Chapter 5

A strange mental numbness was the first thing to assert itself in Danny's mind as he returned to consciousness. Groaning, he opened his blue eyes and faintly noticed a plain, white wall before him.

Strange, I thought I was outside. He thought sluggishly. Not realising his was in an upright position, he went to get up, only to find his wrists and ankles were tightly clasped to the wall. What? When did I get constrained? He thought slowly, frowning at his wrist.

Fully waking up, he noticed that the mental numbness he'd felt before was dominating his head, slowing down his processing speed and making it hard to focus. Frowning in numbed confusion from the situation, he turned to his right and his halfway useless mind registered that his new friends were all next to him, restrained to the wall like him. Some of them even had a strange metal ring around their heads, pressing into their temples. A moment later, his sluggish mind noticed he was wearing one too, along with the fact that his hair was black.

"Guys, wake up." He called sluggishly a minute later, his mind finally telling him they were in danger. "Something's wrong."

"Mmm!" Ben, the one closest to Danny, groaned, opening his eyes groggily at the noise. "Just five more… what the?" He cried as his eyes snapped open and alert as he took in his surroundings turning his head from one side to the other and saw the state of the others. Unlike Danny, Ben's mind was working perfectly and the situation became clear to him in two seconds. "Everyone, WAKE UP!"

The others simultaneously jumped at that, all of them groaning as consciousness returned.

"How did we get here? How long were we out?" Kim quickly became as alert as Ben, he eyes scanning the room for every possible exit while her arms struggled against their bonds.

"Don't know. Can't focus." Danny responded slowly, his tone a little slurred. As Ben turned to give Danny a worried look, Kim's eyes reflected her unease as she watched the others giving signs of agreement.

"What's wrong with him?" Ben asked, turning to Gwen, only to gasp at the sight of her. Her eyes were glazed and half lidded, giving off a detached expression.

"They're all like that." Kim said, her voice hitting a higher pitch then usual. Giving them all a one over, her scared expression turned hard as she glared holes into the device around Jake's head. "It has to be those metal bands. You and I are fine and we're the only ones not wearing them."

"You are correct Miss Possible."

Growling, the still mentally capable teens followed the cold, disembodied voice to the opposite side of the dungeon, glaring venomously at the dark portal as a cloaked figure stepped out of it. As the others' slowed minds caught up enough to turn to their enemy, he walked up in front of them and lowered his hood, revealing the pale face and bright orange eyes of Xemnas himself.

"When we noticed the power and damage you seven were capable of, those of us scientifically minded studied the sources of your abilities. As the seven of you managed to destroy every Heartless we brought to this world, you have held back our plans to have you join our ranks. So we took precautions when we capture you to ensure you couldn't escape."

"By doing what, giving them a lobotomy?" Ben yelled, completely outraged.

"Of course not, that would damage their Nobodies." Xemnas responded coolly as he stepped up to Gohan. "Like I said, we studied your powers and we found that, unlike you two, these five's abilities require focus of the mind. Therefore we place a neural inhibitor on each of them, slowing the mental process and preventing them to focus enough to summon their powers." He explained, tapping the metal band around the half Saiyan's head. "Though, I admit that we had a bit of trouble stopping this one's mind enough to hold him. Even at his weakest moments, both his mind and his body is very strong. We had to boost his inhibitor's power quite a bit."

"So we're left thinking straight because without being able to move, our abilities are currently useless." Kim snarled, trying to break free again.

"That is the case." Xemnas nodded, turning his ice cold gaze on the fiery red head. "But they won't be like this for too long. It will only take a day to use the portals to find and summon more Heartless to this world and then you will all join us. Now, if you will excuse me, I must go. I only wanted to see the strong wills you possess for in person. Thanks to you, I'm running behind schedule as it is." Ignoring the venomous looks being directed his way, he walked back through the still open portal and disappeared in it's dark depths before it shrunk and faded from existence.

"This sucks." Ben complained, trying to move his wrists, if only to stop the edges of the bars holding them from cutting into them. "We can't move an inch, five of us can barely make a coherent sentence, and only if you give them five minutes, and all life on Earth's either going to be split into half of itself or die. How could this get any worse?"

"Trust me, I've seen worse." stated a soft, feminine voice from Ben's left. Turning their heads as far as they could, they found the owner of the voice behind bars. She was around fourteen or fifteen, like most of the heroes, with skin so pale that it took a second to figure out where her skin disappeared and her white sundress began. She had a very slim body build and eyes as blue as the sparkling sea. Her hair was a pale blonde and just passes her shoulders. She wore white sandals on her feet and an open bag was slung over her shoulder, revealing a sketchbook inside, along with something grey shining in the light of the room.

"Who are you?" Danny slurred, his mind somehow catching on to her presence earlier then Ben and Kim had expected.

"My name is Namine." The girl responded with a slight, sad smile. "I'm a person from another dimension. The Organisation brought me here with them."

"Why would they bring a whole person with them?" Kim asked, raising an eyebrow. "Especially if they're clearly against their plans?"

"Because they want me to join them." Namine answered grimly, staring sadly at the bars. "I have telepathic powers, as well as the power to heal. Such powers are hard to come by and it's even rarer that you can catch someone with them. They got me because for some reason, my telepathic powers don't work on Nobodies."

"But if you refused to help them, why didn't they make you a Nobody?" Ben asked, cocking his head. "Were they afraid a Nobody would be made or that your powers would be lost by the transformation?"

"No." Namine shook her head before turning to the two fully focused heroes, her eyes showing them the uncertainty she felt about telling them whatever came next. "They can't create a Nobody out of me because I'm at least partly one already."

"What?" Kim cried, thrown for a complete loop at the bombshell. "You're a Nobody? And you're against the Organisation? How is that even possible?"

"Because I'm not a normal Nobody." Namine responded quickly, desperate to explain before the shocked, green eyed heroes made any accusations. "I'm the Nobody of one of the seven princesses. They are the only people in all the dimensions to have hearts of pure light, no darkness whatsoever. As a result, no heartless can be created from their hearts.

"When my other, Kairi, was attacked by a Heartless, her heart was attracted to another heart with a powerful level of light, the heart of her best friend and entered his chest, next to his heart. However, as her heart left her body, it's power ensured that it be nothing but a hollow shell, not become a Nobody.

"Her best friend turned out to be a Keyblade Bearer, the wielder of a weapon of great power that could only be wielded by it's chosen one, someone with a strong heart. He went around, saving worlds from the Heartless and their masters in search of Kairi, who had disappeared the night she lost her heart and their world ceased to exist.

"When he finally found her and was informed that her heart was inside him, he thrust a keyblade into his chest, releasing both his heart and Kairi's from his body. Kairi's heart returned to her, while Sora's created a very weak Heartless as he had very little darkness in his heart. Kairi used her power to turn him back into his real self though, but back on topic. When he released the hearts, they collided and caused a few things to happen. The fist was that it dragged some of Sora's spirit with his heart, breaking it in two and leaving the other half with his body, allowing Kairi to restore his true form with just his Heartless half, but still leave enough for a Nobody to appear. Another was that the energy released from the collision did the same thing to Kairi's soul. The final result was that the hearts were damaged. Fragments stayed inside Sora's body and the severed half of Kairi's spirit joined them. From that body then came two Nobodies, one with half of Sora's power and one with half of Kairi's, the heart fragments of each heart going into the body of it's owner's spirit."

At that point, Namine stopped and took a deep breath, letting the information sink in her audience's heads. After a moment, she continued on.

"The end result of all this was two Nobodies with small amounts of their hearts. We were able to feel emotions immediately, though at first it was only feint. As time went on, the fragments inside my chest repaired themselves, like damaged organisms always do while my spirit went through the same sort of thing. I now have a full heart and soul and can feel as much as my memories of Kairi's life tell me she could. I can still feel a connection to Kairi, but I don't need her to be whole anymore. My, well twin in a way, isn't much different."

"So… you're a Nobody and yet you're not?" Ben frowned, more then a little confused.

"I guess I was sort of one to begin with, but I'm not anymore. I guess you could say that I'm a former Nobody." Namine responded.

"We're gonna need proof that you have a heart before we can trust you." Kim said, frowning suspiciously.

"I'd love to prove it to you, but the only way would be to let you feel it in my chest." Namine sighed, lowering her head. "The problem with that is you're stuck over there and the magic on this cage made it so portals could only be opened in from the outside of the it to keep me in."

"Well, ask nicely and maybe this one will help." Ben interrupted as he stared near the door of the dungeon. As the they all watched, another portal opened. However, this one was made of light. Namine's eyes lit up as she saw it and the cloaked figure stepping out.

Kim and Ben growled at the newcomer and noticed that he was a bit different from the others. This one was much shorter then any Organisation member they'd seen yet. After a few seconds, both turned their glares into unsure frowns as they stared at him. Unlike the others, this one didn't give off the cold, void of life feeling that the others had. His posture seemed nervous and hesitant too, as if he wasn't sure of something. All and all, he was nothing like the heartless creature he was supposed to be.

Noticing his nervousness, Namine smiled warmly. "Hello Roxas, what brings you down here today?"

"Hopefully, the end of the Organisation." The figure responded, lowering his hood so Namine could see his nervous eyes. "I'm getting them out of here. And you too. I should have done it a long time ago."

"Um, who's this?" Ben asked, a little perplexed by the situation. This boy, around his age, was wearing the cloak of the Organisation, but was talking to Namine caringly, like someone with a heart. It didn't make any sense. Unless…

"This is Roxas, number thirteen in the Organisation, the Key of Destiny." Namine responded, not taking her eyes off the blond. "He's also Sora's Nobody and like me. Only he could somehow feel perfectly from day one. He was sucked into the Organisation because he had no memories at the time."

"You had feelings, but you still worked with an evil group? That makes you worse." Kim scowled.

"Yes, I worked with them, but I never hurt anyone." Roxas retorted as he turned his attention to Kim, clearly offended. "I only attacked Heartless. That was my only job seeing as I'm the only member of the group that can collect hearts from them."

"Huh?" Ben asked, annoyed by how many times he'd gotten lost in one lousy day.

In response, Roxas held out his right hand. A flash of light flashed from it and with it appeared a strange, black weapon. It looked a lot like a sword, but also was comparable to a giant key. It even had a keychain at the bottom of the hilt.

"This is a Keyblade." Roxas stated, holding his weapon out for the others to see. "Along with other things, it's the only weapon that can release the hearts of the Heartless. If you destroy Heartless with anything else, the hearts are either destroyed or the darkness within eventually creates a new Heartless. The Organisation wants the hearts freed, so that was my job. Until recently, I never knew what the other members did on their missions."

"He found out everything when I was captured." Namine said, taking up the narrative again. "When he did, he was determined to break me out and run away. But I talked him out of it."

"Why did you do that? You could have been free." Kim asked, perplexed.

"Because we never would have gotten very far." Namine sighed. "They would have found us, recaptured me and destroyed Roxas. They don't take well to traitors. Besides," She added, smiling at the other prisoners. "if he had, no one would have gotten the information of the towers to you in time to stop them."

"You did that?" Kim asked, a little surprised.

"I told Namine and had her give you the information." Roxas muttered softly. Having calmed down from the insult, he'd started feeling his shy side taking hold again.

"So you think with us involved, you'll survive the betrayal now?" Ben asked Roxas with a frown.

"Maybe, maybe not." Roxas responded, shaking his head. "But I'm not doing this for me. What they're doing here is worse then in any other world and I intend to put an end to it. The seven of you are the only ones capable of helping me with my goal, so…" Raising his Keyblade, he pointed it right at Gohan's restraints, causing Kim and Ben to gasp in fear. A thin beam of white light left the blade and when it hit the shackles, they sprung open, leaving the unfocused Gohan to drop to the floor. "I'll help you escape."

Turning his Keyblade on Ben, he quickly released him before moving on to Kim. As soon as Ben could move, he went straight to Gohan and ripped the inhibitor off of his head.

"Aww!" Gohan groaned, rubbing his head as his mind jolted back to his normal level, the sudden action causing a headache. "That hurt. I'll have to thank the Organisation." Slowly getting to his feet, with a little help from Ben, Gohan moved to Gwen and ripped off her restraints and inhibitor, leaving her groaning in Ben's arms before moving on to Jake.

Seeing Gohan dealing with the others, Roxas turned his attention to creating another door of light. As the portal formed, the second entrance simultaneously came into existence inside the cage beside Namine. Smiling gratefully at the blond boy, Namine stepped through the portal and out before wrapping her arms around the boy's neck, resting her head in the crook of his neck affectionately.

Smiling, Roxas returned the hug and kissed her softly on the head. It always amazed him how his heart would pound faster and the urges that appeared whenever he was close to her.

Gwen, having got her mind back in order, gently removed Rai's band, the last one to be freed and gently lowered him to the ground as he cried out and held his head at the sudden increase of mental activity.

"Alright, so what do we do know?" Jake groaned, still holding his head. While Gohan and Gwen got over the lingering effects of the inhibitors quickly, the others still experienced varying sized headaches.

"We have to destroy the Organisation." Ben responded, turning to each of them stubbornly. "I realise your heads aren't in the best condition at this moment, but even if we manage to get out of the castle, we won't get back in in one piece again. Now's our only chance to end this before the world comes to an end."

"But with the way we are now, we probably won't stand a chance." Danny argued, rubbing his temples. "Our minds are shot and we are extremely outnumbered. We won't stand a chance."

"I realise that you probably won't trust me." Roxas interrupted softly, frowning at the floor. "But I have to agree with Ben. Even Namine and I won't be able to get you back in. if you choose to retreat, we can get you out, but that's it. We can open light portals in the dungeon because you guys are here, but anywhere else and Xemnas will notice the increase of light. There's also the fact that right now, they're not expecting you, giving you the advantage of surprise. That'll be gone too and you'll have no chance of stopping all nine of them, even if you let me and Namine help."

Listening intently, Gohan sized the rouge number thirteen up. He carried his weapon with ease, despite the fact it look fairly heavy, suggesting adequate strength. At least as much as Danny. There was also the fact that as one of the most powerful Nobodies, Roxas would have to have his own hidden powers, besides the unusual portals.

But it was his eyes that Gohan was most intrigued by. They definitely backed up Namine's claim that the boy could feel emotions. Whenever he looked at Namine, they were warm and alight. Now, while he was stating his opinion, they showed uncertainty, as if he expected rejection from him and the others.

Searching his own memories of the last few minutes, now that he could process them properly, he found no sign of a doublecross from the spiky blond. Their previous position left no reason for the Organisation to deceive them. They'd already won. What he sensed from the boy also made him inclined to trust Roxas. Unlike Larxene and the other Nobodies, his energy was full of warmth and life, not a cold, void of life feeling.

Looking up at Roxas again, he didn't even look at his allies for their opinion before stepping right in front of the blond, his eye focused soully on the hesitant blue orbs before him.

"Can you show us the way to the other members?" He asked seriously. Biting his lip nervously, Roxas nodded his head in confirmation. At that, Roxas' expression turned into one of surprise as the serious look on Gohan's face turned into a friendly smile. "Then lead the way friend."

"Are you sure we can… trust him Gohan?" Rai mumbled, looking up at the half alien with pained uncertainty.

"Yes. They already had us all caught and unable to escape and he let us go. And the look in his eyes backs up everything Namine said before and reassures me that he's on our side. If you guys want to leave, that's your call, but I'm going with Roxas." Gohan responded, giving Roxas a look that exuded trust.

"Rai, Jake and I won't be much use to you guys if we go." Danny said, still holding his head. "I can barely use my intangibility, let alone transform and get to full strength. And without us, you won't have enough power to take on all nine of them."

"I can fix that." Namine responded as she kneeled down to Danny's level. Placing her hands gently on the ghost boy's temples, she closed her eyes and scrunched up her brow in concentration as he hands glowed with white energy. The energy spread harmlessly around Danny's head and a moment later, much to his amazement, the pain faded until it simply ceased to exist.

Sighing in relief, Danny opened his eyes with a look of gratitude.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Namine replied with a smile before moving on to Jake. When all three were back to perfect mental health, they all turned back to their Nobody guide.

"Well, lets go." Kim stated, gesturing the door. Nodding, Roxas turned and headed to and out it, the others not far behind.

The first thing the group noticed was that it was easy to get lost in the castle. The corridors all looked the same and everything was as white as the outside walls. Gohan or Gwen might have been able to find their way back if they got lost, but the others had to rely soully on Roxas to keep them on track.

Both Gohan and Gwen at the front of the group, on either side of Roxas as the focused on their senses, Gohan focusing on the energy of their enemies, Gwen on their essence. Even Roxas didn't know how many Nobodies were lurking inside the castle or where they'd be and the group was determined not be caught off guard.

As they were about to turn a corner, both heroes threw an arm out, catching Roxas right in the chest.

"I have about twenty weak signals coming from that turn." Gohan said softly, so as to avoid being heard.

"And there's another ten not far ahead." Gwen added lowly, her eyes still glowing blue as she tracked them.

"That's it?" Roxas asked, smirking for the first time. Moving slowly, he peeked around the corner and into the round room before him. Shaking his head, he receded before turning to the others. "They're nothing but Dusks. "I can have them dealt with no problem."

"And how do you intend to do that?" Jake asked sceptically. "Those things have a tendency to dodge. A lot."

"Like this." With that, he clicked his fingers and twenty flashes of light left the ground, heralding the arrival of just a many sword wielding Nobodies.

The heroes tensed at their arrival and fell into battle stances.

"That's supposed to help?" Rai growled glaring at the blond.

"Yes, the Samurai Nobodies only listen to me." Roxas answered before turning to his minions. "Samurais, those Dusks have become my enemies. Destroy them all."

Much to the group's surprise, the Samurais did exactly what they were told. Walking calmly into the room, they stepped right up to the Dusks and a second later, shining silver metal sliced through each and every one of them, destroying them all.

While the others either gawked at the result or in Gohan and Namine's cases, smiled, Roxas stepped calmly forward with a grin.

"Good work. Now, there are more enemy Nobodies up ahead. Do what you do best." As the Samurais went to do just that, Roxas turned to his allies with a smile. "Less work for us. Good thing too, we'll need to conserve as much of our strength as possible."

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Jake asked, still stunned as the group resumed their trek through the castle. Roxas just gave him a grin in response.

Their travels continued in the same way. Every time Gohan and Gwen picked up the enemy, Roxas sent his minions in to deal with them, letting the unlikely team preserve their energies. The method worked through half the castle before anything big happened.

When the group reached the Grand Hall, all of the heroes of Earth stared in awe at as they looked around, admiring the thrones.

"What is this place?" Rai asked, taking in the design on the top of the throne lowest to the ground.

"This is where the Organisation holds meetings and observes the worlds." Roxas answered, staring emotionlessly at his throne. "It's a mockery of a council of kings, a reflection of Organisation 13's belief that they are superior to all others and destined to rule."

"Well, we'll just have knock all those delusions out of their heads." Gwen responded before turning to continue onward. "Now let's-" A jolt passed through her senses, along with Gohan's at that moment, causing both of them to gasp and turn towards the way they came in. their was only one signature nearby, but it had a power level comparable to Roxas'.

"Someone's coming. An Organisation member." Gwen stated, frowning at the group.

"Let's make this a quick fight." Gohan stated, comparing the power of their enemy with those of their group. "Gwen, Danny, are you up for a blast?" He asked, holding up glowing hand.

It took neither of them more then a second to comprehend the question and both grinned as Gwen's eyes and hands glowed blue and Danny transformed, his hands glowing green. Happy with their agreement, Gohan turned to Roxas.

"Can you get him in here unprepared?" He asked softly his senses telling him the Nobody was very close.

"Not a problem." Roxas replied, moving to make himself perfectly noticeable from the doorway while the others hid behind the thrones. Waving his hand, he turned on the magical monitor in the middle of the room just as a cloaked figure passed the doorway, the noise of a griffon screeching catching the man's attention.

"Roxas?" The Nobody asked, dropping his hood to reveal short blond hair and blue eyes as he entered the room. "What are you doing in here?"

"Watching the battles taking place Luxord . This world interests me." Roxas responded neutrally, keeping his entire being void of emotion.

"Well don't get too attached to them, they'll be gone within a few- ARGH!"

At that moment, three different cries came from behind three thrones as a blue, a gold and a green beam shot out and collided with the tenth member of the Organisation. As he screamed, the colours mixed all over his form and a massive explosion was the result. The group scrambled as the blast hit the thrones, causing large chunks to plummet to the ground. The entire castle shook with the raw power of the assault and took a few moments to settle.

"Now that was a blast." Rai commented, staring around the shattered ruins of what had once been the greatest room in the castle.

"And the entire castle knows something's wrong because of it." Ben added with a sigh. "It's going to be more difficult to move around now."

"We're just going to have to move fast." Namine responded, helping Kim up.

"She's right, the sanctuaries aren't too far from here." Roxas nodded before looking distastefully at his cloak. "At least I can get rid of this thing now. There's no reason why I should look like one of them if I can't blend in anymore. They'll know in a few seconds that I'm either dead or against them." With that, he threw off the gloves and cloak, revealing the black shirt, white short sleeved jacket with chequered patterns, a chequered wristband and green and white pants underneath. "Come on, lets go."

Their steps echoed as they ran through the corridors, ignoring the Nobodies while the Samurais appeared every couple of minutes to deal with them as they passed. Heading up ramps and staircases, past large, empty rooms and down endless looking hallways, Roxas finally slowed his pace to a stop as they came to a room near the top of the tower.

The group looked around warily as they slowly walked in, desperate to spot any enemies before being spotted themselves.

The room was set up in three levels, each one holding at least three arches. On the top of the arches was a different sketching, most of which depicted weapons. All but three were alight with a blue energy within the arches' walls and the one right at the highest level, the biggest of all of them, had a red energy overlapping the blue.

"What are these things?" Ben asked, staring at the arches in awe.

"Judging by the look of them, I'd say they were some kind of portal." Danny responded, staring at the closest one. "They look similar to my family's ghost portal."

"They're giving off powerful magic." Gwen added, raising her glowing blue hand, using her magic to identify it. "They're definitely portals."

"They lead to each member's personal sanctuary." Roxas told them, looking at one on the bottom level with two crossing Keyblades as it's symbol. "The ones that are shut down belonged to the members you guys killed before coming here. The big one belongs to Xemnas."

"Well, I say we ignore the others for now and take down the leader." Rai stated, heading up towards the biggest arch.

However, before Rai or any of the others could reach it, Gohan's head snapped back with a scowl as a strong power level suddenly appeared right behind them. Whipping around, he managed to see another black cloaked figure right before he raise his hands out to his sides and up. Wind quickly twirled around him and created a tornado that wasted no time in growing. Within a few seconds, it already filled half the room.

"AAAAHHHHH!" The group of teen heroes simultaneously screamed at the top of their lungs as they were sucked into the deadly wind and flung around like rag dolls. For a full minute they could do nothing but spin helplessly. Not even Rai, Gwen or Gohan could break free of the wind's grasp. But then, just as more then one was holding back nausea, the cloaked figure flung his hand out.

Screaming again, this time at suddenly being flung away, Ben was launched from the tornado and right through an arch emblazoned with a scythe.

"BEN!" Gwen screamed, fearing the worst for her cousin. But she didn't have long to fret for a moment later, she too was propelled from the wind and through an arch with a scream.

Danny was launched with a cry next as he was flung to one of the furthest arches. Kim and Jake went next, screaming as they both fell through the same arch in the middle of the room. Roxas grunted and held Namine protectively as they were thrown out of the winds, and into another portal. Gohan cried out as he went next, into one of his own. Finally Rai was launched into one of the back portals just before the wind died down.

Seeing that his job was done, the cloaked figure quickly crossed the room and went through the portal that he'd just thrown Rai into. As he past through the portal, a sadistic grin could be seen crossing his face.