Bariss (having just finished reading the last chapter): "You... You buried us!?!? Why on earth would you do that!?"

Pfft. Relax, you're fine. To quote Quartermass: "You know how it is in the Land of Dragons. You can be burried under thousands of pounds of snow one minute, popping up like daisies the next." But if you think this is bad, wait until Chapter 123.

Bariss: "What are you going to do to us!?"

Don't worry. I promise you that Nehrut will probably be fine maybe. Now, the disclaimer?

Bariss: "Darth doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix or anything else."

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Chapter 53: Left Behind

Several minutes later, Ling poked his head up from the trench and looked out at the new snowy landscape. He looked back down after a moment. "It's all clear!"

Sora, Riku, and Kairi were the first ones scrambling over the edge. "Nehrut!" They started shouting. "Bariss!"

Axel, Donald, and Goofy were the next ones up. And by the time Mickey, Yuffie, Mulan, and the others had gotten up, they were all calling their names.

Sora ran over to the place where they had vanished into the snow –or rather, where he thought they had. It was hard to tell. He knelt down, hoping for some reason that he'd be able to reach them under the snow, to perhaps rescue them from below.

It may have seemed a bit preposterous, but he started digging (by hand). Yao, Ling, and Chein Po were soon right next to him with shovels, and started digging themselves. Axel was coming up to try to melt the snow, when Shang let out a shout.

"Hostiles incoming!"

Sora's head shot up, and he summoned Oblivion right away. Heartless were descending on them, possibly more than before.

"We can't hope to stand up against that many of them." Shang said grimly. He twisted his head around so that the soldiers still behind the trench could hear him. "Men! Fall back to the Imperial City! A fighting retreat! Repeat: A fighting retreat!"

Sora leapt to his feet and put a hand on his shoulder. "General! We have to help them! Maybe we can still get to them..."

"I'm sorry Sora." He responded turning to face him. And he really did look sorry. "But I have to think of my men, and there's no time to look for your friends before those Heartless arrive."

"I can't just leave them!"

"Sora..." Kairi said, approaching him. She took one of his hands in hers. "I'm afraid he's right, we have no choice." But there were still tears in her eyes.

Riku said. "If Nehrut and Bariss are alright, then they'll be able to make it back to us. If they're not..." He couldn't bring himself to finish his thoughts.

Kairi took him by the hand back in the direction of the retreating soldiers, the rest of them following right behind them. They were gone for a few minutes, before the first wave of Heartless passed through down the mountains.

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"That wasn't quite what I had hoped for." Xayn Shu commented, touching a hand to his chin. "I had hoped that the avalanche would have taken out a few Keybearers, at the least."

"Need I remind you that they're useless to us dead?" Vexen interjected.

"Hmm." The Nobody wasn't paying him much attention. "The telepath must have had something to do with it. He has become very irritating."

"But he was swallowed by the snow, along with your slave." Vexen reminded. "I doubt that he'll cause much more trouble."

"No..." Xayn Shu inhaled deeply, as if trying to smell something. "Still alive...? Yes, you are stubborn ones, aren't you?"

"Still alive?" Vexen didn't sound convinced. "I highly doubt that you can smell-" There was suddenly a black, wave bladed sword tip touching his throat.

"They are alive." Xayn Shu said, pushing his blade just a little further into his neck to emphasize his point. "I know. And you would be wise not to question me." He leaned toward him, to where their faces were mere inches apart. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Inescapably."

"Good." He sheathed his blade, and looked back down into the pass. "Do you have the data you needed?"

"Not as much as I would have hoped, but it will suffice."

"Good." He turned around, and walked past the other Nobody without sparing him a second glance. "I'm going to the front with the Heartless."

"And the telepath and the slave?"

Xayn Shu stopped in his tracks. Without turning around, he said, "Enjoy yourself." He walked off.

As soon as he was out of sight, Vexen chuckled to himself. He gestured with his hand, and a few unearthly devices appeared from thin air.

He set to work. (1)

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The mountains had been quiet as the grave for almost a half-hour. They were devoid of all sound except the wind rushing through the mountain peaks.

Suddenly, a hand burst from the snow, upsetting a nearby bird. The hand searched the ground for a minute, and found the top of a rock. It grabbed it, and up from the snow came the head and shoulders of a young man.

Nehrut pulled himself up higher, and the head and shoulders of a girl were revealed. He had one arm around her slender waist, part of his cloak wrapped around her to help protect her from the cold. She had one arm around his shoulders to help support herself.

Nehrut was able to break free of the snow, and get both of them out, back on semi-solid ground. They lay on the ground for a moment, trying to catch their breath. Nehrut looked at Bariss. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She looked up. "I thought we were going to die."

"For a moment, I did too." He stood up, and held his hand out to her. "Stay close, we need to share body heat."

Bariss was happy to comply, leaning into him as he wrapped his arm, holding the end of his cloak, around her shoulders. She hoped he wouldn't notice her blush.

He hoped she wouldn't notice his.

"Okay, we need to find-"

But then he heard distant crunching footsteps behind him. They turned around, and saw none other than Sora.

The young Keybearer was walking calmly toward them from the direction of the mountains. His hood was up, obscuring his face just slightly. His stride was even, as if he wasn't in too much of a hurry.

"Sora!" Bariss called, waving her hand so he could see them.

Sora didn't even look up, just kept walking slowly toward them.

"Sora?"

Almost a minute later, Sora stopped in front of them. He slowly raised his head, and looked Nehrut full in the face. He was scowling.

"'Sora! Sora!'" He imitated. "What is it already? Need saving or something?"

"Excuse me?" Nehrut replied, surprised.

"You heard." His fists clenched. "You know, Nehrut, you're just pathetic. Brooding over the fact that your brother betrayed you, and your homeworld is ruled over by the Brotherhood. You're pathetic!"

"Don't you dare-" Bariss snarled.

"Oh shut up. You're just as bad as him." He responded, his head snapping to face her. "Your father is dead, and your mother- Oh, boo-freaking-hoo."

Her fury was palpable.

"And what good are you to us anyway?" He continued, "You've got a toy whip, and a pretty antique knife. You don't even know any magic."

He turned around, and began to walk away, clutching his head.

"The both of you make me sick. And we all feel the same way." He twisted around, and pointed his finger and poked Nehrut hard in the chest. "Why don't you just scram? We don't need you on this team of ours! Got it?"

"I'd like to say one thing before we go." Nehrut said, deadpan. Bariss's eyes widened in shock.

"What?"

Nehrut's hand shot out. And Sora flew backwards twenty feet into a snow drift that was concealing a large boulder.

"You're not ON the team!" He shouted, drawing Presul. Bariss followed his lead, pulling out Rose Blade.

'Sora' got to his feet, brushing the snow off his clothes. "Real perceptive." He smirked at them. "I'm not Sora. I'm better!"

He held out his hand, and a copy of the Kingdom Key appeared in a flash of light. Sora's replica took up a fighting stance like the original one, then rushed towards them.

Nehrut ran to meet him, and their blades met. The replica leapt backwards and struck at his legs, Nehrut blocked it easily, and stabbed at his face. It was parried, and he swung back at his head. He ducked under it.

Bariss jumped into the fight, her sai flashed, leaving a gash across 'Sora's' face. His palm opened, and a fireball shot at her. She dove to the side, and tossed her weapon at him. He caught it, and tossed it away into the snow. Nehrut's blade came down toward his head, and he caught it.

He kicked the telepath in his stomach while still holding his blade away from his body. As he staggered backwards, Bariss's whip shot out, and coiled around the false Keyblade. She pulled hard, and it fell out of his hands. Nehrut stretched out his hand, and it flew towards him. He caught it in his free left hand.

He wondered how he could hold it, and then realized that it must not be a real Keyblade. With both in hand, he ran toward 'Sora' and struck him in the chest with the fake blade. He was thrown backwards by the force of the blow, and Nehrut dashed forward to get him across the stomach with his own.

The replica was knocked onto his back. Before Nehrut could finish him off, he reached up with both hands. Bolts of electricity flew at him, hitting him in the chest. Presul fell from his hand, and landed on the ground near the replica's feet.

He ran toward it, and held in his hand. "See how you-"

There was a brief, but intense flash of bright blue light, and the sword hit the ground again. Sora's replica stumbled backwards, clutching his hand, which seemed to be smoking.

Nehrut walked forward, and picked the blade up in his right hand. "Presul can only be held if you have the owner's consent. And you don't."

The fake Sora snarled, and rushed toward Nehrut with his hands crackling with electricity. He leapt toward Nehrut, as if he was going to punch him with one of those hands. But then Bariss reentered the picture. Her whip struck him in the side, and he slipped, falling into the snow.

Before he could get up, he found two blades crossed at his throat. Nehrut stood over him, ready to destroy him if he made a single move.

"What are you?"

Before the replica could answer, the ground below them seemed to burst.

The snow and ice below them shot up at them, throwing them bodily into the air. The false Keyblade in Nehrut's left hand vanished as this happened, and he could only assume that it was because its original wielder was no more.

The snow obscured his vision, but when he reached about fifty feet into the air, he could clearly see a man in a black coat shooting up toward him. He held a light blue shield that slightly resembled a widened version of the Nobody emblem. It also had five sharp spikes on its edges.

Nehrut assumed that this was Vexen.

Before he could do anything, Vexen had slammed him in the stomach with the shield, sending him flying back to the ground. The breath was knocked out of his lungs instantly.

Bariss ran over to him, and helped him stand just as Vexen landed five feet away.

He smiled. "So, how did you like my little toy?"

"That was a replica of Sora?" Nehrut asked, getting to his feet. "Well, it needed a lot of work. You see, Sora can actually win a fight. He was also a very bad actor."

"A miscalculation on my part." Vexen waved it off. "I suppose that I didn't have enough data to make it truly formidable. I'll be sure to work on that with the next batch."

"You're going to make more of them?" Bariss asked, clearly disturbed by the prospect of more duplicates running around. "You're insane!"

"I am a scientist, young lady."

"You and your toys, Vexen." Nehrut said, pointing the tip of his blade at the Silhouette. "We're not just going to let you escape to make more puppets."

"You cannot fight progress, boy." Vexen said, as if scolding him. And without warning, he rushed toward him, floating just a bit above the ground, shield held horizontally at his side. He struck left to right. Nehrut noticed for the first time that he was left-handed as his blade met the edge of the shield, and stuck between two spikes. Bariss ran toward Vexen, but then was blown backwards by the snow beneath her, sending her flying away.

Vexen could control the ice and snow all around him to move in whatever way he pleased. Considering the environment, that would be a problem.

Nehrut blasted Vexen backwards, successfully knocking the shield from his grasp. Vexen sprung to his feet immediately, ice forming around his forearm into a sharp spike. He drove it toward Nehrut's face, and he just managed to duck away from it.

Rose Blade flew from out of nowhere, spearing into the spike, and shattering it. Vexen dove backwards just before Nehrut could behead him. He summoned his fallen shield, and charged at Nehrut. He struck upwards, smacking him backwards, then twisted and struck horizontally, which he was able to block with his blade.

Bariss swung Rose Whip in a wide arc, bringing it cracking down across Vexen's back. He cried out, then aimed his free hand at the girl. A line of icy stalagmites burst from the ground, moving toward her. She dove out of the way just before one of them speared her.

Nehrut aimed a strike at Vexen's face, which he blocked. His follow-up attacks to his legs and torso were also blocked. After a fourth attack aimed at his chest again, Vexen formed another spike on his free arm. This time, he shot it out toward Nehrut.

He caught it in the air, and aimed it back at the Nobody. It struck harmlessly against the shield, and Vexen fired another one at him. He struck it with his blade, and shattered. He blasted him, throwing him into a snow drift.

Bariss was back by his side when the snow drift burst apart in hundreds of shards of ice. He put up a shield to catch them before they tore them to shreds, but he took a nasty scratch to his left arm all the same.

Vexen came on again, striking low at his feet. Nehrut floated over it, and kicked him in the tip of the jaw. He stumbled backwards, as Bariss struck him across the chest with her sai. He landed on his back, and then the ground below them erupted. A pillar of ice sent him into the air, and he was standing on top of it.

Nehrut followed him up. He struck at Vexen's midsection, and he blocked with the shield. Part of the pillar broke away, and flew at Nehrut as a giant, icy projectile. He swerved around it, but then got hit by another one, and then a second.

He fell twenty feet to the ground, and lifted his was blown off his platform, and landed on the ground at the other side of the pillar. Nehrut and Bariss ran around the pillar together, and lept toward Vexen with their weapons about to strike. The shield came up, and blocked both attacks, throwing them backwards.

"Bariss!" Nehrut called. Time for the big guns.

"Ready!"

Whip in hand, Bariss jumped over Nehrut's head. She hung suspended upside-down about a foot over his head. They looked up at each other, and winked. Nehrut spun her around rapidly, her arm holding the whip was stretched out. It hit Vexen over and over, at least a dozen times per second.

He let go of her, and she landed lightly on the ground beside him, not at all dizzy.

"Keep it up!"

Both of them took to the air, Nehrut blasted Vexen with his mind, tossing him far back every time. It took much less effort than usual, and had much more force behind it. The second Vexen got to his feet, he was blasted back into the ground.

Bariss came along, streaking like a bullet toward him. Her sai seemed to have a mind of its own. It floated around her, moving so fast around her form that it was a shining green and silver blur. As soon as she got close enough to Vexen, the sai flashed toward him, cutting every inch of him it could reach. His hands went limp, and his shield fell out of his hands.

"It's time to finish this!"

Nehrut and Bariss flew toward each other, and threw their blades into the air. They floated together, their hilts touching, with Presul on the bottom. The colors from the blades seemed to invert themselves. The lines on Rose Blade turned blue, and Presul's blade turned entirely green.

The blades shot down to the ground, and when Presul's blade hit the ground, it stuck into it. Fault lines sprouted from the place where the blade struck it. Green energy spewed from them. The light burned Vexen on impact, throwing him high into the air, and crashing back down twenty feet later.

"Salus Pax Pacis!" (2)

They landed on the ground, and winked at each other.

Vexen was lying on the ground, rippling away into nothingness like Demyx and Lexeaus. He scowled at them, which was a little hard when his face was like liquid. "I suppose you've beaten me."

"Looks like it." Nehrut sat by his head, and looked down at his face. "So why don't you just make yourself useful in these last few seconds and tell us a few things about this guy attacking China?"

"I'll tell you nothing." Vexen, prideful to the last, faded away. Soon there was only a card, and it too, faded into darkness.

"Well, that was a waste of time." Bariss muttered, sitting down next to him. She took one end of his cloak, and pulled it around her shoulders.

"Not necessarily." Nehrut said. He pointed.

Vexen's shield was still there, sitting in the snow. Nehrut stretched out his hand, and it flew toward his hand. He had heard of the occasional anomalies where the weapon of a Heartless or Nobody didn't fade away along with its owner. Donald had once taken a lance from a Dragoon Nobody, and Goofy had the tome of a Bookmaster Heartless.

He examined it for a moment, it was surprisingly light. Then he handed it to Bariss. "For you."

"Me?"

"Sure, why not? Happy birthday!"

Bariss giggled (she giggled!), and took it. She held it up in the light to examine it better. It had a strap on the back, so she slung it around her shoulder, and wore it on her back. "Thanks."

"And for the record, you're plenty of good to us."

"Hmm?"

"The replica said you weren't any good to us. You are."

She smiled and threw her arms around him, in a grateful embrace. "And you're not pathetic."

They embraced for a few minutes, enjoying the other's warmth. Finally, they parted. "So, what now?" She asked.

"I meditate for a moment," He said, trying to compose himself. "and see if I can find Sora and the others. If I know them as well as I think I do, they would have stuck with the army until they drove the Brotherhood from this world."

He closed his eyes and dove into the Mens Quero meditation. He searched the mountains, and wasn't surprised to find them empty, apart from the occasional small animal.

He reached out farther, down the mountain pass, looking for anything. He detected echoes of thoughts, and minds. A great number of people had been through there. He went farther, and several miles later, he found a huge mass of simple, instinctive minds. The Heartless. And one, sharp, cold, calculating mind that could only belong to a Nobody.

Still farther, a great mass of emotions struck him. Hundreds of beings were congregated together in a particular area. Most of their minds held mixtures of fear, anxiety, or determination. About a dozen of them stuck out, shining brightly through the fear and dread like beacons.

Nehrut's eyes snapped open, and he smiled. "Found 'em."

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I'm on summer vacation, so I should be updating a little more frequently now. Good news for you! Also, 358/2 Days has been released in Japan! If you want plot details, check the KH wiki. It's crazy.

Also, if you haven't heard, Mickey's third voice actor (who also provided his voice for the KH series) passed away a few days ago. Thank you Mr. Wayne Allwine, we will remember you fondly.

(1) So yeah, I have absolutely no idea how he does these experiments, so I improvised.

(2) Nehrut and Bariss's 'Mystic Rose.'

Please drop a review.