A/N:
L-last chapter? Be prepared, because this is a long one. I hope you all enjoyed my story!
Yukia wandered the halls, scuffing her feet, making noise to distract herself. Humming, twirling, tripping and ultimately falling to her doom. Gentle arms cloaked in black grasped her, pulling her back up to a standing position. Looking back at her savior, she was, well…shocked to see who had saved her.
"L-Larxene?!" her expression switched from gratitude to shock and to fear in a matter of seconds.
"Hey," she said. "I wanted to, well… ask you something."
Larxene… is asking me a question? What's wrong here… it doesn't make any sense.
"S-sure, ask away."
"Why does everyone seem to like you so much? Even Xaldin has softened up, and that never happened in the past. So, why? What makes you so special that everyone loves you?!"
As she grabbed Yukia's shoulders, the smaller girl quaked violently. "I-I don't know! I'm sorry!"
Larxene huffed, walking away. [If Yukia heard correctly, with mumbles of "Stupid Replica…" or something like that.]
Xemnas watched as Larxene had a hissy fit in the kitchen, bemused despite his attempts to remain emotionless. Continuing to walk down the hallways, he soon stumbled upon the Replica, and he smirked so evilly, you could've sworn he was the devil.
"So, Replica." She turned to face him, her worried features dropping to reveal slight fear. "Are you ready to fight for your life?"
"F-fight?" she said, wincing as her face wound swelled. "I don't understand…"
Xemnas's smirk dropped. Stupid Replica, doesn't know what fighting is… he shrugged and yanked her hard by the arms, making the young Replica yelp in pain. She weakly grasped onto his arms, trying to push him off.
"P-please, I really don't want to fight!!" she furrowed her brows in desperation, letting a silent tear drip from her red orbs; the pain began to turn into a dull numbness.
"Why ever not, Replica?" he only gripped tighter when that tear escaped her eyes. "That is what you were made for. Now, I'm going to give you one last chance to fight before I kill you myself."
Yukia's eyes flashed with something akin to anger, and she screeched at him, her voice cracking and breaking down. "I'm not j-just a Replica, why do you all keep calling me that?!"
Xemnas blinked a bit before answering. "You were created by Vexen, who is now deceased. He accidentally made you, because he wasn't really expecting anything to come out of his experiment." He smirked as confusion dawned upon her, and just continued with his explanation. "He kept you, but you were not strong enough for him to really call you a 'success'. He then left you for the Organization, never looking back."
Letting go of Xemnas's arms, Yukia reached for her head. A violent and nauseating wave crashed through her, and these things, these memories, filled her mind.
She didn't answer him, but clung to him like he was her last hope. Her body quaked with every tear that fell from her eyes. Breathing ruggedly, she looked up at Demyx. "He'll never leave me again, right?"
Demyx was at a loss for words, which didn't happen often. [No, Zexion had said. He usually never shuts up.] And opted for telling her what she wanted to hear. "Of course, he'll never leave you again."
"This," she prodded the beating muscle with the pointy, shiny metal scalpel. "Is my heart."
"Y-you…"
"Do you believe me now, Vexen?"
"You're not meant to be here," he began, releasing her shoulder and gazing into her eyes. "This is off-limits without permission from me or the Superior."
Yukia looked over to where Saïx was staring, seeing the silver-haired man whom she remembered from her first time here. She shot up from her spot in Saïx's arms, and ran to the door, quickly getting out and speeding down the hall.
I hope he didn't hear me, Yukia thought as she ran through the Castle. That would be… embarrassing.
"How do I do this…?" she held the Arrowgun unsteadily, almost dropping it a few times. Xigbar laughed, and put down the other one.
Grabbing hold of Yukia's hand and arm, he helped her hold it. "Like this, see? Aim for the little red X in the middle of the circle."
Xemnas let go of her, pushing her roughly to the ground. "Are you broken, Replica?"
"W-what ?" Yukia stood up from her sitting position on the couch, sitting back down almost instantaneously afterwards, due to the pain. "I-I'm just… you did…" her eyes watered up and she looked betrayed at Vexen. He didn't say anything, but simply stood up and went to the door.
As he put on his overused and permanently stained lab coat, he said "You were an experiment that happened to go right. Don't fret too much over it- you're just as worthless as your Original, Akiyu."
"Will it always be like this?"
He sighed as well, and rested his chin in her shoulder. "I don't know. But I want this to last forever."
Yukia screamed, her mind overflowing with these memories. "H-help, p-p-please!!"
Xemnas merely scoffed and leaned against the wall, finding Yukia's pain entertaining. Other members of the Organization had gathered by now, and were staring at her, watching her double over in pain.
She grabbed his hands, and stood on her tip-toes, leaning up to kiss him on the lips lightly. Demyx smiled into the kiss, but took it no farther than it went.
"You'll forget these memories, but you will never lose them. They'll always be there."
"But… I don't want to forget."
Screaming again, she thrashed about on the floor, clawing at the marble tiles, pain shooting through her spine.
When Demyx appeared with Saïx, Demyx immediately went to consol Yukia, but was held back by Saïx.
"W-why? Can't you see she needs help?!"
"She's remembering, Demyx. Don't disrupt it." He gripped Demyx's arms tightly, almost embrace-like.
"V-Vexen! What… where… I think something's wrong…" Yukia gripped onto his coat, blinking at Riku.
"This… has nothing to do with you, Yukia."
Yukia turned to see Axel, with Riku next to him, and told her "Step away from Vexen."
She shook her head violently, and gripped tighter onto him.
Axel then walked over to grab her, pulling her off the Chilly Academic.
Then, with no hesitation, he said "Traitor."
Vexen was lit aflame, while Yukia just stood there and watched.
"Hello," the girl said. "I'm Namine."
"So, the memories will always be there, but they'll just be forgotten."
Yukia rubbed her eyes. "And so… this is what you want to do… to me?"
"Who are you?"
The girl shook her head and held out a hand.
Yukia slowly came out of the egg-thing, walking unsteadily over to the girl. Taking the hand, the girl raised her other hand, and a swirling mass of blacks, purples, and blues appeared in a hole-like doorway.
Axel watched as well, putting a comforting hand on Demyx's shoulder, and glanced at Saïx. "She's going to remember something I wish I hadn't done."
"What do you mean?" Saïx asked, watching as Yukia's twitching stopped.
Axel just watched in slight fear as Yukia wobbled to her upright position, tripping on her feet, and falling onto the marble again.
"I killed Vexen," he whispered into the Berserker's pointed ear.
Saïx only gave him a blank stare, blinking rapidly. "You what?"
Yukia got back up again, walking over to Axel with a look of pure hatred and anger plastered onto her face. It took her a moment to speak, testing out her vocals before talking to the Pyro.
"Y-you!!" she grabbed his coat, and he towered over her. "Killed him, Vexen, my Creator!!"
Demyx was happy she remembered things, but slightly scared of this newfound power she had. Axel merely shrugged her off, poking her nose.
"Stop! You, you make me fell so… angry…" a few tears dripped down her features, pattering onto the cold floor. "And I just…" she gently grabbed his coat again, leaning into him. "…want to see him again."
Axel patted her head, shoving her away again. "Fight for him."
If Xemnas had any sort of emotional connection at that point, he would have been extremely proud of Axel's proposal.
Yukia stepped back from Axel, disbelief on her face. "Why do I have to fight?"
"Because," Xemnas said, putting a powerful hand on her shoulder. "You were created to fight."
Sora listened in on this conversation, and was shocked to see the girl he had been traveling with so comfortable around the Organization.
"They're gonna send her to fight me?" he mumbled, looking back at Donald and Goofy. "I don't want to kill her."
Saïx looked back towards a hallway connecting to this one, and swore he heard voices. Demyx seemed to pick up on this as well, and turned to go to said passage.
"Superior! The Keyblade Master!!" Demyx shouted when he spotted them, and Xemnas walked out to see the small boy, dressed in funny clothes. Yukia ran out behind them, staring at the boy.
"S-Sora? You want me to fight him?!"
Xemnas looked bemusedly at her. "Would you rather I kill you on the spot?"
Shaking her head no, she worriedly glanced at Sora and his animal counterparts.
Saïx walked up to his Superior, getting right up in his face. "Why must she fight and die or die by your hands? She has nothing to do with the Organization, and you are just like a lesser Nobody. Thinks of the best way to please 'Kingdom Hearts', just like the rest of them. Remember, she's achieved something we could not."
Xemnas pushed him out of the way, and watched as he fell to the floor. Yukia ran over to him, making sure there wasn't any unnecessary cuts or things of that nature. "She'll fight."
Sora winced at her wounds, and thought about the situation for a moment. "I'll fight her. But I need more space than a hallway to do it."
Xemnas swooshed his head in Sora's direction. "Wonderful. Meet her in the Hall of Empty Melodies."
Yukia was led to the Hall of Empty Melodies by Saïx and Demyx, and all of them were silent the entire time, except from a wince or groan here and there, courtesy of Yukia.
"Demyx," she finally spoke as they arrived in the room, "I'm sorry."
Demyx was shocked out of his trance, and he looked down at Yukia. "Why?
"I'm probably not coming back." She looked down at a small metal sword provided by Luxord. "I'm going to die here…"
Saïx lightly placed a hand on her arms, carful of her stitches. "You'll make it. And if you fail…" Demyx shuddered next to them. "…then we'll all try our best to fulfill our dreams at the best of our abilities."
Demyx nodded his head, hugging Yukia tightly. "But try to win, okay? Don't just give up like I do."
"I-I…" she sobbed. "I don't want to die…"
Saïx dried waterfalls of tears, whispering sweet words of comfort to her. "At lest, if you die, you'll see him again."
"V-Vexen…" she let go of Demyx, squeezing tightly onto Saïx, who didn't respond. "I'll meet you guys again someday, too, right?"
Axel walked in along with other Nobodies; some Dusks were setting up chairs in the corner. "Maybe you'll even see Roxy." Yukia looked back at the Pyromaniac, wanting to say something mean to him. "In the Next Life, I'm sure we'll all meet again."
Demyx sobbed harder and dog-piled on top of Yukia and Saïx, Xigbar and Luxord joining in the group hug. Axel felt left out, so he joined in and dragged an astounded Zexion in with him. Yukia smiled sadly, being squished in the hug.
"Disperse and be seated, Nobodies." Xemnas's voice rung in the room, making Dusks and Creepers jump and sit down. The Organization eventually went to sit down after wishing luck to Yukia. Sora appeared from the opposite end of the room; Donald and Goofy going to sit down on Sora's side of the large room.
"The fight will commence when I say 'go', understood?"
Yukia and Sora nodded their heads in unison, and they interlocked their hands together. Sora wished her luck, and she the same.
"Hey, so matter who wins, will you promise me something?" Yukia whispered to him, so only he could hear.
"What is it?"
"Will you be gentle with Demyx? I want him to die peacefully." She turned her head to him. "Please."
Sora nodded once, letting go of her hand and summoning the Keyblade.
Yukia drew her sword, and they anxiously awaited the call of battle from Xemnas.
"Go!"
[[WARNING!! Gory scene ahead!!]]
Her small sword clashed with his Keyblade, making a loud clang to signal that they had begun fighting. She went for his arms, swinging the small sword uneasily, tripping on her feet. The Keyblade collided with her legs, and the sword flung across the room.
He's too strong for me to handle, she thought, rolling out of the way of another blow. I won't make it out alive from here…
Yukia grabbed him by the ankles, yanking hard enough to pull him down to the ground. She kicked the Keyblade from Sora, but it just came back to him. Jumping up at this, she got caught in the arms with the Keyblade, slicing her arm clean off.
"Aghh!!" she screamed, the blood gushing from her arm; bone protruded from it and appeared to be broken. Her arm aid nearby, now with a pool of crimson liquid surrounding it; still twitching from the slice.
Demyx and the others watched in horror as the arm came flying off; and he covered his mouth with a gloved hand. Yukia's scream resonated throughout the Hall of Empty Melodies, making some of the Dusks freeze in shock.
"W-will she be okay, Axel?"
Axel tore his eyes away from the bloody scene to look at the water-bearer. "I'm not sure..."
Yukia now struggled to get up on her feet, walking over to where her sword flung away. Grabbing it, she faced Sora again, this time just in a stare-down.
"I'm sorry." Sora said, nodding toward her arm on the floor.
"All fair in love and war, right?"
He came at her again, only tapping her leg as she narrowly dodged his moves. Her arm hurt, and the bloody smell was beginning to make her sick. While she tried to catch herself from vomiting everywhere, Sora ran at her, lopping her left leg of cleanly.
"KYAAA!!" her bloodcurdling yells echoed in the room, and a few of the Dusks and Creepers took their leaves, not wanting to stick around to have to clean up.
Yukia coughed up the crimson liquid, letting go of the sword and falling to her knee. Although, balancing was hard, so she fell back-first onto the floor. Sora loomed above her, and she took this opportunity to kick him as hard as she could between his legs, making the poor boy keel over onto the marble flooring. Smiling at her success, she crawled back over to her discarded sword for the second time, firmly grasping it. Struggling once again to her feet- or foot, as it now was- she hopped over to Sora, stabbing him in the arm.
"Aghh…" he winced as she removed it. A small stab wound formed on his arm, spitting blood into Yukia's face. "Nice… shot."
Donald squawked and flapped his arms. "W-what is he doing?! He could have killed her at the beginning!!"
Goofy seriously looked at the scene, which deeply concerned Donald, because he never thought deeply about anything. "Maybe he's giving her a chance."
"Why would he do that?"
Goofy merely stopped talking and watched the rest of the fight.
Yukia let the blade slip from her palm for a third time, huffing and puffing the air desperately. Her leg and arm was still bleeding, getting all sticky and clotting around the dislocation site. She looked disgusted at herself, but noticed Sora getting up to fight again. Her fingers loosely grabbed the sword again, hobbling up onto her foot.
"Last time," Sora said, smiling a little at Yukia.
"Better make it good, okay?" she smiled back. "Remember our promise?"
He nodded, trying to breathe properly. "Yes."
"Better keep it!" she charged as fast as she could to his with her single foot, stumbling a bit and almost falling down for the millionth time.
Sora charged to her as well, arming the Keyblade towards her, screaming.
Demyx watched anxiously as they charged at each other, a sinking feeling playing around with the butterflies in his stomach.
The room got silent as the Keyblade went straight through her body.
Yukia didn't realize it for a moment, until a shriek of realization hit her. Her body twitched, literally pouring out the crimson bodily fluid, sputtering and making disgusting noises that she just wanted to end. A squelching sound came from her body, and she saw Sora removing the Keyblade from her chest.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled, tears streaking by his face. He's never killed anything other than Heartless. "I'm sorry!"
Yukia couldn't speak, a consuming feeling eating her insides out, and she saw wisps of blackness surrounding her. She tried to brush them away, but forgot she only had one arm now; unable to feel where the [hopefully] intact one was. There were little creatures poking at her chest, ripping it open, tearing it apart. Something was quickly ripped out of her, and she recognized it as Akiyu's heart. The thing she worked so hard to get.
"N-no!!" she weakly yelled at the creatures called 'Heartless'. They then disappeared from her view, and a blindingly white light flashed in front of her, only for a brief second. The last thing she heard was a yell of "YUKIA!!" and stomping feet. After that everything went black.
Demyx rushed to her disappearing corpse, gripping on tightly to her broken, malformed body tightly. Crying hard, he let sadness erupt over him, screaming and kicking, and wanting nothing more than to kill Sora, whim had already run away from the scene.
Xemnas chuckled at the Heartless nibbling on something in the corner. When he looked, it was a heart, still pulsing and spouting blood as if it was a fountain. Shock was imminent on his face, and something akin to foolishness spread across his features. Looking over his shoulder to where the rest of the Organization crowded around the Replica's fading body, and walked over.
Marluxia was laughing in the corner with Larxene, who was a bit shocked to see Xemnas kneel beside the disappearing Replica.
"Look, Marly." She said, yanking on his hair. "Why is he kneeling next to her like that?!"
Marluxia looked, and ran over to the scene. "Superior, why are you still here? Shouldn't you be off making celebratory plans?"
Saïx smirked at Xemnas. "If only you would have listened to us, Superior. If only, if only…" Saïx took Demyx by the shoulders, leading him away from the site of the body departure.
"She really did have a heart then?" Xemnas mumbled, looking at the now vanishing heartless. "We could have asked how she did it… or used her for it…" Rubbing his head, he left the scene, leaving Marluxia and Larxene to the bloody room.
"Stupid Replica, ruining everything…"
"Well, now we know it's possible to get a heart and obtain emotions and such. Some useful information for the Computers."
Leaving, they didn't get the chance to see her true heart emerge from the ground where she died, sparkling and dancing in the air. Traveling out the window, it went up to Kingdom Hearts, and made the heart-shaped moon glow in completion.
A/N:
Ahhhh! It's the end!!
I am looking forward to your final feedback on this story, and hope you begin to read the sequel when I put it up! Thank you so much for your support and reviews, encouragement and such~ They were greatly appreciated and admired!!
See you next time,
~SL-cha