Kyrie (c) Me

Kingdom Hearts (c) Square Enix

Kingdom Hearts

Bonded Soul

Chapter 71

The group of six were quiet as they snuck into Nothing's Call, looking for any sign or Kairi or Kyrie.

"Kairi! Where are you?" Sora called loudly. Instantly, Axel clamped his hand over the boy's mouth as the King shushed him.

"Shhh! Remember where we are! This is their stronghold."

"Yeah, dummy. You want us to get caught? Ya gotta be quiet. Q-U-I-E-T. Got it memorized?" Axel hissed as he removed his hand from the boy's mouth. Suddenly though, the King took off, leaving the others behind.

"Wait! Your Majesty!" Donald cried as he took off, Demyx face-palming as he turned to shush the duck. "Guys, keep it down! We'll get caught if-" a sudden sound stopped him, making the five back up as they summoned their weapons.

"Be careful! I think we got company!" Goofy warned. The others nodded as they summoned their weapons, just as a few dusks and sorcerers appeared. Axel swore as he rushed in, throwing his chakrams and reverting the nobodies to ash.

"Don't worry Kyrie, I'll be there soon."

-Meanwhile-

Kyrie, Kairi, and Namine ran down Naught's Approach as they tried to make their way out of the castle, holding hands as they did so. The dog, Pluto, ran behind them as they ran, trailing after them. Suddenly, the air around Namine began to distort, causing the three to stop as Kyrie and Kairi looked at her. But before they could say anything, a dark corridor appeared about ten feet away, Saix stepping out of it as two of his berserkers joined him.

"Namine… there you are." Saix spoke as he stared at the blonde. Kairi blinked before looking at her. "Namine…?"

"Kairi. I'm afraid leaving is not an option. I'll take you to see Sora." the man continued as he held his hand out. But she stepped back, Kyrie getting in front of her as she summoned her keyblades. "You don't want that?"

"I do. More than anything. But not with you around." Kairi answered as she and Namine got into a fighting position. Saix smirked as he glared at the three women, only one being a threat to him at the moment. But he could deal with the threat easily, since he had two of his underlings with him.

"If I had a heart, this would be where I die of laughter." he mocked. Kyrie growled, glaring at him.

"You… say that… n-now, Saix. B-but I wonder…w-would you truly… a-act as such, if… you h-had a h-heart?" the girl snapped as she gripped her keyblades tightly, standing protectively in front of her two companions. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"I see that you can talk, now. Which means that you will answer me when I ask how you were able to gift Axel with a heart. So, how did you do it?" he asked as he stared at the girl. She snorted. "L-like I'd…tell you."

"I see. Then I have no choice then." suddenly, something slashed through the berserkers at his sides and he turned, to see a cloaked figure that wielded an odd-looking keyblade. He growled. "You… didn't Roxas take care of you?"

"You can take it from here, Riku." Namine spoke as she took a step back, causing the two girls too stare at her in surprise.

"Riku!" Kairi exclaimed. Kyrie stared at Namine with wide eyes, before looking at the cloaked figure. She was sure that this was the man who had tried to kidnap her on a few occasions, and both her and Sora's suspicions were confirmed. This man WAS Riku.

"But if he is Riku… then why-" Kyrie thought as she stared, but her thoughts were cut off as the man ran at Saix, grabbing him by the shoulders and pinning him against the wall. But Saix was crafty as he opened a dark corridor behind him, slipping out of the man's hold as it consumed him. But before he could follow, Kairi and Pluto approached him.

"Wait!" she exclaimed, Pluto growling as he forced the man away from the corridor. The man stared at her, his face hidden from view as she approached. "Riku…you're really here…" she spoke as she grabbed his hood, lowering it. But Kyrie gasped, this man looked like Xemnas! Which meant...

"X-Xehanort!" she exclaimed as she moved, placing herself between the man and Kairi, pointing her keyblades at his chest as she did so. The man stared at the two girls stoically, before turning his attention to Kairi.

"Kairi…" he spoke, making the girl gasp. "Riku! It is you!" she exclaimed as she moved, grabbing his hand as she stared at him in both relief and joy. Kyrie blinked at the two in confusion, she had no idea what was going on, but Kairi seemed to trust the man. Riku turned to her, looking her over.

"You're the girl DiZ was after…I'm sorry."

-Back to Sora-

"How much further is the dungeon?" Sora panted as he rested against the railing of Twilight's View. Demyx shrugged his shoulders as he and Axel leaned against the railings as well, the group taking this rare opportunity to rest.

"We shouldn't have much farther to go." He answered as he panted. Axel nodded before reaching into his pocket, pulling out the Wayfinder that Kyrie had placed in his palm as she was swept away into the darkness. He could clearly see his reflection through the white glass, from the red hair to his purple tear-shaped marks under his eyes. He could also see the emotion reflected through his emerald irises, it was worry. Worry for the girl's safety, worry for his own.

"C'mon, we've gotta keep going." Axel ordered as he pocketed the charm. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Demyx nodded as they continued through Twilight's View.

"So, where does this lead?" Sora asked as they walked.

"This leads to the Hall of Empty Melodies. Once we get there, we can go either up or down. Since we're going to the dungeons, we have to go down once we get to the hall." Demyx explained as he walked beside the boy. Sora nodded.

"And that's where we'll find Kairi and Kyrie?"

"Bingo."

"But why do we hafta go there to go down? Couldn't we have gone down from that, uh… Nobodies Call?" Goofy asked. Donald growled.

"That's Nothing's Call, Goofy!" he snapped. The bipedal dog blinked at his feathered companion before Demyx answered him.

"Not really. You could only go up, since the dungeon's in another part of the castle." he answered. The two nodded as they walked, before spotting a doorway just ahead of them. Giving a burst of speed, Sora ran in, entering the Hall of Empty Melodies.

"Sora…you've done well." a voice called, causing Sora to look up and spot Saix as he stood on a ledge, looking down on him as the others ran to join him. His eyes narrowed further as he spotted Demyx and Axel, the two sharing the same disdain as they stared at him.

"Where's Kairi and Kyrie?" Sora demanded as he glared at the man. But he shrugged, not once moving his eyes away from his ex-members.

"Who knows? I expect she's catching up with her friend from the darkness. As for Kyrie…" he answered, making Axel growl as he clenched his fists tightly.

"What did you do to her, Saix? If you've hurt her, I swear that I'll-"

"I've done nothing of the sort. You should be grateful, we've been treating her quite well." the man retorted. But Axel didn't believe him. Sora, stepping in front of Axel, glared at him.

"What do you mean!" he asked, referring to Kairi. Saix waved an arm at him, sweeping it to the side.

"She doesn't need you anymore." he spoke. Sora snorted as he leaned up.

"I'm supposed to believe that?" he asked, eyebrow raised as he looked at the man mockingly. Saix shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, you don't have to… but you can believe this. Organization XIII has no further use for you… just look there." he pointed, turning their attention on the heart-shaped moon as it shown down on them through the glass windows.

"Our Kingdom Hearts… thanks to you, we've collected countless hearts… can you hear their euphoria? Now, all they need is one more helping from the keyblade bearer!" and with a snap of his fingers, a dozen or so black holes opened, shadows and other types of heartless creeping out as they surrounded the group.

"Damn!" Axel swore as he summoned his chakrams. These heartless were now getting on his nerves.

"We gotta fight!" Donald exclaimed as he and Goofy summoned their weapons. But Sora hesitated. "But- Kingdom Hearts!"

"Sora!"

"Axel!" This caused the two to gasp and look up, to see Kairi and Kyrie as they stared down at them. "Sora! It's really you!" Kairi exclaimed, a smile clear on her face as she stared down at him. Sora gasped.

"Kairi!" he cried. But a shadow cut him off as it jumped, landing on his back as it pinned him to the ground. Axel swore and turned to help the boy, while Kairi and Kyrie gasped.

"You leave Sora alone!" she ordered. With that she turned and ran back, before running and jumping over the ledge, landing on the floor below. Kyrie gasped, looking down at her as the heartless appeared.

"Kairi! Wait!" she cried before following suit, running back before running forward and jumping. But the second she landed, shadows had surrounded Kairi, pinning her to the ground.

"Sora-!" she breathed as the heartless pinned her, before Kyrie rushed in, keyblades drawn.

"H-hang on, Kairi!" she cried as she swept her keyblades to the side. Just as she swept two of the heartless off of the girl, Riku had shown up and destroyed the rest, helping her to her feet. He summoned another keyblade, this one decorated with flowers, and handed it to her.

"Take it." the girl nodded, taking the keyblade as she turned to her opponents.

"This time…I'll fight. You know Sora's completely helpless without us! C'mon Riku, Kyrie!" she cried as she ran in, taking out two heartless. Kyrie nodded and followed after the girl, while Riku turned his attention to the heartless behind them. Saix snorted at the two fighting parties below, before disappearing into the darkness.

-Back to Sora-

"Get off!" Sora grunted as he tried to get the heartless off his back. But a burst of fire knocked the heartless off easily as Axel helped him to his feet, catching his chakram as he did so.

"C'mon, we have to fight!" he ordered as he stood next to the boy, throwing his chakrams and taking out another group of heartless. But Sora was still hesitant as he looked around, watching Donald, Goofy, and Demyx fight off the heartless horde. But when he looked up, he spotted Kairi, Kyrie, and… Xehanort?

"What's going on?" he exclaimed as he stared, his eyes wide. Axel turned to scold the boy before the sound of a gunshot rang out, a light purple dagger-like bullet hit the ground a few feet away, making the boys blink in confusion while Axel and Demyx grimaced. With that, a thousand more shot out, eliminating the heartless they were fighting.

"Xigbar." Axel muttered as he caught his chakrams. The boys looked at him and Demyx in confusion before a corridor opened where Saix had been standing a few minutes prior. The same eye-patched man who they had encountered in the Land of Dragons appeared as he smirked impishly at the group.

"Have you been a good boy?" he asked as he readied his arrow guns. Sora, not able to spot him because of his smaller height, looked around in confusion. "Show yourself!"

"Oh, it sounds like you haven't. Sora! Roxas!" he exclaimed as he took a few steps forward, allowing the group to see him. Sora blinked at him in confusion.

"Roxas? Hey, did he just call me Roxas?" he asked as he turned to Donald, who nodded. Xigbar smirked and shook his head.

"You've really put Organization XIII in a pickle. I guess that must be why the keyblade chose you. But MAN, did it pick a dud this time. You don't look like you're half the hero the others were. And as for you two," he looked at Axel and Demyx. "You've got some nerve showin' up, going against the organization like this." Axel smirked.

"Guess we're really causing some damage, eh, Xig?" he taunted. But Xigbar's smirk seemed to grow as he stared down at them. Sora, rolling his eyes at the two, looked at the man.

"Are you done rambling?" Xigbar snorted at this.

"Rambling? As if! All I'm trying to tell you, traitors, is that your time is up!" he scowled. Immediately he jumped, the group getting into their fighting positions as he did so. "Here he comes!" Goofy exclaimed.

"No duh! Sora, watch out, Xigbar controls space so he can attack you from anywhere." Demyx called over to the boy. Sora nodded as the man landed on his feet, smirking at them.

"Let the games begin."

Uh-oh...here comes that fight with Xigbar. And here I am running from the rabid fans. *runs away*

Xigbar: Wait, what? Hey, come back here! I wanna see if I live or not! *chases after me*

Demyx: ...Um, just ignore them for now. Until next time!