Chapter Twenty Eight: Risky Business
"So... aura," I said. "That's your answer to magic?"
"I suppose," Roy answered as we walked to the Throne Room gates. "It's not as distance-based as magic, and has a limit placed on it by the present life around me. It's really versatile, though."
"Could you teach me how to use aura?" I asked him. We stopped in our tracks.
He held out his hand, which glowed pink.
"It took me a year to learn to manipulate aura at this level," he said.
His hand, or rather, the pink aura on it, solidified into a pulsing red energy.
"It took me two years to learn to manipulate aura at this level," he said.
The aura in his hand formed into a spiraling sphere.
"It took me three years to learn to manipulate aura at this level," he said. "The rest of the four years I've spent developing my own fighting style. I'd love to teach you to manipulate aura, but it takes too long... and we've got work to do."
"That's no fair," I muttered, continuing our walk.
"You spent your time fighting and collecting munny," Roy said. "I trained and developed techniques."
We reached the Throne Room gates, where another Organization member was waiting.
"So... Demyx failed. I thought as much... it's hitokiri and the dark knight," the Organization man muttered.
"Your voice... I remember you," Roy said. "The Gambler of Fate... Organization XIII's Number X, Luxord."
"I see... you're smart," Luxord said, taking off his hood. I remembered him... the one Sora had fought while I still looked like Xehanort's Heartless.
"So... what kind of game do you have for us today?" I asked him. "After all, we know your element... time."
"I don't have anything difficult for you," Luxord said. He summoned a wooden table and two chairs, then donned a dealer's visor. "It's a simple game of blackjack. If you win, I will leave quietly and without a word. If you lose, I will trap you in one of my cards," he said, holding out a card, "and you will never make it farther."
"I'm a master of blackjack!" Roy shouted. He slumped down in the chair, then shouted "HIT ME!"
I waited a bit.
"C'mon, Riku!" he shouted. "It's easy! Just get 21 or under, and as long as your score is higher than the dealer's, you win!"
Something's off... what's to stop Luxord from cheating?
"Okay... I've got...!!!" Roy gasped. He showed me his hand.
"Two twos?" I asked.
"Very bad..." Roy whispered. "HIT ME!!!"
Luxord had one card turned over; an ace. He tossed a card to Roy. He picked it up...
Another two...
"HIT ME!!!"
Yet another two...
"HIT ME!!!"
A three...
"HIT ME!!!"
Another three...
"I'm at 14," Roy whispered. "Should I take a hit?"
"Why not?" I whispered.
"If I get a 10 or any face card... I'm finished," he whispered.
"It's worth the risk," I said.
Pretty reckless of him to just jump into a game like this with a chronomancer...
"HIT ME!"
A face-down card was tossed to him. He picked it up and turned it over...
"Damn! A Jack!" he shouted, then disappeared. Luxord held out a blank card, which soon had Roy's picture on it. It was labeled as an ace.
"See? This game's more dangerous than you realize," he said, flipping his card over.
A ten... he got blackjack...
"So... what's to stop me from tearing apart this mass-murder's card?" he asked, threatening to rip the card.
"Destroy that card, and you will not live," I said gravely. "Those are my rules to this game."
"Very well... but I will hold this card until I am defeated," he said, stashing it in his coat.
He's cheating by manipulating time... before the game starts, he fixed the cards so that Roy would lose and he would win. How can I beat someone who can manipulate time?
"Are you going to challenge me, or will I be adding this card to my collection?" Luxord asked, fingering Roy's card.
I know...
"Okay," I said, sitting down in the other chair. "Let's play."
It'll be a strain on my heart... but I can win.
Luxord tossed me a couple cards; this time, he was being more inventive with his cheating... I had a two sixes. He had a 10 and a face-down card.
"Hit me."
I was given a king.
I opened a small dark corridor under the table, tossed the card in, then called for another hit. I kept going until I got the proper card... a nine.
Luxord turned his card over...
It was an ace.
We both declared blackjack.
"I win," we said at the same time.
"We can't both win..." I muttered, then summoned Way to the Dawn. "So... let's make this a contest of strength, not fixed luck."
His table and chairs disappeared as I stood up.
Something familiar... like the aura Roy had talked about flared out at me.
He said Nobodies don't have aura... what's this?!
"Time... you see, there's no way you can beat me," he said. I couldn't do anything before I was tossed around, unable to counter anything... the blows were all delivered in the same instant.
Time is a formible ally...
I summoned my darkness... slowing time... and countered Luxord's move. I took Roy's card from his coat, then tried to stab him, but he vanished, and Roy reappeared from his card.
"Huh... wha?" he asked, coming out of a daze.
"I saved you, idiot," I muttered, hitting him on the head. "You owe me my full pay now."
Roy only grumbled, then stood back up.
"Well... Luxord was even more of a coward than Demyx," I muttered.
"So... all that remains..." Roy said to himself...
"Marluxia. Number XI... the Graceful Assassin," I said.
"The Black Knight, too..." Roy muttered as we shoved open the doors to the Throne Room...