Chapter 33 The Locked Door (Part 1)
"Not this place again," Donald groans, glaring at the sand under his feet. He shields his eyes like the others who are still blinking to adjust to the sudden, blinding sunshine that had hit them as soon as they'd walked through the door on the second floor.
"Where are we?" Kairi asks looking up at the walls of a large city in front of them .
"Welcome to Agrabah, Kairi," Sora says as he and Riku start to lead the way to the nearest gate.
Kairi follows behind with Donald and Goofy. "This is Agrabah?" The boys had told her stories of their homeworld, but their description of kind of warmer than Traverse Town turns out to have been a huge understatement.
They had, unfortunately, been incredibly accurate in describing the crowds though. As soon as they are inside the walls, the noise and the people overwhelmed them, threatening to separate Kairi from the group before Sora grabs her hand.
Riku leads the way like it is second nature to maneuver the crowd. He manages to find a corner out of the traffic where they can group together enough to talk without shouting.
"We have to figure out how to get back to the castle," Riku says and the others nod.
"Last time it just sort of happened," Kairi says thinking back to how one moment she'd been watching Sora nearly get buried alive by the collapsing coliseum, and the next they were back in the white halls of MEKA.
"Maybe it had something to do with the Hydra," Goofy says. "Once it was destroyed, the Coliseum just disappeared."
Sora nods in agreement. "That makes sense, but why the Hydra?" He asks. "And why were Zack and Herc younger? Why didn't they know us?"
Kairi rubs her temple. She never did well in the heat and these impossible questions are making her headache worse. "So we need to find another Hydra to kill?" She asks, frustrated.
"Doubt it," Riku says, looking around. "Agrabah doesn't have Hydras. Maybe just something like a Hydra…"
He trails off, thinking, but he's interrupted by a sudden shout through the crowded street and a whole lot of people running towards them.
"Monster! Monster in the bazaar!" A merchant shouts, struggling to run with him arms piled with his wares. A plate off the top of his pile falls and Kairi catches it, setting it back in its place. "Thank you," the merchant says before disappearing into the crowd.
"C'mon," Sora says, summoning his keyblade and pointing up the street. "The bazaar is this way."
He leads the way against the tide of people fleeing. The sight of their weapons clear a path for them and it doesn't take long for them to burst into the large courtyard.
The bazaar is as loud as ever, but it is loud with panic not the usual chaos of the everyday haggling in Agrabah. The cause of the panic is not hard to find. The heartless is huge - two stories tall and at least 6 feet wide. It's six arms move independently on its rampage, knocking down stalls and scattering wares.
"Get all these people out of here!" Sora shouts to his friends, as he summons his keyblade. At the moment the huge heartless seems content to smash the stalls at the far end of the bazaar to splinters, but eventually it will get bored and seek other targets. They had to get these people out now. "Leave it!" He yells at a merchant trying to stuff more pieces of jewelry into his overflowing pockets.
The merchant takes one look at him and then one at the monster and then he flees with the jewels he can gather in his arms. Sora stares down another merchant a few stalls down who had watched the exchange. the man decides not to cross him and runs off as well.
Satisfied they are out of the way, Sora turns to herd more people out, but stops short at the sudden appearance of a man with long blond hair leering over him. "You -," Sora says, taking in the black coat the man is wearing.
A smirk crosses the man's face. "This experiment is over," he says and like a switch being thrown, Agrabah disappears in an instant as the white walls of MEKA return.
The heartless are gone and so is the panicking crowd leaving the keyblade wielders, Donald, and Goofy startled by the sudden change. They all face the man in the black coat, warily closing ranks, waiting to see what he would do.
"Who are you?" Riku demands, but the man isn't paying them any attention. He's looking over his shoulder at the corner by the stairs to the next floor where a girl in a white dress looks on with her head tilted curiously. Her eyes lack warmth as she stares down the keyblade wielders.
"Namine," the blond man says in a sharp voice. "Go upstairs and prepare for the next phase."
The girl doesn't say a word or even move, but a black portal appears around her and she disappears into it.
Sora watches as the portal disappearing, wondering why the girl had looked so familiar, but she wasn't the biggest issue now. "Hey!" He shouts, getting the man's attention. "He asked you a question."
"Hmph," the man said, surveying the lot of them with a look of contempt. "My name is Vexen. I have been in charge of this experiment, but it's completion is no longer necessary."
"Experiment?" Sora repeats, glancing at his friends. He tightens his grip on his keyblade. "What experiment?"
"The intricacies are not of importance now," Vexen says, waving a hand dismissively in Sora's direction. "Your experiment is no longer needed for the Organization and therefore has been terminated. It is time to dispose of the loose ends."
At a flourish of Vexen's hand, gangly white figures appear in a ring around Sora and his friends. "I think we're the loose ends," Sora says, falling into a battle stance.
"You think?" Riku replies sarcastically.
"What are these things?" Donald asks and with the sound of a zipper ripping open, the white creatures' mouths open revealing sharp teeth.
"They're not heartless," Kairi says. None of the creatures have the right insignia on them to be heartless. Their small group forms a loose circle facing out at the creatures. All of them are reluctant to make the first move against this unknown enemy.
Vexen, however, has no qualms with starting this fight. "Nobodies," he shouts out. "Attack!"
The white creatures dive forward, faster and with more agility than heartless. "Guess they're called Nobodies," Sora says to Riku as he throws back the Nobody that collides with him.
Riku grunts as he strikes out at another Nobody. "They're strong," he says, noting how the creature barely stumbles.
"Hmph," Sora replies, landing a combo on the Nobody in front of him. "Not that strong," he comments as the Nobody disappears. He moves onto the next Nobody, taking it down as well. As he kills the second one, he lets a smug smile spread across his face.
In less than a minute, the eight Nobodies Vexen had sent at them are gone and the group of five comes out of the short battle unscathed.
"Is that all you got?" Donald sneers at Vexen and the blond man sneers back.
"Hardly," he replies in a cold voice and he snaps his fingers.
One by one, more Nobodies appear and form a new circle around Sora and the others. Some are the same as the first ones that had attacked the group, but new types have joined the mix. Some carry samurai swords, others lances. Skinny pink ones move around, fluid and fast, and tall tan ones wield heavy looking claymores.
Among the crowd of Nobodies, Vexen stands grinning and raises a finger to point right at them. "Attack."
…
"This is Castle Oblivion?"
Roxas turns in a circle, staring in awe at the whiteness of the place. The Castle That Never Was had been far from colorful, but this place is so colorless it seems sterile. Like what the castle holds is to precious to be dirtied and simply them being there is trespassing.
"Yeah," Axel says, his arms crossed over his chest. "This is the twelfth floor. Not that you can tell. Every room in this place is exactly the same."
While Roxas continues to look at his surroundings, Axel stares across the room to the staircase leading to the thirteenth floor - the floor he was never able to get to. Though he can't see it, he knows in the center of the room is a boundary line where the magic of the old castle makes everyone stop in their tracks.
"And you think Ven is on the thirteenth floor?" Roxas asks.
Axel nods in reply. It's his best guess if Ven is a real person and if he is right that Xemnas is interested in finding Ven too. What Xemnas' interest in Ven could be, Axel doesn't have the faintest clue, but the guy must be important if he is what the old magic of this castle is protecting.
Roxas starts to move towards the stairs and Axel follows a step behind. He watches the halfway point of the room come closer, but he doesn't warn Roxas. Maybe the hair raising instinct to run away that the magic created would convince Roxas to drop this nonsense of throwing his heart away.
A few more steps and they would hit the invisible barrier. Axel stares at Roxas back, waiting to see his shoulders stiffen in the inexplicable fear.
But Roxas doesn't react.
Over halfway across the room, Roxas doesn't seem bothered in the slightest. To Axel's shock the blond keeps walking, shoulders relaxed and eyes set straight on the stairs in front of him.
Then the magic hits Axel and he forgets about what Roxas is doing. All Axel can think is that he shouldn't be here. It isn't right. Like an animal accidentally wandering into a lion's den, he should be turning tail and running. He has no choice but to stumble backwards.
"Axel?" Roxas is on the first step, looking back at him confused. "Aren't you coming?"
Gaping at him, Axel asks, "Can't you feel it?"
"Feel what?" Roxas replies, coming back across the room with ease. There isn't even a trace of fear in his eyes.
"The spell," Axel says and takes another step back feeling the power of the magic lessen but it didn't go away completely. "C'mon Roxas. We shouldn't be here. It was a stupid idea to come in the first place." He turns away, raising a shaking hand to summon a dark corridor as Roxas runs to his side.
"Axel, wait!" Roxas says and grabs Axel's hand to stop him.
The change is instantaneous. With Roxas' hand on his, the magic pushing Axel away is gone. "H-how are you doing that?" Axel asks, gripping Roxas' hand tighter and pulling him a step closer.
"Doing what?" Roxas asks. He tries to pull his hand back, but Axel doesn't let him. "Please Axel, I can't leave now."
Axel can't believe what he is hearing. Everyone who tried to enter the thirteenth floor wanted to leave. That is what the spell does to them. But Zexion had talked of an exception.
"A barrier like this is not usually designed to repel everyone," Zexion had said. "The one's I've read about allow a select few through."
Neither Axel nor Zexion had been special enough to be allowed through, but Roxas is. Roxas belongs here and Axel dreads what that means.
"Alright," he forces himself to say. It seems the whole universe is conspiring against him and anything he says won't make a dent in Roxas' determination to find Ven.
He tries to return Roxas' smile and let's Roxas lead him across the room. After a few steps, Roxas tries to drop Axel's hand, but Axel's fingers don't loosen their hold on him. He raises an eyebrow, but Axel stares back at him completely serious.
Their footsteps echo on the tile and with every step the stairs to the thirteenth floor are getting closer. To avoid thinking about what might happen when they get up there, Axel focuses instead on Roxas' warm hand in his. It's smaller than Axel's, but they fold together well. Like their hands were meant to intertwine. Axel let out a weak chuckle at such a cheesy thought.
"What's funny?" Roxas asks, his head tilted like it always does when he's confused.
Axel feels himself starting to blush and turns his eyes back to the stairs they've reached. "Nothing, just...thinking."
Roxas is quiet for a moment, but half way up the stairs he stops, bringing Axel to a stop as well. "I've been thinking too," Roxas says. "I've been thinking about how if Ven is here - how if I give him my heart - how I might -"
"Don't," Axel interrupts. "Don't say something like that." His voice shakes.
What Roxas was going to say hangs between them. It doesn't need to be put into words. Both of them know Roxas might not walk away from this.
Roxas takes a deep breath. "I'm scared. Axel, I'm terrified."
"Then don't go up there." Axel grabs both of Roxas' hands with his. "You don't know this Ven. You don't know Zack. You don't owe them anything. You don't have to give up your life for a stranger."
"You don't understand, Axel," Roxas says, not meeting the redhead's eyes. "I have a heart that isn't mine. It's not supposed to be this way. Ven is supposed to be here, not me."
"Roxas-"
"I have to do this, Axel." Roxas voice is quiet and empty. "I have to do this, but you don't have to be here. You don't have to be here to see…"
Roxas' fingers loosen from Axel's, but Axel holds on tighter. "No," he says. "I'm not leaving you here alone."
The silence that stretches between them is painful for Axel. There are other things he wants to say, but the words won't come out.
Roxas' fingers fold back into place over Axel's. "Thank you."
Axel smiles as best he can. "Best friends don't let you do stupid things alone."
Roxas laughs, shaky and nervous. He looks up to the top of the stairs. "C'mon."
Hand in hand, side by side, they climb the remaining stairs.
Unlike the rest of Castle Oblivion, the thirteenth floor isn't a perfect copy of the other floors. Double doors stands at the far end, white like the rest of the castle, but the design inscribed on the surface pulses with magic.
Axel studies it apprehensively as the two of them make their way to the center of the room. The design is made of chains, crisscrossing over each other to form a secure web. At the center is a symbol Axel doesn't recognize, but Roxas frowns and reaches into his pocket.
"Axel, look at this."
He pulls out a silver charm with a chain and a hook to attach to the end of one of his keyblades. The shape is unmistakable. It is the same symbol that is on the door.
"Where did you get that?" Axel asks.
Roxas summons his Oathkeeper keyblade in the same hand he has the charm in, replying, "I found it." Roxas looks up at Axel. "I have to let go of your hand to put it on my keyblade."
They are much closer to whatever is hidden on the thirteenth floor now and Axel is sure the magic he'd felt before will be double as strong here. The last thing he wants to do is let go of Roxas' hand, but he nods and let's Roxas' fingers slip out of his.
The need to flee returns. Something invisible is telling Axel he shouldn't be here. He knows he shouldn't be here. Every fiber of him wants to listen to the instinct and run, but Roxas is here and Roxas is scared. Roxas needs him to stay strong.
Roxas' fingers grasp his hand again and Axel's lets out a breath he hadn't realized he been holding. "You okay?" Roxas asks, looking Axel over with a worried expression.
"Yeah," Axel says, taking a deep breath. He spots the keyblade in Roxas hand, a very different one than Oathkeeper. "What is that for?"
Roxas holds the keyblade up to examine it. It's slender gray blade and simple square handle is the complete opposite of the complex design of oathkeeper. "I think...it's to unlock the door," Roxas says slowly. He turns in place to face the closed door.
He points the blade at the center of the door. "You ready?" He asks Axel, tightening his grip on his hand.
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Axel replies.
Roxas' keyblade falters a bit. He looks away from the door to face Axel. "Thank you for everything, Axel."
Axel smiles down at him. With his free hand he ruffles Roxas' hair. "Don't sweat it, Rox."
Roxas tries to smile back, but it's a sad smile. Turning back to the door he points his keyblade once more and closes his eyes. After a moment, a light appears on the tip of the blade and Axel stares as it gets brighter and brighter until it bursts forward in a beam, striking the closed door. Enveloping it in light.
All at once, the floor starts to shake. Roxas' eyes fly open and the light stops. The rumbling doesn't though and Axel pulls Roxas closer to him to keep them both from falling down.
As quickly as it had started, the rumbling stops. The light over the door fades to reveal the chain pattern is gone and the door now stands ajar, tempting them to go in and see what lies beyond it.
Hey everyone! So sorry this took so long. I've been so busy that honestly I didn't realize it had been over a month since I last updated until micaelaann. cruz pointed it out to me! I had planned on this chapter being twice as long, but I really wanted to get something out now, hence this chapter being part 1. Part 2 will be out when I can get it done. I wish I could promise it won't take as long next time, but I can't. I'm on the softball team at my college and our season is just about to start so practice is eating up all my free time. Once I get out of school (like the middle of May) updates will go back to a more reasonable schedule so please hang in there with me until then! You're all such lovely readers for understanding!
P.S. - I love songs that convey the feeling of a certain character or situation. Leave Out All the Rest by Linkin Park is so fucking perfect for Roxas both in this story and in the game. If you've never heard it go listen! It's such a good song.