or I'll kill your beloved Riku."
Sora looked helplessly up at Roxas and Riku, "I...I..." he stammered.
"Please Sora, don't let him kill me." Riku pleaded, desperately.
Sora looked at the ground, he knew that he had been beaten, "It's the seven princesses of heart. Thats the password to the DTD, Aurora, Snow White, Cinderella, Jasmine, Alice, Belle and..."
"Yes? Go on," Roxas said, still holding Riku hostage.
"and Kairi," Sora said begrudgingly.
"Very good," Roxas said, releasing Riku, and walking toward Sora, "You have done well, key bearer, now I have something for you."
Roxas snapped his fingers and an unconscious Donald and Goofy appeared next to Sora.
"Don't worry they're still alive," Roxas said, smirking at the horrified expression on Sora's face, "Although, I doubt you all will be for long."
Laughing Roxas turned to Riku, "Lets go, we have orders from Lord Xemnas to return immediately. We still need to deliver the password to Vexen."
"What the hell was that back there Roxas?" Riku demanded, massaging his neck where the knife had been.
"What? It was effective wasn't it?" Roxas said, wrapping his arms around Riku's neck and pulling the silver haired boy closer, "Besides, you weren't getting any where, so I thought I'd help you."
"I don't need your help."
"Do we have to fight in front of him?" Roxas asked, pointing towards Sora, who was watching them with a pained look on his face, "Oh, you're always so angry with me. Here I'll make it up to you."
Sora felt as though his heart was going to explode as he watched Roxas pull Riku into a deep kiss. He could feel the hot tears pouring down his face, as the two boys disappeared into the dark portal.
"The mission has been completed sir," Roxas said as he walked into Xemnas's study, a triumphant smirk on his face.
"I thought I told you to wait until Riku contacted us," Xemnas said angrily.
"I got the password from him didn't I?" Roxas said, plopping down in one of the chairs that were scattered around the table, "Besides, it would have taken forever if we had waited for Riku."
"Yes, well, what's done is done, soon we shall have the heart of the world known as Space Paranoids."
"What about Radiant Garden? Weren't we planning on destroying it too?"
"I think we will leave Radiant Garden alone for now. We should lure the key bearer into a false sense of security there, don't you agree?"
"Yes, of course."
"Good, now go see if Vexen's done destroying Space Paranoids yet, we've extracted all the data that we need."
"Yes sir," Roxas said, getting up and bowing as he left the room.
Sora sat on the ground, numbly staring off into space. He could barely believe what had happened in the last half hour. As he sat, he felt the ground begin to shake.
"Oh no," he thought, getting quickly to his feet, "Thats right, now that they have the password they are going to destroy Space Paranoids!"
Stooping down the pick up Donald and Goofy, Sora dragged them into the I/O Tower and searched around quickly until he found a terminal that looked like the one in the pit cell. Carefully putting down Donald and Goofy to one side, he tried desperately to open the transfer program. But every time he tried, access denied paraded around the screen.
"Damnit!" Sora screamed, banging on the keyboard angrily.
"You'll never get it to open that way," said a familiar voice.
Sora turned to see a transparent version of Tron standing behind him.
"Tron? You're...alive?"
"I'm afraid not, I'm nothing but left over data of the program once known as Tron. But I have enough data left to hack into the system so you can escape."
"But what about you? I can't leave you, not again, your my friend." Sora said, a pained look on his face.
"I'm not Tron Sora, I'm left over data, I am no longer alive. Once I enter this terminal to help you escape, I will be destroyed."
"No..." Sora sobbed, as the transparent Tron stepped towards the terminal.
"You must let me do this Sora, I must protect my friends from being destroyed. Now please stand in front of the terminal with those two, the transfer program should begin in a few seconds." Tron began to enter the terminal but turned back to Sora, "You must tell the users to turn off Ansems computer once you are safely out, it is the only way to stop the destruction of the user's world. You must destroy it, do you understand?"
Sora was crying to hard to answer but nodded his head as he stood in front of the terminal with Donald and Goofy.
"Do not cry Sora, I won't be gone forever. I will always be in your heart."
With that the transparent Tron disappeared into the terminal and Sora saw the transfer program open through his blurred eyes. Then he felt himself being sucked into the data stream, and within a few seconds felt his feet touch the hard ground of the transfer platform in the computer room. Letting go of Donald and Goofy, Sora sank to his knees and broke down. He felt someone come over and put their hand on his shoulder, but he couldn't see who it was through his tear blurred eyes.
Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Someone was trying to pull him away from the platform, they were trying to talk to him, but he couldn't here what they were saying. He struggled to get free, and made his way over to computer terminal that sat on the far wall. He could hear the yells of protest as he brought his keyblade above his head and brought it crashing down on the terminal. Once he had destroyed the terminal, he walked over to the wall where the controls for the main computer were, and found the self destruct button. Hitting it he watched the the red numbers counting down from ten, lifting up his keyblade once again he started to destroy the control panel but was grabbed by someone and dragged out of the room.
All of a sudden the sound came back as the huge blast rocked the hallway he had been dragged into. Who ever had been dragging him turned him so he was face to face with him.
"What the hell were you thinking?" They yelled, as the dust from the explosion settled all around them.
But Sora didn't have an opportunity to answer him, as he slipped into an exhausted sleep.
Blabbing:
Sooo saadd, poor Sora. I nearly started crying when Tron died a second time, the last part of this goes really well with the song Brothers on a Hotel Bed by Death Cab for Cutie (no I am NOT an emo person), not that the lyrics have anything to do with it, but the tone of the song compliments it quite nicely i must say. Either that or Say Goodbye from the .hack/sign soundtrack or Akatsuki no kuruma by fictionjunction YUKKA. So I hoped you enjoyed it, please leave some reviews!