Disclaimer: The following chapter contains words. Keep out of reach of children. Thank You.
Namine lay on her back in the flower room, staring at the seemingly infinite ceiling. her arms were spread outward, and her legs were folded under her, a reminder that she fell back from a kneeling position. Accompanying her in that otherwise empty room were strips of leather, scraps of denim, and twisted metal bands and plates.
"..."
The only thing that can be heard is Namine's slow, deep breathing, and the occasional sigh.
Namine furrowed her brow before rolling onto her belly, lifting herself up slightly, and stood. No use in sitting around and moping. She rubbed the back of her leg with her foot then started to rub her chin as she brainstormed. She needed a plan. Now.
Or not. She dropped her hands and stuffed them into her pockets. This whole adventure was fun and all, but she had failed, and now it was over. Razyn was gone, Arxzyn was probably worlds away by now, and she was stuck in the Organization's clutches. If they decided to stop by, that is, but still...
This story is over. It was a fun ride, but there's no use in staying here with all of these scraps of Razyn nearby... Namine walked toward the exit, her eyes closed and her lips pursed in a sour manner.
"Eh?" Was the only thing she could say before she found herself falling backward after slipping on some huge thing she stepped on. In the brief moment of falling, she moved on instincts she never knew she possessed before; she twisted herself one-hundred-eighty degrees, mid-air, and threw her arms out to catch herself. From that position, she launched her being into the air while tucking her head into her knees, and spun twice before she finally stuck a landing that would have impressed any gymnast.
"..." She blinked. Twice. Namine looked at her self, inspecting this and that, and muttered, "The heck was that?" Then, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the culprit: a book.
After picking it up, she realized it was the book Razyn stole from that Heartless on the Crux Road. First and foremost, it was covered with Heartless emblems, from it's spine to the covers. The front had three interconnected emblems, and one embossed on the back. Printed on the spine was Ignes Fatui: Abysmal Descent, along with III printed over another Heartless Emblem. The book was black, with red text throughout, and the various emblems maintaining their usual color scheme.
Now that she thought about it, that Heartless might have belonged to that one member of Organization XIII. He did carry a book around with him... Maybe this is the Heartless version of his Nobody book? No use wondering about it now...
Namine opened the book out of curiosity, and flipped through the pages. It looked more like a novel than a weapon. Maybe-
Fwip.
Namine looked down at the slip of paper that fell out of the book. She placed her thumb in between the pages of the book so as not to lose the place if it was important, and crouched down to pick up the note.
Take magic book from VI.
Bring back to boss for 0-4.
Pick up dry cleaning.
Namine took a deep breath, and chuckled sarcastically. "Ha. Ha. Very funny." She placed the paper back in it's place and closed the book. She held the book out and examined it with a contemplative gaze. She had seen many of her captives do this, maybe now that she owned the book, she could...
Namine giggled. Yeah, right. She stuffed the book under her arm and continued on her way, making sure to watch where she was going. '...0-4? Isn't Razyn 0-2? How many of them are there? His boss? There is so much about Razyn I never got to know.'
Namine stopped at the doorway and turned around. The room was still as messy as it was moments ago, minus one book and one girl. She pulled the book out and opened it to a random page, and read it out loud, not really knowing why.
"...And so the abyss consumed him and he came out a form most warp and unknown..." Namine looked up from the book, still pointing to the passage she was reading. "Wait, that's not right... isn't it supposed to be 'warped' instead of 'warp'?" She asked, as if the flower or trash could answer.
But instead of giving an answer, the various pieces of trash and refuge started to collapse in on themselves, while balls of darkness ballooned over them. Namine watched on in disbelief as the remains of her late friend's armour ate itself.
Namine stood there, dumbstruck for a moment, before grinning. She closed the book and held it in both hands by the spine against her belly as she walked through the doorway. As she walked through the thirteenth floor, she began laughing to herself. Slowly at first, but by the time she reached the empty Thirteenth room, she was laughing like a madman.
She had a plan.
oXo
'My mission is clear.' Arxzyn thought over and over as he ran up the stairs to the seventh floor, chest heaving. His brow was glistening with sweat as he cleared the stairs. Arxzyn stopped running, holding his knees so his legs wouldn't buckle from exhaustion. Arxzyn snapped his gaze up and breathed, "I won't let something like this stop me!"
The Virtuous Crusader stood, and continued to run toward his goal.
And tripped on a discarded trinket.
"..."
Without saying a word, Arxzyn pushed himself off of the ground, swiped the trinket, stood up, and brushed off his tunic. Raising his shades, he examined the trinket. It was a necklace; that much was clear. It was golden, composed of two feet or so of minuscule links.
Arxzyn tossed the necklace over his shoulder, and continued walking toward Razyn and Namine.
Arxzyn stopped, only a couple of steps away.
"..."
Arxzyn continued walking toward his destination, briefly swinging his new necklace on his index finger before stuffing it in his tunic's right pocket.
oXo
Namine grinned as she locked eyes with Arxzyn. The Virtuous Fool came back! This made her job so much easier!
"Namine!" Arxzyn called out, running to close the distance between the two. When he was finally standing right in front of her, he sighed and said, "I've finally found you."
Namine looked up at Arxzyn, showing apathy in the Virtuous Crusader's troubles. "Yup." She said as she summoned her borrowed book, briefly brandishing it before opening it to a random page.
"So..." Arxzyn muttered, slightly confused by Namine's actions. He cleared his throat and continued. "I would like to escort you out of this dangerous place, to somewhere safer. If you don't mind." Arxzyn stated, holding his hand out, as if offering his proposal.
"No thanks." Namine mumbled as she thumbed through that book of hers.
'This girl... What has happened to her?' Arxzyn thought. 'From what I have taken, she is supposed to be cheerful and sunny... But she stands before me, melancholy.'
Arxzyn watched Namine read the book in her left hand with great interest. The book made him feel uneasy; it being in Namine's possession unnerved him a whole lot more. 'It reeks of darkness, and Pride rapidly permeates from it. If I am to complete my mission, I must destroy that book. No good will come of it being near her.'
"I cannot just leave you here." Arxzyn firmly stated as he straightened himself. "As a paladin, it is my duty to ensure that you are escorted to a safer location." With that said, Arxzyn grabbed Namine by her free arm and began to gently pull. Namine followed him, still reading the book as they descended the stairs to the sixth floor.
oXo
They safely passed through the placid worlds Namine had created just fifteen minutes or so beforehand. 'It's funny,' Arxzyn thought while they walked through the fourth floor, 'How all of this happened in such a short time.' All things considered, his mission was progressing quite well at that point.
It wasn't until they reached the third floor, that Arxzyn heard it, something that he wished he wouldn't have to hear:
Namine was chanting.
That broke his calm. Arxzyn stopped walking, Namine following suit. He turned around and faced Namine, who was still holding the volume, and still chanting. She was bobbing her head back and forth with every foreign syllable, and each mysterious note made Arxzyn feel sicker and sicker.
"Namine." Arxzyn said.
She ignored him, and kept chanting. Arxzyn balled his fists. 'This might be difficult.'
"Namine," Arxzyn tried again, this time with a firm tone, "Give me the book."
But she still went on, chanting, praying, preparing. Arxzyn gulped. 'She needs to stop.'
"Give me the book!" Arxzyn shouted, before trying to tear the tome away from Namine when she still wouldn't react.
"NO!" Namine shrieked as soon as Arxzyn placed his hands on the lexicon. She quickly jerked it away and jumped back just as fast. "I'll never let you take it!" Namine shrieked as she held her lexicon close to her chest, her arms defensively held across it.
As Arxzyn watched, Namine held it out and brushed the front cover while muttering, "Not like you took Razyn." Namine smiled blissfully.
"Namine..." Arxzyn called, slowly reaching his hand out, and inching towards the girl. She snapped her attention to him, giving him a start. "Easy, I just want to help." Arxzyn calmly uttered, while still inching towards Namine.
Namine just stared at him with empty eyes, still clutching the volume. Arxzyn continued to inch towards Namine until he was only a few paces from her. When he was close enough, he placed his right hand on Namine's shoulder. His big hand held most of her shoulder blade, and his thumb was able to reach her collarbone. He could easily hold her there if need be. He spoke to her, trying to ask the girl who still wore an emotionless mask. "Will you give me the book?"
Namine looked up at Arxzyn. "Never." She hissed. Without looking away from her enemy, she held her book open in both hands and howled, "Lo, not even great meteor can resist the grasp of my darkness most pitch and foul!"
Arxzyn and Namine stood there in silence. Namine pointed up before a rumbling started to shake the halls. Arxzyn looked up, and saw a huge rock shrouded by flames falling towards them, threatening to crush them both.
A/N
In his early stages, Arxzyn always spoke like a fourteenth century poet, and I never knew why. He speaks normally now, and in other projects, but I could never figure out why. So I decided to have his speech patterns change when he became a Neo Nobody. Though, he'll revert back to it every now and then as a bit of a verbal tic.
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qinop out.