Chapter 27 Can You Hear the Waves?
The streets of Hollow Bastion have been quiet since Ansem was taken care of, but Zack still walks the same paths littered with rubble from the world's fall to heartless ten years ago. He carries his sword in hand, looking for the monsters that used to roam the streets, but there are few left to be found.
Zack never would have thought he'd miss the evil buggers, but they had been an outlet for him, a way from him to vent his anger at Xehanort, at himself, at the universe. Now he turns the final corner back to the safe house and scowls to see the peaceful empty street.
Is it healthy to cope with his feelings through fighting?
No, but he doesn't care.
Reaching the right door, Zack turns the handle and shoulders the door open, dropping his unused sword with disgust just over the threshold. He kicks the door shut, feeling satisfied in the way it slams and turns back to survey the empty room. Except it isn't empty.
A thin teenage girl in a white dress sits in the chair in front of his computer with the files he has found on Ven up on the screen. As he stares, she rises to her feet, folding her hands in an innocent way that doesn't match the calculating blue eyes that look Zack over.
"Who are you?" He demands, glancing at the sword he had dropped, wondering if he should pick it back up. The girl looks harmless enough, but some monsters came in pretty packaging.
The girl in white smiles at him. "My name is Namine," she says, brushing a strand of blond hair behind her ear. She walks away from Zack, examining the room with a faintly curious expression.
With one last glance at his sword, Zack leaves it where he dropped it and walks cautiously after her. "How did you get here? This world is empty."
Namine pauses in her examination and turns back to him. "You're Zack, right?" She says. "Ventus' boyfriend?"
Zack would have been less surprised if she had slapped him. His chest too tight to breathe right he asks, "You know Ven?"
"I know of him," Namine replies, turning back to examine the books on the bookshelf in the corner. "Most nobodies do. Our leader is looking for Ventus, just like you."
His mind reeling as he tries to keep up, Zack moves closer to her. His voice takes on a demanding edge. "Leader? Who is he?"
"He goes by Xemnas," Namine says, looking to Zack like the name is supposed to mean something to him.
"I don't know him," Zack replies.
"No, I suppose you don't," she says with a sigh. "But you did at one point. A different version of him really."
"I don't understand," Zack says, but Namine is already brushing past him, moving back to the large computer.
"We nobodies are strange creatures," she says thoughtfully as she walks. "Nothing should exist without a heart, but yet we do. We are nothing, but we've banded together for something greater." Namine pauses and turns to Zack who is following her. "With all this research," she gestures to the computer, "I assume you know how Nobodies and Heartless are formed."
Zack nods slowly. "When a person loses their heart, the lost heart becomes a Heartless and the empty shell becomes a Nobody."
Namine hums in agreement, tilting her head in thought. "Things get...complicated...when more than one heart resides in a single body. In Sora's case, he had three." She counts them off on her fingers. "His own became his heartless. Kairi's went back to her as her body was right there, waiting for its return. And that left Ventus' heart all alone. His body was too far away and Sora was gone. It had to go to the one body that could take it."
"Sora...doesn't have his heart?" Zack says, the fears he had been trying to hold back crashing down on him. Namine shakes her head and he asks, "How do you know?"
"I'm connected to Sora's heart and through his, Ventus'. He no longer rests with Sora," Namine says in answer.
"Then…" Zack's mind in blanking. He can't even think at the moment, but he looks up to see Namine heading for the door. "Wait! Where is his heart?" Zack shouts, chasing after her, but pulling up short as she raises as hand and summons a dark corridor to her right. "Please. Tell me," he says not caring that he is begging to younger girl. All he cares about is getting Ven back.
Namine doesn't answer right away. She looks him over with her cold, calculating eyes once more. Finally she says, "Ask the Nobodies."
"Wait!" Zack shouts again, reaching out a hand to stop her, but she steps through the dark corridor she had summoned and vanishes, the black portal vanishing a moment later.
Zack's hand falls back down to his side and he stands frozen, staring at the spot Namine had disappeared. Her cryptic message ringing in his ears. Ask the Nobodies.
Sora had lost Ven's heart when he'd lost his own. Ven's heart had gone to the one body that could take it. Sora had come back without Ven's heart, but Ven's heart is still out there.
Ask the Nobodies.
Realization hits Zack like a punch to the gut and he steadies himself on the wall. From his pocket, he fishes out the old pin he'd given Ven and squeezes it hard in his fingers, reminding himself who he has to stay strong for.
"I'm going to save you," he whispers, lifting the pin to his lips. He closes his eyes and sighs. Not all hope is lost. He can and he will find Ven, but he can't do it alone.
Slipping the pin back into his pocket, Zack stands frozen a moment longer before springing into action. Rushing to the computer, he ejects the disc holding all the information he has gathered and stuffs it into its case which gets thrown in his pocket. Next he grabs his sword from it's spot on the floor and shoves it into its scabbard on his back as he crosses the room to the dresser in the corner.
He wrenches open the top drawer and carefully pulls out the glowing blue and green star inside. It is the Star Shard Mickey had given him to help him travel the worlds on his search for Ven. Holding it gingerly, Zack hurries out the door.
Standing in the empty street of Hollow Bastion with the broken form of Ansem's castle looming in the skyline, Zack takes a deep breath and hugs the Star Shard tight to his chest. As the wild magic pulls him away from the desolate world he concentrates hard on where he wants to go.
Traverse Town.
Home.
...
Cloud stands behind the bar at the 7th Heaven, stacking the glasses he has just finished washing. In the kitchen on the other side of the swinging door he can hear Tifa gathering together the pots and pans and ingredients they'll need to make it through the dinner rush. As he puts the final glass in its place, Leon walks in scowling with Aerith at his side and Yuffie and Cid behind him bickering like usual.
"How's it going?" Cloud says as Aerith take a seat on a stool and Leon leans against the bar.
In response, Leon gestures to Yuffie and Cid still standing by the door, neither backing down in whatever argument they are having. "Give me a cold one," Leon says rubbing his temple and Cloud pulls a beer out from under the counter and pops the top off before handing it to his friend.
"Anything for you, Aerith?" Cloud asks as Leon takes a long sip of his drink.
"The whereabouts of my daughter if you know," Aerith says with a smile. "I gave her the night off and I think she went running this way."
"She came in here a little while ago," Cloud says. "She went upstairs to find Riku and Sora. You can go up and find her is you need to."
"I think I will do that," Aerith says, slipping off the barstool. "Thank you, Cloud."
She walks out through the kitchen to get to the stairs to rooms above the bar and Cloud returns to straightening up the space behind the bar. His back is turned to the door when he hears it open and turns expecting it to be an early customer. The last person he is expecting to see is Zack.
Yuffie gasps, her and Cid freezing mid argument. Leon drops his beer onto the bar with a thunk, not noticing when some sloshes out. And Zack stands holding the door open, eyes finding Cloud's who is staring back at him too shocked to do anything else.
Yuffie is closest to Zack and first to move. "Oh my gosh," she says, throwing her arms around him. "You're back!"
"Yeah," Zack says, hugging her in return and letting the door close. "I'm back and I have news."
"Can't be any better news than having you back, kid," Cid says, pulling Zack into an embrace as soon as Yuffie lets him go.
Zack slaps Cid's back. "It's good to see you, Cid."
Leon glances at Cloud who is still frozen in place, the knuckles on his hand clenched onto the bar white. "I'll get Tifa," Leon says in a low voice. He claps Cloud's shoulder as he walks past him to get to the kitchen.
A moment later, the door is flung back open and Tifa comes running out. She pauses catching sight of Zack who pulls away from the others to walk towards her. "Tifa…" he says, guilt flashing in his eyes.
She runs the rest of the way to him, pulling him into a strangling hug. "I've been so worried," she whispers into his shoulder and holds him tighter.
Over Tifa's shoulder Zack meets Cloud's eyes for a brief moment, but shifts his eyes away from Cloud's stare and gently extracts himself from Tifa's arms.
"Tifa," he says. "Where's Sora?"
"He's upstairs," she says, brushing a hand over her eyes.
"No he's not," a voice behind them says and both turn to see Marlene and Aerith coming into the bar from the kitchen. "Sora left to find Kairi a little while ago and Riku followed him," Marlene continues, giving Zack a wide smile. "Did you just get back, Zack?
"Do you know where they went?" Zack asks, ignoring her question. "I need to talk to him."
Cloud can hear the desperate edge to his voice and the others sense it too. "What's going on, Zack?" Cid asks, and Zack turns to him.
"I know who has Ven's heart," Zack says and the others make sounds of surprise. "And I need Sora's help."
Leon, who had come back into the bar unnoticed, steps forward. "I'll go find him. Cloud?" He says turning to his blond friend. "Why don't you come with me?"
Cloud forces himself to uncurl his fingers locked in their grip on the edge of the bar. "Sure," he says, not taking his eyes of Zack's despite the young man's inability to meet his gaze.
Cloud follows Leon who moves across the room pausing to place a hand on Zack's shoulder. "It's good to see you, Zack," he says.
"You too, Leon," Zack replies with a small smile and turns to face Cloud. "Cloud," he says as Leon draws away to give them space. "I'm sorry."
Cloud nods stiffly and without a word moves towards the door after Leon only to be called back by Tifa.
"Cloud," she says, standing beside Zack with both of her hands holding one of his.
"We'll be back with Sora and the others soon," Cloud says, and heads out the door before anyone else can stop him.
Outside the bar, Leon is waiting, watching him with an impossible to read expression. Cloud scowls back and brushes past him, walking at a hurried pace towards the entrance to the 2nd District with his head down.
"You know he doesn't mean to hurt you and Tifa," Leon says quietly, easily matching his pace.
Cloud scoffs in response. "He's a grown man, Leon. He's old enough to know if he disappears for months on end with so much as a goodbye he's going to make us worry."
Leon opens his mouth to reply, but slowly closes it, not sure what he should say to ease the stress he can see in his friend's face. They reach the double doors to the 2nd District in silence and each grab a handle, pulling the heavy doors wide.
Cloud sighs as they walk through. "I can't imagine how much pain Zack went through when he lost Ven. I know it's something he just can't forget about, but is it asking too much to want him to move on? I mean…"
Cloud sighs again and Leon watches him silently, giving him time to find the words. It's not until they reach the steps down to the lower level that Cloud speaks up again.
"I love him like a brother," he says softly. "And I hate watching him throw away his life like this. If he continues on like this, chasing every tiny lead across the universe only to find nothing, I'm afraid it's going to kill him. I'm afraid he's going to walk out that door one day and he isn't ever going to come back. How he can he do that to us? To Tifa?"
"I don't know," Leon replies, wishing he had something better to offer. "But maybe if the two of you talked about it, you could help him." Leon turns to Cloud only to find he isn't at his side. "Cloud?"
Turning around, he sees Cloud standing in the center of the district looking around with his brow furrowed. "Where are they?" He asks and Leon looks around too, remembering they had come to find Sora and the others.
"Marlene said this is where they were going," Leon says slowly, warning bells already going off in his mind and he can see Cloud is feeling the same. "Maybe they're in the Third District," he says and Cloud nods not really listening.
"What's that?" Cloud asks, pointing a few feet to Leon's left.
Leon looks and sees something small lying on the ground like it had been dropped there and forgotten. Moving to it, he bends down and picks it up. "It's a camera," he says turning it over as Cloud walks over.
His finger hits a button and the screen lights up, showing the last picture that had been taken. "What the?" He says, the breath catching in his chest. Sora and Kairi are in it, kissing and obviously oblivious to the fact the picture is being taken. But it's what's in the background that makes Leon's heart start beating at triple its usual rhythm.
There is a man with awful yellow eyes standing in front of a swirling portal of darkness watching Sora and Kairi with a twisted triumphant expression.
"What is it?" Cloud asks, looking over his shoulder. Leon is too late in trying to hide the image. Cloud's face drains of color and with a horrified expression he looks to Leon and then the spot next to them where Sora and Kairi had been in the picture.
"No…" The single syllable is small and defeated and hearing it come from Cloud's mouth makes Leon want to hit something, preferably the stranger in the picture.
"C'mon," Leon says, stuffing the camera into his pocket. "The others need to know." He watches Cloud, thinking his friend is frozen in shock, but Cloud's eyes blaze with anger.
Cloud takes off in a run, headed back for the First District leaving Leon to hurry after him, feeling his gut clench as he wonders just what had happened to Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy.
…
With five members of the organization off at Castle Oblivion, The Castle That Never Was feels empty and Roxas walks down a gray and white hallway with only the echo of his footsteps to keep him company. It isn't really the lack of people that is making the castle seem empty, but rather the lack of one person in particular. Axel.
Since Axel had left, Roxas hasn't really felt like himself and has taken to spending the time he isn't on missions sitting in the Gray Room, waiting for Axel's return. He thought often about going to the clocktower in Twilight Town and eating ice cream alone, but he knows there would be something missing without Axel. Something he doesn't quite understand. Maybe he'll ask Demyx about it later. It might be one of those emotions he and Zexion had told him about.
The Gray Room is empty when Roxas enters, but as he sits down on one of the couches, Saix appears in the doorway.
"Number XIII," Saix says and Roxas scrambles to his feet.
"Number VII?" As always, Saix's hard glare makes Roxas gulp.
"The Superior requests for you to meet with him at the Dark Margin," Saix says, his tone making it clear it is an order not a request.
"At the what?" Roxas asks nervously. Why did Xemnas want to see him? Did he know about what Zexion told him about Nobodies having hearts or Axel being a traitor?
"The Dark Margin," Saix repeats, obviously annoyed. He summons a dark corridor next to Roxas. "He will meet you there."
Roxas nods, knowing he has no other choice. Trying not to look worried, Roxas takes one last glance at Saix before stepping through the corridor.
He steps back out of the crushing darkness to the slightly less dark landscape of a beach bathed in moonlight. It's eerily quiet here with only the waves crashing on the shore to be heard. The sound soothes his nerves at the thought of being confronted by Xemnas and as he listens, he almost starts to smile.
For a long moment Roxas stands in place, not wanting to disturb the stillness of the world around him, but as he examines the dull grey sand and the dark black rocks, something on the beach catches his eye. Half buried in the sand is something silver, glinting in the moonlight and out of place. Stooping down, Roxas brushes away the sand and picks up the small object to examine it only to turn around at the sound of a dark corridor opening behind him.
Hastily, he sticks what he found in his pocket and straightens up to face Xemnas who steps out on to the beach, the corridor he had come through closing after him.
"Number XIII," Xemnas says in greeting. His yellow eyes sweep over Roxas in a quick, accessing motion.
"Superior," Roxas replies with a stiff incline of his head. He stands with his back straight and his arms at his sides, waiting for Xemnas to tell him why he wanted to speak to him, but Xemnas turns his back to Roxas and makes his way to the shore.
Confused, Roxas watches him lean relaxed against a black rock, looking out over the water. Not sure what he should do, Roxas hesitantly follows him, stopping just to Xemnas' left. The older man has his eyes closed and with his face expressionless as ever, it almost looked like he could be sleeping, but after a moment he speaks.
"What do you know of hearts, Number XIII?"
Roxas' stomach feels like it has fallen into his shoes. "Hearts, sir?" He says, thinking of everything Zexion had told him and how dangerous it was to be talking about.
"Hearts are...everything," Xemnas says, dropping his chin onto his chest and keeping his eyes closed. "They are the greatest power imaginable. Light of the purest kind or darkness blacker than night reside in such fragile vessels held bound by love and hate, loyalty and greed. Nothing is more complex or unexplainable."
Roxas stares, unsure what to make of this. Calling Xemnas' words passionate would be a stretch, but seeing him talk about hearts is the closest Roxas has seen of him showing emotions. "Is that why you're gathering them? For their power?" Roxas asks.
Xemnas makes a small noise of agreement. "Hearts are the only thing we lack," he says. "Nobodies, empty vessels, born to live in nothingness and know nothing more. It is a mere shadow of really existing."
The sounds of the waves are the only thing to hear once more as Xemnas falls silent. Not wanting to speak out of turn, Roxas focuses on digging a pebble out of the sand. He succeeds and the freed rock rolls the short slope to the water's edge and falls in with a plop.
At the small sound, Xemnas' eyes open and for a second Roxas is sure his eyes had turned blue. The moment passes and Xemnas begins to speak once more.
"You are very important, Roxas," he says. "You have a greater purpose than any nobody should be given. For you, this mockery of existence has reason and in that, power to change everything."
"I don't understand," Roxas says, but as he does so, Xemnas stands and steps forward to put his toes just out of reach of the waves.
"I come to this spot where the waves crash against the shore often, trying to understand. Here the tide will forever try to pull the land and water apart, but the water always returns. Like everything in life, it is cyclical. Always ending up back where it started. It can't escape such a fate."
Xemnas tilts his head slightly a quizzical look passing over his face. "Those with hearts find the sound of waves calming," he says. He turns to Roxas and looks down to meet his eyes. "Tell me, Roxas, can you hear the waves?"
Roxas looks at the water and then back at the cold yellow eyes boring into him. "I…" he says his already confused mind sent spinning by such a strange question. "Sir, I don't think I understand."
"Then you are not ready," Xemnas says a final note to his voice. He moves away from the water and summons a dark corridor. "Do not linger here much longer, Number XIII," he says stepping back into the portal. "It's unwise to stare into dark abysses for too long."
A moment later Xemnas is gone and Roxas sits down in the sand to think about everything Xemnas had said. Something is poking him in the side and remembering he pulls the silver charm he had found our of his pocket.
Seeing it up close for the first time he instantly recognizes it as a keychain, designed to fit on the handle of a keyblade. It's silver and in the shape of a symbol Roxas doesn't recognize. Three blunt spikes point out from the bottom of a heart with box like angles and the edges are tarnished like it has been here for a long time.
He doesn't really think about it as he puts it back in his pocket. His mind is still cluttered with Xemnas' cryptic words, but as he leans back in the sand he feels it all slip away. As he leans back he closes his eyes and listens.
Yes! Finally! This chapter is a turning point in the story and from here on our we are on a downhill tumble to the end.
Lots and lots of new information being thrown in this chapter with some people probably seeming to act a little weird. *cough cough* Xemnas *cough* Xemnas *cough cough*
Also Namine probably seemed different. She's not quite like how she was in the game...yeah I took a lot of liberties in her character… If anyone is a hardcore Namine fan you probably won't like the way I portray her here.
Oh! And if you don't remember the importance of the keychain Roxas found, I highly recommend going back and reading the very end of MEKA again. It may clear things up.
I'd love to hear any predictions people have! (Not that I'll confirm or deny any of them but for funsies tell me anyway!)
Well, it's 2AM here and I'm finally done so signing off for tonight (this morning? whatever). See ya next time! :)