Discussing alternatives
Axel gave Zexion a short nod in response.
"It would kill him. His only chance to get out alive and with his sanity intact, is to get through to the heart and shut down the entire defense mechanism for the time he would need to get out…"
"But he can't do that!" Zexion exploded. "If the Kingdom Heart is stripped off like that, it would be hacked by a hundred crooks before the walls go up again! That would mean a complete chaos in the digital universe and a major threat to anyone who've ever used a computer!" Zexion gasped for air as he tried not to hit Axel in the head for even suggesting the deed. Axel, on the other hand, only kept looking at Roxas with a painful expression in his eyes.
"I don't care," he said, his voice filled with emotion and conviction.
Zexion took a deep breath to calm himself before he answered.
"Look, Axel, we simply can't shut down the entire defense system, not even for a period of 30 seconds. The Heart is under constant observation by both the good guys and the bad. The only reason Roxas doesn't get a tail of followers when he opens a lock is because he's using a set of time limited and shifting code keys, meaning the opening shuts behind him the moment he steps through, allowing only one person to enter. Getting out of there needs to be done the same way…"
"But the Kingdom Heart doesn't work that way!" Axel objected. "There is no door heading out, only in!
Zexion sighed.
"I know that, Axel." Zexion let his eyes wander over to Roxas and then gave Axel a cold look. "And you know that not I, nor Roxas, would ever allow the Heart to be hacked by someone with a desire to use its powers."
Axel squared his jaw, but he didn't object. He knew it was true.
"If he gets all the way through, we can't save him," Zexion continued, a bit of sensitivity sneaking into his voice, the look in his eyes softening.
"But there has to be a way! We can't just… just kill him!" Axel spat out in a desperate voice, his eyes filled with anxiety and fear.
Behind him, Xemnas started to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Axel roared and turned to look at the man with fury.
"This is exactly why I let someone else do the hacking," Xemnas purred. "What's the use of having all that power when you can't enjoy its benefits from the outside?"
Axel was on his feet in seconds and had his hands around Xemnas' neck before anyone had a chance to react.
"You never meant to let him out, did you?" axel growled as Lexaeus pried his hands away from the other man's neck.
Xemnas smiled back at him as soon as he had caught his breath.
"Did you really think I would? Why release a pawn you can control without endangering yourself?"
Axel was too upset to say anything. He looked at Xemnas with eyes spelling out death bu suffering, but he knew it was pointless. Xemnas was, after all, right. And so was Zexion.
Roxas was lost to them.
"So this was why Riku pulled the plug on Sora, huh?"
Axel looked up and met the one-eyed stare of Xigbar. The man's face was showing an unexpected amount of compassion.
"This was why he did it before Sora got through the last wall; to save him from being enslaved," Xigbar continued slowly.
Axel looked away and Lexaeus let him go as he made a move to go back to where Zexion was still standing, one step away from Roxas.
"He knew this before he entered, right?" Axel asked the librarian in a low and defeated voice and Zexion gave him a short nod.
"Sora's memories told him all about it," he said.
Axel looked at Roxas where he was lying in the chair.
The blonde's eyes were moving behind the closed eyelids and his fingertips were in constant movement as he clicked in the codes that took him through the digital world where his mind was locked up. Apart from this, he showed no proof of life at all, even his breaths were too shallow to be noticed from underneath his black shirt and white jacket.
"If he knew he'd be cornered… Then why did he go in?" Axel mumbled doubtfully.
"What?" Zexion asked, not sure of what Axel had been saying.
"Zexion, is it possible that Sora might have figured out a solution to the problem of getting out without stripping the Heart of its defense?"
"Axel, if he'd done that, he'd still be alive…"
"No, wait, Zex, hear me out, OK? Sora might not have known about it until it was too late…"
"Axel, the memories Roxas got from Sora were saved before he died you know…"
Axel stared at the screen. Roxas had opened the tenth wall and entered the eleventh level. He was moving fast now.
"If that's all of it, then how come Rox remembers how Sora got through the walls? It doesn't make sense…"
Xemnas snorted from where he was sitting, being tied down to a heating pipe by Lexaeus under the watch of Xigbar.
Axel turned towards the sound and looked at the man with a dawning realization.
Zexion looked at him as well and connected the dots a bit faster.
"You added the later memories as well, not just the ones NAMINÉ stored, but the memories you stored as well…"
There came another snort and Xemnas gave him a look of degradation.
"You really hadn't figured that out already?" the white haired man said in a disappointed manner. "And here I was thinking you were smart…"
Zexion ignored the comment and turned his attention back towards the screens.
"So you managed to copy the process of the NAMINÉ and used it to store Sora's actions and thought while you made him hack the Heart… clever. Saving it in case something would go wrong."
Xemnas didn't answer to this, but Axel noticed a twitch of annoyance flash by in the man's face.
"Sora suspected something like that, so in order to keep the last unlocking a secret, he told Riku to pull the plug before he had entered the last level…"
Axel's eyes widened.
"Sora told him to do it?"
Zexion nodded his affirmative without noticing Axel's confusion.
"Roxas told me about it after I showed him the remaining NAMINÉ-files," Zexion continued while Axel tried hard to grasp the new information. "Riku never abandoned Sora as we thought, but he followed an order, or if you prefer it, kept a promise he'd made to Sora."
"That means… Sora could actually have found a way out, and now Rox can use that knowledge…" Axel said as he felt a slight touch of hope in his chest as the pieces of the puzzle fell together.
"If he gets through, and if Sora actually did have such a solution and if it works," Zexion pointed out.
"It's a chance as good as any!" Axel said and looked the librarian in the eyes.
"Aaww, come on Zexion! It won't harm giving the guy a chance, right?" Xigbar unexpectedly joined the conversation and threw the steel bar to land on the floor with a loud clanking noise as he walked up to Axel and Zexion. "As long as the defenses stays up, nothing will happen, right?" he added.
Zexion stared at him as if he was a talking animal.
"Are you insane! If he reaches into the Heart, he'll change the coding and Ansem here," he made a pause to nod towards Xemnas, "will have it all saved up and usable through the wires putting Roxas' mind into the computers!"
Xigbar raised the eyebrow over his one good eye.
"But Ansem, Xemnas or whatever his real name is, won't get a chance to use it, since we'll destroy it all once Roxas is out, right?" he said calmly.
Zexion stared first at Xigbar, then Axel, shifted his eyes towards Roxas, then back at Xigbar again.
"Right?" Xigbar repeated, his face still calm and his one showing eye vivid with emotion.
Zexion sighed heavily and went over to Lexaeus.
"Fine. We'll give him a chance to try and get out," he said with a tired voice. "But if he as much as begins to shut the system down, I will unplug him."
The last words were directed towards Axel. The redhead grimaced, but he didn't say anything, only nodded as a confirmation of his understanding of Zexion's demands.
"Well then," Xigbar said leisurely, "which one of you geeks wants to tell me how to understand this crapload of jibberish?" He made a nod of his head towards the codefilled screens.
Axel smirked.
"Why so interested all of a sudden?"
Xigbar shrugged.
"Call me weird, but I simply want to know why I've just aided you guys to tie up my boss," he said and made an inclination towards Xemnas.
Axel's smirk became a smile.
"Sure thing. I'll tell you all about it."