Chapter 26: Ourselves (www . youtube . com/watch?v=_hvjjA4RN-U) --This will set the mood!! :D

Memo: UWAAAAAAAA~! I'm so pumped for this chapter. I've been waiting a long time to finally write this. It's an amazing scene in my head, so I'll do my best to put the pictures into words for ya! You know what helped? The end of the fifth Harry Potter movie! YEAH! XD

Nexus' PoV

The second the three of us walked through that door, I felt more at ease, for some reason. I think maybe it was because I knew I wasn't going alone. There would be other people with me, and I could handle that.

Tifa was pacing around down on the platform, muttering to herself.

"Tifa!" Aerith and Yuffie cried, running over to her. I followed them at a slower pace.

"Hey, you guys," she said, her face doing a one-eighty. "What's up?"

"We're going exploring!" Yuffie cheered, bouncing on her tiptoes. Yeah, her enthusiasm and little kid voice definitely reminded me of E.

"Oh? Well, be careful." Tifa nodded toward the machine. "Who knows when that thing will start pumping out more Heartless."

"Don't worry," I said, stepping in. "I think we can handle a few Heartless. Besides, we're going under the machine."

"Under?" Aerith asked, following me as I walked over to the edge of the platform. "But how? It must go down for miles."

"Exactly."

Staring out in front of me, I lined up my right hand just how I remembered, and sure enough, a glowing, translucent panel popped up in front of me. If this worked still, that meant the hovercraft did, too.

Immediately after I punched in the code, the vehicle floated up to greet us. It was covered with cobwebs and dust.

"This hasn't been used in a while, has it?" Yuffie said, wrinkling her nose in disgust as I cleared the keyboard of gunk.

"Nope. Consider yourself priveleged."

Yuffie grinned at me, then Aerith.

Kicking open the little door, which had been stuck in place for years, I ushered the two on board and waved goodbye to Tifa.

"Hang on," I told them. "It goes pretty fast."

"'Kay," they answered in unison.

I pressed the code into the control pad, and we took off, shooting straight down, then straight forward into the looming darkness.

"I wanna drive this back!" Yuffie cried, laughing.

"Okay, you need to know the code," I said, grinning even though it was too dark to see anything but the glowing control pad. "It's 'S-U-N-E.' Got it memorized?"

Hah, I couldn't resist.

"That's a name, isn't it?" Aerith said. "I've seen that somewhere before."

"Because that's me," I said as the craft slowed down some. We drove through a dimly lit hallway that I recognized, and I knew the stop would be soon. "Sune is me."

"But I thought your name was Nexus!" Yuffie said.

"It is." I could feel their confused looks, and I sighed. "Look, it's complicated. I'll explain later."

Suddenly we slowed down more, and I saw a closed door approaching on our left. I sighed.

"See that door?" I said, pointing. "That's where this mess began with the Organization. That's where they lost their hearts."

The door looked like it was rotting, and there was a faint stench coming from it.

"We should check it out!" Yuffie said, holding her nose.

"Not without lots of protective equipment, we're not!" I exclaimed. "Who knows what's left in there?"

.........

We finally reached the other hovercraft port a minute after seeing the ill-fated room. Everything looked the same, untouched, like when I last saw it over three years ago. Things were falling apart, glass all over the place. Everything looked like when that day happened...like it was then...in ruins.

The only door that was decent looking was the one we were looking for: the door to my old room.

"Alright, let's go," I said, opening the door with another code. It zoomed open, and I felt good about it. I knew it would stay open until I told it to, so we weren't going to get trapped in here or anything like some horror movie.

In fact, everything was going pretty smoothly. I was happy about that...

"I sense a dark aura in this place," Aerith said when she walked in.

"Really?" I asked, looking at one of the counters. "Can't say I'm too surprised."

"Aw, look!" Yuffie exclaimed, holding up a picture. "Is this you?"

"Yeah," I replied, grinning. She had found a picture of me and Ansem from when I was first brought to him.

"And look! These are your parents."

I hurried over, snatching the picture out of her hands. Yes...they were my parents. My mother was beautiful and young, and my father looked proud and brave, and also young. They were too young to understand any of it, as was I.

"Your mother is lovely," Aerith said, smiling.

"You look like her," Yuffie added, looking me over.

"Do I?" I wondered out loud. It would've been nice to see her then, too.

There were so many things I wanted to look at while I was there. My eyes searched the room for nothing in particular. I knew what I was trying to avoid, and that was obvious: there was a giant glass tube in the very center of the room. Aerith and Yuffie didn't ask about, and I was thankful; how was I going to tell them that tube used to be my bed? Where I was once someone else...but still me.

My fingers traced the objects left lying on the counter, things from my childhood. Some things I wanted to remember more than others. I came across another picture, though it wasn't of me. It was one of Ansem's favorite pictures, of a festival in the summertime that this world had for children. I only went once, and I remember it being amazing.

Anyway, I looked through the huge crowd, looking for anybody I might recognize, like Leon or Aerith. They were close enough to my age.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" Yuffie asked, trotting over to me. Aerith followed her.

"Oh, a picture of that children's festival they have every year here," I replied, showing her. "This picture was taken when I was six, judging by the date on the back. I was looking for one of you guys."

"I went that year," Aerith said, smiling.

"Yeah, that was right before our world was destroyed," Yuffie said, both of their smiles fading.

"Maybe I can find you," I said, grinning.

I couldn't find her because suddenly my gaze was attracted by a little red-headed boy with who I assumed to be his little sister.

"...?" I squinted, trying to make out the details of his face. "...?"

It couldn't be him, I decided, handing Yuffie the picture so she and Aerith could look at it. I don't even know what his somebody looked like. I'm just desperate.

I slowly walked to the other side of the room, eyes fixed straight ahead, when suddenly something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. Someone was by me, and I couldn't tell who.

Hesitantly, I turned my head to the side to find myself looking at the glass tube and my reflection. Two amber eyes gazed back.

Everything happened all at once. My breath caught, I fell to my knees, and the glass tube exploded, glass shards flying everywhere, most of them hitting me.

"Nexus!?" I heard Yuffie shout, her voice sounding so distant. I couldn't answer her. I could barely even move. My whole body was stretched across the floor, and every inch of me hurt with a pain I can't even describe.

"Nexus, what's wrong?" Aerith cried. I couldn't answer her. When I tried to, my body let loose this inhuman scream, a sound I don't think any human could ever imitate. But it hurt so much...

Still screaming, I tossed my head to one side involuntarily, and I saw my eyes. They were gold.

It was happening. She was coming back. I was dying.

"Nexus!"

Somehow I heard them shouting my name while I was screaming. It felt like my body was trying to turn itself inside-out with no remorse.

Leave me alone! I shouted, unable to speak.

"No," Sune said firmly. "I won't."

I had no idea what to do.

Axel...

I felt like I was dying. I was dying. That was it.

Somebody! Please kill me!

I could feel tears flooding my cheeks as I reached for a piece of glass. I cut my hand trying to grab it, and the pain only got worse.

*~*~*

Aerith and Yuffie stared in horror at Nexus, who was writhing on the ground and screaming at the top of her lungs. Parts of her arms were cut, and she was bleeding onto the floor, which was soaked in water from the tube. Her clothes were torn in places, too.

"Aeri, you've got to go get Sora," Yuffie said at least, her voice cracking. "I'll stay with her. You need to bring him here!"

"Okay," Aerith said, shaking as Nexus wailed even louder. She sounded possessed.

Dashing out of the room, Aerith sprinted over to the hovercraft and punched in the code Nexus had told them.

"S-U-N-E," she said out loud as the entered the code, and the hovercraft took off into the darkness.

By herself, Aerith began to cry. She had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was probably wouldn't end well. She only hoped Sora could do something about it.

When the hovercraft finally got to the surface, Aerith jumped off before it had completely stopped and sprinted into the computer room just in time to catch Sora returning.

"Hey!" he said cheerfully, but Aerith didn't reply. Instead she grabbed his arm and dragged him with her. "Hey, what's going on!? Are you alright? Where's Nexus?"

Aerith didn't answer him until they were riding back on the hovercraft.

"I hear something," Sora said, peering into the darkness. "It sounds like something screaming..."

"...Something is really wrong," Aerith said, a sob interrupting her, "with Nexus."

"Why? What happened?"

"I don't know. We were in her old room, and suddenly, she just fell and..." Aerith inhaled and exhaled slowly. "Well...you'll see."

Sora shuddered; he did NOT like the sound of that.

They finally reached the other dock again, and Sora jumped off, running into the room.

He was a little overwhelmed at first. There were so many things to see. Yuffie was standing there, obviously shocked, staring at Nexus, who was writhing on the floor. She was also the source of the terrifying noise.

"Nexus!" Sora cried, dropping to his knees next to her. She got quiet for a moment, then she looked at him with scared, tear-filled turquoise eyes. Her eyes flashed gold, and she screamed again, her whole face contorting in wild pain. Sora sat back on his heels, shocked. What was going on?

"Her eyes," he said to Aerith and Yuffie. They didn't seem to know what he was talking about, so he turned back to Nexus.

"Sora..."

Sora looked down at Nexus, who was gazing up at him, trembling. There was a giant cut on her face, which he assumed was from the glass around her.

"...Sora..."

"Yeah, it's me," he said softly.

"..." She cringed, her eyes changing colors again. "Kill me!" she shouted, her voice warped. He could've sworn he heard two different voices when she spoke.

"What?" Sora gasped.

"Kill me! Please! I--"

Her fingers curling tightly into fists, Nexus let out another ghostly scream. Sora watched, helpless.

"I'm dying! Please! Kill me!" she screamed, her hand reaching out for another piece of glass.

"No!" Sora shouted, jumping up and kicking it out of her reach.

"KILL ME!" she shrieked, clawing at her own throat, as if something inside of her was trying to tear her apart.

"No!" he shouted again. "I won't kill you, Nexus!"

"PLEASE KILL ME!" She began to sob hysterically. "I'M DYING! PLEASE!" Her whole body was shaking. "Please kill me! Please! Please..."

"No, Nexus, I won't kill you," Sora said quietly, kneeling back down to her level again. Hesitating, he reached out and stroked her hair gently. "I won't kill you."

"Please kill me," she whispered, looking up at him. Tears rolled from her eyes, which were gold again. But, to Sora's astonishment, they flickered, then slowly faded back into turquoise. "I'm dying. Please."

"No, Nexus," he repeated, taking his hand away. "I am not going to kill you."

She stared at him with a blank expression, her eyes distant. Suddenly she tensed up, grabbing at her heart, sucking in air and staying quiet for a while. Then, after a few seconds, she collapsed onto the floor, eyes still open, looking ahead lifelessly then rolling back into her head.

"She's--she's!!" Yuffie cried, covering her mouth.

"No, she's not dead," Sora said sternly.

A moment later, Nexus' eyes came into focus, and her entire body throbbed with pain. She couldn't move, and she could barely breathe.

"Nexus," Sora said cautiously. "Blink if you can hear me." She blinked slowly. "Thank god."

She wanted to smile, but she couldn't. Her muscles were twitching like crazy from all the stress the struggle had just put on her. She couldn't keep her eyes focused in just one spot for too long.

"Blink once if you can move." She didn't blink. "Blink once if you can't move anything." She blinked. Sora sighed. "Do you think it would help if I cured you? Blink once for yes, twice for no." She blinked twice, and Sora sighed again. "At least you're alright now. I need to get you out of here." He stood up. "This is going to hurt, I'm sorry."

As gently as he could manage, Sora picked Nexus up in his arms. She was still shaking all over, and she couldn't even manage to cry out in pain. She had nearly just died. Sune had nearly won. So what did that mean for next time?

"Is she going to be okay?" Aerith asked once she got her voice back.

"I think so," Sora said, walking out of the room. "I'm sorry I can't stay longer. She needs to get back."

"We understand."

Sora nodded in thanks, then the four boarded the hovercraft in silence.

.........

Roxas held his head in his hands. He had had about enough of Nexus' screaming for one day. No matter what he tried to say to her, she wouldn't hear him, only screamed. She sounded like she was in an incredible amount of pain.

"Dammit," he sighed, looking over at Sora. "Guess you're going to have to do something about this."

Roxas stood up and forced himself to be absorbed by Sora's body.

Sora awoke with a start upon hearing Nexus' screams.

"Nexus! Nexus!" he shouted, shaking her hard. "Wake up! You're dreaming!"

Panting, Nexus opened her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. She looked up at Sora, then sat upright quickly, terrified.

"Are you okay?" Sora asked her. She didn't answer. "Calm down, it was only a dream."

"No, I..." she began, but her voice betrayed her, and she stopped.

"What? What happened?"

"No, it's nothing," she said quickly, shaking her head. "I can't sleep."

She laid back down, sighing through her nose.

"I'll be okay," she told Sora, squeezing her eyes shut.

But the amber eyes she saw startled her again, and so she kept her eyes open for the rest of the night.