Sorry for updating so late! Didn't quite get to 55 like I'd hoped. Maybe we can aim for 60? So 8 reviews. That'd be nice. :)
I have my portfolio interview for university tomorrow, and so I've been busy. I honestly haven't written anything really new for this story in a while, but I'm taking a writer's craft class and so hopefully it'll help me to become a better writer.
Thank you to phantombullets240, AoZ, VanishatheHedgehog, NinjaSheik, Kuro Neko to Kuro Bara, Zamaya, Island-style-girl and pandabearmusic for reviewing.
Let's keep the reviews coming! The more you review, the more I have to write and subsequently update. :)
"Phew," Sora huffed. "What are Nobodies doing in Hollow Bastion?"
"Let's go ask Leon and the others," Goofy suggested. "C'mon! Yuffie went this way!"
Donald and Goofy trotted off. Vilixa tapped Sora on the shoulder and asked, "Who's Yuffie?"
"You'll see," Sora grinned. "You'll get to meet everyone."
They walked a short distance around a high stone wall and many bricked staircases until Vilixa saw a small house with a rounded-top door that was left half-open. She and Sora walked over to the door and pushed it open fully, revealing a number of faces that Vilixa was certain she'd never seen before, and yet felt like she already knew.
"Meet the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee!" the girl from before, Yuffie, squeaked happily. She seemed to embody a sort of complete euphoria that Vilixa found both fascinating and frightening. She just stared at the girl, unsure of what to do.
An older looking girl with long, brown hair that was tied up in a braid with a pink bow with a matching pink sundress turned and clapped her hands together. "We missed you!"
"Well," a blond man with goggles attached to his head and a toothpick hanging loosely from his mouth called. "If you ain't in top shape!"
Another man with brown hair and a scar running diagonally down his face stood with his arms crossed over his chest. "I knew it," he said simply.
"Knew what?" Sora asked curiously.
"A while back, everyone suddenly remembered you guys, all at the same time," the man explained.
"Remembered?" Sora pondered aloud. "Wait! Does that mean you forgot about us?"
At this point, Vilixa was beyond confused and feeling slightly claustrophobic within the confines of the tiny house, surrounded by the piles of books and all of the people. She gulped and burst out of the house, running as fast and far as her feet could take her. She could hear Sora's voice shouting her name, but she ignored it, trying to get away.
Something about Hollow Bastion simply terrified her.
She kept running until she heard a sound that was all too familiar to her. The sound of a dark portal opening, revealing none other than Axel standing before her.
"Well, well, well..." he grinned. "Look at what I found."
"Axel..." she said quietly. "What are you doing?"
"What do you mean?" he asked. "I'm just making sure Sora does his job and collects hearts for the Organization."
She frowned at him and tried to move around, but he blocked her path. "Axel, let me go."
"I still have an order from the boss, you know," he said sternly. "Do or die kind of thing."
"Let me go," she repeated. "It's not like he knows that I'm even here."
Axel chuckled, shaking his head. "But he will," he stated. "He's got his Nobodies keeping tabs on Sora. And now that you're traveling with him, you can bet that he's going to send even more of his little drones after you."
"Is that what you've become, Axel?" Vilixa hissed. "One of Xemnas' drones?"
"I'm just following orders so I can get my heart back," he growled. "Don't you dare call me a drone."
"I call 'em as I see 'em," she countered. "Now, let me go."
Axel looked past Vilixa and grinned. Swiftly, he grabbed hold of her arms and spun her around, locking them behind her back. Vilixa saw Sora, Donald and Goofy running towards her and she tried to scream out for help, but Axel covered her mouth with his gloved hand.
"Vilixa!" Sora cried. "It's the Organization!"
Axel teleported himself and Vilixa up higher onto the roof of one of the structures in the Bailey so that he was looking down on the Keybearer. Several other portals opened, revealing the remaining members of Organization XIII, just out of Sora's line of vision.
"The Keyblade...a truly marvelous weapon," Xemnas' deep voice echoed in Vilixa's ears. "Were it only in more...capable hands."
A chorus of laughter sprang out and Sora gritted his teeth. "Show yourselves!"
They all stepped forward, hoods covering their faces. Axel still had Vilixa in his tight grip, and she couldn't get away.
"Sora!" she tried to yell behind the fabric of Axel's gloved hand. "Sora, help!"
"Shut it," Axel hissed. "It'll be easier for you if you don't struggle."
"Let's settle this!" she heard Sora declare.
"What a shame," Xemnas taunted. "And here I was, thinking that we could be friends."
The mocking laughter continued as the members of the Organization faded into their own portals one by one. A portal opened beneath Axel's feet and eclipsed himself and Vilixa within its confines. The last thing that she saw before the darkness swallowed her was Sora, Donald and Goofy, desperately trying to reach her.
The portal opened and Axel nudged her forward. She found herself in his bedroom, the window overlooking Kingdom Hearts. She tore herself away from him and he let her turn to him furiously, her fists clenched so tight that her knuckles turned white.
"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded. "You're the one who let me go in the first place! I thought that we were friends!"
"I was also the one who told you that if I got another order from the Superior telling me that I had to go get you, I wasn't about to take it easy on you," he retorted. "And you know that we're still friends, Vee. But orders--"
"Friendship is supposed to mean more than stupid orders!" she seethed. "Why don't you understand that? Is it because you don't have a heart?"
"Don't try and pull that on me," Axel growled viciously. "You don't have a heart either. Quit talking like you have one. I'm sick of it."
She shook her head. "I'd rather speak my mind instead of wallowing constantly in the darkness." She walked over to the window and placed her palm against the glass. "Why am I here?"
"Xemnas wanted you back," he said flatly. "I don't know why." Curiously, Axel eyed Vilixa from top to bottom. "You look different without your Organization cloak."
"Stop looking at me," she muttered scathingly, pulling out the chair from its place by the desk and sitting down, away from Axel. "If we really were friends, you'd have let me go."
She heard Axel sigh and open a portal. Before he walked through, he cocked his head over his shoulder and muttered, "Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone." And with that, he disappeared.
Vilixa huffed and said, "I'm getting out of here. I don't care how." She waved her hand and tried to open a portal, but for some reason, it wouldn't work. No matter how hard she tried, the miniscule swirl of darkness that she produced wouldn't stay open long enough for her to escape through, nor would it even be enough for her to set one foot on.
She looked down at her hands in wonder and defeat.
"What's happening to me?"
Review please! 8 more til we reach 60!
Wish me luck on my interview. :)