Jordan:…I ran out of things to say, sorry. Anyway, this will be one of the harder ones to write, so sorry if it's bad in comparison to the others.

Ch. XIII

Oathkeeper and Oblivion

Of all the members of Organization XIII, Roxas was the one that intrigued Kavma the most. Of course, since the boy had only recently joined, Kavma felt it was best that they got to know each other better—hence him arranging a private mission for the two of them in Twilight Town.

It was a couple days after Roxas' previous mission with Lexaeus. As they stepped out of the Dark Corridor into the empty sandlot, Kavma thought privately that if he had told Roxas of the REAL reason why he had brought him along, he would've started running in the opposite direction. He had that effect on some people.

All was silent for a moment—Kavma had his back to Roxas, who was clearly itching to ask what they were supposed to do today. Kavma could tell that the young Nobody didn't know what to make of him—after all, he was the only person he had met so far that wasn't part of the Organization. He wasn't even sure if the man was a Nobody or not.

Kavma sighed. No time for the present. He turned to face Roxas, his arms thrown wide. "Well, Roxas! I do not believe we have been formally introduced yet. My name is Kavma, and you, my dear Roxas, have been THE most intriguing member of Organization XIII. Well, to me, anyway."

Roxas was startled, to say the least. "I-I am?"
"Well, yes. You are rather young for a Nobody. At first, I was wondering what Xemnas was thinking when he recruited you, but then the reason became quite clear." He held out his hand. "May I see your Keyblade?"

"Umm… which one, Sir?"

"What do you mean, which one? Your initial weapon, without a gear equipped." A thought struck him. "And don't call me 'sir', it makes me feel like Christopher Walken."
"Who?"
"Nobody you know."

(Jordan: Ok, I don't know who that is either.)

"Um, ok…" Roxas complied by summoning his classic Kingdom Key, then handing it to Kavma, who examined it.

"Hmmm…An interesting weapon…" He swung it a couple of times. "Surprisingly balanced, for a key-shaped sword."

"…Can I… have it back yet?"

"Sure." He tossed the Keyblade without warning, causing Roxas to fumble with it before catching it. "In summary, the Keyblade's a good weapon, but only you can use it. You can't just swing it haphazardly to get the job done. I have therefore called you out here for you to learn how to use it more properly."

"Use… Wait, what do you mean?" Roxas asked, suddenly becoming anxious.

"I brought you here… to test your skills in a duel." 3…2…1…

"Wh-what? You?"

"Who else? There's no need to be so alarmed. I'll go easy on you, if that makes you feel better."

It was clear to Kavma that Roxas was a bit panicked. "B-but…"
"Roxas." Kavma's voice took on a firmer tone. "It will be fine. It's not like I'm going to kill you."

After a moment of silence, Roxas nodded. "Okay…"

Kavma nodded. "Good. Now then…let's begin, shall we?"
Roxas immediately went into a fighting stance. "I must inform you," said Kavma, a smirk on his face, "that though I will hold back, I want you fight me as if you mean to kill. Do not think of my safety—fight as if your very life is in danger. Now come at me!"

Roxas immediately charged at Kavma and swung the Keyblade with as much force as he could muster. Before it could connect, however, time seemed to slow down for Kavma. He merely walked around Roxas' flailing form, and then time seemed to recompose itself, with Roxas landing face-first on the floor where Kavma once stood. He tsked. "A bit slow, aren't you, Roxas? You need to keep up the pace, you know!"

Roxas got to his feet. "Tch…" He leapt at Kavma again, only to swing at empty air. When he looked up, he saw (to his disbelief) Kavma standing on top of a lightpost.

"You won't win if you just swing your weapon like a maniac," Kavma said, wagging his finger.

Roxas responded by firing a roasting fireball at him. Now, you'd THINK that Kavma would dodge it or something, right?
It hit him full in the face, causing him to reel backward and fall off the post. He then sprung back up, seemingly fine, but upon further inspection Kavma was missing both his eyebrows. Roxas had to hold back his laughter. Kavma frowned. "Oh, yes, very funny. My turn!"

Before Roxas could possibly react, he felt something sock him in the stomach, sending him straight up into the air (twenty feet!) and landing face first into the pavement.

"A belly-flop onto pavement is never pleasant, is it, Roxas?" asked Kavma as he swiped dust off his glove.

Roxas couldn't help but cough as he shakily got to his feet. Blood was dribbling from the side of his mouth. "Thought you said…you'd hold back?"
"I AM holding back." Roxas blinked, and then suddenly Kavma was in front of him. The man in blue promptly flicked him in the forehead, sending him into a complete 360 flip that resulted in him landing on his face again. "OOOWWW!"

As soon as Roxas got up again, he charged at Kavma, swinging his Keyblade savagely. The strange thing was, he could not get a single hit on Kavma, almost as if he knew where he would swing before he did it.

Kavma proceeded to grab the Keyblade as it swung for his head. "Come on, Roxas," he said, sounding like he was reprimanding him, "You're faster than this!"

When he thought back on it later, Roxas had to admit that he had no idea what happened next. There was a flash of light, then suddenly he was lying flat on his back on the ground with his own Keyblade at his throat. Kavma was holding it, standing above Roxas with a look of disappointment. "Poor you…" he said softly.

Roxas gritted his teeth. "No fair," he spat out.

Kavma rolled his eyes. "Roxas, my dear boy, do you really think this is all about being fair or not? I did say I'd hold back, but you must realize—you're too young. Too inexperienced. You've only just started fighting. You stood no chance."

Roxas got to his feet, taking back his Keyblade in the process. "Then why did we fight at all?"
"I wanted to get to know you better, as well as see how far you had come so far, but it was more about the former than the latter. That being said, you hadn't come along as far as I had hoped, but still, congrats on roasting off my eyebrows, anyway."

"Uh…thanks?"

"You're welcome." Kavma snapped his fingers. Almost magically, all of Roxas's injuries healed up. "Now then, let's RTC, shall we?"

As if on cue, the black portal materialized in front of them.

A few months later…

Another mission completed, and another afternoon of eating ice cream while chatting about recent events. It was a routine that Roxas had comfortably fallen into with Axel and Xion, and all three preferred it compared to what else they could do in their free time.

"I tell the idiot to take it slow, and guess what? The stupid waterboy winds up waking up the giant heartless by falling on it!" Axel was busy recanting his mission's miraculous success. "To make matters worse, Larxene yells at him, which begins to agitate the monstrosity even more!"

"How'd you make it out?" Xion asked, wide eyed.

"Well, believe it or not," Axel grumbled, biting into his bar, "Kavma busted us out."
"Kavma?" Roxas sputtered in disbelief, almost choking on his ice cream.

"Yes, Kavma," Axel confirmed. "After he dealt with the thing, he looked at all three of us straight in the eye. He called Demyx incompetent, Larxene irresponsible, and me unfortunate. You should've seen their faces when he called those two idiots out like that."

"How'd he deal with the heartless?" Xion asked curiously.
Axel nearly choked on his ice cream. "Snrk…you wouldn't believe me if I told you!"

"Aw, c'mon, tell us!" Roxas whined.

There was the sudden sound of dust and gravel shifting."Oops!"

Axel got serious instantly, standing up. "Who's there?"

Someone behind the corner tsked. "Darn…" The owner of the voice stepped into view—brown hair, blue shirt, red jacket, jeans. Looked fourteen or fifteen. "Hey. Didn't think there'd be anyone up here."
"Well, now you know," Axel said aggressively. "Now do us a favor and get lost, kid."
"Axel!" Xion sounded shocked. "Be nice!"

Axel 'harrumphed' and looked away.

"Sorry about Axel," Roxas said to the newcomer. "I guess he's not comfortable with strangers."
"Hey…"
"It's no biggie," said the boy, scratching the back of his head. He held his hand out to Roxas. "I'm Jaron. What're your names?"

"I'm Roxas, that's Xion… and you've already met Axel…"

"Nice to meet ya!" Jaron had a large grin on his face.

"So…what're you doing up here anyway, kid?" Axel asked, not bothering to look at Jaron.
"Oh, just wanted to see the view," Jaron said offhandedly as he sat down next to Xion. "I just got here, but the town is so big I got lost."

Axel raised an eyebrow. "'Just got here'?"

"You're not from Twilight Town?" Roxas asked. Jaron shook his head. "Where are you from, then?"
"Tipa Village." (AN: pronounced 'tee-puh')
All three nobodies looked baffled. "Ti-what?" Xion tried to get a complete thought out, and failed… epically.

"You guys aren't the first to have that reaction. Tipa isn't very well known."

"I've never even heard of it," Axel complained. He had a feeling the newcomer was making it up as he went along.

"Well, it is pretty far away…" Jaron sighed.

"Is something wrong?" Xion asked.

"Yeah. See…well, I've been trying to get back home for a while now, but…well, it's taking longer than I thought, that's all."

"So, you're lost?" Axel summed up.

"Yeah." Jaron blushed, embarrassed. "It's just…well, more complicated than I imagined. I just can't find the world for some reason."

Axel's inner alarm ratcheted up to defcon 5. "He's not from this world?"

"Aw, man…that's gotta suck," said Roxas.

"I know, believe me…"

Xion looked thoughtful. "Hm…Hey, I think I have something to cheer you up!" She stood up and ran off. "Be right back!"

~ When she came back, she had a smile on her face as she held out a fresh sea-salt ice cream bar for Jaron, still in its wrapper. "Here you go!"

"Oh, cool! What flavor is it?" He unwrapped it to see the blue bar. "It's blue raspberry?"

"Actually, it's sea-salt," explained Roxas as he consumed the rest of his bar.

"Sea—wha? Sea salt? It's made from the ocean?"

Axel grunted. "Ah, just eat it."
"Axel!"
"What?"
Jaron rolled his eyes, then licked the bar. "Huh. Bit salty. Kinda sweet, though…never thought that those two flavors would taste good together." He then chomped into his bar, making it look like a surfboard with a comical shark bite in it.

"Uh, Jaron, I don't think—"
"AGH!" Jaron clutched his head in pain. "BRAIN FREEZE!"
"Too late…"

The sound of the tower's bell ringing interrupted their conversation. "Looks like it's time to go," Roxas observed.

"You're leaving already?" Jaron looked crestfallen.

"We've got… stuff to do, right you guys?" Axel said, not wanting to give too much info away.

"Huh? We do?" Roxas asked, confused. This earned him a swift kick in the shin. "OW! Uh, I mean, yeah, we do! Sorry, Jaron, but we've gotta run."

"Can I come?"
"Sorry, no can do…" Axel said, distantly.

"Aw…" Jaron sighed. "Well, okay, sure. I'll just stay here a bit. But can I see you guys again?"
"Sure!" Xion said cheerfully, before Axel could say anything. This cheered Jaron up significantly.

"Thanks!"

A few months after that...

T'was a dark and stormy night. No kidding, it was dark and raining cats and dogs. That, and Roxas had just been told the truth of Organization XIII. So, needless to say, he wasn't in the best of moods.

The rain did not let up at all as he walked through the streets and alleyways of that dark, dismal world. As he approached the road leading the Memory's Skyscraper, his hands clenched the handles of Oathkeeper and Oblivion at what he saw.

Kavma did not seem to be paying attention to Roxas as he leaned against the door of the forever closed store. After a moment of silence, he said, quite calmly. "Now is the time for you to make a choice. Bear in mind, of course, that whatever choice you make will be made of your own free will, and no one else's." He looked up at Roxas, a thin smile on his lips. "Your first choice: Proceed onward, and try your best to free Kingdom Hearts, as Xion wished for you to do." Roxas blinked at that, thinking of (what he thought was) a long-since faded memory, and that Kavma had recently brought back to the surface. "Your second choice: Turn back, and try another day, when you are sure you are ready." He shrugged, saying, "Your third choice: You can attack me, and try your luck. Take your pick."

There was a long period of silence after that. Finally, Roxas walked right past Kavma, stopping only to say one thing:
"I have nothing to say to you."
Kavma smirked. "Well, that's the smartest thing I've ever heard you say."

As Roxas walked out of sight, Kavma began to walk in the direction that he came. "Well, then…As of now, my business with Organization XIII is…

Finished."

Jordan: Ironically enough, we aren't done yet. HA!

Jacob: Yeah, we still have Xion to do. Then, an author's special request. :-)