"The Destiny Islands. What does he see in this place?"

During one of Zexion's spare moments in his duel with Riku, this thought came to him from out of the blue, as his thoughts often did. The Cloaked Schemer toyed with it, with what little of his mind wasn't focused on battering Riku into submission.

"Of course, I'm focusing on the negative. This is a memory of the islands' destruction, and that's hardly pleasant. They're actually quite lovely. Xemnas should consider keeping them after we win."

Riku charged, Keyblade pulverizing everything unfortunate enough to get in his way, which included a tree trunk and several medium-size rocks. "But not me." Zexion took several quick steps back, letting Riku throw himself off balance. Riku paused to recover, and was immediately beset by a flurry of lexicons – copies of Zexion's massive leatherbound weapon.

All in all, Zexion was rather satisfied with his performance thus far. True, the death of Lexaeus hadn't been entirely necessary – it was a waste of a powerful ally, and the Silent Hero had been one of the few Zexion had ever considered a friend. Vexen, too – belligerent, perhaps, but he had his uses. But the mission was progressing nonetheless. Marluxia and Larxene were dead, Riku had outlived his usefulness, and the Organization was stable once more.

Dark fire flared in all directions from Riku's location. The cloud of books picking at Riku's defenses exploded in a shower of torn and bent pages, which quickly straightened and flew at his major veins like paper shuriken. Death by a thousand cuts was averted by several lightning-quick Keyblade strikes, and Riku leaped through the lifeless shower of confetti with only minor injuries.

Zexion summoned a lexicon bigger than he was, shielding himself and hiding him as he teleported behind his opponent. As Riku slashed the pages apart, Zexion nonchalantly withdrew a small silver volume from his sleeve. Borrowing some darkness from the maelstrom surrounding the battlefield, Zexion fashioned a tiny quill. This began writing in the book, which was now in orbit around Zexion.

Diary:

That shield/teleport maneuver always works. Had I a heart, I would weep for today's warriors.

Damned convenient, though.

Once Riku realized that Zexion was elsewhere, he whirled and shot a barrage of fireballs at anything that moved. One of these things was Zexion, who twisted to avoid the rain of fire and received some nasty second-degree burns on his left arm. The wound would heal in seconds, but Zexion chastised himself nonetheless. Lapses in attention were fatal.

As the fight dragged on, Zexion wondered if there wasn't an element of danger beyond the present state of affairs. He ran through his checklist, recalling any and all threats to the Organization.

Larxene: Killed in action.

Marluxia: Killed in action.

Sora: Location unknown, but he would need time to recover, if indeed it was possible.

Riku: Being dealt with.

The one problem was that except for Axel, Zexion was now alone in the castle. This was patently unnerving; Axel was the one wild card in Zexion's game. Yes, he had been on his side up to this point, but would that last? Axel chafed at authority; Zexion was loyal to the Superior, and Xemnas…Xemnas was authority. Besides, Vexen had died by Axel's hand.

"And," Zexion decided, blocking the Keyblade, running up Riku's front, kicking him in the face, and backflipping to a standing position, "if he can do it once, he can easily do it again." As Riku held his broken nose, staggering and wrapping himself in dark, flaming armor, Zexion snapped his fingers. Darkness flowed from his hand, forming two pillars on Riku's left and right. Almost instantly, the darkness coalesced into perfect images of Zexion.

"You should share your power!" he taunted Riku. Zexion's clones grabbed him by the arms; dark fire surrounded them as Riku's dark energy was drained. Riku struggled, but the illusions limited his movement as Zexion himself approached him.

"Would you like me to make it stop?" Riku growled, and spat in Zexion's face. The Nobody was unmoved. "Oh, I think you would."

Zexion channeled some of Riku's dark fire into his hand, forming a replica of Riku's Keyblade. "Your torment is at an end!" Zexion shouted victoriously, drawing back the burning illusion for a fatal strike.

Riku smirked. "Yours is just beginning!"

Before Zexion could react, Riku held a hand under one of the clones' heads – and summoned his Keyblade.

The weapon appeared in Riku's hand, impaling the clone's head as soon as it did so. Zexion's clone opened its eyes wide in surprise and agony, emitting a wordless cry of pain as dark fire poured from its eyes and mouth. Riku jerked the Keyblade to the right, swinging the helpless clone around and crashing it into its partner. Shocked and totally off guard, Zexion struck, only to be knocked back as Riku threw the lifeless clones at their master.

Both clones hit Zexion with the force of a hurricane, reuniting with his battered body and knocking him to the ground. Zexion skidded on the sand; before he could stand, Riku was upon him.

Zexion was almost defenseless against Riku's attacks, as the infuriated boy called upon the power of his inner darkness to fuel his merciless assault. Fists and Keyblade flew in equal measure, blocked only about half the time by Zexion's desperate efforts at self-preservation. Ribs cracked, fingers broke, and bruises marred Zexion's otherwise flawless features. It was all Zexion could do to keep from passing out from the pain and summon a storm of pages to rip his foe off of him.

Riku was thrown across the sand by the paper storm; he simply twisted in midair to land on his feet. He readied his Keyblade, regarding the crippled Nobody about ten yards from him.

Zexion rolled over, laboriously crawling to his feet as his wounds healed. "Incredible!" Zexion thought through his pain. "It's almost as if he's an instrument of darkness itself! Such brutality…" He scoffed. "After all your protests, you're still like us, on the side of darkness." Technically, Riku was doing exactly what Zexion and the others had wanted him to do. Total corruption seemed at hand…and yet, the boy retained his form, his humanity-

"I know who I am!" Riku roared.

-his power of speech.

Could he possibly have learned to control it? Impossible. He had to end up as someone's puppet when all was said and done.

Zexion staggered, and chuckled mirthlessly. "When did that happen? You were always terrified of the dark before-"

"Not anymore!" interrupted Riku. He leaped at insane speed toward Zexion, and the Nobody barely had time to raise a hand to defend himself.

A single gasp.

A single slash of the Keyblade.

A single cry of pain and defeat.

---

Zexion stumbled forward, vanishing from the battlefield.

He reappeared in a dim, secluded corner of Castle Oblivion, staggering over to a wall and bracing himself against it. Zexion held his right side in an iron grip; that final attack had come close to ripping him in half, and it would be some time and several hours of rest before he was fully healed. Even then, there would be a nasty scar. "Xigbar and Saïx will be so jealous," Zexion thought sourly. That was only a fleeting sentiment, as Zexion was quickly consumed by panic.

"What is he? No one's ever worn the darkness the way he does! It's impossible!"

The sound of someone opening a portal seized Zexion's attention. He turned to see Riku, staring at him with a triumphant smirk on his face. Axel appeared behind him, wearing the same expression.

Zexion gasped, flattening himself against the wall. "No! How did he find me!?" But he calmed down almost immediately; Riku didn't know the castle that well. "Oh…oh, yes, the Replica…of course…" Zexion was struck by a wild hope, a perfect way to end the horror. "We can use this Riku to defeat the real one!" he addressed Axel, counting on his fellow Nobody to agree.

Axel merely held Zexion's gaze, smiling as if enjoying a private joke.

"Axel…?" Zexion asked, suddenly worried. He didn't like the look on Number VIII's face.

"Wouldn't you like to be real?" Axel's question was directed at the Riku Replica, which nodded. "All you need is the kind of power that the real Riku doesn't have. If you can get that, you can be a new person – not Riku, nor anybody else. You won't just be a copy of someone. You will be unique – your own self." Axel spoke in a dangerous tone of voice, never once breaking eye contact with Zexion.

This was preposterous. A Replica was doomed to imitation; its nature prevented it from being unique. Zexion knew this, and he knew Axel did as well. "Axel! What are you saying to him?" Something was wrong.

Axel didn't respond. "You know, he's as good a place to start as any," he said, and Zexion suddenly realized what Axel meant.

"You can't do this-" Zexion was cut off by the Replica's sudden movement. It shoved him up against the wall, grabbing him by the throat and choking off any further speech.

"It was all an illusion," Zexion thought in his last seconds. "Control, security, power – an illusion."

Zexion struggled, but was helpless in his weakened state. He couldn't teleport, either – all his power was devoted to healing his side and fighting the increasing pressure and lancing pain in his neck. The Replica took no notice, draining Zexion's energy in a horrible reversal of the earlier battle, tightening his grip and-

SNAP.

Zexion abruptly ceased all movement, and dark fire engulfed his body as the Replica absorbed the last of his power.

"Sorry, Zexion," Axel said as Number VI's body faded into darkness. "You just found out way too much."