Chapter Twenty-Four: Mysterious Number XIV!

After boarding the ship, I quickly zipped over to the Radiant Garden to get some help. I landed in the Marketplace.

"So... Xehanort. There's something different about him now..." I muttered to myself. "He... still isn't whole. I guess... huh?"

A dark corridor opened behind me, and I summoned Way to the Dawn. But no Heartless came out... only a very battered-looking Roy. He was bleeding from his chest, and a fresh cut across his nose dripped more blood.

"Geez, what happened to you? I thought you were strong," I joked at him.

"Ah... can it..." he muttered, grasping his chest and staggering forward. "I... handled the situation with my brother poorly. I... wanted him to be strong, to get strong by fighting me... but he only cares about power."

"Here," I said, tossing a potion at him. "I know you don't like to be prepared, but use that. It'll help... stupid."

"Thanks..." he said, drinking it. Only a moment later he seemed ready to go, though not fully healed. "Just a sec..."

He wiped the blood off of his face with his coat.

"Okay. Let's go."

"Wait. I wanna see the munny first," I said.

"Fine... fine..." he grumbled, pulling out a pouch from inside his coat. He opened it up to show me more munny than I could count. "I'll give you... a tenth of that. That's about... 10,000 munny."

What a rich guy...

"Now, what's the plan?" he asked.

"Well... we need to take out Xehanort. Maleficant's got the Castle that Never Was... but I don't think he'll try and retake it," I said. "We should check out Ansem's computer for a little information on Xehanort... see what he was like before he split into a Heartless and a Nobody."

"Was he ever a complete person...?" Roy muttered.

"What?" I asked.

"It's... nothing," he said. "Let's go already!"

Our footsteps echoed through the empty streets, giving an eerie sense of solitude.

"I like being alone... but... this is seeming a bit desolate," Roy muttered.

"I know what you mean," I said. "Usually I'm surrouned by Sora and Kairi's laughter. But now..."

We made it to the Castle, but at the Postern, a dark corridor opened up.

"Organization XIII..." Roy muttered. Sure enough, a black-coated person stepped forward.

The character cackled.

"He's just as serious as you are..." the character laughed. The voice pitch was high... so it must have been a girl.

"I don't know of any women in the Organization..." I muttered.

"The... Savage Nymph," Roy muttered. "Number XII... Larxene."

The character laughed again, then removed her hood. It was indeed a woman... with blonde hair and two long streaks going back.

"Your stupidity betrays your wisdom," she muttered.

"Nah. He's beat up," I said, pointing my thumb back at Roy. "I'm more than enough to take you down, anyways."

"Yeah, right," Roy muttered. "I'm not one to turn down a fight."

"You idiots," she snarled. "You can't best me... much less the entire Organization, especially numbers I and XIV."

"XIV? I thought you only had XIII members," I chuckled.

"Though that traitor Roxas rejoined Sora, there's still XIII members... because a new Nobody joined," she sneered.

"Whatever," Roy muttered, pulling out his sword. "Are we gonna fight or just stand around chatting? We both know you came here to kill us."

"Yeah, let's get this over with," I said, summoning Way to the Dawn. "I can't stand Nobodies."

Larxene cackled at us.

"Very well... prepare for your deaths!" she shouted, summoning kunai knives between her fingers. She threw them at us, but Roy used a pinkish barrier to shield us.

"That's all the aura I've got for now," he said. "I'm too exhausted to use flash steps either, so we'll just have to do this the old fashioned way!"

"Aura?" I asked.

"Later," he said, dashing out of the barrier. I followed, and the barrier dissipated. Larxene began throwing knives at us, most of which he and I were able to dodge; Roy got pegged a few times, but I dodged them all, including the lightning magic. Just as I was about to strike her, Larxene disappeared in a flash of lightning. I turned around just in time to block kunai with my Keyblade.

"His performance is a bit lacking," Larxene said. "He was wounded before this, right?"

"Like I'd tell you!" I shouted at her.

"I'm... I'm fine," Roy gasped. He grasped his chest for a moment, then got back to his ready pose.

"You're far from fine," Larxene sneered, warping over to him. She picked him up by his shirt, then threw him on the ground.

I charged at Larxene, cutting her in the back, then ducked to avoid the storm of kunai that followed when she turned around. I swiped at her feet, which she jumped over, then knocked her back.

"Why aren't you fighting back?!" I shouted.

"I don't believe in hitting women, unless it's absolutely necessary," he muttered.

"She's not a woman, and has every intention of killing you," I said. "I thought you called yourself hitokiri... manslayer?"

He staggered to his feet.

"Very well... but I'm cutting your pay," he chuckled.

He pulled the kunai out of his shoulder and chest.

"Let's take her!" he shouted.

We charged at Larxene, shouting at the top of our lungs. She warped and threw kunai behind us, but whirling our blades in perfect unison, we deflected them. We then charged ahead once more, dragging our blades along the steel postern. Sparks flew as we moved to slice Larxene simulteneously, but she warped again. We narrrowly dodged the incoming lightning magic.

We turned around. Larxene stood still, cackling.

"You idiots... you thought you could beat me like that?" she chortled, then kept mumbling about our stupidity.

"Riku... I don't have any aura left to use it..." Roy muttered through his haggard breathing. "I'll show you how... but it's up to you..."

He made some wierd symbols with his hands.

"Then hit the ground with your palms. It should... slow her down enough to let us take her out..." he kept going on.

"Like this?" I asked, repeating his hand symbols.

"Yeah. Hurry... there's no telling when she'll be done," he said, then dodged incoming kunai. I made the symbols, then hit the ground with my palms like he said to. Everything turned a little black, and I felt... heavier, somehow.

"What's this?" Larxene asked as kunai on their way to hit me dropped in midair.

"A gravity field," Roy muttered. He had nearly collapsed, but even hunched over, kept going forward. "Now... we'll be able to see your teleports and intercept them. In addition, because... because you're not used to this level of weight, you'll barely be able to move, and... your kunai attacks will be ineffective. They'll... fall to the ground before they get anywhere."

"Is that right?" Larxene asked, still standing. "If that's true, it'll be impossible to dodge my lightning magic."

"You wish..." Roy muttered, chuckling to himself. He straightened out, then stood up. "Now, Riku, let's finish it!"

Ah... his True Form... he must be running on empty. I better finish this fast.

"Right!" I shouted. We moved as fast as we could, and cut Larxene down while she tried to teleport.

The gravity field faded, and I felt lighter.

"Blargh... cut down by him..." Larxene muttered, fading away into shadow.

"Him?" I asked, but she only scoffed before fading away.

"I... have no idea..." Roy muttered, almost falling to the ground. "Must... have to do with... someone's Nobody..."

"But whose Nobody?" I asked.

"Eh... who knows?" he said.

"Are... you all right?" I asked.

"I'll... I'll be fine. Got another potion... or two?" he asked.

"Sure... here," I said, tossing him an Elixir. He guzzled it, then straightened up.

"Now... to the computer room!" he shouted, charging into the corridors.

"So impatient..." I sighed, shaking my head. "So... Number XIV. Wonder what his moniker is."