The Resolve of All

Chapter 7: Rebound

Slashing through the Twilight Thorn one last time, Roxas finally defeated both of those giant bosses. Though admittedly, he was frustrated with himself for not being able to save Princess Aurora and finding out more information from Fate. But then something hit him!

"If they were waiting for me here, then Xion and Drex might be walking into a trap!" Roxas realized.

He had to decide who to check on first... Drexbann or Xion?

He knew Drex would understand if the blond checked on his girlfriend first, so Roxas didn't waste any time to summon a dark corridor to Agrabah...

In an unknown location, the new Organization XIII had moved headquarters since their last unfortunate delay occurred at The Castle That Never Was. Fate was walking through a dimly-lit hallway when she was stopped by another member who was waiting for her.

The boy had raven-colored hair along with matching amber eyes and he was wearing the trademark black coat. He gave a smirk at the arrival of his fellow ally.

"Fate..." He addressed.

"Oh, hey Vanitas." She greeted.

"The Master sees it best that you and I are to work together for our next mission." Vanitas stated.

"And what mission would that be?" She questioned crossing her arms.

"Hunting down Princess Kairi and capturing her." He simply answered. "It would make sense to assume that this Kairi will be more difficult to obtain than the others, so two members are better than one."

"And since when were you a team player, Vanitas?" She inquired.

"Since the Master forced me to join this stupid Organization. ...But I gotta say, it does have its perks." He smirked.

"Such as?" She pried.

"All of the fun we're going to have..." He grinned.

"Just make sure you don't have too much fun." She advised.

"I know that." He replied. "By the way, where are your other pals anyway?"

"Well... Alliana and Mark are still tinkering... Xylersk and Mona haven't reported in yet..." Fate informed.

"So it seems you're stuck in the middle." Vanitas chuckled.

"It seems so." She stated.

"As long as you stay out of my way, this snatch and grab will be easy..." He said as he began to walk away. "We'll depart in a few hours... be ready."

"There's no way I'm letting you have all the fun, Van." She called out to him.

"Whatever."

The Cave of Wonders always crept Roxas out a bit, I mean you're climbing into a giant cat's mouth down a dark tunnel. Using his previous excursions into the cave helped him navigate though, and he eventually found himself in the grand Lamp Room, where the giant keyhole was still locked in the back of the chamber.

"Maybe Xion is somewhere else... maybe back at the palace? ...But I had a feeling she would be here..." Roxas pondered.

Roxas decided to shrug off his gut feeling and followed his brain this time and created a dark corridor to search the rest of this world for Xion...

The smell of autumn filled his nostrils as Drex woke up and found himself in a forest. The trees themselves had blocked out most of the sun's rays, making the shade quite chilly. Something was wrapped around him though. Drex then inattentively rolled over onto his stomach and he stood up as the leaves crunched beneath his feet.

"Uhh... Where am I...?" The brunette wondered.

"You're in Twilight Town."

Drex just noticed the blonde girl lying on the ground where he was just at. Wait a minute...

"Mona! Were you... snuggling with me?" He suspiciously asked.

"Uh... well it was pretty cold..." She slightly blushed.

"Wow... sleeping with the enemy... that's a first for me..." Drex stated.

"You are so kidding yourself... it's not like I caressed you or anything..." Her eyes avoided his gaze. "And I am not your enemy!"

"You're certainly not the Mona I remember." Drex crossed his arms as he motioned to her eyes.

She stood up to face him. "So this is the thanks I get for saving your life?! It's not like I didn't have to stop Skyler from killing you... geez..."

"...Okay, you're right. I should be more grateful... thank you. But why did you even save me at all? Won't the Organization come after you? Or destroy you?" Drex questioned.

"You're welcome... and I doubt it. They need thirteen members and I'm number XIII. So, they'll just hunt me down like a dog and come after me." She nonchalantly responded.

"So what do you suppose we do?" Drex asked.

"Wait it out for a little bit until things simmer down." She suggested.

"...What about Xehanort? Your eyes aren't the same..." He reminded.

"Don't worry." She smiled. "I'm still the same girl, and I'm not about to let an old coot control my heart."

"If you say so...Wait! What about Belle?! We have to go back for her!" Drex said as he tried to summon a dark corridor but it didn't work. "Huh?"

"It must have been Skyler. He took a lot of your energy, so it might be a while before you can summon corridors of darkness again." She informed him. "It's too late for her anyway..."

"Well that's just great... " He groaned. "So what now?"

"I wanna check out this world for a while. It seems safe enough." Mona denied his request as she went out the hole in the wall towards town.

"You sure you don't want to cuddle some more?" Drex joked.

"Sh-Shut up!" She blushed some more as Drex followed her out.

Roxas has arrived at Beast's Castle seeing as Xion wasn't found anywhere in Agrabah. So maybe if he caught up with Drex they could look for her together.

Roxas had teleported into the Foyer area of the Castle and saw that the Ballroom door was slightly ajar...

Roxas walked right up to it to eavesdrop on the people who were inside. Their voices echoed in the chamber, so it was easy to listen to.

"Master Adam, please cease your weeping."

"But Cogsworth... Belle is gone... taken by the darkness once again."

"You can't bring her back like last time?"

"No... With my human form, I don't have the Beastly strength like I had before..."

"She'll return... I know she will..."

"I hope your right..."

Roxas was stunned that Belle was taken by the Organization as well. So to his horror, they might have lost six princesses!

Roxas ran back across the Foyer and let himself out of the castle and into the front courtyard.

"Kairi just became a lot more important. I better get back to that Tower and tell Mickey!" He declared.

Roxas then summoned another dark corridor to the Mysterious Tower...

"Well this is just fantastic..." Lea sarcastically stated as he examined the pile of ashes that use to be his house... "And I thought I was going to be the one who burned this place to the ground..."

Lea was able to save Sora from the Realm of Sleep and even just moments ago summon his own Keyblade, impressing everyone and making their jaws drop. All in the snap of the wrist I guess. Lea decided to call his weapon the Gotitmemorized blade. Just kidding.

In this story we're going to call Lea's Keyblade: Phoenix Flame.

"Now what?" Lea wondered. "...Maybe Roxas, Xion, or Drex are back now... I'm sure they won't take this news well..."

Lea then created a corridor of darkness to meet back up with Yen Sid and discuss the next course of action.

"Even though there's a massive crisis threatening the balance between light and darkness, I guess it doesn't hurt to have an ice cream break." Drex reasoned.

"That's the spirit!" Mona encouraged.

The both of them had just finished their ice cream sticks as they walked into the Sandlot, but then they were met with a bunch of annoying characters...

"Hey! I haven't seen you two before... What are you doing in my town?" Seifer addressed.

"Excuse me?" Mona questioned.

"This is Seifer's town, y'know." Rai informed.

"Respect." Fuu said.

"That's right. So you're going to have to tell me who you are before I have to take disciplinary measures." Seifer stated.

"And I bet you're just itching to get to that part." Drex responded.

"You're not as dumb as you look." Seifer smirked.

"Has anyone ever told you you're really annoying?" Mona accused.

"Oh? A cat with some claws on her. How about this...? You dump that loser and hang out with me?" Seifer proposed.

"...You're hilarious." She fake chuckled then became serious. "How about this...? You step off before I make you step off!"

"Rude." Fuu chimed in.

"Who do you two think you are, disrespecting Seifer like that, y'know?" Rai questioned.

"I think it's time we taught you some manners..." Seifer cracked his knuckles.

"Do you want to handle them?" Drex whispered to Mona.

"I got this." She agreed then addressed the gang. "Hey, you guys want to know what my favorite game is?"

"Sure, why not?" Seifer humored her.

Then Mona made a motion with her hands. "It's called Freeze Tag! Freeze!"

And just like that, Mona froze the three members of the Disciplinary Committee with a blizzard spell and they were immobilized in the ice.

"Cool." Drex joked.

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow.

"At least I didn't say, 'ice move'..." He chuckled.

She stifled a giggle as they both wandered towards the Back Alley, leaving the thugs to thaw out in the twilight sun.

"So how are Alliana, Mark, and Fate doing?" Drex asked.

"They're off doing their own stuff." Mona replied. "I really don't what they're doing..."

"For being one of Xehanort's vessels you sure aren't really in the loop..." He commented.

"That's because they were going to destroy me once Sora joined up, but he didn't..." She sadly said.

"Well that's good news, isn't it?" He comforted her.

"But I was disposable to them..." She confessed but then she recovered herself. "Not like I care what they think of me anyway... It's just... everyone's changed... Skyler, Mark, Alliana, Fate..."

Drex sighed. "We can still save them... all of them. I have plenty of friends who can help out."

"The Guardians of Light? Maybe..." She pondered.

"It'll all work out... It always does..." He smiled.

"You know... you haven't changed one bit since the last time I last saw you..." Mona noted with a grin.

"Well yeah, I'm still the same person I'm just-!" He got distracted.

BANG!

Drex did not see that lamppost pole in front of him, and his head smacked right into it.

"OW!" Drex staggered back against a nearby wall and clutched his head in pain.

"HAhahaha! You bonehead!" She almost keeled over from laughing too hard.

"Oh thanks for your concern for my face!" He yelled still trying to rub away the pain.

"Awww... do want me to kiss it better~?" She chuckled.

Before Drex could respond, Mona came up to him and lightly kissed his forehead. ...But then their eyes meet and something just... happened.

Mona's eyes flickered only momentarily from amber to icy blue... then to both of their surprise, Drex whispered something to her...

"It still hurts... right here..." He pointed to his lips...

Drex's arms wrapped around the blond's waist then she wrapped her arms around his neck as she complied with his request, and their lips met in a perfect kiss...

And for a moment... it was just absolute bliss for the two of them...

A/N- A little humor and romance in this chapter for once. Now that Mona and Drex have become closer what will happen next for them? Fate and Vanitas are on the hunt for Kairi now... And Lea discovers his burnt down house. (They left the ice cream in there! ;_;) Also, where the heck is Xion? Find out more next chapter! Reviews=Updates :)

To the owner of Mona: I'm sorry your OC fell in love with mine. As you can see, it was an accident. And since the subject is up: if the other OC's creators want any other REASONABLE ships with their characters to take place... I'll consider it.