The trio continued past the Postern, descending the overshadowed stairs to enter the small maze of hallways leading to Ansem's Lab. A few more Heartless blocked their path, but were soon taken care of. They stopped in the ruined office, hearing clashing and yelling from the factory. Immediately on alert, Sora ran ahead, remembering how Merlin had said Leon was inside.
Riku and the King, startled, made to run after him. None of them noticed the shadowy portal appearing on the floor in Sora's path. Too late, the brunet tried to avoid it, slipping and tumbling through. Panicking, Riku tried to dive in after him, but the darkness disappeared after engulfing Sora. A whirring sound announced the closing of the secret door leading to the computer room as Riku stood up. It was a dead end.
Sora let out an 'oomph' as he landed face down in the Heartless Factory. Although disoriented, he heard the clanging much louder now, and panic cut through his confusion. Sora quickly stood up and looked out at the platform, where he saw Leon fighting a figure hidden in a familiar black cloak...
A wave of dread, rage, and sadness hit Sora as he recognized the cloak as the trademark of the vanquished Organization XIII. "What is going on!?" He called out, furious. The combatants paused at the intrusion, Leon and the stranger turning their heads slightly. "Sora? What are you doing!? Get out of here!" Leon ordered. But Sora ignored him, summoning his Keyblade and charging at the stranger.
Leon jumped back just in time to avoid a Keyblade in his face as Sora closed in on the intruder. He slashed forward, and the man brought up his weapon expectantly. They broke apart, and Sora ran forward again, attacking from his right. The figure waited, and right before Sora hit, disappeared in a flash. Blue eyes scanned the room after noticing the swing had hit only air.
"Where'd he go?" Leon asked, looking around carefully. It was quiet for a few seconds, the only sound echoing loudly as Sora breathed heavily. His hands were shaking, and he gripped the Keyblade tighter. Wherever he was, the man wasn't gone yet. Sora knew that much. At the absence of any distraction, his emotions were on overdrive. Outrage, resentment, overwhelming sadness all flooded Sora's mind at the new information.
There were still Nobodies... still Heartless... still an enemy that wouldn't let things be...
"Sora, look out!" Leon called to the brunet, and Sora looked up just in time to see the unwelcome visitor come from behind him, large sword raised. Not enough time for Reflect. Sora brought his Keyblade up, feeling the room enter a kind of slow motion. It was going to be close... would he make it?
Did he want to make it?
Leon cringed at the horror that followed. The man in black had brought his strange, light blue, huge sword down on Sora. The other had just made it with his defense. Sora had, however, fallen to one knee, struggling against the insistent push and momentum of the heavy weapon. They stayed locked like that for a few more seconds. All Sora could hear was his own breathing and blood pulsing. He couldn't for the life of him see the face under his opponent's hood.
Another blind adrenaline and anger rush enabled Sora to jump up, pushing back the man. They stood facing off for a few seconds that felt like an eternity. A bang echoed, breaking the stony silence. Another two followed, and all heads darted to the door, which now had dents. "Move" was heard from the other side, and after a beat, an explosion rocked the room, the now-mangled door flying back a few feet.
An incredibly calm Riku walked into the room, and bright green eyes narrowed at the man in black. "Hey!" The King ran in after, and looked confused. "Sora, Leon, what's going on?" he asked. Riku ran forward, Keyblade in hand, as another portal appeared, this one behind the man under the hood. A figure, again in the Organization's cloak, stepped out. "Sorry, Superior. They got in." The voice was obviously feminine, and she turned to walk toward Sora.
"Hey, so they're them, huh?" She said, eagerness and curiosity evident. The girl tilted her head and let out a giggle. "Hi, cutie." Sora stared at her strangely. What was going on?
The man turned around and created another portal. The sound made the girl turn around and run toward him. She let out another giggle and looked over her shoulder. "I'll see you later, cutie!" Before Sora could respond, she was gone, swallowed by the darkness. The man turned to walk, and Sora yelled out "Hey, wait! Who are you?"
He stopped, not looking back. "That...is a good question." He moved forward, and nobody moved to stop him. Sora was confused. That person...had sounded young...
Mickey walked toward them, and was the first to speak. "What happened, Sora?" The brunet replied hollowly, mind elsewhere. "I'm not sure. I fell through that portal and ended up here. That person was fighting Leon, and I stepped in. Then you all walked in." Here he turned to stare curiously at Riku. "What kept you guys?" (1)
"The door locked after that portal took you. We had to break it down with our Keyblades and magic." The silver-haired boy turned to Leon. "We made a bit of a mess. Sorry about that."
"It's alright. What's important is nobody got hurt." He turned to stare at them. "So, what brings you all here?" The reminder came crashing like an illness to Sora. "Well, Leon, there's trouble brewin' between the worlds. We think an old Keyblade master was revived somehow and is planning something." Mickey answered. "Really? That couldn't be good, I suppose." Leon said contemplatively, crossing his arms.
The group stood in silence. Depression and relief settled in the bottom of Sora's stomach as the feeling of threat subsided. Why couldn't people just stop already?
A flash filled Sora's mind, and like a film he saw a white room, holding two figures. One had impossibly spiky blond hair, wearing white and black clothes, deep blue eyes set in a furious glare at the other; a figure swathed in a red cloak, covered in various brown belts, his face wrapped in a red string of cloth, only one yellow eye visible. Behind the man there stood a large white pod. Sora stood between the two, and after a second realized that it was the room he had woken up in after a year of sleep.
"At last, the Keyblade's chosen one." Said the figure wrapped in red. The younger boy, Sora couldn't remember who he was, responded angrily. "Who are you talking to? Me? Or Sora?" What was going on? That voice was familiar...
Wait... Roxas?
"To half of Sora, of course. You reside in darkness. What I need is someone that can move about the realm of light and destroy Organization XIII." Seeming unsatisfied, Roxas continued. "Why? Who are you?" "I am a servant of the world." He let out a hollow laugh. "And if I'm a servant, you should consider yourself a tool, at best."
Roxas continued glaring, anger seeping into his voice at every word. "Was that... was that supposed to be a joke? 'Cause I'm not laughing!" His Keyblade appeared at the end of his line and he ran at the man, slashing through him once. Sora was surprised as the figure only shook, the attacked area changing into numbers before resuming its human form. "My apologies. This is only a data-based projection."
Sora could feel the anger pouring off Roxas as he screamed to the nonexistent ceiling, turning around to attack the hologram repeatedly, the numbers appearing and then going back to their program. About half a dozen slashes later, the hologram had disappeared, and Roxas stood, panting.
It wasn't two more seconds until the man had moved to stand in front of the white pod. "Come, over here." He said calmly to Roxas.
Then the scene faded to black, and Sora jumped. "What?" He looked around, meeting the curious gaze of Riku, the King, and Leon. "Uh," he said, putting a hand behind his head, "sorry, about that. Kinda zoned out for a minute." Riku continued to stare, and Sora knew he'd have to explain later. "It's okay, Sora. Why don't we go up to the lab and see if you all can find anything." Leon led the way back upstairs.
The King set to follow him, not looking to see if Sora and Riku followed. "So, Sora. What happened?" the taller boy said bluntly. Sora suppressed a sigh. "I had...a part of Roxas' memory playing through my head. I don't know, exactly, what it was." He decided not to tell Riku the part about where it was right before they had merged...
"Hm. Sora, do you think it means something?" Riku asked the question Sora had already known was coming. "I'm not sure, Riku. But, we've got too much to think about right now, don't we?" His gaze drifted to lock on the spot the Nobodies had disappeared to. "First Xehanort, then those guys... and now I'm seeing things. Great start to a journey, isn't it?" The bitter sarcasm didn't go unnoticed by the older. "Don't worry about it, Sora. Everything will turn out fine."
He turned to go after the King and Leon, and Sora silently sighed before following. On the way up, Sora deliberately walked slowly to gather time to think. Things were going too fast. New enemies kept appearing left and right. But why? Why was there now such a huge rush for everyone to get out in the open?
And why were Roxas' memories invading his mind? Was the Nobody trying to tell him something?
Sora let out a sigh that reverberated in the small staircase leading to the computer room. The noise became quieter as it rose toward the entrance, and Sora continued. He arrived at the room and stood beside Riku as the King typed on the computer, various screens coming up at every few strokes.
After a few tense minutes, the mouse sighed and turned to stare sadly at the boys. "There's nothing on here about Xehanort, or those Nobodies." Sora frowned. "Are you sure, your Majesty? There's nothing at all?" Mickey just shook his head. "I'm afraid not. All we have are the Ansem Reports." Riku waved his hand at Sora. "You have them, right Sora?"
The brunet felt a moment of indecision. Yes, he had brought them. But he had them nearly memorized already. The night after receiving King Mickey's letter he had taken them and read them through multiple times, trying to squeeze any more information out. All in vain, he thought venomously as he handed them to Riku, who passed the papers to the King.
Mickey scanned the papers, one after another, each time frowning deeper. Finally, he hung his hands and looked down, defeated. "I guess there's nothing here..." The room sat in a deep, still silence as the group pondered what would happen next.
Sora, growing impatient with the slow progress, finally spoke up. "Hey, why not go see if Kairi, Donald, and Goofy found out anything? We can see if Merlin finished the spell, too." The mouse perked up. "Good idea, Sora! Let's hope they did." He led the way out of the room, Sora and Riku following.
---
It was in a dark alley the portal materialized, a figure in a black cloak stepping out to face the other, a man with long white hair, bright yellow eyes, wearing black pants and a black, white and red shirt, a long-sleeved white jacket, almost reaching the ground and covered in black spikes. Belts decorated his guise and body, lined with pouches. His skin was lightly tanned, but it seemed as if he had not been in the sun for a while.
"What do you want?" The cloaked one called out harshly. Smiling mercilessly, the white haired man answered. "I seek to only help you in your goal." The other 'hmph'ed'. "And in return, what do you want?" Still smiling, his unnaturally white teeth gleaming in the semi-darkness, the man spoke patiently. "Our goals are the same. To destroy our enemies. Why not combine forces, so that we may all prosper?"
The man made another noise of disapproval, crossing his arms. "And if I deny this offer?" "Well, then, it will be your loss." The white haired man turned to walk away, and the cloaked figure uncrossed his arms. "It is not my own choice, you know." Stopping, and holding back a smile, the man dressed in white responded kindly. "I understand. Go, consult the others. Explain my offer to them, and return an answer."
As the man turned to walk again, the one hidden by a hood pondered his statement. Shaking his head, he summoned another portal. He sighed as he stared into it's depths. What would the others say to this new development?
---
Sora was deep in thought as the King opened the door to Merlin's house, but perked up as he vaguely heard Kairi calling his name. The pink-dressed girl was staring at him strangely, and he wondered what he'd done wrong. "Uh, sorry, Kairi. What'd you say?" He asked, smiling innocently. "Sora, you can be so slow sometimes." The red head answered with a playful look. "I was telling you that Donald, Goofy, and I couldn't find anything out in town." Sora nodded. Not surprising.
"So, where now?" Kairi asked, looking between the group expectantly. "Well, I don't remember seeing any other routes open on the way here, so we need to find what'll unlock one." Sora answered seriously. "That's right, Sora. Maybe we can ask Merlin for help?" The King supplied. Just in time, a blue and pink poof appeared in the middle of the room, and it cleared to reveal the white-bearded magician. "Uh, terribly sorry, your Majesty, but I can't complete the spell until I can obtain a sample of his essence."
"Essence? What's that?" Sora inquired, curious. "Well, my good boy, it's simply anything of his that was near him. Clothing, hair, skin, you know what I mean. And I need a sample of such a substance to find him." Sora nodded, but Mickey hung his head. "How're we gonna find that if we don't even know where he is?"
Sora shot Riku a look, unnoticed by the others. The silver-haired boy gave a slight nod, and Sora did the same, returning to feign ignorance.
"Your majesty, isn't it possible that Xehanort will try to convince those Nobodies to help him?" Here the mouse perked again. "That's right!" He exclaimed, swinging around to stare at the tallest. "Wait, what Nobodies?" Kairi interjected, looking lost.
The King blinked. "While we were at Ansem's Lab, Kairi, there was a Nobody fighting Leon. He was wearing the Organization cloak, so we think there might still be members alive." She looked horrified. "But I thought the last one was defeated!"
Sora bitterly thought what Mickey said aloud: "Me, too."
"So, you're saying there's more to do than just defeat Xehanort?" She shifted her gaze around the room, and everyone nodded. "Great. Just great." Kairi said, shaking her head.
-----
A portal sprung up in the white room, the only body present quickly pulling up their hood to conceal their face. The first figure ran through, and he could tell she was happy, even though he couldn't see her face. She continued to run past him, letting out a giggle.
Turning to gape at her, the nobody was stunned. What made Number 9 so happy? The sound of a second member entering the room had the man turning to stare as another male stepped in. Quickly bowing, the man dared to ask: "So I assume the mission went well, Superior?"
"Very well." His ears perked at the satisfied tone of Number 1's voice. "The Keyblade masters have begun their journey, Number 10." Eyes widening under the hood, he brought his head up. "No way..." The man dissipated the portal, nodding. "Hm. So it begins..."
(1) Note that even though Mickey was speaking, Sora asked Riku the question.