A/N: Wow. This chapter was really tough to write. I found out that even though I wanted to write fight scenes and figured I would be good at it, they're really hard to write. I must've written the same part ten times before finally being okay with it. So yeah, that's me venting a little, enjoy the chapter.

Through the Test of Fate

Chapter Six

Vexen

Sora pulled away from Xion and offered a small smile as the girl finally stopped crying. If he had a feeling before, it was now clear that whatever their relationship had been in the past, they were very close. It was comforting to know he made the right choice in not fighting her. Having done so would have gone against the wishes of his old self.

"I have to go now," said Xion while wiping away her tears.

"Where to?"

"Away from here. I can't stay."

He was beginning to see a pattern. Be it an order or some sort of easy way out, Xion would carry it out despite what she wanted. Like how she tried to capture Kairi and avoid fighting with him, during that time he could tell that she was running away from her feelings and he knew that she would have even fought him seriously just to get away quickly were it not for his words.

"What do you want to do?"

Xion looked at him in surprise, not expecting the sudden question.

"You can't keep doing what other people want you to. And you can't keep doing what you think will protect others at the cost of your own happiness. You should follow your own heart for a change." Sora smiled and placed a hand on his chest, "The current 'me' might not know you, but we're friends, right? That's why I think you should do what makes you happy!"

"I..." Xion looked down, her eyes shadowed by her bangs, "I want to stay...close to you. But I know I can't." Her shoulders shook as she explained, "My Master can see my location whenever he wants. Not only that but if he finds out that I want to help you, he could kill me with the push of a button. That's why, even if I want to, I can't stay."

"Don't worry about it," Sora smiled as he rose to his feet and put on a determined expression. "I'll break his hold on you," he turned to her with a grin, "I promise."

She could only watch as he ran off, her feelings preventing her from running after him. It was a good thing that he didn't know where to find her Master, it wasn't that she didn't want Sora to break the hold on her life, but because she didn't want him to get hurt. He was much weaker than he used to be.

"Sora..."

Sora ran through the night streets of Twilight Town, noticing more and more people filling the streets. It looked like whatever Xion had used to divert their attention elsewhere had worn off.

He pulled out his phone and called Kairi.

"Sora?"

"Kairi, I need your help," he began as he came to a halt near a bus stop. "I'm pretty sure you already know who Xion is so I'll get straight to the point. Do you know who Xion refers to as 'Master?'"

Kairi went quiet at the other end of the line in apparent thought before finally answering his question.

"It's most likely another member of the organization. A man known as Vexen, a scientist."

"What do you know about him?"

"Not much. He mostly kept to himself in his lab. None of the other members ever went there, our superiors had us under strict orders not to go unless we were asked by them. Not even Vexen himself could take anyone to the lab."

"This lab... Do you know where it is?"

"It's a tall building downtown. Pretty easy to spot since it has the organization's insignia on it."

"So it'll be the only building with some ridiculous sign on it. Thanks."

Before Kairi could ask why he needed the information he hung up the phone and ran. The bus wouldn't be coming for a while so he'll need to take a train there.

This very night he would break the hold this Vexen person had on Xion. It was the least he could do not just for her, but to his past self.

Green eyes lit up in glee when seeing what was happening just a couple of blocks away from his lab. It had to be his lucky day, there was no other explanation. Just when he needed a new test subject, Sora, the boy that had helped him in the birth of Xion(Sample No.14) was running straight to his lab.

Xion had done well to make the boy come to him.

There was a problem though. Despite being a ranked member of a certain organization, he was not a capable fighter, instead relying on his cunning and inventions. The boy had proved his power time after time in the past, he was sure that if pushed, that same power could come out in sudden outbursts.

No matter.

His pets would probably be enough for Sora at his current level. He'll ask them to attack with an immediate knock out in mind just to make sure nothing went wrong.

A smile played on his lips as he let his mind linger on the past for just a few moments.

Around six years ago Vexen had prepared a new test subject for his experiment. For years he had been fascinated by the idea of making an artificial heart and placing it on a living being. If everything went like he wanted then the host, even without any potential, could summon a Keyblade after being taken over by the artificial heart.

But after is latest experiment he was beginning to think it'd be impossible to accomplish this. The power needed for the experiment to work was too much and he wasn't about to ask anyone in the organization for help. None of the members with enough power to be useful would approve of his goal.

This left him with only one choice. Find someone for the task in one of the many other organizations spread across the globe.

Luckily, one of his double agents infiltrating other organizations had come across a very peculiar boy with extraordinary potential. According to his spy, this boy was a student at a prestigious school in Hollow Bastion, a very rich city, and member of an organization despite being only nine years old. This boy was the perfect candidate for the task.

Two weeks passed before Vexen could finally meet the boy in Hollow Bastion, thanks to his spy telling him where to look. The boy was easily approachable and trusting.

While he appeared to be normal, only one that did not know where to look would fail to notice the amount of power he had. It rendered him speechless for a few moments before he finally explained why he had approached him. Of course, without telling the boy the exact details, he agreed to help under the impression that his power would help a girl wake from a long sleep. Not a complete lie but not a truth either.

In only one week, Xion(Sample No.14) was born.

Despite using a large amount of his power, Sora was back to normal in just two days. Vexen then asked the boy to visit Xion whenever he could under the excuse that she did not have any friends or family, while the truth was that her powers would grow much faster if she was near the major source of her power. The rest was history.

"Come Sora," Vexen smirked as the teen came to a spot before the building. "I look forward to seeing you face to face."

A sense of foreboding came over Sora as he stepped into the building, around thirty stories tall. Not only had the doors been unlocked, there was literally no one in the lobby. The spacious room had large windows, a long reception desk, gray floor tiles, and a flight of stairs next to a couple of elevators.

They were most likely expecting him.

Deciding that using the stairs was a lot safer, Sora began his trek up the building in search of Vexen.

Kairi looked up from the book she was reading when hearing someone knocking on the door. It was probably Sora again, she swore to get the idiot to make another key if it was the last thing she did.

"Are you finally going to get another key made?" She huffed when opening the door only to freeze in shock when seeing Xion standing there. "W-What are you doing here?"

There was no way she could fight her off but that was the least of her worries. Where was Sora? Had she pretended to be vulnerable in order to easily take him out?

Her worries were lessened when Xion asked, "Where's Sora?"

"Huh? What do you mean? I thought he was with you!"

"He ran off somewhere. I thought he would come looking for you."

Kairi rubbed her head in thought before her eyes widened in horror. Sora had asked a lot of weird questions over the phone, she had thought that he was just curious about Xion but now... She cursed herself for underestimating Sora's impulsiveness before picking up her jacket.

"It'll be dangerous but I think I know where he is," she explained in a serious tone. "I want to know if I can trust you."

"You can't," Xion responded dryly. "But," she clenched her fists as a look of determination showed on her face, "If Sora is in some kind of trouble then I'll help you."

"Good," Kairi nodded as she pocketed the apartment's keys and left with Xion.

"This might not have been a good idea," Sora panted as he continued to run up the stairs. He was now on the twelfth floor still with no sign of the stupid lab. His common sense told him that the bad guy's lab would be at the top floor but now that he thought about it, maybe it wasn't. That's why he decided to explore this floor and search for some sort of map that laid out what was in each floor.

The halls were dark, only a few dimmed lights leading the way. He looked around suspiciously, half-expecting something to jump out and attack him. As if mocking him, exactly that happened.

A Heartless, looking like a taller version of a Shadow but with longer antennas and visible muscles, jumped at him as soon as he rounded a corner. His reflexes had thankfully kicked in and the Heartless was cut in two by a vertical slice of his Keyblade. Before he could relax, he noticed a group of those same Heartless looking at him from the large room he had just entered.

"Wow...I don't suppose you guys understand me but...give up?"

The Heartless screeched as they jumped at him with the intention to kill. His first instinct was to run was to run away but when he spotted a map, just what he'd been looking for, hanging on the wall behind the Heartless, he knew that he couldn't run.

His eyes narrowed on the closest Heartless as he charged in and cut in in half, before rolling on the floor to dodge a clawed hand and tearing through another foe. Instinct took over as the rest of the creatures ran at him with murder on their yellow eyes.

He dodged the first clawed swipe, blocked another to his side, and jumped over a Heartless that decided to try to pounce on him. While on the air, another jumped after him but he easily stabbed its chest before landing safely on the ground and swinging in a wide arc, taking out three of the many Heartless.

Far from being done, he closed in on the nearest enemy and cut through it with ease before the rest of the Heartless jumped at him.

His eyes were a clouded blue as he dodged each of their blows with apparent ease, sidestepping, ducking, and even somersaulting, before retaliating with his own slashes. Before long there were no Heartless left and not a scratch on him. Sora let out a shaky breath, uncertain of where that agility had come from but didn't think much about it, maybe if he became aware of it he wouldn't be able to use it anymore.

He ran over to the map and fought the urge to slap himself. None of the rooms were labeled as 'lab' of course, but only one had 'off-limits' written on it. As his terrible luck would have it, the room was on the basement. Why hadn't he just gone down before moving so high up the building?

"No use feeling sorry for myself, time to end this!" He declared before running over to the stairs and going down.

Xion ran through the dark streets of Twilight Town with Kairi following behind her. Ever since she heard that Sora had been asking about her Master, she knew that he was in danger. He wasn't even half as strong as he used to be and, according to Kairi, had just started his training with a Keyblade.

Speaking of which, it was a bit odd to see someone like the Number Four of their organization so frail and weak. While she couldn't remember ever giving her more than a passing glance before, Vexen had warned her several times to stay away from the girl. Something along the lines of not wanting to risk being found out but Xion couldn't imagine how Kairi would put the pieces together just by being near her.

"You're not a normal human are you?"

Kairi's sudden question caught Xion off-guard, answering the question.

"I really didn't think Vexen was capable of something like this..." Kairi seemed a bit impressed.

Xion turned her attention away from the odd girl. Well, now she knew that what Vexen had told her before was true. Still, it was surprising to have Kairi figure it out so easily. Maybe it had something to do with the sensing abilities she was often praised for.

She was snapped out of her thoughts once their destination came to view, "There it is. Let's hurry!"

"Yeah," Kairi replied as the two moved faster down the streets.

Sora gritted his teeth as he cut through one more Heartless without stopping his run. The instant he had stepped into the basement floor, dozens of those weird things had appeared. He had tried to fight them all off at first but that was almost impossible since the more and more appeared as time passed.

Rounding a corner and finding a door, he quickly stepped in and closed the door after him. Sora let out a breath of relief before looking around the room. It had a lot of computers and odd large cylinders big enough to hold a person. All of them were lines up on either wall and were connected by wires that met in a big computer placed on the center of the room.

The place also had a set of stairs leading to a loft but he paid no attention to it, instead he stepped towards the important looking computer in wonder.

"What could all of this be for?"

"Maybe I could help you answer that question."

Sora jumped out of his skin when hearing the sudden voice. He was quick to find the source, a man wearing a black hood that was looking down on him from the loft.

"This is where I conduct my most important experiments." The man continued to speak in an overly casual manner. "For example, did you know that this is where Xion was first made? What am I saying? Of course you don't know. Your memories are gone after all."

"Who are you?!" Sora summoned his Keyblade and glared at the man. He already had an idea as to who it was but didn't want to act out on it before hearing it straight from his lips.

"Why, I am the great scientist, Vexen."

The teen growled as he asked his next question, "How did we know each other before?! All I know is that you had my help with Xion, but why did I agree to it?"

Vexen smirked, "Is this what all of this is about? Getting me to answer a few questions." He pointed at the computer in the middle of the room, "If that is the case then I presume you do not care about the computer that gives me power over Xion."

Sora looked pointedly at the man. The guy was planning something. There was no way he would just tell him that without a cause. Was this all a trap?

"Why the worried look on your face? It's almost as though you believe this is a trap. Then again, if you didn't think this was a trap until you stepped into this room then you're a lot more simpleminded than I first thought."

Seeing the look of shock on the teen's face, Vexen smirked in amusement.

"Did you think for one second that I would not know that you would storm in here the moment Xion ran her mouth? I knew from the very first moment I saw you with Number Four, that if I let Xion run around, you'd eventual come to me," he laughed with a shake of his head, "Though finding Number Four was my initial plan, capturing you is a lot more alluring than some lousy Keyblade."

"Tell you what. I'll make you an offer!"

Sora's mouth formed into a thin line as Vexen pointed at him with a grin.

"Work for me. I promise that while the hours are harsh, no permanent harm will come to you. I'll even refrain from dissecting you for two whole years. So, how does that sound?"

"Sorry but I'm focusing on my studies now, I can't fit a job in my schedule."

Sora was terrified of this disturbing person. Every cell in his body told him to run but even so...

"You know. I made a promise-no, I made two promises that I won't break. That's why I'll beat you here and break your hold on Xion! Trap or not, stronger or not, even if I have absolutely no chance to beat you, I'll fight to protect those promises!"

Vexen narrowed his eyes, "So be it."

He pulled out a remote control and pressed a button without hesitation.

…

"Huh?" Vexen let out dumbly as he pressed the button again, his face showing a hint of fear.

Sora looked at the man oddly before breaking into a grin, "Looks like whatever trap you were planning on using isn't working."

"Don't get ahead of yourself brat," Vexen growled, his piercing green eyes burning in rage. "The trap was only put in place because I didn't want to get my hands dirty. Regrettably, you will be in a lot more pain than first thought."

"I don't care what you're talking about. Since we're both on equal terms, I have a big chance of kicking your ass!"

Kairi looked over Xion's shoulder. She was messing around with a phone after plugging it to a box outside Vexen's building.

"This will disable all of his toys," Xion explained. With a satisfied nod she pocketed her phone, "If he's found Sora then this will give us enough time to go and help him. Vexen might be dangerous with all of his traps but without them he's more manageable."

"All right then," Kairi grinned as the two were finally ready to enter the building.

"You will pay for your insolence!" Vexen exclaimed as a blue shield materialized on his left hand. "Now perish!"

Sora's eyes widened as the a cold wind shot at him coupled with large ice fragments. The teen managed to roll away from the attack but quickly jumped to the side as an ice spiky broke through the ground, barely missing him. He managed to land safely before kicking off the floor, making it to the second story and swinging as soon as he was in Vexen's range.

The man blocked the strike with his large shield, but was not expecting a kick to his side that knocked him back a couple of feet. Sora stabbed at the man only to have him sidestep and retaliate with his shield, pushing the teen back a few steps before swinging his shield at him, its large blue spikes deadly. Reflexes kicking in, Sora blocked the spikes with his blade before gripping the handle with both hands and knocking the shield to the side.

Vexen was left defenseless as Sora swung downwards on his body, making a long shallow cut on the man's torso.

"Gah!" The scientist cried out as blood flowed out of the wound. Staggering back, he raised his right hand, "You'll pay for this brat!"

Sora frowned as a harsh cold wind kicked up in the room, knocking aside the many bookshelves on the large loft. He shielded his face from the many books flying in every direction before they stopped as the wind settled.

"Prepare yourself Sora," Vexen smirked.

The man now had a Keyblade on his right hand, one with dark blue ice for a handle and a pure white blade that had three icicles at the end of the shaft. Looking a bit closer, one could see that the sleeves of Vexen's black cloak were frosted over.

"With your condition I doubt you know what this is," Vexen held out his Keyblade in an admiring fashion. "Every Keyblade has a second stage. One that only a few can obtain. When this happens the Keyblade changes as well as its wielder."

Sora held the Keyblade protectively in front of him. Kairi had never told him any of this, not that he blamed her for it since she probably wanted to teach him at a later time. Even so, while Vexen now looked a lot stronger than before, maybe he could manage to win.

Vexen scoffed as he swung his blade at the air.

Sora, not expecting anything to happen, was caught completely off-guard as a torrent of snow shot at him and struck him on the chest, pushing him back harshly before being pinned to the wall with a loud thud.

"This is so easy!" Vexen laughed. He walked over to Sora with a smile, "Wow...you're really pathetic now. I almost feel bad about going all out against you." To his surprise Sora began to laugh weakly, "I didn't hit you so hard that you're hallucinating did I?"

"Of course not. It's just that...if this is you going all out. Then I think..." Sora gritted his teeth, face turning red as he used all of his strength to break through the ice and land on the floor. Grinning, he pointed the tip of his blade at the older man, "Then I think there's nothing to worry about!"

Irked beyond belief, Vexen glared at the infuriating brat. "If you have a death wish then I'll be happy to oblige!" He screamed as he swung his blade once more, this time mixing in ice spikes to surround the teen who could just watch as the blizzard flung him across the lab.

"It never ceases to amaze me how foolish you are," Vexen admitted while watching Sora try to stand up after crashing against the a wall. "There is no chance for you to win. So why do you keep trying?"

Blood trailing down his face due to a gash on his forehead, a painful sensation on his left side, and his hands losing sensation because of the cold; Sora asked himself the same thing.

Despite the pain he again raised his Keyblade. He knew the answer, it was obvious, he had just said it a few minutes ago. It was because he made two promises that he could not break.

He would find a way to save Xion.

He would protect Kairi.

That was all there was to it. All that was driving him forward.

"I already told you why. Shouldn't a scientist like you be a better listener? Or maybe your old age is making you forget things."

Vexen chuckled, "Don't think that you can lure me in with petty insults."

"I don't need to!"

Without thinking, Sora threw his Keylbade at an unsuspecting Vexen who, despite being surprised by the action, sidestepped without problem.

Again, catching him by surprise, was Sora at arms length with his right fist cocked back.

"Wha-!"

Sora's fist made contact with the side Vexen's face, snapping his head to the side before his body toppled over. His eyes wide in disbelief, his weapons fell off his hands and clattered on the floor.

Vexen growled and tried to stand but was stopped by the tip of Sora's blade pointed at his face. Despite the teen looking worse for wear, he had a weary victorious grin on his face.

"What do you plan on doing? Threaten my life to find how I keep control of Xion?"

"No," Sora answered. He motioned to the computers on the lower floor with his head, "I'll just break everything down there. Starting with the big computer connecting those cylinder things."

Vexen's eyes widened in horror but was cut off as Sora struck him with the hilt of his Keyblade, knocking the man unconscious.

"Now that that's settled..." he dismissed the weapon with a sigh of relief and walked over to the railing to look at the computers. "Time to break this place."

"Are we almost there?" Kairi asked a bit agitated since they heard loud noises from the stairs on the first floor.

"Yeah," Xion answered as they stepped into the basement floor. She summoned her own Keyblade and put a finger to her lips, "Keep quiet. If Vexen is occupied with Sora then we'll get the jump on him-!"

The black haired girl suddenly stumbled forward with a gasp with her eyes wide in shock, she brought a hand to her chest as if trying to look for something.

"Are you okay?!" Kairi asked, more than a little alarmed that Vexen had somehow spotted them.

Xion nodded wordlessly as a smile spread across her face. "Sora...he did it," she giggled and padded her chest, "I don't feel it anymore!"

"Feel what?"

"Vexen had a computer program always monitoring me. He implanted a chip into my chest and I would always feel it communicating with the computer but now it's like the thing is gone! Sora must have done it!"

"Then let's go see him," Kairi reasoned as a merry Xion led the way to the lab.

Xion's fear for Sora's well-being was all for nothing, he actually pulled it off! She should have believed in him. While his strength was mostly gone, his instincts and amazing reflexes were still there.

Approaching the double metal doors, Xion pushed them open only to gasp in shock, followed by a horrified Kairi.

"W-What?"

The lab was a mess. Computers were smashed to pieces, books were scattered all across the floor, and large cylinders were knocked over with some green liquid spilled on the floor. That was the last thing they noticed though as their attention was on the thing standing in the middle of the room holding Sora by the neck.

The thing was a dark replica of Sora wearing a black hospital gown. A dark aura flowed out of his body in a black mist as it turned its attention to them, its glaring yellow eyes glowing. Twitching like a regular Heartless, the thing dropped Sora and fully faced them.

"What is that?!" Kairi asked loudly.

"I have no idea," Xion answered truthfully, her eyes shifting between the thing and Sora. "Vexen's always been interested in Sora's power, my guess is that he tried to replicate it in a clone or something."

"Clone?!"

"He's made some before."

Kairi bit her lip. The thing(clone?) clenched and unclenched its hands while moving its head side to side slowly without averting its gaze from them.

It broke into a crazed smile before disappearing from view.

"Where did it go?!" Kairi let out in shock before the thing appeared at her side with a pitch black version of Sora's Keyblade on hand. With just enough time to react she managed to raise her blade to block a swing headed straight for the back of her neck.

The thing smirked in glee as he swiped at her with its clawed left hand though it was cut off by Xion's blade before it could get close enough.

"GAAAHHH!" The thing screamed in pain as it tended to the stump left on its left arm.

"Get Sora and let's get out of here already!" Kairi instructed and received a nod as Xion went to support Sora on her left shoulder. "Let's go!"

The thing dropped on the ground while flailing wildly. Darkness surrounded its body as a black sludge shot out of the stump. The sludge began to take form before finally recreating the lost limb.

The creature stood up with a furious glint in its eyes before catching the sound of coughing coming from a floor above. It cocked its head to the side before jumping to the loft and finding the source of the noise, a barely conscious man with a look of horror and awe.

"It's a shame I won't see what you're fully capable of doing..." Vexen lamented with a smirk as his creation walked towards him. "I wonder if they'll be able to stand against you, someone without the ability to think, only driven by instinct. I almost feel sorry for th-!"

The thing watched the blood dripping from its fingers in something akin to glee. Now with the source of the noise gone, it could focus on the humans that had hurt it.

It smiled. Their hearts gave them away. Such beacons of light were easy so find.

Walking on all-fours, the creature followed its prey.