Exception 4: Death and Rebirth

I don't know how long I was out... or even how I'd managed to survive... but I came to some time later. My grievous wounds had not healed, but I wasn't dead... somewhere in-between...

In limbo...?

I staggered to my feet, still feeling exhausted from my battle. The fact that I had fought for at least an hour straight and suffered wounds enough to kill a normal man didn't help. All I had was Omega Weapon... even my strength had abandoned me...

"Roy!" I heard someone familiar shouting. "Are you okay?"

"Roy... yes, that was my name, once," I answered.

"Once?" another voice asked.

"I'm not deserving of a name," I muttered. "A faithless sinner like me... one who failed his duty and betrayed his promise..."

I staggered off, feeling sharp cold.

"Come back, Roy!" the first voice shouted.

"Shut up!" I yelled, staggering off. "I wouldn't expect you to understand... 'cuz some wounds will never heal."

I staggered off, ignoring thier pleas for me to stop. I lurched on, hanging my head and dragging Omega Weapon behind me. I heard a creature roaring.

"Hmph," I muttered. "Nothing."

I looked up with the same sullen look I'd kept on my face since I was... defeated. A red dragon stood before me.

"You... a creature of the dark," I muttered, keeping Omega Weapon behind me. I attacked it a few times with flash steps, blinding the creature. I was knocked back by its flame breath.

"That... doesn't hurt..." I grunted. It didn't... but the force knocked me back.

"Hey, leave some for me!" a familiar voice shouted. "You can't have ALL the fun!"

Jason...

"Stand back. You need to rest," another voice muttered. "You've been trying to hard."

Riku...

"Stay back. I don't want you guys... to get hurt..." I grunted.

The dragon roared at me... us...

I flash stepped out of the way of a flame breath, then landed on top of the creature and began to stab it through its carapace; it seemed Omega Weapon could slice through armor.

It was a divine weapon, after all...

The dragon thrashed, and I heard sounds of other slices. I flash stepped off of the dragon to see Jason and Riku slicing its sides. The dragon soon fell dead.

"Nothing to it!" Jason shouted.

I began limping forward.

"Hey, wait!" Riku called out.

I stopped for a moment.

"I don't have time to wait... gotta... kill... Lance..." I muttered, then kept staggering off, ignoring thier cries.

"Just... shut the hell up!" I shouted back at them. I came to a round platform. Once I had made it in, gates fell down, and another creature roared in the distance.

"Pretty... tenacious..." I muttered to myself. "But it... doesn't matter."

A demonic horse had appeared before me... its mane and breath was fire.

"Nightmare..." I muttered. It flash stepped and kicked me in the chest, and I staggered back, spitting up blood.

"I'm not... done, ... yet..." I muttered, readying Omega Weapon. I flash stepped on top of it and repeatedly stuck it with Omega Weapon before being knocked off and kicked into the gate.

I spat up more blood, then staggered to my feet, dragging my arms up along with Omega Weapon.

"Is... is that... koff... all?" I asked.

"That's enough, Roy," someone familiar called out. "Stand down."

Sora...

"Stop trying so hard. Ya know, you're bound to die of you keep trying so hard... by yourself," someone else called out.

Jake...

The Nightmare whinnied at us.

I flash stepped to kill it, but was knocked aside by the simple turn of its head. Sora and Jake had better luck... getting a few nicks in on its legs... then jumped back.

I coughed up more blood.

"Stop... this is... my fight..." I gasped, then staggered to my feet.

I flash stepped to decapitate the Nightmare, this time killing it flawlessly. After that, I continued staggering forward. The gates had been... knocked down...

"Wait! You're so battered and beat up... rest!" Jake cried.

"No time... venegance..." I grunted, staggering on, still ignoring their calls to stop. I kept spitting up blood as I went on, eventually stopping at a large gate. The gate in question crumbled, and a huge manticore came out. I heard a gate behind me clank shut.

I flash stepped to kill it, but was punched and kicked back, spitting up blood. I staggered to my feet and charged at it, but was knocked back against the gate. I fell down... tried to get up... but my strength had failed...

All of a sudden, I felt better... my strength was returning...

"That's enough. You need to rest," a familiar voice called.

"Amy..." I managed to whisper.

My strength was back, but I... I...

The manticore roared. Amy and I used flash steps to overwhelm it, then sliced it to pieces, bringing it to the ground. I stepped back.

"Rest, Roy," Amy told me.

"Amy... I'm sorry..." I muttered.

"Why?" she asked.

"I failed as a guardian... I failed as a hero... I failed at life..." I muttered. "I don't deserve to have... friends like... you guys..."

"That's... not true," Jason said. I turned around to see all of them... Sora, Riku, Jake, Jason, Kairi, Serenity... and... Amy...

"You guys..." I muttered. "I..."

"Enough," Sora said. "We've still got a job to do."

"No... it's my job. It's... my fault..." I muttered.

"We're doing this together," Sora said.

"No... I have to... go it alone..." I muttered.

"Fine. We'll just go along with you by ourselves," Amy said.

I guess... it's okay to bring them along.

"You guys are really adamant about this, huh?" I asked with a smile. "Fine. We'll go together."

"Right!" everyone shouted.

"Don't take so much on you shoulders at once," Riku told me. "If you do... you could fall into darkness."

It's too late for that, but I...

"Let's go!" I shouted, smashing down the gate, and stepping into the World of Darkness...

WHY ROY IS STILL ABLE TO WIELD OMEGA WEAPON WHILE THE OTHERS HOLD THIER SWORDS AND KEYBLADES, AS WELL AS WHY HE IS STILL ALIVE AFTER BEING KILLED

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The reason is complicated. When he fused the Keyblades into Omega Weapon, they became bound to his soul, which had yet to die. He did technically die; however, the light of his friends' hearts resurrected him, and, though his soul was destroyed (the soul he borrowed from a dying Nobody), he still had his original soul, contained within Oryx, which was obscured by his borrowed one. The Keyblades then returned to their owners; however, his soul hung onto a fragment of their Keyblades, which allowed him to keep Omega Weapon as a non-fused Keyblade (Amy also uses her katana, not her sakaboto, during these fights).