Thank you, my dear patient readers. I come forth with a new update! Hopefully you enjoy it. The story is going to be ending soon, but not quite yet. I'm thinking maybe at chapter 30...I could probably make it to 33 if I really wanted to. Still a ways to go.
Thank you to my reviewers: sakurapedals, phantombullets240, Clarissa Avila, Hidden Fairy Tale, NinjaSheik, animechick247, celtic-roses, Amara Natsumi, ArkAngel, RedQueen, Chocoboco, Lumen, Monkeychicklet23, Kuro Neko to Kuro Bara, pandabearmusic and Catalyna Cullen.
Keep the reviews coming! Knowing that people still read this story really motivates me to update sooner. Hopefully I can get the next one out within the week, but not without your feedback!
Vilixa moved through the familiar halls, pretending that it had been the first time she'd ever laid her eyes on them. She opened one of the doors and made her way into a bare square-shaped room that had a swirling portal of darkness staring back at her in one corner. She gulped and called out, "I found it!"
Sora, Donald, Goofy and Mickey all came running in. "This is it," Mickey nodded. Turning back to the group, he flashed them a smile. "I'll see you there!" Then he ran into the portal and disappeared. Vilixa gulped. Her fear of the darkness made her feel almost claustrophobic.
Sora glanced over at her. "Are you okay?" he asked when he noticed how intently she was glaring at the portal.
Vilixa nodded numbly. "Yeah. Let's just get this over with."
Sora placed a hand on Vilixa's shoulder as she took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. She opened them again and let the portal eclipse her entire body. All she could see was a curtain of black. When the haze started to fade away, she looked at her surroundings. It looked like a giant blue void, wisps of light and darkness intermingling to create what looked like limbo.
"What is this place?" she heard Sora ask from behind her.
Vilixa's eyes darted around. She could feel something stirring in the air.
"I don't know," Goofy shrugged.
"Which way should we go?" Donald asked, looking in all directions.
Sora ran forward. "Riku! Kairi!"
"Sora, don't!" Vilixa cried out. Then from thin air, portals opened and out came the Dusks. They surrounded the group from all sides, weaving back and forth before pouncing to attack. A few Dusks caught Vilixa off guard and she fell to the ground, their claws digging into her flesh.
She summoned her Keyblade while she was down and swung it blindly, knocking two Dusks that had been trying to dig into her back. She clenched her weapon tightly in her hands and tried her best to take out as many Dusks as she could alongside Sora. Somehow though, whenever they would destroy one, it seemed like ten more would take its place.
"It's no use," Sora cried out.
"Don't stop moving or the darkness will overtake you!" Vilixa heard an all-too familiar voice shout out from above. She looked up and saw Axel, hurling his chakrams at the Dusks before they burst into flames.
"Axel!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
He smirked at her. "You really didn't think I'd leave you here to die, did you, Vee?"
She flashed him a smile until a Dusk knocked him down to the ground. She slashed at the Dusk, making it disappear, and helped the collapsed Axel to his knees. "Are you okay?" she asked.
Axel's expression darkened. Looking at Sora, he said, "I kidnapped Kairi, but she got away from me. After that, Saix caught her. He's a member of Organization XIII. Saix--got it memorized? Now go save her!"
Another Dusk appeared from above and threatened to come down on Axel's head. Vilixa leapt up and eliminated the Nobody before it could do any harm and screamed out, "Leave us alone!"
With Axel's help, Sora and Vilixa slashed through the hoards of Nobodies. Their efforts started seeming futile though, because the moment they stopped moving and backed up against each other, it seemed like a hundred more Dusks had appeared.
Vilixa looked over at her best friend. Axel looked horrible--his posture was slouched, and cuts ran up and down his arms and back. His cloak was torn and his lip was bleeding slightly. But the fire in his eyes was still the same--he was not about to back down.
"I liked it better when they were on my side," he noted.
Sora smirked. "Feeling a little regret?"
Axel emitted a laugh and turned to him. "Nah...I can handle these punks. Watch this." He looked over at Vilixa and winked. Her eyes widened.
"Axel, don't do it!"
But it was too late.
He leapt high in the air and held out his chakrams. They started to spin, weaving with vines of darkness and fire until a blinding explosion sent Vilixa crashing to the ground, her Keyblade disappearing. Sora, Donald and Goofy tried to shield themselves too, but they all ended up collapsed on the floor.
Vilixa's eyes fluttered open after the blast, trying to readjust to the lack of light. She felt a sob escaping her lips as she saw Axel lying face-up on the ground, his body slowly starting to fade into nothing.
She ran over to him and could feel the tears falling down her cheeks.
"Hey," Axel said weakly. "Enough with this crying business. You don't have a heart, you can't feel pain, remember?"
"Don't start that now, Axel," she sniffled, taking a hold of his hand. "You're my best friend. I can't just let you slip away. Not you, too."
Sora knelt down by Vilixa's side and looked at Axel. "You're...fading away."
"Yeah," he chuckled despondently. "That's what happens when you put your whole body into an attack. You know what I mean? Not that Nobodies actually have beings...right?"
"Axel," Vilixa warned. "Stop saying that."
Axel ignored her. "I digress. Go, find Kairi. And sorry for what I did to her."
Sora shook his head. "You can tell her that yourself."
Axel let out a dry laugh. "I think I'll pass. My heart just wouldn't be in it, you know?"
Sora looked crestfallen. "Why did you do it?"
He looked over at Vilixa, then back at Sora. "I wanted to see Roxas." Vilixa bit her lip to keep herself from crying any more. Sora looked over at her with a strange expression on his face. Axel continued. "The three of us, we were best friends. He made me feel...like I had a heart." Axel paused. "You know, it's funny. You make me feel the same."
"Axel," Vilixa whimpered. "Please don't go. I can't lose Roxas and then you."
"Hey," Axel gave her hand a slight squeeze. "You've got this kid. Roxas isn't all that far. Promise me that you won't forget about me, okay, Vee?"
She smiled and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "I promise."
He grinned back and turned to Sora. "Kairi's in the castle dungeon. Now, go." He held up his free hand and opened a portal before he went limp.
"Axel..." Sora mumbled quietly as his body kept on fading away. Vilixa watched in horror as Axel's vibrant green eyes went dull and he disappeared before her very eyes. She felt like she had been sitting there for a long time, just staring at the ground where Axel's body used to be.
"He's gone," she managed to say before curling up into a ball, her knees pressed to her chest and crying her eyes out. She had never cried that much in her life--she didn't even know that she was capable of producing so many tears. She didn't care. She just sat there and cried as Sora wrapped his arms around her shoulders in a failed attempt to calm her down.
"So, you two were best friends in the Organization, huh?" he asked quietly once her breathing patterns became less erratic.
She nodded, wiping her eyes. "I'm sorry I lied to you about Roxas, Sora. I never meant to."
"You didn't lie," he said, helping her to her feet. "I get why you didn't tell me. You don't have to apologize for protecting your friends."
She just nodded.
"Come on," he said, looking back at the portal. "We've got some unfinished business to attend to."
Sora led Vilixa, Donald and Goofy to the portal that stood before them. They all stepped inside, and once they had set foot on solid ground, Vilixa immediately wanted to do nothing more than run in the opposite direction.
It was the World that Never Was.
Her eyes darted around the familiar alleyways, the darkness that surrounded her. She could feel the beady little eyes of the numerous Heartless that infested the streets boring into her back and she summoned her Keyblade again and got ready to defend herself.
Vilixa heard a noise behind her and got ready to strike. She turned on her heel, but lowered her weapon when she realized it was only the King.
"Axel said Kairi's in the dungeon," Sora told him.
Mickey nodded. "Then we'd better find a way into that castle."
Thunder boomed and lightning cracked over the dark city illuminated only by the neon signs that decorated the fronts of buildings. Sora was walking ahead of the pace, leaving Vilixa, Donald and Goofy a little ways behind. As they were trying to catch up to him, two portals opened and Samurai Nobodies appeared, trapping them with the blades of their swords.
"Sora!" Vilixa cried out. Sora whipped around and gasped.
"Guys!"
Then a figure in a black cloak appeared and struck Sora with a Keyblade. He blocked the blow with his own, but after a few seconds, there was a burst of light and the two of them disappeared.
"Where did they go?" Donald demanded as the Nobodies vanished into thin air.
Vilixa just stood there, slack-jawed. "No, it can't be..." she mumbled. "Roxas?"
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