The Sapphire Sorceress

Disclaimer: The rights to Kingdom Hearts belong to Disney and Square Enix.

Act 42: Fight and Away

"One of us? Don't be absurd. Count the seats. When have we ever been more than thirteen?"

The Woods: Old Mansion ( Kairi's POV )

Is this just some kind of dream or illusion? Did I somehow end up back inside of that realm where my strange journey started? None of this was making any sense to me, the person who I've wanted to find so badly...was standing right in front of me!

'Sora...' Why is he in this town with that uniform on his body! He couldn't have joined up with these nobodies, so what is going on here? "Sora" held out a black-gloved hand seemingly wanting me to calm down. Glaring at this Sora person I held up my weapon ready for anything to happen.

"Do you see someone else in front of you right now?" The voice certainly belonged to a female, but why did it come out of the mouth of Sora? Nodding the image of my friend slowly disappeared under the black hood making me frown up in disgust.

"Who are you exactly?! Why do you look Sora?!" You better start explaining things to me, the answers shouldn't be cryptic or a bunch of riddles like Auxaq gave me earlier. The figure merely puts her hand over her face while the wait for a response was getting to me.

"I'm not who you think I am...my name is Xion, not this Sora you speak of, keyblade warrior..."

"Then why do you know about him or have his face!" She didn't say anything, her response was simply turning around looking like she was going to just run away, but I gave chase refusing to let the truth slip by me again. I tried to hit her with my keyblade, but she was able to block it with...Sora's keyblade?! Okay, this girl has something to do with him or that Roxas character why else would she have this kind of weapon! Did the organization somehow gain new keyblade wielders into their ranks beside Roxas? If that was the case then this group was a huge problem for all the worlds.

"Where did you get this weapon? Roxas had something just like that as did Sora!"

"I...don't know? I've possessed this weapon since I've joined with Organization XIII. The reason why I can use this weapon is unknown to me honestly!" I couldn't be sure of her facial expression with that hood concealing her face in the dark. She could be honest about that explanation, but then again these nobodies couldn't exactly be honest with people all the time.

"Why are you working with them? Do you also lack the heart to care about other things like Auxaq?"

"You don't even know anything about me, Kairi. If you must know everyone knows about your bond with Riku and Sora, which is why we all know about you three. Sora is currently in slumber in Castle Oblivion as the last report suggested, and Riku is rumored to have drifted into darkness." None of the nobodies were even considering the fact Riku was not lost to darkness, and I know for a fact they want to hunt him down for sinister reasons. I wouldn't let these guys hurt my friends now that I can fight back.

"Tell me then! Do you have the same goal Auxaq has with the hearts stuck inside of heartless?!"

"I only wish to help out the nobodies in this group. We only wish to become whole again nothing more, but she told me when you both met that you didn't believe her; you think beings without emotions can feel and behave in a deceptive manner..."

"That's exactly what happened in Castle Oblivion, which means you can lie just like somebodies!"

"We can remember those feelings and actions, but we truly lack the heart to honestly express joy, happiness, anger, and even sadness. Why else would we seek out a way to regain out hearts, Kairi?" She did sound like that was the case, but I would be more convinced if I could see her face not that black hood creating a veil of darkness. A black void with only blue eyes that could be seen, her body slowly began to walk near me while I couldn't move from my position...was I feeling some kind of fear?

'Why is she getting closer to me?!'

"Stand back!" I tried holding off, but she just continued walking to me without slowing down. I tried turning back to get away...she was now standing right behind me right where the entrance to the forest is. A strange coincidence, indeed...I need to get out of here now! I figured that maybe there was a way to rush past her, but she could likely just teleport like the other nobodies...no matter what I couldn't escape from her. I wasn't even aware of her grabbing hold of my arm, her face was now just a few inches away for mine. Her hood slowly came off...with her face no longer resembling Sora...but me instead?!

'Why did she look like me?!' It wasn't just her cheeks, but the eyes, hairstyle, and expression it looked just like mine just what is going on?! Her smile didn't make me feel better considering it either looked fake or she was toying with me. It was like staring into a mirror, and yet the difference was she was clad in black clothing along with a darker hair color.

"It is not the same without a real heart? Do you think...if you gave up yours then I could smile for real." She had to be joking about that! The voice sounded hollow, and yet she was grinning when she made such a comment, which could mean she was contradicting herself earlier. Then again she could be serious about this suggesting meaning I had to get her away from me!

"Why can't you act for yourself?! There might be a way to find a heart without resorting to stealing others like Auxaq and those others might believe is the case." Despite lacking real emotion if they were capable of performing such feelings with intimidation then it shouldn't be impossible. There must be some other reason they are obsessing with gather these hearts...some hidden agenda behind the organization. Did she ever consider that idea or she just blindly followed their orders never questioning their wisdom?

"This is the only way nobodies can become whole once again..."

"You don't know that for sure! Only you can decide how to live even without a soul! That is the advantage of being a nobody...the mind remains intact despite losing your heart, right? That means you can decide for yourself how you want to exist, Xion." Despite not understanding these creatures at the very least I figured they could use a different outlook from us besides hating somebodies for some reason. There could be a way to coexist with them if they can just learn to trust people like us...then maybe with some cooperation we can restore nobodies to normal.

I could hear a loud crash from a window as I noticed two figures in black were running around the place.

"Auxaq!"

"She's here as well?!" The last person I wanted to run into after we last met each other in that other world, but part of myself felt like confronting her. Looking at the black-haired nobody she also felt unsure about what to do next until she drew out her weapon.

"I guess we must fight then..."

"No, we don't!" My words fell on deaf ears as her keyblade clashed with my own. My body was forced back as I could feel her strength begin to rise in power, she was a lot tougher that I figured from when I first saw her. She began to glare at me with those creepy eyes that looked so much like mine.

"You wish to understand us, Kairi? Then why not come to our world? There you will begin to understand why we must fight to regain ourselves." I'm afraid I will have to decline that offer. Despite never facing this girl before in battle we seemed to be familiar with each other's blades, the attacks I made were quickly countered while I deflected her strikes with no problem.

"I suppose having a Keyblade Master train you would give you the advantage. So, Xion how much have you learned since becoming a warrior of the keyblade?" I had to admit part of myself was jealous about her being trained under a more experienced person in the field of keyblade fighting, but I suppose she can't use that weapon if she was now using those strange fan-shaped weapons.

"Auxaq and Roxas have given me a lot of skills that I've trying to master, but I mostly use this weapon to remove the captive hearts inside of the heartless. That said I've also become more varied in magical spells..." She must have meant the fire spell she was charging in her other hand, but unlucky for her I'm not so bad at magical attacks while I fired off an ice spell to counter her. We each moved back while we sent out a few more magical attacks reaching a stalemate.

"Not bad," I admitted while trying to catch my breathe while she remained calm despite sending out quite a few attacks. Nobodies must not have to worry about feeling exhausted like us. "I'm beginning to see why you are a keyblade wielder, Xion. With enough time and effort, you could become rather powerful, the same was told to me by everyone else who's been giving me training lessons." Both of us did share quite a few things in common after all, but I knew the changes outweighed all of our similarities.

"Why are you fighting us exactly? To protect the worlds from darkness or some other reason..."

"I wish to understand the truth! About why everything had to happen the way it did for me and my friends. None if it makes any real sense to me, and I certainly don't want to accept any of this with it being some kind of stupid, crappy, and dumb destiny! My friends said they were going to come back, but I'm not going to wait around for them anymore." This is what I've decided along with my desire to become a true keyblade warrior like Sora. The road ahead would be filled with challenge, but I would not turn away to run back to "safety" now.

"You wish to discover the truth...perhaps that is something else we might have in common." Before I could say more she directed her keyblade at me again forcing my hand in order to protect myself. She looked conflicted about what she wanted to do, her hand that held the keyblade was shaking, and her eyes looked at me as if I knew some kind of answer to her problem. Taking a chance I drew away my keyblade while moving away from Xion to leave myself open to attack, but when Xion tried to hit me with another spell I drew out my keyblade to hit her in the chest.

She felt some pain or I guess pretended to express such an emotion, but she drew out her own keyblade giving me a nasty bruise on my shoulder. I'd hate thinking this but we might be evenly matched with one another. Xion must have realized how strong I've gotten as she was slowly backing away from me...no wait she's tilting backward?

"Why...do I feel so...weak?" Did my hit somehow leave an effect, the girl suddenly fell down onto a single knee making me realize she must have been drained of her energy.

"Do you need help?" I couldn't exactly jump over to help her considering she tried attacking me in the first place, so I just voiced out an offer for help to which she shook her head refusing my offer despite her face expressing some kind of pain.

"I will...be fine..." She isn't fine if she looked like she was about to-no she has passed out! Rushing over I tried to help pick her up only for everything around be to start slowing down; I could feel like I was running at a normal pace so when why couldn't I get over to the unconscious Xion? Wait a minute...my body was slow and heavy with this weird blue glow I remember from my encounter with-

"Not another step!" Auxaq. This is bad...really bad! She not only looked upset but the fact she was easily slowing me down this easily must have meant she had become more skilled in battle than last time. What also concerned me was the fact she just left that huge mansion making me wonder who was that other figure that was trying to chase after her earlier.

"You did this, didn't you! It was bad enough you made a fool out of me, but to actually hurt Xion...that can't be allowed to happen again." Suddenly I could feel my body become very heavy, the gravity around my body forced me onto my knees before I felt my head slam onto the floor.

"I didn't-t do this to...her" Well, not intentionally rather it was self-defense since Xion attacked me at first. Not that I could say much with my mouth being filled with the dirt on this grassy field. My eyes could see the cold, emotionless. and ice-like stare being given by this female nobody that was the very person who helped spark my desire to become a warrior of the light. Only now she was standing in my way as one of these nobodies of the darkness.

"You will regret coming here today, but don't fret we still need you around so simply think of this as a painful lesson, keyblade student!" I thought that she had managed to place invisible strings on my body, which made me move around like a puppet since I could suddenly stand back up. I tried striking back, her response was simply waving a hand to send me back into a tree with such force I think I coughed up some saliva. Before I could fall down she somehow levitated me back up only to send me into the wooden tree behind me once again.

"Impressed? Xion has not been the only one studying up on some new magical abilities since we've last seen each other. Tell me to have you also been improving your craft because as of now I'm very disappointed in your current state." Easy for you to say when you're playing with me like I was a cheap doll, you witch! My legs were struggling to gather enough strength just to help me get back on my feet, and I barely could see the cruel smile being given to me by a person who acted nothing like a former Keyblade Master.

"What are you even doing here, AquaAAAA!" My body was slammed back onto the ground by whatever force of gravity was controlling me. She was standing merely two feet away from me while seeing me struggle to get back up again.

"I've been searching for someone who's been rumored to reside in this mansion, but instead I find you lurking around, hurting my partner, and trying to act brave against someone who is simply far stronger than you." For now, that is the case. Auxaq...

"Do you really think you can get away with being a defender of somebodies if you wish to make an enemy out of the organization?"

"If you and those other nobodies remain in the dark then perhaps I will have to defy you all..." Despite considering Riku as a good person most of the people I've come across who use darkness have no good intentions for the people in the universe.

"We'll have to see about that, the fact is I'm rather glad we could meet each other again...now why don't you tell me who's been helping you out since I don't recall you being able to travel through another world on your own." Should I just lie about that? She could see through me however I can't let her know how to find me again not to mention learning about people she can just control me by threatening their safety.

"A friend in that world you dragged me to helped me out, but even without help, I know a few ways to break through the walls around the worlds. That is simply part of being a keyblade wielder."

"Fine words...they also seem to be truthful considering how I used to explore new places. Still, you lack enough experience to visit the vast amount of worlds on your own power, and from what I've learned about Sora he uses a vehicle called the Gummi Ship. That said I doubt a girl like you could come across such a vehicle on your own not to mention how you even got to Hollow Bastion meaning that you have been provided with assistance..." No! No! No! I have to get her mind off this subject before she might piece together what is the truth.

"Look I won't get in your way if you just let me go back in one piece! I'll even say that I'm sorry that Xion got hurt, so please...let me go already..." I closed my eyes hoping she could finally see reason and stop controlling my body.

"How do I know you won't get involved later...you will become a bigger part of our picture even if you don't want to, Kairi. I will take you back with me...perhaps there in that world, you can truly realize the kind of situation we are in..." Not again there was no way she is gonna drag me away for her own twisted desire. If I can just get my blade up then I have a small chance to defend myself from her power...almost there come on!

"I can see that you still wish to defy me. It is a foolish, stupid, but brave thing to do, Kairi that is why I saw the potential in you on that day, the very reason you've been able to survive this long is because you're special." I held out my weapon even while my body was shaking in pain, the thought of being kidnapped again gave me the strength to fight back...or at least show that I could still fight back.

"That's enough, Auxaq." No way...there was another one of those nobodies here as well! Like Auxaq he had blue hair although it was lighter in color, the scar on his face looked like an x-shaped scar, and those eyes looked rather bright as he was looking directly at me.

"I was just finishing up here, Saix. There was this guy who wore out uniform, but he got away before I could confirm his identity. As for Kairi again surely you will be happy to learn more about this user since I was about to bring her back to our world."

"Happy? You have quite a terrible sense of humor, but your duty here was to uncovering DiZ's location not play around with this somebody." Somebody? He doesn't think of me as anything else but another person?

"I'm aware of that, but she attacked and hurt Xion. There wasn't any way I could let that slide even if she's a keyblade warrior."

"Xion's condition is not your priority. I thought you would be more focused on the mission at hand instead of caring about a weak nobody like her."

"She is a keyblade wielder, Saix! That's nothing to underestimate hell that's why Kairi is still conscious after what I've just done to her!" Despite my efforts to get away all I could really do is crawl through the grass not getting far away from the both of them during their argument. That's when I saw that man appear right in front of me, his piercing glare felt like he was silently judging me with his eye contact.

"If she is Sora's friend then I can't see what makes her anything more than being a mere Princess of Heart."

"S-he isn't wrong...Saix." Xion? She must have woken up although she was looking to be in bad shape like I was thanks to Auxaq's "teaching" lesson.

"I just fought her, and she has equal strength to me perhaps even more potential once she gets enough experience..."

"That is irrelevant she is merely a human who is none of our concern so long as she seeks out the heartless we should leave her alone. The Superior is waiting for an explanation about today's failure, so I won't keep him waiting and neither will the both of you." He's completely ignoring me like I wasn't even in the area next to the three of them!

'What is this girl decides to make you her concern!' Is what I wanted to say to that jerk, but I knew better than to pick a fight while I was dragging myself through the dirt. That's when I saw this jerk stand in front of me again grabbing hold of my arm, his action "helped" me back onto my feet only to grab hold of my hand to look at my keyblade.

"Consider this a peace offering, somebody. Continue with your mission in exterminating heartless, and you never have to worry about us getting involved in your affairs. This means you can't involve yourself with our business, however, so don't continue to mistake us for enemies otherwise, we will be right back to this moment all over again. Good day, somebody."

"Call me by my name, Kairi!"

"May we never see each other again, somebody." You darn jerk!

"Don't worry about Saix's words...this won't be the last time we meet, Kairi." Auxaq...

"...Continue to seek out the answers you're looking for, and perhaps I will solve my own questions about my purpose..." Something about Xion is still bothering me; she seems to be a nobody, and yet she doesn't conduct herself like the rest of them. It reminded me of that other nobody, Roxas. He also didn't seem like he should be associated with this group. I stood on a tree for support while those nobodies disappeared into the darkness leaving me in a very confused state of mind.

'I need to become stronger...need to overcome whatever Organization XIII has planned for the universe...' I couldn't let her humiliate me again with that display of magical power. At least I could investigate that manor now since those nobodies have left this place, the fact they were looking for this DiZ person in there must have meant that mansion was important. My legs were limping over to the gate, and slowly I finally go to the main entrance of this rather vacant place. Between the lack of good lighting in this place, the lack of activity, and overall this place certainly gave off a get away from this place or be stalked by some spooky ghost.

"Hello? Anyone named DiZ here?!" Considering what I've had to deal with I didn't care if this guy really was some kinda ghost haunting the mansion. Limping along my way I noticed there were quite a few doors that I could look around in, but I wasn't sure of where to go first besides that room near me.

"...Hmm?" That is strange because I think there is someone looking at me from the second floor, the person in white certainly looked like a ghost, but it really was a girl staring right at me!

"Hey, wait don't be afraid of-" Too late! She was already running off into a room on the second floor. Grunting in pain my legs went over to the stairway that would take me up to where she ran off to as I wanted to see who lived in this place. Despite the fact, my limbs felt like they were filled with concrete I had to press on to uncover this truth like Xion said. Opening the door I found that girl sitting down like she was waiting for me to get up here, her hands were busy drawing something on a piece of paper like she was drawing something.

'Why are there so many drawings over this place?' The white room certainly felt strange to me; the area felt hollow despite the many lively drawings that covered the walls around this place. I could see each one of these pictures was drawn in crayon which this girl was, in fact, using to make whatever she was creating now.

"You confronted all of those members of the Organization by yourself. No wonder the keyblade chose you to wield it, Princess Kairi."

"I don't really consider myself a princess, but I guess that at one point I was-wait how do you know about that?!" Only a few people knew that detail about me, so how could this stranger be aware of such a fact? Looking at her directly she continued making her drawing without saying anything for a while.

"Hello? Can't you hear me? I just asked you a question!"

"You are not ready for that answer even if you desire to learn the truth. I can tell you why this is the case, but your mind wouldn't accept my response."

"Try me then!"

"Look at the pictures they will provide you a clue about events that have occurred thus far..." What did she mean by that exactly? They looked like ordinary drawings...wait is that Sora and Riku? Why are they standing on an island trying to reach out to each other with their hands? There was another one with me sitting on an island with no one around me, and I looked sad about that...

"How do you know about Sora and Riku?"

"Observe the drawings, the answers lie within them..."

Okay, I think my joke about ghosts might not be so scary compared to this. As I continued looking at the gallery covering these walls I could see things that I knew were moments in not just Sora's life but also Riku and my own history as well. They couldn't have been discovered by someone like this girl, the other drawings had other people like some of the other princesses, people from other worlds, and even some members of Organization XIII. All of this was done by someone who knew more than anyone expected a girl her age to have knowledge about, which made me all the more confused about who she could really be.

"You're not able to understand how I could know about this stuff despite us never meeting each other before today, the reason is also why I can't tell you who I am...but if you must know something I am someone who shouldn't be, and yet I exist." What is she talking about?! Was she being cryptic on purpose or she couldn't tell me what is going on with her and this room. My eyes were beginning to shake around, my body slumped over on the table as I felt like my limbs were collapsing on themselves.

"Kairi! You need to get some rest, the mansion is safe for now thanks to him."

"No I-I will be f-fine..." My body didn't agree with that as I fell onto the floor with my chest struggling to breathe. My ears could hear the door opening behind me, my eyes saw a man clad in a mostly red outfit look at me with the one yellow eye that wasn't covered in black belts.

"Don't tell me...you're one of those nobodies aren't you..." I couldn't help laughing at what I've been through today, the joke clearly didn't make this stranger laugh while the blonde girl took hold of my arms to help me onto a chair near this small table.

"Hardly. Like I would ever be like those worthless creatures. Compared to a keyblade wielder like yourself they are a bunch useless beings of non-existence. You seem to enjoy being in other words, so I'm sure you won't mind sticking around here for a while..."

"I felt a sharp pain down my spine as I couldn't hold on anymore as my consciousness slipped away with this figure in red being the last things I saw while my thoughts were on my failure to stop myself from being rendered helpless once more. Then, the image of Sora and myself being on an island, and the both of us were sharing paopu fruit...like nothing had separated us from each other...

The World That Never Was: Where Nothing Gathers ( Aqua's POV )

- Day 150 Fear -

"I'm disappointed to hear you and Xion were unable to find DiZ..." Xemnas we tried our best to find him in that mansion.

"That training you've given to Xion might have been a wasted effort after all." Saix...like you can say anything considering you only showed up to insult us.

"With all due respect, Superior. We had encountered someone who wore our uniforms and that other keyblade wielder once again. I tried to uncover who he could be, and he managed to escape before I could find out who this imposter of our group is...the failure is mine alone, sir." I couldn't let Xion take all of the blame as we both looked up from the center of the room at both Xemnas and Saix in their respective seats. Poor Xion, she looked frightened about just facing these two even with me sticking up for her.

"This cannot continue to happen, the goal of creating Kingdom Hearts certainly requires priority, but if this man can be allowed to roam free then he could interfere with our operations. There is also the matter of this rogue who is blending in using our own cloaks to hide from our eyes, but that can wait for another time. For now considered this meeting over with, so please don't make me reconsider my decision on letting you help out Xion with her ongoing progress, Auxaq."

"We won't fail you again, Superior!" The sound made were meant to invoke confidence in our future and to cast aside doubt in our duties as members of this group. Bowing our heads we left our leader and Saix to head back to the grey area where our other friends were waiting. Axel and Roxas gave us a more friendly homecoming as Xion simply wanted to be left alone for a while.

"I don't have anything against you all, but I need some time in order to think about things please excuse me..."

Nodding in agreement I also felt like bidding Axel and Roxas farewell since I needed some time alone before the next mission, which allowed me to go back to my room to relax in my normal outfit. Pulling out my cherished Wayfinder I wondered if Terra still kept his...even when he become a puppet of that monster who was my master. Terra...I hope that item can help us find each other again so that I can tell you how I really feel about you...as not just a friend but maybe even as...

It can wait until I find him again, but for the moment I wish to pretend that he and I never left each other...that we were ordinary people living in a beautiful world with our other best friend Ventus. Despite being a nobody I can still dream about such a wonderful fantasy...

[ Added in this last part since it is Valentine's Day, and that means giving the main pairings in this series Sora/Kairi and Aqua/Terra some moment to shine. Speaking of which I hope everyone out here can enjoy the holiday meant to share love with not just our special lovers but to your families and friends as well. Next time we see the start of Xion's change in attitude plus Auxaq begins looking for Ven once more in Castle Oblivion thank you for sticking with the story thus far. ]