Author's note: I'm back from my holiday guys, but I probably won't be writing as much as I would like for the next couple of weeks, since I...*Coughs and hacks, and tries to sneeze but can't* got a bad cold at the moment, which sucks. But that doesn't mean I can't write.
All rights belong to Disney, Square Enix and Nintento/Pokemon Company(for the Pokemon world I set up here).
Chapter nine: Changes aren't always good.
Continuing from the last chapter with the Sea-Salt trio...
When Saix had just announced that Xemnas and Xigbar are missing, everyone else was completely silent. At first, most of them thought this was some kind of joke, but then again, the blue-haired man never joked, much less even smile, and Axel has known him of being completely emotionless since becoming a Nobody. Still, the news that the Superior and a co-worker gone missing was unsettling, even to him.
"...Am I dreaming, or are you completely serious?" Axel was the first to break the silence as he asked.
"I would rather this to be a dream myself, but unfortunately, this is real." Saix muttered, sighing. "I've searched as many places as possible for the Superior and Xigbar, but to no avail."
Now Axel was getting supicious. "Who are you and what have you done to Saix?" he asked, half sarcastically.
"Why would the Superior and Xigbar just disappear like that?" Xion thought, getting more worried now.
"If I knew, I would told you. Unfortunately, he is not even on the rooftop where Kingdom Hearts is closely seen." Saix replied. "I doubt Xigbar has any connections with Lord Xemnas's disappearence, but with him also missing...it leaves me troubled." though Axel knew that Saix was a bit more than pleased with this. This is better than their original plan, but still...this wasn't what the redhead had in mind.
Despite that Roxas didn't like the idea of having Saix as the Organization's new current leader, a thought occured to him and he couldn't help but ask, "You don't think, that the guy in the red coat has anything to do with it?" causing everyone else to stare at him, all in hints of 'surprise'. On the other hand, now that this was said, it was possible that Roxas's theory might be right.
"Surprisingly, those were my first thoughts, and I cannot rule it out completely as a possible salution." Saix agreed. "If the mysterious enemy in red has anything to do with this, then it's possible that he knows where we are and took them by surprise."
Demyx's eyes widened in fear, both that the man in red has possibly taken out Xemnas and Xigbar, and that now that Saix was the current avaliable leader, he was on a higher risk of being Dusked completely. So, in order to prevent himself in becoming a Dusk, he hesitatedly asked, "So uh...what's the plan for today, Sir?"
For once, Saix was on mental edge. This wasn't what he had in mind, despite that he had now current full control of the Organization. So he gave out the orders he was all too used to by now, "For now, continue the Heart collecting until further notice. At the same time, if you see the man in red, avoid him as much as possible. We do not know how powerful he is."
Demyx was the first to leap up and teleport himself away to his mission, almost screaming. Xaldin and Luxord also vanished to a random world as well. Roxas and Xion glanced at each other, then to Axel who shrugged, just as lost as they were. Not knowing what kind of world would be suitable for missions, Roxas and Xion both teleported into a Corridor and headed towards Twilight Town to take out more Heartless. Once the other five members were gone, Axel was left alone with the Nobody of his childhood friend back when they were both human.
Both men were silent on the matter, as their plan to overtake the Organization hasn't gone as well as they figured, since it was too easy, but at the same time, it left them at loss and both felt uncomfortable. Eventually, Axel was the first to break the silence, and he asked, "So, you're the current leader now. Still wanna go search for whatever Lord Xemnas was looking for?"
"In truth, with Lord Xemnas gone, I'm not certain." Saix muttered. "With the Superior gone, those clues we sought out to discover his agenda now seem a waste."
"It was probably a waste since we got here." Axel shrugged, before adding with a bit more firm expression, "You and I both know that Xemnas was secretive, even to his own employees. The only one I know who talks a lot about him is Xigbar, and I don't even like that guy either. He was secretive too."
He walked closer to the other man and continued as he stopped a few inches away, "You had something to do with their disappearences, didn't you?"
Saix only quirked an eyebrow at Axel, and asked, "Do you really think I would be the cause of their disappearences, even after nine years of serving Xemnas?"
"You do have a short temper." Axel admitted. "Always have been the one not to wait. Like back when we were kids." referring to their childhood times when Axel was Lea and Saix was Isa.
"Thank you for your compliment." Saix muttered sarcastically, before stating firmly, "I don't have any responsability to what happened to Lord Xemnas or Xigbar. For one thing, I have a feeling that Roxas may be right. For someone new and young, he has intelliegence."
Axel rolled his eyes, "Yeah, Rox' is smart and all, and I like that kid. Xion too. But there is a certain sentence we all know at school named, 'Paying attention' to classes." he said in half sarcasm, but then he admitted, "I gotta hand it to ya's, you might be right. Maybe Xemnas's distraction over Kingdom Hearts finally got him so distracted that the guy in the red cloak caught him off-guard."
The redhead then asked, more to himself than to his former friend, "But what gets to me is, though, how did he figure this place out or when to attack without any of us sensing him?"
"You couldn't sense him in Castle Oblivion?"
"Come on, I would've told you that much." Axel pointed out. "I told you before that place was a maze, one who couldn't teleport like we can could end up stuck in forever."
"But you did mention of that woman, Aqua, for she had senses to that place as far as you reported." Saix stated.
Axel blinked, then admitted, "Well, sort of. I think she was too busy focusing on Riku. Besides, she was Marluxia's backup plan, since Naminé disappeared and Sora never stepped foot at the Castle."
"Then let give you another reason." Saix began, looking at Axel right in the eyes with his current amber-coloured ones, "Xion comes from the castle to which Naminé can be traced."
The red-haired man gasped softly in shock, caught off-guard. Xion came from Castle Oblivion too? How was that possible? Was she also connected to Kairi? That didn't make any sense. So he let the blue-haired man continue. "The place where both Naminé and Xion were born... It's practically calling out for you."
Axel held in the uncomfortable feeling that was slowly rising to explode. First Roxas was remembering things that Sora never encountered, and Xion...born in Castle Oblivion? Why did he have a bad feeling about this?
In the end, he shrugged, saying, "Hmph... Whatever. As far as the castle goes, you're the one who really wants to go there. Since Xemnas is gone, this might be an opputinity for you. Now this is a chance to really figure out what he was looking for in that chamber. You would find out everything about Xemnas's true agenda. Am I right?"
"The Chamber of Repose, as well as the Chamber of Waking." Saix confirmed. "Xemnas has an agenda that he hasn't told to anybody. And we are bound to find some clues in the Chamber of Waking."
"My original plan was to dispose of Vexen and Zexion." Axel said, "But Larxene and that guy in red has beaten me to both occascions. But still, I knew the time would come when Vexen and Zexion got in your way. That's why I took the initiative...and cleared the way to the top for you. I can handle all the dirty work. You go all the way to the top."
"Considering there is nothing left to do now that Xemnas is gone, you will go to Castle Oblivion today." Saix stated, turning to leave.
"By the way, was there any mention of this some kind of X-Blade before Xemnas disappeared?" Axel asked before his former friend could leave, causing Saix to pause.
Both were silent, before the blue-haired man shook his head. "Never heard of it." before he walked away, leaving Axel alone.
Castle Oblivion...Namine...Xion...the X-Blade from Roxas's nightmare. Axel couldn't help but strangely feel unsettled by this. Saix was hiding something, and he knew it. Axel thought back of his own nightmares, and they left him cold. He had some investigating to do, but he couldn't mention this to Roxas or Xion. They were both still new...and young. They were his friends. He lost so much since becoming a Nobody, and he couldn't lose anything more precious to him.
Not again.
Back with Sora and his group...
Sora, Donald, Goofy, Namine, Ash, Pikachu, Misty, Togepi and Brock made it into the town, still looking around, but so far, not a single Heartless was around yet, which was a good sign. However, just as they were about to approach a Pokemon centre, in the small gap large enough to fit three people between two buildings, the group froze as they heard a strange noise, and when they turned to look, a corridor of darkness appeared, alarming Sora and his group, while Ash and his group flinched.
Out of the darkness, came Demyx who was panting, almost as if he was out-running a dragon. "Oh man..." The lazy Nobody panted. "Saix's gonna dusk me for sure. I just know it!"
At the sight of the young man suddenly appearing out of nowhere, Ash and his friends freaked out and cried out in fear, "Ahhh! A ghost!" causing Sora, Donald and Goofy to summon their weapons as they thought Demyx was a Heartless, while Namine, recongising the coat, gasped before hiding behind Sora, in fear that she would end up back in the Organization's clutches.
Demyx finally noticed the group and flinched, realising he was busted and blew his cover already. But then he realised what the younger people said and pouted, "Did you just call me a ghost? That was just plain rude."
"B-B-But you just appeared outta nowhere." Brock whimpered.
"Who are you anyway?" Sora demanded.
Demyx flinched, both at Sora's tone, then gazing at his Keyblade, and his eyes widened as he realised what this meant; he came to think that all Keyblades looked exactly the same, and that Sora looked just like Roxas, except for the hair colour. But then he also realised that he was in trouble, before collasping to his news, and clapped his hands together as if he was about to do a prayer, and then, pathetically went into pleading despair at the group who, seeing this now stared at him, dumbfounded.
"Pleeease! Don't mention this to anyone! I'm begging yooooooooooouuuuu!" Demyx pleaded.
Sora only quirked an eye-brow, before stating with a confused shrug, "You're bizzure."
"Which is an upgraded saying of weird." Ash added in agreement.
"Who are you?" Donald demanded.
Demyx stood up, not wanting to give out details about the Organization or that he was a Nobody. To a human or whatever else's eye, he looked and acted human as well. So instead, he rubbed the back of his neck and said, "Just someone from the darkness, though right now, I'm in a loophole since my boss disappeared." before flinching and covered his mouth in panic.
Sora and his group looked at each other, wondering who else they had to fight other than Pete. It was also strange that the mysterious 'boss' this guy in the black coat just disappeared like that. The fact that Demyx said he came from the darkness, it gave them a pause as maybe there was more than just Ansem that was threatening the worlds. Goofy then looked at Demyx and asked, "Your boss disappeared?"
"How did that happen?" Ash added, a bit curious himself.
"I don't have a clue, since I only found out today." Demyx made the slip again, then quickly turned around, grumbling to himself, "Oh man. Me and my big mouth. They sure picked the wrong guy to send to this world."
"Who is this kook?" Sora asked, even more dumbfounded.
It wasn't until Namine gently tugged his sleeve and she whispered to him and the others who also noticed, "He's part of the Organization I told you about. He's one of the Nobodies." making their eyes widen, and they turned back to Demyx who still had his back to them.
Demyx then turned around again, and, seeing how he had no orders to confront Sora and his friends, shrugged and waved, "I'll uh, take my leave. Catch'ya later." and began to teleport away.
"Wait!" Donald cried out, running over to stop him, but he was too late, as Demyx disappeared and Donald landed flat on his face. Pushing himself up, he grumbled in annoyance, "Nuts! He got away."
"That was weird." Sora blinked. "What was that guy talking about?"
"Maybe they're looking for me." Namine muttered, worriedly.
Goofy was in deep thought, before he said, "Gawrsh, he sure kinda didn't act like he was looking for anythin'." before turning to his friends, a bit concerned and said, "I think he was tellin' the truth."
"You mean about his boss disappearing?" Brock asked, before nodding in agreement, "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing too."
"He didn't attack us, so what was his main problem?" Misty asked, "And the way he begged us like that, something weird is going on."
"I wish I knew what else is happening." Sora thought, crossing his arms. Just then, something strange happened, and Ash's hat suddenly glowed, alarming the ten year old, and it floated up into the air, and the tip of Sora's Keyblade glowed as well, confusing everyone.
"What's going on?" Ash asked, alarmed.
As if feeling like he knew what to do, Sora held out his Keyblade, as it continued to glow along with Ash's hat, and the light formed a crown-shaped symbol underneath him, which then surrounded the teen, transporting him into some kind of realm. The hat behind him shot out a beam of light which created a keyhole above Sora. Acting, Sora aimed the weapon at the keyhole, and a beam of light shot out from the Keyblade, and hitting the keyhole, locking it up, and everything turned white, before Sora found himself back with his friends, and Ash's hat returned floated back into the ten year old boy's hands.
Just then, a corridor of light opened up, and Sora and his companions all realised what this must mean. "The door to light?" Sora muttered, "That means it must lead to another world, maybe to where Riku and the King are!" excitedly.
"Oh boy!" Donald exclaimed in excitement.
Turning to Ash and his friends, Sora said, "Sorry to run off, but other worlds are calling."
"Guess this is goodbye, huh." Ash thought, then nodded, "Hope we'll see you again soon." and his friends agreed.
Sora and his companions all nodded, while Namine was a bit nervous, but didn't want to burden Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy. Saying farewell to Ash, Pikachu, Misty, Togepi and Brock, the five worldly travellers entered the corridor of light which closed behind them, and taking them towards their next destination in their quest to find Riku and King Mickey, and find out more about the mysterious Organization that had kept Namine prisoner in Castle Oblivion.
While traversing through the Lanes Between, Aqua, Riku and Mickey were getting closer to their next destination, wondering how things will turn out. They had to find out more about Xehanort's schemes, as well as DiZ's plots that would mean the end of the worlds. They haven't spoke a word since leaving Hollow Bastion.
Suddenly, they heard a loud roar sounding distant behind them, but then they realised it was starting to get louder and louder, meaning that something was getting closer. The trio looked around, before Riku turned his head slightly to look behind him and he gasped in horror, realising what was about to catch up to them.
"Aqua! Go faster!" Riku cried out.
Aqua and Mickey both also looked to see, and they gasped in horror, as a giant whale, Riku recongised as Monstro, was starting to catch up to them, and from what the two understood, it's giant mouth was slowly opening. It was going to swallow them up!
"Hold on!" Aqua called out to her friends, before boosting her glider to full speed as fast as it would allow her, while Mickey and Riku both hanged on as best as the could. All three of them were now panicking, in fear of being eaten by a giant monster of a whale who saw anything smaller than it as meals-breakfest, lunch and dinner.
Monstro had it's mouth wide open and attempted to suck in the group and swallow them up, and was getting closer and closer, almost engulfing them. Mickey looked back briefly and gasped, his heart pounding faster in fear, and shut his eyes tightly, turning away, starting to shake. Aqua sensed this and urged her glider to go faster, while shifting to the left to avoid in getting herself, Riku and Mickey chomped or swallowed, while her companions held on as tightly as they could to avoid in falling off.
The giant whale then tried to eat them to the left, but Aqua shifted to the right this time, narrowly avoiding Monstro again, but was becoming more difficult, and if she didn't do something soon, she, Mickey and Riku will be swallowed up. Just then, a world was coming into view-it looked like a city with a tall tower. Seeing the opening, Aqua told her friends to hold on, before urging her glider to go faster as the opening to the world is shown.
Monstro, not willing to have it's meal escape, opened his mouth wider and got closer and closer to the trio who saw this and screamed, as they tried to get to the world before it could eat them, and braced themselves for either impact. The large jaws shadowed over the trio who were halfway in being sucked into the mouth which was about to slam shut with them swallowed up...
But Aqua, Mickey and Riku practically threw themselves, glider and all, into the corridor to land into the world, just seconds before Monstro could shut it's mouth and trap them inside. The giant whale had missed out. Angered and disappointed, it floated away, far away from the world and to somewhere else in the Lanes Between.
The portal opening in an ally of the large city, Aqua, Mickey and Riku flew out and landed hard on the ground, as the portal closed. Aqua's armor discarded itself, returning her clothes back to normal, and her glider turning back into her Keyblade and desummoning itself. The three of them slowly pushed themselves up, panting as they had out-run and narrowly escaped from being eaten with their lives. They were breathing hard, tramutized from the experience of the giant whale. Riku recalled in being side the whale before, but back then, he was working for Maleficent and had actually had transport to get out.
Still, it wasn't a nice experience.
"G-Gosh." Mickey panted. "That was so close. For a second there, I thought we were gonna get eaten."
"I thought we weren't going to make it." Aqua nodded. "I've heard of large whales before, but I've never heard of one that big in attempts to eat people."
"That was Monstro." Riku told them, sighing, "I've seen it before. It's a long story, but, from what I heard, that whale swallows up anything it sees, and even swallows large ships alive." shuddering a little.
Despite feeling pale, Mickey tried to lighten the mood and said, "Well, at least we made it, right?" shrugging.
Before they could continue the conversation, though, suddenly they sensed movement from the exit and all looked up, with Aqua questioning, "Who's there?"
"I was, uh, about to ask the same thing." this came from a young woman who looked no older than 14, coming to 15, with long blonde hair styled with buns on the top that looked like meatballs, blue eyes, and wearing some kind of fuku outfit with red boots and white gloves. Her companions wore the same styled fuku outfits, except all five of them were different colours and shoes. One had short blue hair, another had brown hair, green eyes and was the tallest, another had loose blonde hair with a red bow, and the last one had dark black-purple hair, and dark purple eyes. They were same age as the girl in the middle.
The four other girls collasped to the ground(anime style) at their leader's choice of words. The dark-haired female leaped back up and exclaimed, "That's not how you say that, Sailor Moon!"
Sailor Moon, the leader, looked at her companion in annoyance that looked comical and cute, as she yelled back, "Can't you see I'm busy here, Sailor Mars? Besides, those three don't strike as bad guys. Two of them look like good people and that mouse actually looks nice and cute."
"Looks can be decieving, and we all know how gulliable you can be." Sailor Mars pointed out.
"I may be gullible but I'm not that gullible!" Sailor Moon retorted childishly, before she sticked her tongue out, giving her friend a raspberry. Sailor Mars returned the raspberry and the two of them got into a raspberry contest, arguing at the same time, much to the dismay and exasperation of their three companions, while Mickey, Aqua and Riku all glanced at each other in confusion.
Then Aqua gazed at Sailor Moon again, and, for a split second, felt strong warmth from the teenager's body, and she muttered in slight amazement, "I can sense light from that girl."
"Gosh, me too." Mickey added, "She must be kinda similiar to the Princesses of Heart." fully acknowlaging that Sailor Moon can't be a Princess of Heart, because there's Kairi, Snow White, Jasmine, Auora, Belle, Cinderella and Alice.
He then stood up and asked the five girls, "Uh, excuse me? Ladies?" which got their attention, including Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars who all turned to Mickey as he continued, "Um, who are you?" as Aqua and Riku stood up as well.
The girls all blinked, before looking at each other, the blonde one in the orange and blue outfit saying, "I guess Sailor Moon's right. They don't seem bad at all." before she turned to Mickey and said, "We're the Sailor Scouts, Warriors of Justice. I'm Sailor Venus."
"And I'm Sailor Jupiter." Sailor Jupiter, the brown-haired tall girl in green and pink, added.
"And I'm Sailor Mercury." Sailor Mercury, the girl in complete blue, added.
"And I'm Sailor Moon! The leader of the Sailor Scouts!" Sailor Moon said, rather to much heroic, before adding as she introduced Sailor Mars, "And she's Sailor Mars." much to the latter's annoyance. Then she asked, "So who're you guys and where did you come from?"
"I'm Mickey Mouse, but everybody calls me Mickey." Mickey replied.
"I'm Riku." Riku added.
Aqua nodded, adding as well, "My name is Aqua."
What the trio heard next shocked them, as Sailor Jupiter asked, "So, what kind of world did you guys come from?"
"You know about other worlds?" Aqua asked.
"Well, short of." Sailor Moon began sheepishly, "We fight to protect our world from evil who try to destroy the planet. So I guess you kinda understand why we were a bit supicious since we sensed something approaching Japan."
"Gosh, we don't mean any harm." Mickey pointed out, holding up his hands in slight defense while feeling sheepish as well. "And, well, the knowlage of other worlds is meant to be a secret, and it's a long story."
"We'll leave if you want us to." Riku said.
The Sailor Scouts looked at each other, until finally, Sailor Mars sighed and decided, "Well, despite that I sense some small traces of darkness in Riku, I can also sense his heart, and Aqua and Mickey's hearts are good."
"Just as I sensed." Sailor Moon said happily over her little victory. "Like how I knew you'd fall asleep in the movie theatre."
"I fell asleep, did I?" Sailor Mars grunted, before demanding a serious question, "What month, week, day and time was that!?"
Sailor Moon then held up a calender book, calculating, "It was July the 5th, Thursday afternoon at 3:15 PM, and the weather was nice and sunny." grinning again, while her friend groaned in defeat and jealousy.
"I lost." Sailor Mars grumbled.
"Hey, why don't we head over to the Temple to figure this out." Sailor Jupiter suggested while stepping in between the two, sweatdropping.
This was going to be a long day in Neo-Tokyo.
Meanwhile, back in the World that Never Was...
"Absolutely not." Saix said point blank at Xaldin and a rather giant Luxord who both returned from a mission in Wonderland, and, from the looks of things, Luxord had taken a mushroom that makes things grow into giants and hasn't turned back yet. "Come back when you're normal size." Saix ordered.
'I knew it.' Xaldin mentally groaned, before he and the disappointed Luxord returned through the still opened corridor of darkness and made their way back to Wonderland.
Left alone again, Saix faceplamed himself, groaning. Why did almost every single member of the Organization irritate him so much? Yes, he wasn't much better, for he was strict with Roxas, who, despite always doing his work, didn't fully understand in being a Nobody and seemed more...human, but then again, that might be the influence of Roxas co-existing with Sora who at the moment is oblivious to all of this. And Saix disliked Xion...that wrenched puppet. He had to make a note to himself to have Axel keep a close eye on her.
Speaking of Axel...he was getting too close to Roxas and Xion, which is effecting their goal. However, the way things are now that Xemnas is missing, and Xigbar possibly ran off somewhere, Saix had a snaking suspicion that, despite him being the leader now, Axel wouldn't let him destroy Xion or Roxas, as both were Keyblade wielders, and knowing Roxas, if Xion is gone, Roxas would run off. Demyx, well, he was probably gonna try harder(much to that lazy, irritating Nobody's dismay) to avoid in getting dusked.
Deciding to check the rooftop again while he tried to think of every other way in figuring out what happened to Xemnas, Saix teleported himself to that area and, seeing the platform the same as ever, he gazed up at Kingdom Hearts, the heart shaped moon that was supposedly going to give the Organization hearts of their own.
Ever since becoming a Nobody, all he wanted was to have his heart back. Axel did as well. Both knew each other as humans when they were children, both were, once upon a time, best friends, but neither of them remember how they lost their hearts and why it happened. They had a suspicion that Xemnas had something do to with it, so they joined only to plot in overtaking the Organization once they learned the truth, and then become human again.
But things had changed between the two of them.
Suddenly sensing movement behind him, Saix quickly turned around while summong his Claymore. But to his shock, he was too slow and too late as he was critically strucked and knocked away into the railing wall by a powerful blast of energy, rendering weak, losing air, and losing consciousness. In his blurred vision, he could see a figure in full red, walking over to Kingdom Hearts.
DiZ, who, by using Xemnas's memories inside him, had found the Castle that Never Was, and gazed up at Kingdom Hearts, saying, "At last. The Organization is over, and I have found out what their goal is. Now all is left is to destroy them." before he held up a hand to skyward, and a blast of red and black energy shot out and hit Kingdom Hearts square in the middle, causing it to crack and then...
It exploded, engulfing the entire castle, and everything in it. DiZ, unharmed by the blast, teleports away. As for Saix, using the last of his strength to only briefly shield himself with the Claymore, and barely survived, dropped the weapon and dropped lifelessly.
As for Kingdom Hearts, all of the collected Hearts floated down into the darkness below, and the Nobodies, who were also caught in the explosion, faded into nothing.
At the same time...
"That was a total bust." Axel sighed as he appeared from the corridor onto the clock tower, and sat down on the edge, staring into the distance of the view of Twilight Town and the fields, mountains, oceans, and the sunset further ahead. He was tired, but he suddenly felt a jolt in his chest...something was wrong.
"Hey, Axel." a familiar voice spoke next to him. Axel looked to his left, and found that Roxas and Xion had finished their mission and had just joined him. It was Roxas who greeted him first.
"Hey." The redhead greeted back with a smile. He liked these kids, he really did, and it was weird. For the past more days, a few months since Xion regained her Keyblade, he found himself getting closer to Roxas and Xion, and Axel couldn't figure out why, but he liked it anyway.
"So, where did you go on your mission?" Xion asked.
Axel shrugged, saying, "Ah, you know, a recon mission. I think Saix realises that being the superior now is harder than it looks, since he has no idea what to do without following orders."
But that was half a lie. Axel searched through Castle Oblivion, but came up empty handed. Not that he was surprised. That place is a maze. Whoever built it must've been powerful before they either disappeared or died. Still, he didn't think that by telling Xion she came from that place was such a good idea. Then it made him think about his nightmare; Xemnas taking her away from him. What if that was...the future?
"That just makes things more harder." Roxas grumbled, "I can't stand him. He's always so mean and irritating." to which Xion nodded in agreement.
Axel just stared at them, before he facepalmed himself and laughed unexpectly in disbelief. Now this he found completely weird and out of place. How cute was that?
"What? What's so funny?" Roxas asked, puzzled.
"Listen to yourself." Axel said, almost in despair, playfully ruffling the boy's hair. "You're talking like a person."
"Why? What did I say?" Roxas asked, puzzled. Xion just blinked, not certain either.
Axel shook his head, pointing out, "Roxas, we're Nobodies. We don't have emotions, because you need a heart to have feelings." which also caused him to mentally question if that was really the case or was Xemnas actually lying.
"Oh, right." Roxas remembered.
"But then, why do we act like people?" Xion asked.
"Just because we don't all have hearts doesn't mean that we're all exactly the same. We each have memories of our pasts. Got it memorized?" Axel explained.
"But I don't remember who I used to be." Roxas thought, "And if that's the case, then I should still be all zombie like if I can't remember, right?"
Xion thought about this, and she muttered, "Same with me. I don't remember my past as a human either."
"Might be because you two are special." Axel shrugged.
All three of them were silent for a moment, before Roxas looked at the redhead and asked, "What were you like before you were a Nobody?, Axel?"
This question caught Axel almost off-guard. He was never asked on what he was like before, and, it left him on edge. He felt uncomfortable in reliving his past, one that ended tragically. "Me?" he asked, before looking away, then replied, "Oh, I dunno. I think I've always been pretty much the same. Not that it did me any good."
That, and he didn't to reveal that he and Saix were friends before becoming Nobodies.
"I wish I could remember stuff like that." Roxas sighed.
"Really?" Axel quirked an eyebrow, "It's just baggage, you know."
"But I-I can't remember anything. Not even from when I was born a Nobody."
Axel couldn't help but smirk, teasingly said, "All you did was stare into space!"
"Oh thanks!" Roxas retortedly sarcastically, laughing along with Axel, and Xion.
Xion then said, "You know, I don't remember much, either."
"You two sure do have a lot in common." Axel commented. It was a rather weird, but it was like...Roxas and Xion were a bit like siblings...and he had a suspicion that he was starting to form into like a big brother. As a human and a kid, Lea always wanted to be a big brother, but never got the chance.
After another moment of silence and staring at the sunset, Roxas thought to himself, "I wonder what kind of guy I was before..." then he muttered outloud, "I hope we can always be just like this forever."
Axel mentally shook his head with a smile. This conversation again. He then said, "Well, nothing lasts forever, you know? Least of all for a bunch of Nobodies like us. But it's okay if things change and we can't meet up here."
At Roxas and Xion's confusion, Axel continued wisely, "As long as we keep each other in our thoughts, none of us will ever have to be apart. Got it memorized?"
Another moment of silence, before Roxas laughed, saying with a smirk, "Wow, that was so not you."
Face turning red in embarrassment, Axel gave Roxas a playful shove and pouted childishly, "Hey!" while his two friends laughed.
About a few hours later, Roxas, Axel and Xion travelled through the corridor to head back to the castle and report to Saix of their missions. However, as they got closer, all three of them somehow sensed that something wasn't right.
Nearing the exit, the three of them paused as Demyx came running in a panic attack, and as just passed them, he exclaimed in fear, "Run! Run away!" before disappearing through the corridor to another world. The trio just stared at his retreating form, dumbfounded.
"Okay...?" Axel muttered.
"That was weird." Roxas added.
Xion then realised where Demyx came from and asked, "Didn't he just came from the Castle?" causing her friends to realise that she is right.
Nodding to each other, Roxas, Axel and Xion raced through and exited the corridor and into the lounge area of the castle, but the moment they stepped out, they froze in shock and gasped at the sight before them. It wasn't the same as they knew it.
It was in ruins.
A/N: Things are starting to heat up, as DiZ made his terrible move. Let's find out what happens next in the next chapter.
As I said above, I'm back from my vacation to write again. Please continue your reviews, my awesome fellow readers, and I'll see you again in the next chapter.