The Sapphire Sorceress
Disclaimer: The rights to Kingdom Hearts belong to Disney and Square Enix.
Act 65: The Corrupted
Well, I doubt we can be together forever. But isn't that what growing up's all about? What's important isn't how often we see each other, but how often we think about each other. Right?"
Twilight Town: Market Street ( Kairi's POV )
I must say that I never thought I would be back in this town again, even while deciding to check out this place to make sure everything was okay here I figured we wouldn't have to deal with any major problems like heartless or nobodies.
"H-Help! The Sandlot! It's Seifer! Somebody, please help us!"
Well, so much for getting off easy in this place. Sounds like we have some trouble to help deal with in order to help out Seifer. Without much to go on we began to explore this town in order to find this trouble going on here, and I noticed there was a strange board that was laying on the ground.
"This outta make traveling around much easier!"
"Sora, you have never even tried to ride on something like this before." I couldn't stop Sora from riding around on this board, his speed only getting faster the more he put his feet down almost like he was used to doing this stuff. Goofy told me that when Sora was here after waking up he got some tips in this style of "skateboarding" from some of the people living in this town. Well, no one he is zooming around these streets without too much difficulty I said to myself while not wanting to get on myself in fear of falling down on the ground.
"You know riding around like this feels too easy...almost like I remember doing this..." He suddenly stopped talking and moving despite the board he was on still moving forward. Oh no! I ran to grab him before the skateboard crashing into the wall, but when I looked into Sora's eyes they looked glazed over.
'Are you with us, Sora?' Despite what we were saying to our friend he couldn't respond to anything we did to him. Is this...what Aqua has been trying to accomplish?
"Hey, Roxas...why do you look different?"
"I'm Kairi! Who are you looking at right now?"
"What are you talking about, Roxas? I'm Xion and we're out doing a mis-sion..." Xion? Is he starting to remember everything before his memories were shifted around by Namine?
"...Uhhh...Kairi? Why am I no longer riding on a board? Why are you all looking at me with those faces?"
"You were talkin about someone named Xion Sora!" Goofy said while I tried to understand what is going on.
"Yeah, that friend of Roxas who isn't Kairi!" Sora finally realized that he must have blacked out for a moment with how surprised he looked when we told him how he almost hit a wall on that board he was riding on. After that, we decide to run on foot over to this Sandlot area with the help of the people in town, but I quickly realized the trouble here was far more serious than I thought...
"We'll take it from here!"
I didn't think nobodies would start attacking innocent people here like this, and this meant that one of those more powerful ones could be here like Auxaq or that one who nearly drowned me. Looking back at the hurt man in the hoodie I could only assume this was Seifer that had been attacked by these guys. I gave everything into my attacks considering the fact they enemies were not simple-minded heartless. When I tried blasting some with magic they actually moved out of the way, and some of these guys even tried double-teaming me like they were planning out a method of attack.
Not only were they smarter than the corrupted heartless I noticed there was another variety in their kind fighting us, the bigger, stronger, and much more powerful kinds of nobodies that were carrying a huge weapon in their hands. With just a single attack I was nearly knocked off my feet by their large weapons that they could also use to ride on like that skateboard Sora used. They also could use their big weapons to deflect attacks making them very difficult to fight in battle, so I asked Sora if he could send a friend to help us.
"How about Chicken Little?"
Sure why not have an egg-cellent with him in this battle...that was something I'm glad I didn't say out loud. I noticed that Sora was doing much better in battle than before like he knew how these enemies fought despite never fighting these guys before now. Did Xion or Roxas battle these guys before and is that why Sora was able to avoid their attacks so well? I took advantage of some help from Chicken Little knocking one of these bigger nobodies for a loop to whack it in the head while it was off its balance.
'They just keep coming after us. Someone must be ordering them to attack this place.' This amount was unusual since they rarely showed up around this place, but if that was the case why would a member of the organization attack someone like Seifer who has no connection to us? Looking at one of these taller nobodies try and hit me with their weapon while I used my keyblade to block the attack until Donald used some lightning to help ward it off.
I combined my strikes with Sora, Donald, and Goofy in order to overcome these odds against us, the wave of nobodies quickly went down after we put our strength together but I knew this was only the beginning.
"Impressive."
It's one of them! A black cloaked figure stood before us mockingly clapping to respect our efforts in defeating those nobodies likely sent by him.
"By the way, have you seen a man named Axel? I expect he's here somewhere..."
"Like I care."
"You see, Axel's no longer acting in our best interests."
"Axel...you must mean that man with the red hair."
He didn't seem surprised when I mentioned the fact I've met him before unlike Sora who never heard me say that to him due to myself wanting to keep Axel's promise that I swore to uphold; the reason I broke it was fear about his safety if this man was looking for him.
"It would seem Axel has been up to no good lately, the idea of trying to tell one of your keybearers something behind our backs. Still, you shouldn't let down your guard," Our guard down? You're the one pointing a finger at us! "Axel will stop at nothing to turn you into a heartless."
"That is not going to happen again on my watch! You can threaten us all you want, but we will protect the worlds from beings like you."
"How arrogant you are, Kairi. So much boasting about yourself; I'm sure that pride was helping you out when you were nearly wiped out by Demyx." Demyx.? That must be the guy Aqua mentioned earlier!
"Axel aside, it would break our hearts to hear something happened to you."
"Hearts? You don't have any hearts!" Such a strange contradiction that this man said, but then I got a glimpse of his face that looked very different from that blonde nobody and Axel.
"True, we don't have hearts. But we remember what it was like. That's what makes us special."
"Like Aqua?"
"In a sense. She is tinkering with your friend's heart while others like myself know how to injure a heart. Sora. Kairi, you two just keep on fighting those heartless."
He's not getting away that easy without giving some answers to me! I charged up at this scarred man, but then he simply held out his hand to stop me before I reached him with my keyblade.
"I'm sure you will find that irregular keyblade wielder in this town. Chances are she will try to pry out more of your friend's lost memories, and you don't want to end up like Riku do you?" Talk about cocky he just walks back into a portal of darkness. What he said about Aqua possibly being in this place gave me some amount of concern if she intends on breaking Sora further about the memories he still can't recall.
"What did he mean, end up like Riku?"
"Hey, how 'bout you get out of my town now? You've caused enough trouble." D-Did this guy just say that? After we nearly busted our butts against those nobodies this jerk had the manhood to tell us to get the hell out of "his" town? Before we could even leave this guy suddenly changed his mind on the fly, his hand had a strange-looking trophy in his hand saying it belongs to the strongest guy in Twilight Town.
"Thanks, but...we really don't need it." Despite Sora telling this guy that he just put the trophy in Goofy's hands leaving us even more confused about what his deal even was with us, but I noticed someone else running up behind us.
"Oh! Sora!" Pence, as Sora called him was surprised by how Seifer gave us that trophy so easily without truly respecting someone's power and strength. Then, he offered to let us hang out at the "Usual Spot" with his other friends: Hayner and Olette. While I wanted to focus on finding Aqua I figured with those other nobodies gone that perhaps I should enjoy the momentary amount of peace I can have while in this world that includes eating some more sea-salt ice cream.
"You know that this place had some other guys running around here with keyblades. Although, the other keyblade wielders had on black hoodies that made them stand out very easily."
"Yeah it would be hard to miss something like that, but as long as we're here those guys won't cause more trouble to this town."
"Thanks, Sora! So, you must be Sora's other pal Kairi. I'm glad you've gotten the chance to see this place in person."
"Well, I've actually been here before, Pence," I couldn't exactly meet him at that point due to being chased down by Aqua. "I am glad that I can enjoy being here now however along with meeting someone like yourself." He merely grinned at me while we continued our way to the hideout where these kids liked to hang out in this town, and I wondered how much has really changed in a place stuck in an endless state of twilight.
'Why...am I feeling this sense of dread? I should be happy to be spending some time without having to deal with trouble in this world.' Looking at Sora and his pals they all began to talk about the many worlds that we've visited with our Gummi Ship. Nothing was out of the ordinary...so why is it that I didn't want to head down this alleyway into this hideout where Hayner and Olette are supposed to be waiting for their other friend. Instead, the first thing we could see is no one around something that Pence found unusual.
"They couldn't have run off to get some sea-salt ice cream without me," That could mean they were playing around or they left rather suddenly. "Perhaps they got lost or something but they shouldn't be late to get here after I told them about those weird white creatures I saw today." Pence's comment about where his friends should be only made this feeling inside of myself even worse.
"Help us these creepy things are back again!"
"Ugh! Why are these weird things trying to chase us?!"
Damn it! Why did my feelings have to be right about this stuff again? I and Sora ran out back into the alley finding Olette and Hayner running around in fear by these more dressed-up nobodies...
'It has to be her doing this! These kinds of nobodies follow her command.' I didn't waste any time with attempting to strike them down with my keyblade, the defeat I suffered last time gave me the motivation to help save Pence's friends from these husks without hearts. Landing several hits I knew that it would only take a few seconds for these guys to cast magic to stop my offensive push, and sure enough, my next blows were hitting hexagonal barriers keeping their fellow nobody safe.
"Aqua! Explain yourself at once! If you're not our enemy, then why are you doing this to innocent people who have nothing to do with us?!"
While Sora went over to tell Pence's friends to get back inside of the hideout I tried looking for the ringleader of this little show. Of course, I saw Pence suddenly being held up in the air by some of these nobodies with some kind of gravity magic. Growling, I threw my keyblade at one of the white creatures stabbing it right in the jewel on its head only to pry it out and cut it in half while its guard was down.
"Woah, Kairi."
"I've never seen her this mad before, Donald."
"I know she is actually taking down these guys pretty fast!" I knew that it wouldn't last too long, and in a matter of seconds I was beginning to slow down due to the effect of being hit with that familiar gravity spell; my boiling rage was evident despite how slowly I was marching towards these nobodies with my keyblade in hand to attack them for trying to hurt Pence.
"No, no this won't do at all..." Looking up at a building's rooftop I could see that source of my current problems licking an ice cream bar like nothing was happening to us below.
"Those precious memories won't come back if you continue to budge on during these little sessions, Kairi." Is this what you're trying to do now? Mess with people in order to jog the rest of Sora's lost memories in such a vile fashion!
"Why don't you just leave us alone! There is no way I'm going to play these kinds of games where you hurt innocent people like this!"
"Were they hurt? I simply played with them a little nothing more, and besides comparing to being held up in the air losing their hearts would be a much harsher thing I could do to these somebodies." Like playing with them is really any better!
"What do you want now, Auxaq. It seems clear if you're going this far, then Aqua is truly dead and what is left is anything but a kind and noble keyblade hero!" Yes, I couldn't agree more with that statement, so I pointed my keyblade at her trying to make her come down and face us instead of playing some more of these mind games.
"Oh, but the games haven't even begun for you two. Why not enjoy being together again, even if you're trying to stop us nobodies when you don't even know our complete objective yet..." She merely waved her black glove around into her cloak revealing two more ice-cream bars that matched the one she was eating.
"Why not break those chains binding down your memories with a little old thing you used to do with me and Xion up on that clock tower, Roxas." Roxas? Why is she referring to Sora as Roxas when he isn't that nobody anymore.
"Knock it off already! I'm Sora and nobody else!"
"Nobody? How amusing, but I can't really find enjoying in how much you deny or refuse to accept yourself for what you once were and still are to some extent." Despite Aqua holding out the treat neither of us refused to even risk grabbing out due to our minds believing she was going to pull some trick.
"What are you waiting for? Why would I rip out your hearts when that won't help anyone," She looked rather upset for an emotionless being when Sora and myself refused her "peace" offering. "Giving you the answers you desire will only benefit our...well my cause in the end. Why do you refuse to recall those days that I can remember clear as day, so with that question I ask you Sora to explain who you are currently between Xion and Roxas."
Suddenly she threw the ice cream on the ground that we didn't want to eat, her next move involved grabbing hold of Sora's arm.
"This weapon was used by the both of them, and yet they were merely two sides of the same coin. You are both of them however it seems that you reject them at the same time." Despite trying to stop Aqua from hurting Sora again she easily used her strength to slam him into the alleyway with ease while I fought back with my keyblade. Her eyes shined with frustration, and she quickly pushed me back no matter how hard I tried to disarm her with my weapon.
"Even now you refuse to surrender, the willpower you have is admirable for the one I unwittingly chose back then..." I shook my head while she continued taunting me with this false praise, a nobody like Aqua might be sincere however without a real soul it was hard to believe what they mean and say to people.
"Why are you working with these guys, Aqua? I doubt these nobodies have anything good planned for the universe meaning you're possibly working for the one people. Yet, here you are trying to help out my friend regain his memories...with a manipulative method that is putting Sora through pain! What is it you're hoping to do by messing with us!?"
I was surprised when I managed to land a blow on Aqua's arm making her move back in surprise by how much power I had put into that swing. Even Goofy, Donald, and Sora were shocked by this.
"Why...are you still here, Aqua? You don't belong in the light if you're going to embrace the darkness of nothingness."
"Roxas? Or is it Xion?" Sora's eyes looked glazed over like when we first arrived back in Twilight Town as Aqua wondered if one of those people were speaking to her instead of Sora.
"You can't keep going on like this...I know you want me to come back, however, I must stay here..."
"Xion?"
So, this was that replica instead of Roxas that managed to resurface even if Sora's voice sounded like himself while she was talking to him. Despite only seeing her or "it" as DiZ calls Xion I knew that whatever happened before she ended up becoming one with Sora hurt Aqua deeply.
"Then, why didn't you take me with you?! You said that you weren't complete; despite not even being a real nobody you felt like only absorbing me could you feel whole...why?"
"It was my feelings...or rather what Roxas and I felt about you from the time we've gotten to know you. I just didn't go back alone with such a fear confusing my thoughts and clouding my judgment. It wasn't until I become part of Sora that I realized that the fate of the universe depends on me remaining submerged inside of this keybearer! The Superior must be stopped at all costs even if it means I can't truly be my own self anymore."
Aqua simply remained motionless while she must have been digesting these words Xion was telling her through my friend's body, a couple of moments later I still grasped my keyblade as we were still waiting for Aqua to do something to us.
"Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad for nobodies to return to the nothingness we came from if the means to regain our hearts involves hurting others..."
"The means? Xion! What do you mean-"
"Shut up...just shut your mouth!" I saw Aqua fly into a state or rage, her keyblade pointing at us before she began to fire off several blasts of ice shards that nearly hit us while she clashed with Sora once again with lightning-fast speed.
"This is your decision, Xion? To remain stuck inside of this boy along with Roxas, and I'm supposed to accept being gone from the universe for good!?" Sora's eyes flickered back to normal, but I was more worried about what Xion meant by that remark on this method Organization XIII was seeking out to regain their souls.
"Xion...no I'm Sora and no one else!"
"Liar!" She suddenly caused some pillars of fire to rise around her as she knocked Sora onto the ground with a blow from her weapon. I tried to cool things down with a Blizzara spell however she just fired back with more heated attacks making it nearly impossible to use any kind of ice magic while she was surrounded by these fire pillars.
"What about you, Roxas? Expecting me to just roll over for you and your somebody like our friendship meant nothing!" Grabbing my friend by his clothing I asked Goofy to use his shield to keep the flames off me so that I could charge at her with my keyblade while Donald would keep her distracted with a few ice spells. Despite how strong Aqua currently is, the combined effort we made into helping out Sora was something even she couldn't overpower as I knocked her back with a few more strikes with my keyblade.
"Your friends are gone Aqua, but that doesn't mean you have to torture us anymore. If you would just stop screwing with Sora's head I think we can have a real conversation about-"
"Enough out of you!" Her keyblade sent a charge of thunder that sent me onto the ground in a ton of pain from the shock treatment she gave to me.
"A-Ahhh..." I had forgotten how powerful Aqua could be with the right motivation in her with how quickly she knocked me down with one spell.
"Aqua leave her alone...she doesn't have anything to do with us." So-ora? Looking at him those eyes were again not normal, but he sounded much different than when Xion was speaking making me wonder if this was Roxas speaking instead.
"I know you want to find Ven and Terra, but this isn't the right way. Your life ended in that realm of darkness just like mine did at the hands of Xion. I've accepted it...so why can't you?"
"You too? You both want me to just die and lose everything I have left...damn you Sora!" She hissed out while launching another series of strikes at my friend.
"You've turned them against me! You just want me to go away like the other somebodies including your precious friends! Well, that won't happen this keybearer will the winner of our game like it or not!" Before we could do anything else Aqua flung Sora onto the ground while I tried getting back up despite the volts of electricity running through my body.
"This all started in that castle, XIII, and XIV. The moment you set foot in that castle, you forgot every spell and ability you knew... though the forgetting does not end there. In that place, to find is to lose and to lose is to find. That is the way of things in Castle Oblivion."
"So what if that is the case! Namine put back most of Sora's memories except for the ones involving Roxas and Xion. What are you trying to say exactly?" She merely began to laugh instead of answering my question.
"Xion and Roxas are still fighting to regain control. Even when they want me to give up they still won't accept the fact they are part of Sora even now. Right now their resistance is small, but if they can gain enough strength and power back from their host..." Could they regain control by overshadowing Sora? That can't happen if they try stealing away my friend.
"Ahh the shackles are binding your friend down; even with his body out of Namine's control he is still a prisoner of his memories." Her voice spoke out, amusement dripping out of his lips almost like she was enjoying this. No. She can't find any emotion to have such sadism...right?
"Tell me how hard you want Sora to remember everything, Kairi? Enough to allow Sora to end up being destroyed by those other personalities inside of himself!" I tried blasting Aqua with all of the power left inside of me, the attack was deflected by one of her barriers as she disappeared into one of those dark portals laughing before she left us even more confused than before.
'She truly believes that Sora and myself are the enemy at this point. All because of the people that are connected to Sora, yet want their own independence from him.' Looking at Sora he was holding his head likely in loads of physical and mental stress. Walking over to my friend I saw those eyes of his continuing to flicker back and forth between a glazed shine and his normal, beautiful irises.
"W-Who am...I? Why do I feel glad that I told her how I feel, but also sad that I said those words?"
I would like to know the answer myself, Sora. Embracing Sora with a small hug I knew things were only going to get worse from here on out with this new problem of Roxas and Xion possibly come back, however, I knew that this meant we were getting closer to discovering the full truth. I only hope that is Aqua confronts us again we will be truly ready to fight back and...defeat her if it comes to a situation of life and death.
'Do we really need to destroy her if she is willing to help us to some extent like Axel?'
For the moment we could enjoy our stay in Twilight Town with Pence and his friends who were happy that we helped rescue them from the black-hooded "witch" as they called her. I wondered if they realized how much danger they were really in when they suggested they give us free sea-salt ice cream as their way of saying thanks. Unlike with Aqua, we knew there wasn't any trick behind this gesture, the yummy treat made the pain I endured earlier worth it.
"The way you took handled those creepy white things was amazing! Even while fighting that other keyblade user you managed to get a few hits on her." Hayner was really impressed by my skills back there against the nobodies. As for Olette, she felt more worried about why the nobodies and why they were coming here more often these days.
"I don't want to imagine more of those guys showing up to cause more trouble. Do you think you two can be here in case that happens since I doubt Seifer is enough to handle those guys."
"Seifer...The Struggle Tournament..." I looked confused about what Sora said when Pence told me about the tournament that is played in this town every now and again with guys fighting with toy bats.
"Yeah, but how do you know about that stuff when I never told you about that, Sora."
"I was here in that tournament...I was with Aqua I think and I battled someone..."
"You were here?" How could that unless...
"Sora! You're starting to remember?" I couldn't believe what spurred this on besides what Aqua told him, but whatever it was seemed to be working.
"I don't know why but when I ate that ice cream I could get a glimpse of me fighting someone with a keyblade." That had to be Roxas he was able to remember, the next thing I saw was Sora beginning to shake around violently on the couch we were sitting on while I tried to calm him down.
"Sora!"
"I can't stop...there is this voice in my head telling me to stop thinking and remember!" I asked everyone to help me restrain him while he kept shaking like this, even though I didn't know why he was going through this it had to be related to the memories that refuse to come back to him.
"Aqua...this is not your fault..."
"Aqua? No, I'm Kairi!" Sora's eyes began to tear up despite me telling him who he was looking at when he suddenly stopped moving after shaking in my arms for a couple of more seconds. I placed him on the couch while his eyes remained open despite his body no longer moving and shaking around so much. Was this some kind of sleeping state?
"This must be what that nobody wanted! Sora must be tired now because of those memories he can't recall..."
"But why can't we recall those memories like Sora, Donald?"
A very good question Goofy, and until we can solve this answer I knew that making Sora remember any more could do more harm than good. Oh, why does this have to happen to him after losing so much would he really lose his body as a result of regaining everything. The very things Sora wanted to remember were now corrupting his body...
"Do you think we can stay here for a while longer? I know it would be rude to intrude on your home but-"
"Make yourselves at home! It would be the least we can do for a friend!"
"Thanks, Pence, Hayner, and Olette." At least I got to meet new people who were kind enough to let us stay here until Sora can recover from whatever is going on inside of himself. The question is when will Sora wake up from this slumber and who will be speaking to us when that happens.
The World That Never Was: Grey Area ( Auxaq's POV )
"Demyx. DEMYX!"
I was furious when I saw this "professional" musician play on his sitar as if he was ignoring me screaming his name. After our last meeting about Xemnas taking a visit to Hollow Bastion, he wanted one of us to confront Sora and Kairi who would likely be heading there in the future. Naturally, with my own objective of seeking down the corrupted heartless for the sake of our grand dream, it would be up to someone in order to pressure Sora further into remembering everything like Xemnas wants him to do, even with the fact of Roxas and Xion being considered "traitors" to this organization.
"Yeah what do you want Ziggy or Axel? Oh, it's you Larxene 2.0 or Vexen-redux no wait you are now Marluxia's blue-haired daughter."
"And you're still Demyx, so why don't you take your assignment more seriously than just trying to make a new song." Dealing with Sora and Kairi wasn't something he can simply underestimate considering how stronger they were becoming over their journey. Even I had to admit they were becoming a real issue for us in the long run.
"Kairi won't be an issue for me after I provide one hell of an encore!" He had to begin "rocking" out after saying that with his sitar didn't he? "As for Sora...I guess he might be more of a problem, but I know how I can handle dealing with him!"
"Running away?"
"Performing a strategic retreat from a dangerous situation."
"I see," Rolling my eyes I figured this would be the case. "What if you are unable to escape from a battle with the keybearer like last time?"
"That won't happen Sora is just a kid like his friend. We're the ones who are on the verge of losing everything," Just like in Christmas Town something changed in the mind of Demyx. "They don't know the kind of beings they're dealing with even by this point. I think you should be more worried about the Superior losing faith in your abilities."
"What?!" He simply grinned at me while pointing a finger at my face.
"Imagine those rash punks getting more hearts than you are despite being a "Keyblade Master" Aqua. It would certainly ruin your image and reputation if Sora and Kairi end up finishing our Kingdom Hearts instead of you. Xemnas and your dear "friends" would be so disappointed in you."
"It's AUXAQ! Do you really think I would let either of them defeat me in a true battle? I'll show you disappointment when you get back from Hollow Bastion!" How dare this man suggest those kids were better than me! I wanted to help stimulate their growth if only to see Xion and Roxas again, but if no when it comes down to my survival they would be nothing holding me back anymore. I had to survive for Ven and Terra to find me again. I will survive no matter the cost!
"Good luck, Demyx." I wondered if this would be the last time I spoke with him as he left the room, but when I looked at the "moon" growing brighter with each heart added into it, the light that I craved to complete me was becoming stronger with each passing day. Soon, my beautiful Kingdom Hearts...
[ For those in American Happy 4th of July. For everyone else...umm I guess it would just be another day for you guys wouldn't it? :P Next time we head back to Hollow Bastion for more story development and a lot more heartless to deal with than usual. Thank you all for keeping up with the story it is very much appreciated. ]