To the untrained observer, the entryway of Twilight Town's abandoned mansion would have looked like a self-contained blizzard – ice and snow flying this way and that, obscuring the scene taking place within.
A closer look would have yielded three figures, obscured by the ice bolts and freezing winds, desperately fighting for survival against a fourth figure, hiding behind a massive cobalt shield adorned with five nasty spikes.
Even closer inspection would reveal that the fourth figure was Vexen, the Chilly Academic, Organization XIII's number IV (a fact he wasted no time reminding the others of). He had expected a challenging battle – after all, Sora and his absurd animal friends had braved ten floors of Castle Oblivion.
"Ten! What do they feed them on the Destiny Islands?" Vexen wondered, targeting and narrowly missing Goofy with a fusillade of icicles. The sheer tenacity of his opponents was a surprise - after all, as Sora progressed through the stronghold at the edge of existence, he lost more and more of his memories. The shield-carrying Nobody had lost quite a bit of munny after betting Zexion that the Keyblade Master would forget how to breathe somewhere around floor 8.
It was not for this reason that Vexen intended to kill the boy. Not because of some petty wager, not because Sora was simply too stupid to go on living. No, it was out of self-preservation. It was all thanks to that pink-haired fruitcake Marluxia – he held the Riku Replica's defeat over Vexen's head and Vexen over the proverbial barrel. He had threatened to tell the Superior – what was Vexen to do but succeed where the Replica had failed?
The Keyblade struck with a force that would have shattered the mansion gates behind Vexen, but bounced harmlessly off Vexen's shield.
"Marluxia, you fool. What use is he dead?" This thought had been Vexen's focus ever since he had set out on his mission. Surely there could be another way – the Replica could be improved, Sora could be overrun with all those disgusting Heartless infesting every corner of the castle. But NO – Vexen had to kill him to save face, removing the Organization of its greatest threat, but cheating them out of possibly the most powerful Heartless since Ansem.
Vexen found this, in a word, vexing.
At least he could channel his frustration into something constructive – "like freezing Donald in a block of ice," Vexen noted happily as this attack found its mark. There were only so many times he could torture the other Organization members in frozen effigy before getting bored.
How he hated them.
Xemnas, at least, seemed to know how the hierarchy worked – save for Saïx. Number VII, and treated like his second in command! Even would have laughed in his face. Regardless, he was the leader, and had the Organization's best interests in mind.
"Firaga!" "Freeze!" Boy and Nobody canceled each other out.
Xigbar and Xaldin – deadly efficient, which Vexen liked, but what conclusive progress towards their hearts had they made? Xaldin had taken that Jamestown place without finding so much as a sliver of Dilan. Only the Superior knew where Xigbar was.
Saïx constantly overstepped his authority. Demyx was utterly useless – someday they'd liberate his true disposition. He'd make a good fighter if he wasn't afraid of the shadow he didn't even cast. Luxord acted like everyone existed to entertain him. Roxas – where the hell had Roxas been lately? And who knew what Axel was up to at any given moment, though he was ostensibly on Zexion's side.
Lost in his furious thoughts, Vexen nearly forgot to block a shield bash from Goofy.
Lexaeus was the only one he could tolerate – he at least respected Vexen for his rank, even if he didn't take orders from him. No, he answered to Zexion, that infuriating little chessmaster. Number VI, and he dared to order him around – "Me, number IV!" like some nonexistent dog. Though there was no love lost between Numbers VI and XI, Vexen dearly wished Zexion some horrible fate, preferably by his hands or by his Replica's.
Wouldn't that be lovely?
Vexen whirled to block a flurry of strikes from Sora, stumbling back to avoid it. He forgot his embarrassment at giving ground when Donald's fire caught him in the leg. Vexen gritted his teeth, but refused to go down on one knee. He cast a path of ice on the ground, sliding out of the danger zone to recover.
Larxene. That absolute bitch. Whoever Arlene was in her past life, she must have been universally hated. That spoiled child thought the universe was her oyster, its inhabitants her playthings – even more so, now that she was Marluxia's right hand. What had she done for the Organization, other than abuse a teenage girl? She would have made a terrible mother. Vexen shuddered at the thought of more of her, thanking the nothingness that it was no longer a possibility.
Marluxia was the worst of them all. Number XI, and he saw himself as the lord of the castle. So, irritatingly, did Xemnas. Vexen would never understand why he had given Marluxia this position. He acted like a Superior all on his own, despite his positively subterranean rank – it was a wonder that that insufferably arrogant Lamuria hadn't been hunted down and killed by his own people.
Vexen would show him. He'd kill Sora and Donald and Goofy on his own – or better yet, beat them into submission and harness their Heartless and Nobodies for himself! "Who'd be the Lord of the Castle then?" Vexen thought smugly. He was, after all, the highest-ranking in the building. Might as well earn his keep, unlike some foolish gardeners he knew.
Although at the moment, he wasn't doing a very good job of it. Icicles and snowballs and deadly frozen spikes split the very air into pieces, and yet Sora and friends somehow managed to dodge it all, or break out a Cure or two if they failed to. Often, Vexen's shield just wasn't enough to stave off the attacks of all three at once. He briefly envied Xaldin – he had six lances, the pretentious blowhard, "Pun fully intended, thank you very much."
And just as Vexen's defenses were crumbling, so too was his resolve. As the battle entered the late stages, and the ice manipulator fell victim to more and more of the enemy's strikes, he found that he cared less and less.
Suddenly it came to him. "They can't kill me. They're the heroes of this little farce. Mercy is their middle name!" It was so simple. Let them strike him down, then reveal the Graceful Assassin's little plot and use them to his own advantage. Then he could get back to making the boy his personal servant.
Now! Sora slapped Vexen hard in the side with the Keyblade – something he could ordinarily shrug off. In Vexen's weakened state, it hurt more than it should have. And why not? It'd add to the illusion.
Vexen gave a mock cry of anguish, vanishing his shield and falling to his knees. He prided himself on his acting.
"Urgh…you have such strength, even at the mercy of your memory…" Vexen smirked inwardly, struggling to contain his laughter. He could fight another day.
Sora was indignant. "None of that matters! Just put Riku back!"
That did it. Vexen howled with laughter. Did he really not see it yet?
"Just put him back?" Vexen mocked him, getting to his feet – a laborious effort, he noticed. Perhaps he was more exhausted than he thought. "The Riku you speak of has but one fate: to sink into the darkness" – here Vexen stumbled – "and you will share that fate, Sora!"
Not technically a lie. The Replica would eventually outlive its usefulness, and the true Riku couldn't fight his dark heart forever. And Sora's Heartless would prove most useful indeed. Time to set him on the proper course.
"If you continue to seek this girl, Naminé, the shackles will tighten, you'll lose your heart, and end up becoming Marluxia's pawn!" The trap was set. Now for his prey to take the bait.
Sora's face registered shock and confusion. "Marluxia?" "Yes! He's hooked!" "What does Naminé have to do with-"
Vexen's eagerness was cut short by a burning attack on his chest, knocking him to the ground. "Aaagh!"
A burning chakram.
Sora turned, just as surprised as Vexen. "Axel!" Vexen's thoughts exactly.
"Yo, Sora. Did I catch you at a bad time?" Axel was his usual smug self. What in the worlds was he doing here?
Vexen managed to get to his knees, the burning in his chest having subsided to a dull stinging by this point. Was that a puncture wound? Why wouldn't it heal?
The color fled Vexen's face. "Axel, why…?" He left his question hanging. Axel would know the answer. Only he would know why he was betraying Zexion, betraying Vexen, in this way.
Axel folded his arms, fixing a look on Vexen that said "Don't you get it, you fool?"
"I came to stop you from talking too much…by eliminating your existence."
No! Axel was Marluxia's creature all along! Everything – ruined!
Vexen, in his moment of dawning comprehension, found the strength to stand. It was well known that Nobodies had no emotions, yet at the moment Vexen felt something he imagined was a close approximation of fear. "No...Don't do it!" It couldn't end this way!
Axel didn't even blink. "We are just Nobodies who have no one to be, yet still 'are.'" He smiled then, rather like a spider must at a helpless fly. "But now you can be nothing instead of just being a Nobody. You're off the hook."
Vexen panicked. This couldn't be happening! He desperately ran through his options in the space of a second or two.
His shield would not appear. He couldn't teleport away. He lacked the strength to run or to fight.
"Method acting – my final mistake," Vexen managed to realize through his tangle of fearful thoughts, as he backed into the locked gate behind him.
"No…Please don't!" How had he been reduced to begging for the mercy of a subordinate? HOW??? "I don't want to-"
"Goodbye."
Vexen was cut off by Axel's nonchalant farewell – and by an all-consuming inferno. A blast of fire erupted from his position, the epicenter where his heart would be. Heat and flame hotter than a mid-size star seared Vexen inside and out. His world exploded into a dimension of undiluted pain, only to fade away moments later.
Fire melted ice, evaporated water.
An icy wind put out the fire – and scattered the remnant vapor of the Chilly Academic to the four winds.
Sora looked on in horror, not believing what he had seen. A man had been murdered before him, consumed by more fire than Donald could ever control. He couldn't hold in his shock. "What are you people?!?"
Axel chuckled, disappearing off to who knew where.
"Don't know. I wonder about that myself."
