All RIGHT. Chapter 57, folks. Lots of awesome shit in this chapter.
I'll just shut up and let you read.
EDIT: My GOD I OD'd on the eye thing at the end of this chapter. x_X Some major editing has just been done, folks.
Disclaimer- I only own Char, Anxclof, Falcon, Copperhead, and the Shadowed Desert world.
As the light spots cleared away from his vision, Sora groaned, shaking his head at the dizziness that had suddenly assailed him. "I'll never get used to that," he murmured under his breath.
Beside him, Goofy gave a rigorous nod of agreement. Donald, who materialized a moment later, and who hadn't heard Sora's remark, tried to take a step forward, only to stumble with a squawk and barely avoid the undignified contact of his face and the floor.
"Yeah, well," Char muttered, "there's something about your molecules being taken apart and put back together again that just screws you up a tiny bit." She put one hand against the wall with the red, lens-like device on it for balance, looking a bit queasy; however, the quickly-stabilizing pallor of her face told the Keybearer her stomach was calming down.
"That's true," he conceded, before looking back in front of him. True to Tron's word, the terminal had deposited them back at Ansem's computer room, as both the sight of the large monitor in front of them and the bright light beyond revealed. Tifa had left the room – probably to look for whoever she sought, he assumed, and couldn't help but wonder if the fact that she and Cloud had shown up looking for someone here at the same time meant anything.
In an instant, though, he dispelled that thought, as much from the thought that it probably wasn't significant as the sight before him. Leon stood in front of the computer and was giving them an expectant look.
Sora took a deep breath before making his way toward the older man; most of his vertigo from the computer teleporting him back here had ebbed, but he didn't want to take the chances of embarrassing himself in front of Leon. "Well," he said, putting his arms behind his head in a casual gesture and grinning, "that's that."
In response, Leon's gaze softened into the expression of one with recently-confirmed suspicions, and he smiled – a little sardonically, Sora thought.
"Look," was all the Gunblade wielder said, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder at the screen, and he moved aside to let them see. Sora leaned in to get a better view, while Donald, Goofy, and Char crowded in.
The Keybearer's grin widened in spite of himself at the picture on the screen – small, pixel-composed versions of the four of them, waving from their respective vantage points. Below that read the words "THANK YOU!" in blocky white letters.
Donald and Goofy chuckled to themselves, and Sora heard Char huff out an annoyed breath on his other side. "Really, Tron? Really?" she muttered.
"Aw, come on, Char," Sora said, unable to resist the chance to tease her. "It's kinda cute."
"And at least he said 'thank you' at all," Donald pointed out, in a way that told her tacitly to stop complaining.
Oddly, the duck's words garnered no sarcastic comment from the redhead – another sign all was not as it seemed with her, Sora realized as guilt replaced his previous playfulness. He winced as Donald's words echoed in his mind once again. She's hiding things from us.
An unidentifiable emotion rose up within Sora at the thought of what the duck had said, but before he could pinpoint it, Leon spoke. "I'm guessing you guys managed to get the DTD open," he said. The way he cast a glance at Char and then back to Sora suggested he was trying to change the subject.
Char gave Leon a grateful look before answering. "Yeah," she said, before glancing a little uncertainly back at the others. "Uh… you guys did find a way to access the DTD, right?" It still felt a little strange to refer to the dataspace that held all of her master's secrets with the same appellation she had used for the portals she had taken to visit worlds in her researcher days.
Sora blinked. Only the hard nudge of Donald's elbow against his leg broke him out of the stupor that had come over him moments before, and he quickly shifted away from the mage. "Yeah, we did," he confirmed. Moments later, though, he flinched and shook his leg a little. "Ouch, Donald, that hurt."
"Well sorry," Donald grumbled, not sounding sorry at all.
Leon raised his eyebrows. "How would Char not know if you'd gotten the DTD data or not?"
Char folded her arms and stared self-consciously at the ground. "I… kind of pissed off the wrong people," she confessed, feeling hot fingers of embarrassment creeping up her spine.
"Yeah, the MCP almost got her," Goofy added, giving her a grateful look. "I'm sure glad you're okay."
While Donald snorted and glared in the opposite direction, Char looked up and gave the dog a slightly bemused stare – but no, he seemed honest enough, even though he had every reason not to trust her, especially in light of her subdued manner both around Ansem's computer and the world within it. Suspicious much? she scolded herself.
Out loud, though, she only sighed. "Thanks, Goofy, but you really didn't need to worry." She couldn't resist smirking and went on, "As soon as I crashed the motorcycle they gave me, I was going to find a way to get out of there anyway. It just came sooner than I expected."
"Wait." Sora eyed her with a growing expression of both envy and wonder. "The game grid had something where you rode a motorcycle around?"
"And nearly got killed by Heartless in the process, yeah." Just thinking about the game grid – Sark's condescending comments; the sharp agony of the Heartless' claws slicing into her; the vibrating whir of the motorcycle beneath her – made the wound in her side start to throb, and she all but put a hand to it to stem the pain before remembering that these dorks overreacted to every little wound and thinking better of it.
"Wow," Sora uttered, and such an earnest gleam of admiration lurked in his gaze that Char had to look away. Don't do this to me, she thought desperately, suddenly fighting the urge to cry. Not when you know I'm keeping so many secrets from you.
Even Donald had to say something. "How did you not crash it?" he demanded.
His voice – and the acerbity in it – pushed Char out of her melancholia, and the glower she cast on him rivaled his own acrimony. "Hell if I know," she grunted, "but be glad I even got out at all."
"Calm down, you guys," Goofy tried to intervene.
Until now, Leon had remained silent, only listening to the conversation and watching the duck and the redhead glare daggers at each other. Now, though, he spoke. "Do you guys want to access the DTD or not?"
"Of course!" Sora immediately sprang to attention and walked forward to stand beside Leon at the keyboard.
The older man rolled his eyes, though a smirk was on his face. "Better not," he rebuffed, gently moving Sora aside with one hand. "You might make that MCP come back again."
"Oh, come on," Sora pouted, but stood away nonetheless. "That was Donald's fault, not mine."
"Hey!" Donald cried indignantly, distracted from Char for a few brief moments.
Char, however, had turned her attention away from her glaring contest with the mage; now she watched Leon at his work. He tapped a few keys, and the screen with the pixel versions of themselves dissipated, replaced by the typical desktop background of the monitor.
"Hey, so, where's the King?" Goofy asked hesitantly.
Leon replied without looking up. "He's checking a situation in town," he explained. "He'll be back soon, so don't worry."
"A situation…?" Sora blinked, dread beginning to seep through his heart.
Hearing the growing horror in the Keybearer's voice, Leon shrugged. "It's the same thing that brought you guys here in the first place – nothing we can't handle."
Sora thought of Cloud and Leon's sword skills, Aerith's healing spells, Merlin's magical power, and Yuffie and Tifa's obvious attack power, and realized he believed Leon.
But that won't stop us from helping them. His fist clenched at his side, around the orb-shaped charm at the end of the Keychain he had found in the communications room. As soon as we get what we need here, we can help our friends.
"But he thought you guys might be hungry after going through that world," Leon went on. He halted in his typing and indicated something by nodding to the left; the group followed his gaze and saw a bowl of freshly-cut peaches on the desk.
"All right!" Sora cheered, and immediately made a beeline for the food. Char wasn't too far after him; although she didn't want to seem rude, the pangs of hunger that had assaulted her stomach not long after her initial escape from Sark returned to both her memory and her stomach.
Encouraged by that hunger's insistent sounds, she picked up a slice in her hand, careful only to put her fingers into the bowl once Sora had taken his share. She didn't want to cause any potential awkwardness if their fingers brushed by mistake.
At least, that was what she told herself.
Hastily, she took a bite of the peach, her eyes slipping closed as the juice settled against her taste buds.
"This is so good," Sora murmured through a mouthful of fruit.
She stared at him and thought about reprimanding him for forgetting to chew his food, but the sight of his satisfaction made her balk. I have plenty of chances to lecture him, she thought wryly, might as well save it for later.
Swallowing her mouthful, she finished the piece of fruit in her hand in another bite. Donald and Goofy had each taken their own respective slices and were enjoying the respite from their hunger; belatedly, Char remembered that none of them had eaten since breakfast, and while the meager meal hardly constituted a good lunch, the four of them needed all the food they could get right now.
Especially with all things considered.
Leon watched them finish their food before turning back to the keyboard and continuing. After a few more moments of silence – penetrated only by the sound of Leon's fingers against the keys on the keyboard – a white bar with a blinking cursor appeared on the monitor. "It's asking for a password," the Gunblade wielder said, and cast a look over his shoulder at them. "I'm assuming you guys have it?"
"Uh-huh," Goofy said. "It's –"
"Sora," the brunette quipped, remembering Tron's words.
Leon turned and began to type.
"Donald," the duck added.
"Goofy!" the knight in question blustered, puffing his chest out.
Unlike her comrades, the redhead chose to add no flourish to her name. "Char," was all she said.
Leon let out a small, breath-like chuckle. "That's… to the point." He finished typing, and pressed a button near the right side of the keyboard. In tandem with his unspoken command, a new window with a rapidly filling circle appeared on screen.
Sora stepped forward, finding himself shifting anxiously back and forth on his feet. He'd gone through so much to get this information, virtual worlds notwithstanding; now that he was so close to possibly discovering how to get Riku and Kairi back, excitement filled his entire body and made his heart pound. "Well?" he asked.
An instant later, the loading screen vanished, replaced by a dark blue background with multiple icons permeating it. Char's own heartbeat kicked up at the familiarity of her master's computer, ready to be used.
"That did it; we're in," Leon said triumphantly, before turning to Sora. "I have to go into town for a bit."
The Keybearer's eyes widened. "You're not gonna check out the data? It wasn't exactly easy to get."
Char's side began to throb again at his words.
"I'm coming right back," Leon assured him. "Why don't you get started on loading the data and copying it down?" At Sora's hesitant look – he didn't want a repeat of the last time they had been too hasty about getting information from this computer – the older man simply chuckled, patting Sora's shoulder as he walked past. "It's just a few keystrokes. Ask Char to do it for you if you can't."
He didn't linger to see Sora's response, but the smirk that Char caught a glimpse of at the lack of verbal acknowledgment said more than enough. Sora stared after the man with wide blue eyes, his mouth just slightly open; it would almost have been funny, had her mind not been whirling in a mix of panic and despair at Leon's suggestion.
Because gods only knew what lay inside her master's computer – what information they could get – what information about her might lurk within it.
Stop panicking, she thought angrily. You need to tell them sometime.
And yet infuriatingly, some part of her – the part that was loyal to Ansem, the part that had made that stupid promise to Riku in the first place – held her back, kept a hold on the proverbial reins of her desire to tell Sora everything. He deserved to know, she could never argue that point – especially in light of her newfound emotions toward him.
As soon as the dark heel of Leon's boots had vanished from the room, the redhead looked to the others. Donald's annoyance she ignored, but Goofy and Sora seemed genuinely ready to follow up with Leon's suggestion. Ready to follow her, she realized. She felt the sensation of her heart trying to tamp down her pride, and was thoroughly reminded of the times near the start of this journey when they had looked to her for leadership and she had had to step aside.
A self-deprecating sigh caught itself against the back of her throat. At least some things hadn't changed in a mere month's time.
"Well, you heard Leon," she said, a little lamely, she thought. As of late, she was definitely falling down as far as sarcasm went.
Then again, recent events haven't really helped me there.
"Do you guys want me to try and load up the data?" she prompted, raising an eyebrow when they only eyed her.
Sora cocked his head to the side. "Can you do that?" he asked curiously.
Char shrugged. "I didn't really use this thing for anything other than research in the past," she confessed, "but I do know where he kept his information." Speaking carefully to keep them from getting too much insight on just who exactly owned this computer, she moved forward to stand right in front of the device.
Painfully aware of the three of them hovering just behind her, Char placed her wrists against the edge of the desk, let her fingertips settle against the keys. She would have closed her eyes and let herself drown in the nostalgia of being so close to her master's old computer – in the way her fingers fit against the grooves between the buttons; in the familiar warmth of the body heat in her hands pooling beneath her palms; even the smell of the coffee Ansem had always drunk in the morning lingered, after almost eighteen months of absence.
"Char…?" Tentatively, Goofy reached toward her with one hand.
Quickly, she snapped out of her redolence, with such a force behind her movement that the dog jerked his hand back as though he had touched fire. "Sorry," she muttered absently, and refocused on the screen. "Just… thinking, is all."
Thinking, sure. Even Sora saw through that lie. And from the very little he had managed to glean about her, she seemed like one of the best liars he knew.
For what felt like the millionth time today, he experienced that uncomfortable mixture of sympathy and pity and the desire to just hold her until that annoyed look and indulgent smirk returned. And for what felt like the millionth time today, he had to shove it to a dark corner of his mind with the knowledge that she didn't want that kind of comfort from him.
Pain twisted his heart. Doesn't mean I have to like that, though.
His conflict must have shown on his face, because he felt a feathered hand brush against his clenched fist. Looking down, he saw Donald gazing at him, with a considerably more concerned look than the one he had given Char.
Silently, the brunette shook his head to signal that everything was fine. The duck gave him a doubtful stare, but he withdrew his hand.
Meanwhile, Char appraised the line of icons on the screen, wondering where to start. A few of them – such as the row of folders labeled "Research Projects" – were familiar to her, but the ones she had never bothered to look at posed an issue. She supposed she could open each folder to figure out what function each held, but, she recalled with a shudder, they had already found out what happened by just messing around with it.
"Hey, maybe this'll help," Goofy suddenly said, pointing to an icon labeled search.
Char blinked, wondering how she had missed that. "Oh, yeah, good eye," she cast the compliment over her shoulder. She pushed the arrow buttons until she had selected the icon Goofy had pointed out; an instant later, a white bar with a blinking cursor appeared.
"I'm guessing first we should try to look up Riku and Kairi?" She asked this mostly for the benefit of Sora, who was staring wide-eyed at the computer screen and fidgeting in a mixture of anxiety and excitement. Char had to fight back a wince at his obvious impatience; she couldn't fault him for wanting to know if his friends were all right, but it didn't stop it from making her heart twinge.
That, and his over-eagerness was starting to annoy her.
Sora nodded rapidly, clenching his fists in front of him. "Yeah, of course!"
Char gave a simple head movement of response, only bothering to roll her eyes once she had turned her back to him. She typed in "Riku Kairi" in the search bar, not expecting much to come up on them. (1) After all, until the trio's illustrious ejection from their homes had occurred and they had each embarked on their separate paths of Keybearer, dark emissary, and Princess of Heart, Ansem had known little about them.
The only one he might have anything on here about is Kairi, and that's only because she's a Princess of Heart.
Sure enough, a "Data Error" message popped up in a large red window on the screen. Char sighed, unable to stop the pinprick of disappointment that assailed her; despite her better judgment, she had prayed Ansem might have had time to come back here and enter some data on Riku and Kairi's respective locations – for Sora's sake, if nothing else.
"Sorry," she murmured. "Looks like Master doesn't have anything on them." Her slip of tongue – saying her master owned this computer, and not Xehanort, like the group would assume – went all but unnoticed to the other three, as she saw with guilty relief when she turned to face them.
Donald uttered a gusty sigh and gazed at the ground; Goofy shook his head wordlessly; and Sora…
The brightness that was beginning to permeate his gaze nearly coaxed tears to Char's own eyes.
"No way…" he whispered, pivoting numbly away from them and hanging his head. "Even Ansem's computer doesn't know…"
Although she couldn't see the impending culmination of his sorrow and frustration anymore, the feelings of desperate sympathy that it had elicited within Char stayed inside her. Perfunctorily, she swiveled back to the computer screen, hating the error message that remained at its forefront.
Staring at the red window, Char suddenly felt a fresh wave of determination. He wants his friends back, he's gonna get them back, gods damn fate and everything along with it.
She narrowed her eyes and began to type something else into the search bar, something she knew Ansem would have information about – one form of that something, at least.
Goofy looked up at the flicker of movement and cocked his head to the side. "Whatcha doin'?"
"I thought I'd see if it had anything about Organization XIII or the Nobodies," she replied. Hearing the hopeful murmur from Sora as he looked back up at her, Char had to fight back a tiny smile.
However, the result of her search wasn't what she had expected. "Organization XIII Nobodies" only yielded a message of the same kind as before.
"The data is corrupt," the computer announced obviously.
At that, Char let out a gasp and nearly fell back onto her haunches in the face of her shock. She knew Ansem had information about all of his apprentices and their work on here, including herself. She'd known that with all the certainty she possessed.
And yet…
A low snarl threatened to escape her as it dawned upon her. Of course. She might have seen this coming a mile off had her judgment not been clouded by her desire to help Sora. Xehanort's Heartless must have done a final security procedure to see his identity wasn't exposed and wiped Ansem's database.
"That bastard!" she spat, slamming her fist against the desk. In response, the bowl that had previously held the peaches rattled unnervingly.
"Char…?" Sora asked; although his shock and anger mirrored her own, he had managed to rein it in just before it could break the surface of his emotional restraints. While Char wasn't exactly the master of holding back emotions like that, he hadn't expected such an extreme reaction from her.
However, she recovered quickly. Pressing a button to eradicate the error message from the screen, she typed in something else and confirmed it so hastily that none of the others could see what it was.
"The data is corrupt," the computer declared again.
This time, Char did fall back into a kneeling position, gazing in growing horror at the dark red window on the screen. "You've got to be kidding me…" she breathed, ice-blue eyes huge. Sora was used to abrupt changes in mood from her, but this was strange beyond reason.
Maybe Ansem's computer didn't hold all the answers after all.
Frustration surged anew within him at the thought. He had gotten so close, so close to getting answers about getting his friends back, and he refused to believe it had all happened for naught.
Tron said it would help us. He promised.
The Keybearer pushed forward, to cries of confusion from Donald and Goofy, until he stood beside Char, whose shocked face swung from the computer to him and back again. "Stupid computer!" he shouted, punching the keys repeatedly. In tandem with the loud clacking his outburst produced, windows of bright green and red flipped about wildly on the screen.
The force of his fury brought Char to silence, forcing her to look on as he vented his feelings on the computer. She couldn't – didn't dare – bring herself to stop him, as she felt the exact same way.
"Sora –" Goofy began, only to stop immediately when a brand new window popped up, sending all of its neon-colored companions to rest. The window held a picture of a blonde-haired older man, clad in a lab coat and crimson scarf, with amber eyes seemed to hold infinite wisdom and exhaustion, even in pixel form.
Donald let out a questioning noise. "Who's this guy?" Sora echoed, his flash of ire ebbing to be eclipsed by bemusement.
Char stared at the picture of her master, feeling surprise rush through her yet again, before chuckling to herself and shaking her head. Xehanort's Heartless had left one piece of information unscathed, it seems.
"My master," she murmured.
"Your… master?" Sora whirled to look at her, having to angle his head slightly downward to appraise her expression, since she still knelt.
Char seemed to realize this awkward position, and she hurriedly got to her feet, narrowly avoiding bumping the top of her head against Sora's chin in the process. "Yeah," she said. At the same time, though, her mind began to race. Now was as good a time as any to start confessing, to tell them Ansem's true identity; her relation to the Organization; and everything in between.
But…
"Hey, fellas! How's it going?"
Char silently thanked every god in existence that Mickey had entered the room when he did. The four companions turned to see the black-bedizened mouse walking into the computer room.
"Not so well, Your Majesty," Donald sighed, although his irritation was tempered by the rare respect that only showed up around the King.
"Yeah, we tried to get data on Sora's friends and the Organization," Goofy added. "But it keeps saying the data inside's all ker-skuffled."
Char huffed, succeeding in pushing her bangs very briefly out of her face, and rolled her eyes. "Interesting way to put it, but rather fitting. Your Highness, do you know where we could…?"
She trailed off, though, when she saw the way the mouse king was eyeing the picture on the monitor. Dread began to ooze throughout her body with the force of a poison river. Of course Mickey would react like this at seeing his old friend again, even in photograph form – Ansem had been missing for over a year, after all.
Why hadn't she thought to close the window before Mickey had walked in?
"Ansem the Wise!" Mickey uttered the man's name.
Sora blinked, a shadow beginning to flit over his eyes. An instant later, though, that shadow had vanished, and he sighed, folding his arms and giving Mickey a look thoroughly reminiscent of a teacher admonishing a stubborn child. "C'mon, quit with the jokes. Did you forget what Ansem looked like, Your Majesty?"
Even as he spoke, though, he felt something at the back of his mind begin to stir and push urgently against his thoughts. If Mickey had called this man Ansem, and Char had once called him "master"… and the guy they thought to be Ansem in the past actually was Xehanort's Heartless…
"Of course I didn't," Mickey argued, not noticing Sora's change in demeanor. "And this is him – I'm positive!" (2)
While the King spoke, trying desperately to prove Ansem's identity, Char could only stare helplessly at the picture of her master on the screen, as though she could glean some of his wisdom from those orange eyes and find a way out of this situation. It had almost arrived – that moment when she would have to confess everything she knew – and the knowledge of how unprepared she felt for this moment hovered so poignantly within her it physically hurt. She continued to take in every varying shade of amber in Ansem's gaze – both eyes looking at her, not with one swathed in crimson bandages, as in his DiZ ensemble – and suddenly wanted to ram her fist into his face.
It's your fault I'm stuck here, you jerk, she thought, despising the feeble defiance in her mental voice more than anything else.
Sora could only take in the desperate expression on the King's countenance, and felt his own heartbeat begin to kick up. Suddenly seized with the impulse to have this confirmed once and for all, he moved forward and grabbed Mickey's hand, beginning to drag him back toward Ansem's study itself. "Excuse me? Could you come with us, please?" he inquired almost mockingly, considering Mickey would have to come with them anyway. The mouse squirmed in Sora's grip at first, but eventually relaxed; Donald and Goofy followed, with the former getting a conflicted look on his face at Sora's disrespect before calming down.
Mechanically, numbly, Char walked out of the room after them, feeling as though her legs had just decided to replace their original composition with sticks and her feet with leaden blocks. Blaming Ansem would not get her out of this mess.
Only saying what she needed to say would.
The realization sent both tentative determination and reluctance alike seeping through her veins.
The former ended up winning.
She found the Disney residents, their king, and Keybearer standing in front of Xehanort's portrait, with the brunette pointing to the picture of the gray-haired man. "Look," he was saying, in a slow, deliberate voice. "This is Ansem. You know, the guy we all worked really hard to defeat?" The word "really" was dragged out in a slightly contemptuous manner. And yet in light of the knowledge Char had yielded to them already, doubt seemed to shift across his face, as though he didn't quite believe what he said.
Mickey perked up immediately. "Oh, that's right; I never finished explaining. Well –"
"Wait."
The single word echoed throughout the room and made animals and boy alike turn to look at her. Char stood at the threshold between computer room and study, between mechanical and sentient, between lies and impending truth. The blood roared in her ears, and beyond that she could only hear her growing labored breathing.
When she spoke, her voice was strained. "I…"
Her eyes, groping about the room for something non-incriminating to focus on – even the papers scattered around on the floor made her cringe inwardly – found Sora's. The two stared at one another for a moment – and then Sora gave her an encouraging nod.
The look of earnestness in his gaze was so genuine it made her heart hurt all over again.
Clearing her throat and getting her bearings back – she was nothing without her pride, after all – Char began again. "I think I should be the one to explain this to you guys. I owe you that much."
At that, even Donald looked interested.
Mickey watched her for a moment; seeing no hesitation in her stance or countenance, he spoke his assent. "Well then, Char. You're his last remaining apprentice; you should know more than anything what's happened to him. Go on."
Char took a deep breath. Closed her eyes, clenched her fists, unclenched them.
Then she opened her eyes.
"All right," she said, but couldn't resist her next words. "But, just a fair warning? You might want to sit down first." (3)
In the wake of Axel's departure, Anxclof had been seized by the urge to step away from her hiding spot in the corridors' wall. For some reason, the way he had left her – brusquely, without even giving a reason why he was breaking away from their friendship – rankled her and sent a slow kind of anger pounding through her veins.
Then again, though, she couldn't help but wonder how stable their alliance had been in the first place. The female Nobody narrowed her eyes in contemplation as she padded through the winding hallways, all but ignoring the soft sounds of her footsteps and water dripping from loose pipes onto the ground. Other than these sounds, silence suffused the area entirely, almost unnervingly.
Axel had made it obvious from the beginning – from when she had visited the World That Never Was in search of Roxas, only to find out Sora had already absorbed him – that he and Anxclof had to work separately. She knew it made sense despite their identical goals; as far as she knew, the Superior didn't even realize she still wandered the worlds, and she wanted to keep it that way. Her lip curled at the thought of Xemnas finding her and using her to fill Kingdom Hearts again. Now that Roxas is back with Sora, and they don't want Sora gone, I'm their best bet if Sora kicks it.
But, gods willing, Sora would die by her hand, and she and Roxas would never have to deal with the Organization again.
She pushed away the idea of their friendship never being the same and refocused on the oddity of Axel's actions. His desire for them to travel separate paths on their way to find Roxas had worked out just fine for her, at first; her success at getting Roxas back had proved that much. Char's interference aside, everything had worked out. The Blade of Vengeance thought of the way Roxas' hand had felt against her neck as he had kissed her and felt a twinge where her heart should've been.
But that one kiss wasn't enough. With the coherent part of her mind, Anxclof understood it would never be enough. Not until she hunted Char and Sora down and made them pay for taking him away from her.
Just thinking about that redhead and her naïve, idiot Keybearer made Anxclof halt in her tracks and slam her fist against the nearest wall. The contact sent a shock wave up her arm, but she could not focus on it, so inundated with the desire for revenge as she was.
She supposed what it all boiled down to – her confusion as to Axel leaving her now, when Roxas was so close to coming back – traced back to her wanting to know the reason why he had left in the first place.
"I thought you cared about Roxas," she hissed to no one in particular, flexing the fist that still remained against the wall. She summoned her Keyblade to her free hand and clenched her fingers around it, ignoring the way the cold steel of the hilt stung against the still-bleeding cut on her palm. Vaguely, she thought, I must've really cut myself up there, if my nails even got through the fabric on my glove.
"I thought you wanted him back as much as I did!" Her voice rose to a snarl, a near-deafening crescendo that would have echoed all around her had the walls the quality to reflect her voice. "So then why…?"
She wasn't aware of it, but her face had twisted into an almost animalistic expression of rage. The reason why Axel had eyed her apprehensively just before fleeing had returned as well, though not in as much subtlety as before: a flash of Heartless-like golden surging across her gaze and marring its ordinary green.
But Anxclof knew none of this.
She could feel her powers pushing against their bounds, wanting to be freed, to track down Char and destroy her for everything she had done – for taking her love away from her, for turning her other best friend against her. It's all her fault, was all Anxclof could think, a furious mantra that eventually faded into the backdrop of her consciousness and melded into part of her very being.
It's her fault that everything is wrong wrong wrong.
She didn't want to delude herself into thinking Roxas' presence would bring complete and utter happiness and perfection and all that garbage into her life. Even Anxclof allowed her all-encompassing desire for vengeance to step aside long enough for her to admit that much.
But…
"Gods, I just want you with me," she whimpered, trying very hard not to let herself cry.
That attempt failed.
Sora settled down in one of the chairs nearest the round desk at the center of the room. He knew the others were doing the same – even Mickey, who undoubtedly already had most of the information Char was about to relate – but couldn't register that due to the way his heart pounded. Finally, finally they were about to get all the answers she had held back from them for so long.
He found his gaze lingering unflinchingly on Char, trying to gauge her feelings about all of this. She had positioned herself at the very edge of the table, arms folded across her chest and legs crossed at the knee, chin raised in a deceptive mien of readiness; however, even Sora could see the anxiety that manifested itself in her tapping her fingers against the opposite arm.
Judging by the gruff way in which she had requested to relay whatever Mickey had to say, she hadn't planned any of this. Briefly, the notion offended him, that her decision to trust them enough with her knowledge had come on an impulse; but that emotion lasted about the time it took for him to blink, and then it was gone.
The deepest kind of sympathy had replaced it. He had never seen her look so nervous before, not even on the days when she had relayed little bits and pieces about her past to him. Sora winced a little; if just telling him, while they were alone together nonetheless, tiny snippets of who she had been had that much of a physical strain on her, he couldn't imagine how this would take its toll on her.
All these thoughts flew out of his head, though, when Char swiveled her head toward him and raised one eyebrow in a silent inquiry as to why he was still staring. Quickly, Sora ducked his head, though not without having to hold back a tiny smile. Yep – that's still her in there.
As soon as Donald, Goofy, and Mickey had gotten comfortable, Char fixed her eyes on them and took a deep breath. "All right," she said simply. "Ask me something."
The Keybearer blinked; he hadn't quite expected it to go like this. From the odd look Donald was giving her, it seemed the mage shared the same sentiment.
Fortunately, Goofy's curiosity won out over any bemusement he might have felt. "Uh, so who's the real Ansem?"
"And who's this guy?" Donald added, having gotten over his confusion at Char's clumsy start to the discussion. He jerked one thumb toward the portrait of the gray-haired man on the wall as he spoke.
Char sighed. "I thought you might ask that first. Well, the man in the picture – Xehanort – is definitely the one who tried to take over Kingdom Hearts – the one you guys defeated." She waggled three of her fingers toward Sora, Donald, and Goofy at her addressing them.
Sora tilted his head to the side as flashbacks of that day went through his mind. The gray-haired man had created a fabrication of Destiny Island to be the background of their initial battle with him, only for that illusion to fall away in favor of near-suffocating darkness during their last fight. The Keybearer could still remember having to take down the vessel that their enemy had summoned to carry him before defeating Ansem – or whoever he was – himself.
"But he was actually the Heartless of one of my fellow apprentices – Xehanort." Char's voice seemed to grow tighter at the very mention of Xehanort. "He wasn't really Ansem. He took the original Ansem's name and went around destroying the worlds in that name."
"You mean…" Goofy scratched his head.
It took the trio a few moments to fully process this new information, but when it hit them, the force of their shock nearly unbalanced even Mickey. "Whaaaat?" they yelped.
Char rolled her eyes. "I told you you wanted to sit down first."
"You mean we went through all that trouble to defeat an imposter?" Sora asked incredulously, hanging his head.
"Not exactly," Char corrected. "He was a fake Ansem, yes – but that didn't mean he didn't have to be stopped."
"So who's the real Ansem?" Goofy repeated his previous question.
The redhead uttered another sigh and stared at one of the papers on the ground. "My old teacher.
"There were six other apprentices besides me, but we all lived in that tiny building you guys saw in the postern. Ansem mentored all of us and taught us everything he knew."
Sora thought back to the days Char had known some odd fact about a world, and her rather flimsy excuse of having read it in a book. Now, he realized it made sense.
"Wait, Char," Mickey interrupted. The mouse had a look of newfound curiosity on his round face. "You said the Heartless Sora defeated was of one of Ansem's apprentices. Which apprentice did you say that was?"
"That was Xehanort," Char confirmed.
Sora gave a slow nod of understanding.
Then another thought occurred to him and he spoke. "Wait, so if Xehanort became a Heartless, does that mean a Nobody got created, too?"
Char froze at that question; but the shock only lasted a few seconds before it passed and she relaxed. "Yes," she answered quietly. "The accident that killed Xehanort and created his Heartless did the same to my other fellow apprentices. Braig, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, and Ienzo…"
Her voice caught on the very last name, and Sora abruptly noticed the unnatural brightness in her eyes.
Sounding as though she were fighting back against a barrier in her throat, she went on. "They all got tracked down by Heartless. Well, actually," she amended with a bitter chuckle, "more like they sat around and waited for the Heartless to push them into darkness."
Goofy's eyes looked ready to pop out of their sockets at this point. Even Donald was subdued, filled with a horror that he probably didn't realize was pushing its way onto its countenance at the thought of just waiting for Heartless to tear him apart.
"The Heartless killed them," Char continued shakily, "and six Nobodies were created. These Nobodies eventually became the founders of Organization XIII."
Silence reigned in the room. Even Mickey was staring at Char with shock and pity on his countenance. Clearly, even he hadn't known this much.
After giving herself a few moments to push that bloody memory back to an untouched corner of her mind, Char looked back at Sora. "So, to answer your question? Yes, a Nobody got created. And that Nobody…" She hesitated – an odd gesture, Sora thought with a surge of slight annoyance; she had gotten this far in her confessions without faltering and he didn't know why she was stopping now – but then pushed on. "Xehanort's Nobody is currently the leader of Organization XIII."
"Of course!" Mickey cried abruptly, startling the other Disney residents so badly that Donald had to hold on to the edge of his chair to keep from falling off. "It makes sense." To the others, he explained, "I've only met Xehanort once, but I've also seen the Organization's leader about, too. It kind of felt like being around the same fella. Now I know why."
Donald and Goofy gave respective sounds of understanding.
As for Sora, he felt torn between sympathy for Char at losing her closest friends; exhilaration at the way this knowledge was piecing itself together in his mind; and fury toward Xehanort's Heartless, both for what he had done to Char and for what he had done to Sora's life. If this Ansem guy taught Char and Xehanort and everyone else everything they know, the brunette thought, taking his master's name and using it for darkness isn't really a good way to repay him.
Abruptly, he stood and walked toward the portrait of Xehanort. The others watched as he halted in front of the picture. "You…" he murmured in revulsion, clenching his fists at his side. "You started all of this. Because of you, Riku and Kairi are…"
Suddenly he cut himself off and whirled toward Mickey. "Oh, that's right! Your Majesty, do you know where Riku is?"
"Yeah, weren't you guys together in the realm of darkness?" Goofy queried.
"You know where he is, right, Your Majesty?" Donald added.
Char stared down at the desk in guilt, but the others' eyes were steadfastly on the mouse king. Mickey fidgeted for a few moments before sighing and copying Char's gesture of finding something interesting on the ground. "I'm sorry. I can't help."
Sora's eyes widened. Trying not to give in to the way despondency was weighing his heart down and making it sink in his chest, he cocked his head to try and look into the mouse's eyes. "Really, Your Majesty? Are you sure?"
"I'm sorry, Sora," Mickey murmured, turning away. The peremptory aura of pure sadness about him suggested he wouldn't answer any other questions about Riku.
The brunette folded his arms across his head and couldn't help but sigh in despair. "Okay, then…" He fought back the irritation toward Mickey that was rising up inside him; it wasn't the King's fault that Riku remained missing.
Still… Something nagged at the back of Sora's mind; an old memory that had affected him deeply at the time of its occurring, but that he had buried and dismissed as nothing. Furrowing his brow, Sora dug deeper into his memories, trying to find the source of the feeling. He remembered Port Royal… stepping into the cabin to wake Char… hearing her say something in her sleep…
Something that sounded disturbingly like Riku.
But I probably misheard her, he argued with the hope that was making its illustrious return within him. Why would Char know where Riku is?
Then again, she seemed to know just about everything else…
The Keybearer's thoughts were cut off, though, when Mickey spoke, his sorrow having vanished with the brief interlude it had taken Sora to ruminate. Feeling like he was emerging from a long sleep, Sora surfaced in time to hear Mickey say, "Char, I was plannin' on asking you this when you first introduced yourself."
The redhead angled her head toward him in a silent confirmation that she was listening.
"Do you know where Ansem – the real one – is? I've been trying to figure this out for a while now, but I don't know where he could be."
Char's reaction gave Sora a sense of déjà vu, since Mickey had done the exact same thing only moments before. She stared at the mouse with growing anxiety on her countenance: an expression of one trying desperately to think of what to say. At last, she hung her head. "Sorry, Your Majesty. That's… not something I'm privy to."
Mickey blinked, though he hesitated before speaking, as though aware that if he reacted dramatically to her refusal to say anything, he would be a hypocrite. "All right, Char," he sighed. "Ansem the Wise should know all about Organization XIII's plans, and what's been happening to the worlds. He would be a big help if we knew where he was."
Char shook her head. "All I know is that the Organization has been sending Heartless into the worlds." The others pricked their ears and leaned in to hear more; their eagerness was almost contagious, and Char almost hated to disappoint them. Nonetheless, she just shrugged, idly tapping her foot against the edge of the desk. "That's it, though. Sorry."
Sora, Donald, and Goofy's shoulders slumped, and even Mickey looked crestfallen.
"B-but that doesn't mean we can't still track him down, right?" Char hastily said, unable to resist heeding the desire to palliate their distress.
Mickey raised his head and smiled. "Yeah, you've got the right idea."
A few more moments of silence passed. Desperate to fill the area with something besides her own thoughts, Char swept her eyes around the group. "Anything else you guys need to know?" she asked, feeling oddly, idiotically like Ansem giving one of his lectures.
Sora angled his head down so his chin tilted toward the floor, thinking. As far as he knew, Char had answered most of the questions that had plagued him for so long about her: why she had lived here in the past; what she had done; who her fellow apprentices were; and who her master was.
And yet something felt missing. He almost passed it off as wanting to know what she had said during her sleep in Port Royal and nearly shoved it back into his mind again; after all, she probably wouldn't remember that, and suspicions based on incoherent dream-musings were unfounded anyway. But no, this newfound question took another form, a form that nudged at his thoughts and urged him not to mentally walk away until he found its identity.
He couldn't help but wonder what else Char would have to say to him. After all, she had successfully solved most of the mysteries whose existence had filled Donald and Goofy with suspicion since their visit to the Pride Lands. Thinking back, Sora suddenly realized that Roxas' presence had stirred up those suspicions.
Roxas.
The brunette's head jerked up with the force of his realization, causing everyone to pivot toward him in bewilderment. "Sora?" Goofy asked.
But the dog went all but unnoticed by Sora, who just stared at Char, wondering how he was going to phrase this without sounding completely insane. "I have one more question," he confessed almost breathlessly.
He could tell by the way Char quailed slightly under the force of his gaze on her that she felt more than a little uncomfortable, but that arrogant tilt of her chin didn't falter in the slightest. One eyebrow rose over an ice-blue eye. "All right."
"I…" He hesitated, thought, then settled on a careful wording. "Members of the Organization keep calling me 'Roxas.' That Anxclof girl who tried to kill me called me that, too. I've been having dreams about someone named Roxas – and when I do, it feels like I am him. And when Donald's staff messed up at the Pride Lands, Roxas had to travel with us." Donald let out a squawk of remembrance, a sound that Sora pushed aside.
"I guess," he went on, "what I'm trying to say is… Do you know who Roxas is?"
During the Keybearer's speech, Char had gotten an almost bored look on her face, as though she were gearing herself up to tell him she already knew all those things. But when Sora finally got to the point and uttered his question, distinctive dread wiped that boredom right off her countenance.
"C'mon, Char," Sora pleaded. "I need to know."
"Yeah, Char, I'm kinda curious too," Goofy cut in tentatively.
"All right, all right!" Char growled almost immediately, making the boy and the dog recoil. Seeing them do so, her eyes actually softened, and she ran her fingers through her bangs a couple of times before replying. Even as she spoke, though, trepidation marked her mien, and… what was that, regret?
Any attempt to pinpoint what she was feeling, though, halted instantly at her answer.
"Sora… Roxas is your Nobody."
Silence.
Sora was aware his jaw had dropped just ever so slightly – and that paled in comparison to Donald and Goofy, whose expressions of shock could have caught flies – but he couldn't quite bring himself to close it. Behind him, Mickey let out a gasp. The seriousness of the situation fully cemented itself in Sora's mind when Char's countenance registered next to no amusement at all: just a kind of quiet observation, surveying his reaction.
"But… but that's crazy!" Sora managed. "I never turned into a Heart –" A memory cut him off: of the day he had infiltrated the castle with Donald, Goofy, and the Beast at his side. Of the day he had fought, and won against, Riku.
Of the day he had sacrificed his heart to save Kairi and the other Princesses of Heart.
"Oh, right," he heard himself murmur aloud.
"You turned into a Heartless when we rescued Kairi, remember?" Donald said obviously.
Hearing the duck recall that day, Sora felt a fresh wave of guilt roll over him and threaten to bowl him over. Unbeknownst to him, Char cringed under the weight of the same emotion, and both teenagers found themselves clutching at their respective star-shaped charms in their pockets: Sora at Kairi's good-luck talisman, and Char at the Keychain she had picked up from Sora's room in the Gummi ship. (4)
That's right, Sora thought, I sacrificed myself for Kairi. I would've done anything to get her back.
He nearly flinched at the path those thoughts were about to reach. The same emotion existed, of course, but now it held only the desire to save his friend, not the desperate love he had felt for her back then.
Apparently, Char had decided this awkward silence had gone on long enough, for she continued to explain more about Roxas. "He joined the Organization, which is why they keep calling you 'Roxas' – they're probably trying to draw out that part of your heart."
"He joined the Organization alongside Anxclof," Char went on. Sora felt fear flare up within him at the mention of that name; the memory of the fiery agony that had rent his chest as her Keyblade had erupted through it was still particularly vivid in his mind. However, Char's voice as she mentioned Anxclof sounded neutral. "The reason she's chasing you down is because she wants Roxas back."
"She wants Roxas back?" Donald echoed with a frown. "Why?"
Char shrugged. "Hell if I know," she grumbled, with genuine puzzlement in her voice. "They were friends, I guess."
"Friends" being the euphemism of the century, she thought dryly.
Sora furrowed his brow, confused. He knew that, judging by the warmth he always felt during the dreams of Roxas around Anxclof, "friends" wasn't exactly a fitting moniker for the two of them.
But… how can they feel like that for each other? he wondered. Nobodies don't have hearts.
That Organization member's words at Twilight Town rang through his head. True, we don't have hearts. But we remember what it was like.
Shaking the doubt that began to ripple within him, Sora turned to Mickey, who blinked at the sudden attention shift. "Your Majesty, do you know what happened to Kairi? Organization XIII might have kidnapped her."
Mickey gasped. "Oh no!"
Char pushed herself down off the desk. "So does that mean you don't know what happened to her, either?"
The mouse shook his head at her, but solemnity had begun to cast a shadow over his face. "You know," he mused, "I was planning to go get help from Ansem the Wise. But I forgot the most important thing. Helping others should always come before asking others for help."
His gaze landed on Char as he spoke that last part, then returned to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, who stood slightly in front of her.
"We're safe and sound – and free to choose!" Mickey spread his hands. "So there's no reason we shouldn't choose to help our friends."
Sora and the others nodded in agreement.
The mouse extended one hand toward them. "Let's go look for Riku and Kairi together," he offered.
Suddenly, a loud rumbling noise rent the air, causing a small earthquake to rattle the area. More books tumbled off their shelves with the impact. Donald almost fell, and Sora, Goofy, and Char caught themselves at the edge of the table.
"Sounds like we've gotta start by helping out here," Mickey said, determination audible in his voice. Without waiting for a response, he dashed out of the room.
Sora turned to the others, feeling a newfound sense of readiness coalesce within him. "Are you guys ready to go?" he asked. He knew that whatever was causing these quakes was probably behind the world being covered in darkness.
Raising his head, Donald nodded enthusiastically, the broom-like staff already in his hand.
"Gawrsh, Sora, do you really have to ask?" Goofy inquired, but he smiled as he said it.
Char said nothing, just nodded with a look of resolve on her face. With a thrill along his spine, Sora realized that the anxiety that had marked her since their arrival in this world had all but vanished.
The sight pulled the corners of his mouth up into an uncontrollable grin, and he took his place at the head of the group. "Let's go."
Anxclof was fighting back tears when a condescending female voice cut into her thoughts. "Oh, do stop that."
Startled, the Nobody jolted, looking up as bright green fire glowed in her periphery, all but obscured by her blurry vision and eyelashes as it was. Suddenly self-conscious, she nearly brought a hand up to wipe the tears that had escaped off her cheeks before remembering that would be acknowledging their existence and lowering her arm.
When the fire cleared away, the witch Maleficent stood in front of her, a look of boredom on her features. Anxclof narrowed her eyes, ignoring the way a couple of tears escaped their confines due to that action. "I thought Axel said he hadn't put Kairi here," she growled.
Maleficent scoffed. "Fool. I am not after the Seven Princesses this time." A triumphant smirk twisted her countenance, and she swept out a hand. An instant later, a dozen armored Heartless with a sword as one arm appeared, surrounding Anxclof instantly.
"Once my Heartless take over this world," she went on, "Kingdom Hearts itself cannot be far behind."
"Kingdom Hearts?" Anxclof couldn't hold back a derisive stream of cackles at that.
Maleficent glowered at the Nobody, her smugness fading, but she said nothing.
"Oh, you're so cute, Maleficent," Anxclof laughed once her amusement allowed her to become coherent enough for speech. "You think you'll be the one to get the power of Kingdom Hearts? Dream on!"
She stopped as the sound of footsteps from the other side of the corridor became audible.
"Maleficent, I've put Heartless around town, just like you asked!" the large, dog-like creature shouted. "Although there's a lot around already…"
"Silence!" Maleficent barked over her shoulder, making Pete cringe. She swept out her hand again, and the Heartless turned obediently to her. "Heartless, attack the husk! Make sure she does not escape here alive."
Immediately, the enemies lunged for Anxclof. With a snap of her fingers, though, a group of Avengers had met the Heartless' strikes, matching them blow for blow.
"Did you just call me a 'husk?'" Anxclof asked, mock indignation on her face. "Geez. All I did was say you couldn't have Kingdom Hearts." She clenched her fists, and that eerie gold flickered across her eyes again. Not until I get Roxas back, at least.
As she spoke, one of the Heartless destroyed the Avenger it was fighting with a telltale squelching noise, and turned its attention to her. In an instant, though, even the Heartless had fallen in the wake of the assault from the Dusk that had just appeared behind it.
Anxclof's eyes widened, even as Maleficent hissed in anger, making Pete flinch away again. Then Anxclof smirked and began to laugh. "So the Organization is here after all," she giggled. "Oh, that's lovely. Amazing. I didn't know they cared enough to come back to a place with so many great memories for them."
Her gaze swept the room, and landed on a blur of bright pink that contrasted drastically with the walls. Dancer Nobodies? she thought. Then that means Demyx is here, too. Her grin widened substantially. Yeah, right, Xemnas. Have fun watching Sora take him down.
Maleficent narrowed her eyes. "Hear me, my Heartless!" she spat. "Attack the white husks!" She pointed her staff, and more of them appeared to combat the fresh group of Dusks and Dancers. "Sweep them away!"
"Oh, what, now I'm not important enough for you to attack or something?" Anxclof pouted.
"What, are you nuts?" Pete cried. "We're never gonna win! I don't know about you, but I'm outta here, sister!" He turned tail and fled down the corridors, toward where it exited to the postern.
Anxclof swore she saw Maleficent roll her eyes. "You pathetic coward," she muttered.
A flicker of movement drew Anxclof's eye. Immediately, instinctively, she darted around the opposite corner…
…just in time to see Sora and his companions run out just behind Maleficent.
And there she is.
The cut on Anxclof's hand began to sting again as she summoned her Keyblade to her. The flash of golden light probably gave her away, but she found herself not really giving a damn at the moment.
Soft little giggles bubbled up within her again at the sight of Char standing at Sora's side.
Finally.
When Sora rounded the corner, he saw a tall, dark shape standing in front of the oddest spectacle he had seen today: including everything that lay within the virtual world.
After all, it wasn't every day that one saw Heartless and Nobodies dueling.
Maleficent turned at the sound of the four's approach. "Maleficent!" Donald cried.
The witch appraised them for a moment before vanishing in a blaze of emerald fire. "Come back here, you coward!" Char snarled.
But Maleficent wasn't done with them. "Heartless!" her voice echoed throughout the room. "Leave the white ones. Turn your attention to Sora and his friends!"
Immediately, the gray-armored Heartless turned and charged at the group, and Sora brought the new, bright blue Keyblade he had found in the computer world up to parry a Heartless' blade. An instant later, he brought its shaft down, hard, into its body, attacking in a series of blows that annihilated it right there.
"Uh-oh!" Goofy gulped, barely bringing up his shield to block one in time.
Sora had to admit he shared the same dread. He quickly scanned the room and saw, with a feeling of nervousness, that Heartless and Nobodies alike far outnumbered them, even with the one he had taken out already. Thankfully, though, the Heartless only consisted of the armored ones that so easily fell to an aerial attack from the Keyblade.
"Looks like we only need to worry about the Nobodies!" he shouted to them before leaping into battle.
He narrowly dodged a Dusk Nobody's undulating claws and instead headed straight for another of the robotic Heartless. The sound of Donald shouting as he cast and Char grunting with the force of her blows faded to the background of Sora's hearing as he sliced into its armor. It sprang back and began spinning toward him, its claws and sword alike swirling into a deadly blur.
Sora knew how to dodge this attack; he leaped up into the air and, letting fire cloak the tip of his Keyblade, drove his entire body down toward the enemy. A few repetitions of this downward assault pushed it right into Goofy, who shoved it down into the floor with his shield and took it out right there.
Pausing for a brief break, Sora looked around to see how his other allies were faring. Char was currently ripping a Dusk apart, while Donald and Goofy had trapped an odd pink Nobody between their respective weapons of spell and shield and were easily destroying it. The latter two had a few wounds along their bodies, but nothing they couldn't handle.
Sora spotted another group of Heartless and lunged toward them. He delivered a flurry of attacks to the center robot; once he had succeeded in drawing them closely together, he allowed his magic to explode out from his body and destroy the surrounding foes.
With the Heartless gone, Sora turned his attention onto the Nobodies. From the looks of things, the strange newcomers did not seem near as dangerous as the brown ones that had attacked them in Twilight Town; however unfamiliar they were, they couldn't be nearly as horrible as the latter Nobodies.
"Sora!" Char roared over the sounds of combat around her. "A little help would be –"
She didn't get a chance to finish speaking, nor did Sora hear whatever she might have said; for something jerked Sora away by the arm and dragged him through the air before slamming his body down, hard into the floor, and a sword slashed into Char's arm.
She drew back, glaring at whatever had attacked her and feeling heat rush to the wounded area in response to its beginning to bleed. What she saw, however, made the breath catch in her throat.
No, she whispered. Oh gods, no, not now, I'm not ready, it's too soon –
The Avenger eyed her an instant longer, then resumed its attacks on her. Caught off guard, Char pushed it away with one sword before it could pin her to the wall and finish her off there. It stumbled back, and she took that opportunity to charge and impale it with both swords at once.
As the squelching sound associated with its defeat came and went, Char whipped around and raced toward Sora, who she had seen grabbed by one of the pink Nobodies just before she got distracted. Her heart pounded at the thought of what the Avengers' appearance meant; but she knew if she let Sora die at this point, her entire journey would have been for nothing.
He had pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, groaning. "Are you okay?" she asked, immediately reaching into her pocket and drawing out a Potion. Seeing he couldn't get his breath long enough to open it, she pushed her thumbnail against the lid and uncapped it before handing it to him.
Sora cast her a grateful look before downing the healing liquid and getting to his feet. Already, he seemed to be feeling better, although the way he still held his side with his free hand suggested his fall had bruised a rib or two. "Yeah," he answered shakily. "I just… that thing grabbed me and I couldn't stop it."
"The weird Nobody?" When he nodded, Char glanced over her shoulder at the two that remained after Donald and Goofy had finished one of them. Currently, they were making quick work of one, but the other was already creeping toward them. "Crap," she hissed under her breath, before grabbing Sora's arm. "C'mon, let's go help them."
"Huh?" the brunette replied intelligently.
She gave him an impatient look – honestly, she had touched him before, why was it incapacitating him now of all times? – before giving his arm an insistent tug. "You want them to get hurt too? Let's go!"
He allowed her to drag him closer to the scene, before she let go of him and sprang toward the Nobody, which had been just about to grab Donald and spin him in the same way that had hurt Sora. Her arm extended just enough that one of her swords could slice into the Nobody from behind; halted in its impromptu dance number, it froze before rising into the air, undulating in a way that almost seemed like it had lost all its bones.
Taking this opportunity, Char leaped up and laid into it with all her strength. Sora made as if to help her, only to stop short as something distinctively sharp dug into his back, where the wounds from the fight with Oogie Boogie had just begun to heal. Grunting in pain, he turned to the source, only to find himself face to face with a Nobody he hadn't seen since Beast's Castle.
His eyes widened as the Avenger lifted up its blade to slice him again; before it could repeat that same attack, he ducked beneath its sword and thrust upward with the Keyblade. Knocked into the air, the Avenger quickly twisted its body so it would land, cat-like, on its feet, then resumed its stalking toward him. Sora stared in shock at it before shaking it off and meeting its attack halfway. His forward approach threw it off, and it didn't take long for him to finish it off.
Caught up in the adrenaline of battle, he glanced around, only to relax when he saw no more enemies remained. Donald, Goofy, and Char must have been successful with their respective opponents.
"You guys okay?" he asked as they came to stand by his side.
Goofy nodded. "But Donald got a really bad wound on his leg," he pointed out.
Donald scoffed and turned away, lifting his staff and casting a healing spell before anyone could say anything. The green light wreathed the injury briefly before vanishing, leaving the feathered area there not quite as pristinely-white as before, but not bleeding anymore. "There! Ya happy?" he growled.
Char rolled her eyes, at the same time rubbing her side. "You are quite possibly the biggest hypocrite alive, duck boy," she snorted.
"Hey!" Donald squawked.
Suddenly, there came a soft sound. The four of them started, looking around for the source, weapons at the ready. It only took a few moments for them to realize that it was… clapping.
"Very nicely done," a derisive female voice congratulated mockingly.
Char's eyes widened. Oh, no.
Anxclof stepped out of the shadows of the connecting halls, still not slowing up in that slow, cynical clap. "Good job taking out my Avengers," she said, sarcasm dripping off every word.
Sora stared at her, multiple emotions rising up within him. Fear, of the girl who had tried – and succeeded – at killing him in the past; conflict, at knowing another part of himself had cared so deeply for her; and anxiety at her entire demeanor. In the past, Anxclof had always held a rather dignified air about her, in spite of her perpetual, almost reckless determination to get Roxas back.
Now, though… Something was off about her. Sora couldn't say what, but a feral look seemed to flicker every couple of seconds on her face and in her eyes.
"Anxclof," he greeted breathlessly.
She turned to face him, and something inside him seemed to cry out.
"Roxas," she whispered. "Are you...?"
Sora hesitated, not knowing what to say.
Abruptly, Anxclof reared back, laughing so contemptuously that Goofy winced and put a hand to his ears. "I'm just kidding, you know that, right?" she grinned. "I know he's in there somewhere, but it'll take just a teeny tiny bit more of a stimulus than just my voice to pull him out."
She hefted her Keyblade and held it out in front of her, making Sora draw back with a start. The four of them found themselves immobilized as she moved closer, her shoes making clacking noises against the tile, until she stood right in front of Sora.
"It takes," she breathed, placing the tip of her Keyblade against his belly, making his heartbeat and breathing accelerate as he remembered the last time her blade was this close to him; "just a bit more," she pushed it deeper until a tiny, dark blot appeared on his shirt; "of a push."
The soft deadliness in her voice seemed to snap Donald out of his trance; he let out a screech and leaped for her. However, she merely sighed, sounding almost bored, before lifting a hand, not taking her eyes off Sora's. An instant later, Donald bounced off the fiery wall that had appeared in his path.
Char managed a trembling chuckle, despite her screaming heart and itch to draw her blades and finish Anxclof off. Just a little more force behind that Keyblade and…
She didn't want to think about it.
"Got any new tricks, Anxclof?" she asked. "You used that fire wall thing last time, remember?" The attempt at dryness failed miserably, though, as her voice came out a desperate croak.
Drawing the Nobody's attention to her turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes she could have made at that moment. Anxclof's head jerked toward her, and Char felt her stomach twist at the subtle hint of Heartless-eye-gold that flitted across her gaze.
"Oh, Char," she whispered. To the redhead's immense relief, she took her Keyblade away from Sora's stomach, allowing the Keybearer to take the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
"Char, Char, Char, Char, Char," Anxclof sighed, shaking her head. "I've got so much up my sleeve that you haven't seen, it's almost sad. Oh, wait." She narrowed her eyes, the first direct display of fury she had shown during this encounter. "You saw all that when you saw Roxas' memories, didn't you?"
Char couldn't say anything.
"Didn't you?" Anxclof snarled. When she failed to garner a response, she sighed, immediately back to her prior façade. "Oh, what, am I not important enough for you to talk to, now? Well, have it your way. This won't take very long, anyway."
She turned back to Sora and readied her Keyblade. "Whatever trick you used last time won't work again," she hissed. "Because I will kill you, and then Char, and then you other two idiots. And, hey – if that doesn't work? Whatever. I'll kill you as many times as it takes until you stay dead."
As the Nobody raised her Keyblade, getting ready to drive it into Sora's chest, something stirred within Char. And before she could rein that emotion in, she found herself standing in front of Sora.
"Don't bother," she growled.
Anxclof blinked and moved a little ways back. "You know," she said, a flash of her old self in her voice, "stepping in front of someone who's getting ready to kill you? Really not such a good idea."
Char might have smiled, were the situation not so dire.
Sora stared at her. "Char…?"
"Go," was all she said, casting a look at him over her shoulder. Oddly, she felt no traces of nervousness: just a kind of serene readiness that she had never experienced before. Not even the sight of Sora's wide eyes tempered it.
"Char?" the male brunette repeated, this time with more than a hint of panic in his voice.
"I said go!" Char spat, inducing a murmur from him and making him draw away. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she tried to smile. "Go help Leon and the others. I'll hold her off here."
"But –" Sora began, his heart suddenly beginning to pound harder than ever. His mind had shut itself down, seemingly only able to think about the situation before him.
Because he knew Char would die if she fought Anxclof now, and the thought almost choked him.
"Just get out of here," the redhead murmured, turning to face Anxclof again. A tiny bit of lucidity had come into the Nobody's emerald gaze, and she was eyeing them with a tilted head and curious expression.
"Sora, c'mon," Goofy whispered, tugging at Sora's arm. Mutely, the Keybearer turned to face the knight and saw a desperate kind of sympathy on the knight's countenance.
Meanwhile, Donald had stood up and looked on with a numbly horrified expression. "Guys…" he began, only to stop immediately when Char gave him an insistent look.
Quickly, the duck and dog turned and made for the end of the corridors, only to stop at the edge of the room when they saw their leader wasn't following. Char felt something push against her fingers and looked down to see the navy fabric of Sora's glove meshing with her own green glove.
Staring up at him, she was surprised at the complete and utter terror she found on his face and in his eyes.
"Promise me you'll come back," he whispered.
Char gazed at him for a few moments, weighing her options. She could lie, and say she would. She could tell him the truth, and go off to die with the strength of all she was leaving unsaid in her blade.
Instead of either of these things, she picked a third option.
She smirked and drew her hand away from his grasp. "Hey," she said, putting a hand on his cheek. "This is me, remember? I'll be fine. Promise," she added for good measure.
Sora looked as though he were trying not to cry, an expression that sent something sharp into Char's heart and twisted. Don't do that, she wanted to say. Don't cry for me, I don't deserve it.
But in the end, he only briefly brushed his hand against the one on his face before moving away. Char let her hand drop back down to his side and watched him run after his friends.
Anxclof raised one eyebrow. "You know, that was really cheesy."
In response, Char summoned her swords to her side. "Yeah, well…" She shrugged. "I had to send him off with something to keep his hopes up."
Anxclof appraised Char for a moment, before her lips twitched in what might have been a smile. "I guess you owe him that much."
Standing here – making banter with the girl who would probably paint these walls with her blood – Char felt a sudden, poignant tug at her heart. If things had gone a little differently, she realized, my Nobody would be Number VII in the Organization right now, and you and I would probably be best friends.
Fast on the heels of that thought came a newfound, last-resort urge to assuage Anxclof's fury. "Anxclof," Char said desperately, "it doesn't have to be like this. It doesn't –"
"Oh, for the love of the gods, would you just shut up?" Anxclof hissed, that terrifying golden oozing over the green of her eyes entirely. "I haven't gotten this far just to succumb to a damn pity party from you."
Ice blue stared into inhuman amber for a few moments. Then Char forced herself to smirk and pointed one sword at Anxclof. "Fine," she said. "Then I guess I'll have to take you down. Because I promised him I'd come back. And I don't go back on my promises."
FUCK YEAH SUMMARY DROP -shot-
(1) You know, when I first wrote this part, I had a crazy idea for an omake-type-thing where Char finds RiKai doujinshi on Ansem's computer XD
(2) Anyone else notice that the original scene with this has a translation error? Quote:
Sora: C'mon, are you teasing us again?
Donald: Did you forget what Ansem looked like, Your Majesty?
Mickey: Of course I do! And this is him! I'm positive!
...yeah...
(3) Ah, yes. Psychotic!Anxclof is about to make multiple appearances, you guys.
(4) Yup... Char is definitely the jealous type XD
A/N's aside, FINALLY the big showdown is here. Char vs. Anx - who will win? You might be surprised to find out what happens. ;3 But you'll find out faster if you REVIEW!
And telling me what you liked about this chapter would help too. I do appreciate getting reviews, don't get me wrong, but I can never tell if I'm doing anything right or if you're all just scrolling down to the bottom and then saying stuff like "zomg so cute! update soon!" -_- Just... pretend you know what I'm writing about? Please?