Chapter 68: An Old Friend
A security camera hovered in the corner of the computer lab as its view pointed towards the computer. It scanned the area as it slowly rotated its position to face the doorway. The camera began to scan the area when it noticed a figure. The figure was wearing a black organisation XIII coat with the hood covering their face. The security camera looked over the figure and translated that the figure was not found in the database, sounding a warning and knowing a 'cautious' sign while noticing the figure as 'unknown'. As soon as the warning went off, the figure fired at the camera making the camera go static and shut down.
"Tron! Could you locate the other cameras on that log?" Riku asked as he shut the video down and looked at the other data of Organisation XIII. Soon, several images of the log showed up showing different views of the unknown figure. All of the logs end up the same with the figure destroying every single one. "DAMN IT!" Riku slammed his fist on the keyboards, not noticing that he had brought up another file.
"I see that you're having problems too." Riku turned around to see that Ven had returned from exploring below the computer room with Pluto sniffing for clues once more. "At least I have an excuse."
"What's that then?" Riku asked.
"It's too advance." He simply answered before looking onto the computer screen. "I wanted to say sorry for earlier. I guess that I just want to see my friends again."
"How long have you been looking for them?" He asked as he watched Ven knell down to pet Pluto.
"Two years." He said sadly, "No sign of them." He stood back up, only to notice a sudden flash from the computer screen. "Hey! What's that?"
"Huh?" Riku looked back at the computer screen to see that some sort of log had appeared ready on the screen. Both of the keyblade wielders stepped over the console and played the log.
This log is for the purpose for the remains of my heart as I feel the darkness consuming it as I speak and will be the only time I can express the emotions left for these forgotten memories.
"Xehanort?" Riku raised an eyebrow at this, "This must be right before turning into a heart-"
"Terra..." Ven seemed to be glued to the screen that Riku had to pull him back just to see the computer screen.
"Terra?" Riku questioned, "That's Xehanort."
"No! It's Terra!" Ven shot back, "I think I know my friend who was like a brother to me when I see him."
"Well, I think I know the person who possessed me when I see him!" Riku argued back.
"Terra would never do that!" Ven stepped forward.
"That's not Terra!" Riku stepped closer, the two were close to starting a duel to the death. Pluto barked at the both of them to stop the two from fighting, after a few growls and the reminder that the video was still going on, the two turned back to watch.
I remember my friends, I remember about the keyblade's purposes, I remember being taught that they is no coincidence in fate, I remember that one way or the other...light will lead us to safety or destruction. Even though I tried to save my friend in ways that lead me to lose my existence, my actions only lead me to anew, to uncover the heart's purpose.
Riku and Ven watched the video fade away as the computer showed the phase 'brother'. Riku took in the information that was given to him. He started to question whether he knew who what the meaning of that message was but he knew one this, the Xehanort that possessed him and this Terra that Ven is talking about might be the same person.
"User Riku!" Tron announced for attention, "I have managed to over-write a system that was used on the day the unknown figure appeared. It needs a password that isn't the same to the one of the DTD." Riku began to type on the keyboard with the curious Ven by his side, coming out of his state from hearing the message. "Password accepted."
"What did you put in?" Ven questioned.
"What he told us to put in." He answered.
BOWBOWBOW
Roxas had woken up a while ago after recovering most of his memories of Xion but up to when she went on a mission with Axel and Xigbar and ended up beating the crap out of Xigbar and leaving the Organisation. Maybe that when she had gotten defeated but why would he remember everyone but her? He found himself back at the mural of him, Axel and Xion sitting at Destiny Islands. Roxas began to ask them what was going on and what they were going to do to get him back in contact with Sora but the two were still not sure whether he had gather the memories of Xion or not.
"Will one of you guys explain to me what is going on?" Roxas looked at both of his memory-formed friends for an answer for what they were going to do.
"We will once you have everything committed to memory." Axel patted his head once more.
"I remember having Sea Salt ice cream with just the two of you." Roxas simply said.
"And you pass." Axel cheered.
Xion shook her head as well as giggle at the two before looking at Roxas, "You know who did this, right?"
"Yeah." Roxas growled with angry, "It wanted me to betray Sora and Naminé and now Sora is suffering because I couldn't fight him."
"The darkness from Sora's heart had been fused with the conscience being of the soul, causing it to be this way." Xion explained. "It aims to free itself from Sora, similar to when a Heartless is released. That's why it destroyed the connection between Sora and Kairi so that you wouldn't be able to tell Naminé."
"But there's a loophole." Axel informed him.
"A loophole?" Roxas repeated.
"If we go through certain memories by finding these portals," Xion pointed to the blue portal that was formed from Roxas' flashbacks. "we will be able to connect through another memory so long that memory connects to us by sight, sound or words."
"Which is why we are going to take the connection from Sora to Riku then Riku can get you to Naminé." Axel added.
"Riku's connection?" Roxas was confused by this.
"Since Riku interfered with the Organisation plans during that fateful year when you and Xion joined. There was times when we had to retrieve Xion from him and that time when he fought you. He had also meant Naminé while in Castle Oblivion." Axel told him.
"Riku is the only one that can contact you to Naminé so long that we can inform him what is going on. I'm sure that he can help you get to Naminé." Xion added. "With the help of Naminé, you will be able to return to Sora, fight the soul and the others will know that something is wrong with Sora."
"So Roxas, are you up for this?" Axel smirked as he waited for an answer. Roxas nodded his head quickly and began to head towards the portal. Xion quickly grabbed him by the shoulder, preventing him from entering the portal. "There just one thing." Axel added. Roxas seemed to look at Xion's hand strangely before looking at Axel once Xion let go. "To create the portal that will allow us to contact Riku, we have to collect heart shards."
"Heart Shards?" Roxas questioned.
"It's the emotions that are held within the chains that connect to the memories." Xion answered.
"That thing that trapped you here destroyed the heart shards that connect to most of the connections of Sora's heart, mainly the one of Sora and Kairi as you know. All we have to do is go through some of Sora's memories through Castle Oblivion, fight some false memories and collect the shards from the memories that relate to Riku."
Roxas took in all of the information that his nobody friends had told him before looking at the two, "You guys will be coming. Right?"
"Of course." Xion smiled at him.
"You can't rid of us that easy." Axel chuckled.
"Right." Roxas looked at the portal once more, "Let's go."
BOWBOWBOW
The password that Riku had entered had opened a secret stairway on the lower level where Ventus and Pluto had been searching before. The two had discovered a huge staircase which gave Riku the time to ask Ven about the way he fought with the keyblade. Ven went to explain that he and his two friends went to a certain world, which he didn't mention the name of, where keyblade wielders will become a true Keyblade Master and would take on an apprentice from there or travel the worlds for knowledge to life itself. He kept everything else to himself and told Riku that the answers that he seeks will not be recovered from this ironic meeting. The Wielder of Dawn knew that he wasn't going to find out anything from Ventus at this very moment, it seemed as if Ven didn't trust him.
After reaching the bottom of the stairway, the two keyblade wielders walked through to the next door that they saw that lead them to a white hallway with cells at the side. "This must be where Ansem's research took place." Riku took in his surroundings as both of them searched each cell. "Maybe they used the cells for Heartless."
"Yeah maybe..." Ven trailed off as he was in thought. He walked towards the next door as it slid open to let a gasp escape him. "No...It couldn't...he wouldn't..." Ven ran into the room with Pluto chasing him worryingly.
Riku seemed to notice the distress in his voice and turned to see what was wrong by following the two of them. When he entered the room, he could tell that the Organisation must have came this room by noticingthe room with completely white as well as having the Nobody symbol over the floor and walls that were connected to chains that linked to the throne in the middle of the room and where Ven and Pluto had rush over to. He slowly walked over to the two see that Ven was on his knees while Pluto had his head hung down with sadness.
As soon as he was close enough, he could see that they were moping over old forgotten armour with a keyblade struck in the ground by the side of it. "Why? Why did this have to happen? Why did she..." Ven sobbed from the site. "How could I have let this happen?"
Riku kept his questions to himself, giving respect to the fallen keyblader who was obliviously a close friend to Ventus. Riku looked around the room once more to find that there was a button flashing on the armrest of the nobody-like throne. Riku slowly approached the throne let his hand run over the frame of the chair, feeling the desire to sit in the throne. He pressed the flashing button on the arm-rest to find that nothing happened. Strange. Riku turned away from the throne to face Ven standing up but soon found himself facing the throne once more, feeling the desire to sit on the throne like the Nobody leader once did. He could feel himself wanting to know what powers lie within this room, he could tell that the superior of Organisation XIII came into here a lot. Riku found himself stepping towards the throne once more.
Riku! Don't do it!
Riku froze in place, obeying the command. Is that the memory I encountered? He quickly shook the thought away before reaching for the throne once more. "Stop!" Ventus had turned around just in time to notice what the young wielder was doing and pulled him away from the throne.
"I'm checking the throne." Riku stated his actions.
"That is covered with dark energy. If you were to sit on the throne then might as well cut out your very existence." Ventus pointed out. Riku looked back at the throne and could sense the huge amount of darkness that surrounded the throne. How could I've had not sensed that? "For a keybearer, you know how to make the wrong ones." Ventus turned his back to Riku as he kneeled down to the remains of Aqua once more.
"I overcame the darkness and if want you say is true then your friend was the reason my heart was consumed." Riku spoke his mind.
"Terra wouldn't do that!" Ventus shot back as he turned straight back to him. "The darkness changed him. It wasn't his fault. He sacrificed everything to help me and Aqua." He turned away from him once more as he walked up to Pluto and began to stroke him.
"Look at the shattered remains of your close friend. The Heartless was created in sacrifice of her. You know who created the Heartless from Ansem's notes. The history of you and your friends' troubles has been passed on to me and my friends and I'm not going to stay and watch my friends die."
"Did you think I wanted to watch? To remain a shell while my friends fought?" Ven glared at Riku. "I may have lost my heart to let time pass me by but a worse fate is to ahead of your friends. One shall rise while another hollows in the shadows of a friend's death. I managed to rise by fate and destiny. Why do you think the Order members call you captain?"
"You've always been an idiot, Ventus!"
Both of the Keyblade wielders watched how the throne was swallowed by a sudden darkness and began to spread through the room. The veins of the dark crawled over the white flooring and pushed the wielders away, leaving enough room for the darkness the create a pillar from where the throne remained. Ventus looked over to Aqua's Keyblade and quickly dismissed the weapon before watching the dark pillar lower to reveal a familiar foe. "Vanitas." Ven spat with hate. Pluto seemed to have the same feeling as he growled at the stranger.
"I thought that you have known by now that Terra is no longer Terra." The dark stranger, who was known as Vanitas, said as he faced Ven in his armoured helmet and brown cloak which covered his appearance. "You should consider yourself unlucky; if you would have let union finish you wouldn't be weak."
"Why would I want to become an Endless like you?" Ventus glared at him. Riku eyes widened at this, if he was an Unbirth or Endless then he must be the leader of the Order. The one who ordered the capture of his dead friend. "What are you doing here?" Ven questioned.
"Why to see an old friend..." Vanitas looked at the remains of Aqua. "I wanted to see if my senses were right on your return to the world. To see if your heart had truly return, to see if you are ready ready for the union once more. But it seems that you will never be balanced without being an Endless."
"You were no friend. You had none." Ventus shot back. "You're only a shadow within the darkness.
"We appeared here once more because of Light's domain. You remember the stories of the keyblade war, don't you?" Ven growled at the mention of it. "Thousands of lives were destroyed and the keys that held to their heart remain in Sunset Horizon, all in sake of one. One that you can create if you join the union." He could see that Ven was resisting in summoning his keyblade. "When you got rid of me; the Heartless and Nobodies appeared."He turned to Riku, "When your friend opened the door to light, the Unbirth reappeared." He looked at both of them before smirking from inside his helmet. "If darkness had domain and light emerged victorious last time the worlds were misbalanced then think what will happen if light carries on being the domain of the worlds."
Riku watched the former apprentice of Xehanort as he looked at what information he had been given. If they defeat the Order, was there the chance that darkness will emerge out of nowhere and destroy the worlds in order to restore. "You want to remain control of the balance so that you can get this one." He had no idea what this 'one' they were talking about but this could be the only time to find out the Order's plans from the boss himself.
"Meaning letting you start the Keyblade War." Ventus added.
"That's my proposition to you. That is...if you want the royal mice to live." Vanitas pulled a cloud of darkness closer to him to form a circle shape in front of him. The circle soon showed the image of the royal mice Mickey and Minnie chained up against the stone cold wall.
Riku got his right hand ready to summon his keyblade when Ven quickly turned to him, "Don't!"
"Why not?" Riku argued quietly.
"Yes Ventus. Why not let the keyblade wielder with such potential express his skills before me?" Vanitas chuckled at the two. Both of the wielders remained where they were, with Pluto by their side, expressing their answer within their faces. "I assume that my proposition has been declined. So be it..." Vanitas relaxed as he summoned a dark keyblade. The teeth and head are black with a red outline and possesses a round, cog-like shape. The handle is red and the guard has the same coloration and cog-like shape as the teeth. The shaft is predominantly colored in shades of grey and sports a copper-colored gear in the center, with two intersecting, black chains wrapped around it. Two more chains are wrapped around the base of the shaft in a similar fashion. It also has two blue, reptilian eyes, like the Soul Eater Keyblade.
Riku was surprised to see that the leader of the Order was a keyblader. He watched as Vanitas began to form a dark beam at the end of his keyblade and pointed it towards the shadow ball showing the king and queen. "NOOO!" Riku called out.
Vanitas gasped as his keyblade disappeared from his sealed hands and found that he couldn't summon it again. He looked around the half affected shadowed room before sensing a familiar energy. Because of this, he had his back turned from the keybladers, who couldn't summon their weapons either. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS? YOU DARE INTERFERE?" He shouted to part of the shadowed room.
"Must remain one for thousand." The voice said before a light ending up swallowing the room of remorse in whole...where sleep shall remain.
BOWBOWBOW
"WOOF!"
Riku groaned as he felt the wetness of the slimy thing that was currently consuming his cheek. He felt weak from what had happened in the room of remorse or really...the room of sleep. He slowly opened his eyes to find a familiar German shepherd-border collie licking his cheek like an ice cold ice cream on a summer's day.
"There she is!"
Riku pushed himself up to see that he had ended back in the marketplace. He looked in the direction of the voices calling for Angelo to see that Leon and Riona that running to towards his direction. As soon as they had reached his direction, they showed a confused expression on their face. "Riku? I thought you were in the castle?" Leon questioned.
"I was but now I'm here." Riku drifted off as he looked around his surroundings, "Have you seen Pluto or a blonde haired guy that might look like Sora?" Riku asked.
"Nope." Riona asked honestly. "We saw a spark of light from the back of the castle but Angelo ended up running off before we could check it out." Riku smiled before walking behind them as the two began to head back to Merlin's house, properly to say their goodbyes for when he and Donald head to Little Devon to wait for the others. Riku halted on the quick and looked up to the clear blue sky, I wonder what had happened to Ventus and Pluto?
BOWBOWBOW
Ventus looked around feverishly with his keyblade ready, as he took in his location. It looked like the same style that the room of remorse was in. "Why Ventus, what a surprise to have you pay a visit." A calm witch-like voice spoke. Ventus gasped at the voice as it was familiar as the clear of day. Pluto was barking angrily at the voice while Ventus was turning to face the mysterious figure. Before he could get the chance to see, think black thrones covered the both of them that trapped them in the nature of darkness. Before they were inclosed, he heard the familiar voice again, "I'm sure that we'll give you a warm welcome." The voice laughed evilly with an echo of other laughs behind that one.
He couldn't go back to sleep...he knew that everything was born by sleep...including the deepest darkness that remain trapped in people's hearts.
Kingdommad