The Sapphire Sorceress

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

Act 73: The Gambler of Fate

"It's tough being at the bottom of the food chain. But what's chess without pawns? I just hope luck sees fit to allow us both to carry on with our roles."

The World That Never Was: Altar of Naught ( Auxaq's POV )

Once again I was standing before this artificial Kingdom Hearts near completion with the amount of hearts getting sucked into this device growing by the amount Sora and Kairi destroy with their keyblades. While those from other worlds have come to complicate matters, the goal Xemnas and the rest of us had been working on was soon to be complete regardless of the unexpected arrival of the other people and heroes from other worlds. Still, this moment didn't come without a consequence, the person paying that price was Xigbar who lost his entire existence by losing to Sora and Kairi.

'I don't...feel anything about his demise.' The old me would feel happy to know the guy who helped out my old master try and ruin the universe with forging that x-blade, but he lacked a heart to truly have the ability to care about things or people despite having the knowledge and reason to understand our actions.

'How many hearts are being sucked into this device like pieces of a puzzle getting filled.' As I observed Xemnas standing near this giant heart in the sky I wondered if he would truly fulfill the promise of giving the rest of the remaining members a heart as promised while he offered up his usual "prayers" to this artificial Kingdom Hearts in the sky.

"Yes...Kingdom Hearts...Rejoice, and feast on these hearts we offer! Shine your pale light on this empty realm...Share your power with all Nobodies!" I remained silent during this praise Xemnas was giving until Saix appeared, and now he could be considered Xemnas' Number Two with the absence of Xigbar who apparently out-ranked him by age and seniority.

"Xemnas. Is Kingdom Hearts ready?"

"Very soon."

"Then, I can end this charade?"

Charade? I didn't understand what Saix meant, but Xemnas did as he turned around with the aura of a superior among his own kind while giving Saix the approval he wanted.

"Indeed..."

Looking at the normally stoic nobody, his complexion changed as he smiled with delight about this news despite not truly have the heart to express joy.

"How I've waited to hear that."

Watching him disappear while looking at me with that grin not leaving his face caused an uneasy sensation to come over me while I waited for Xemnas to provide myself with final instructions as he did with Luxord and seemingly Saix before me.

"It would seem that Sora and those people's his heart connected with during his journey have become a problem." I knew they would likely continue fighting our forces to help assist Sora and Kairi. Those two along with that boy Riku will continue heading upwards into our castle, but that is where Xemnas planned on stalling them for extra time. This was a risky game considering what happened to Xigbar, however, Xemnas knew that our Kingdom Hearts wasn't fully whole.

"Saix and Luxord will do their part, but I know you only desire to fight that girl and Princess of Heart. I will not keep you from performing your duty, so I wish you the best of luck in fighting her." I knew that he wanted at least one of us to succeed in dealing with those two keyblade bearers, and I couldn't let them destroy myself when I was ever so close to becoming human again.

"What about yourself? Should I fail...they will likely seek your destruction as well..." Meaning everything we've done would have been for nothing, such as my efforts along with Sora and Kairi's work into building my last hope of regaining any kind of normality about myself and other Nobodies. The conclusion of this long and torturous existence was finally ending...one way or the other.

"I will either go down with the rest of my friends or succeed and fulfill my promise to you all. That is what he would tell you right now, which is what you want to hear is it not?"

"You aren't Terra...not Xehanort...So, why do I feel like I shouldn't be helping you."

"Your mind remembered what your old teacher did to you," His golden eyes looked at my face while a frown of confusion was likely being shown to him. "But can you tell me for certain that all of his lessons were bad? Light cannot exist without the dark, and we exist on the edge of such a balance. All I wish to do is restore that balance even if we're all that is left of this Organization..." I couldn't deny in a messed up way Xehanort did teach us many things that helped myself, Terra, and Ven even if it was for his own twisted intentions.

"Then, I will also stick with my decision until the end." He seemed to actually smile at my declaration of commitment to this group despite lacking real emotions like myself.

"I'm certain you will display the skills of a true Keyblade Master, friend." That for sure will happen very shortly, but I wondered if Terra and Ven would be proud of the decisions I've made since working with this group.

The World That Never Was: Naught's Skyway ( Kairi's POV )

"You sure they will be fine with fighting those creatures, Kairi? I know that one guy called Hulk looked as strong as Beast was tossing around those nobodies like nothing but..."

"From what Tony has told me they've seen and been through worse situations than fighting heartless beings of darkness and nothingness."

Of course, we had our share of enemies to deal with like these ones with spikes that were coming out of their limbs, and more of those samurai nobodies who would likely fight us without hesitation as their katanas were getting blocked by our keyblades. They seemed to wish to challenge us to a draw of the sword, which showed their honor despite being enemies and I and Sora went along with their demand. They didn't move their swords, and I figured they would only draw them to beat us to make the first move.

A second was all it took for Sora to defeat the samurai while cutting the nobody down before it drew out that sword. I was impressed with how quick Sora was on the draw while I was trying to hit these other nobodies who were sinking into the floor to attack us from below. Donald and Goofy were even holding their own against the shape-shifting nobodies that were flying around to attack us. The enemy waves only continued to come after me, Sora, and our friends as we ran higher up through this walkway outside of the castle.

"To think people who once had a heart could live in such a depressing world..."

Getting a better look at this place where I've been held captive I was startled by the nature of this world as was Sora who observed the vast empty land we were fighting in. Running higher up into the castle two huge nobodies appeared that I saw before when that man with the x-scar on his face tried capturing me when I escaped from the prison in this strange place. Their huge weapons made it difficult to even hit them with our keyblades, and they kept slamming those huge claymore weapons into the ground near us.

Sora used some kind of spell that drew the nobodies into the air making them drop their weapons on the ground, which were actually standing up instead of laying downward giving me an insane idea of merely grabbing it to fight back against these guys with their own weapon.

'Okay! Here goes nothing!' Grasping the claymore I suddenly felt a rush of angry with rage flowing through me as I began to rush over to the huge nobody that was now vulnerable and helpless against me! Grinning, my hands quickly moved this weapon around to whack at this poor, weak, and pathetic nobody around making me laugh with excitement.

'This is so much FUN!' Giggling to myself I grabbed the other claymore when Donald blasted it out of the other nobody's clutches with some ice magic to do the same trick again!

"Kairi? A-Are you okay?" Oh, I'm more than just okay! Watching these huge nobodies get thrashed around by this newly-discovered strength of mine was very thrilling and enjoyable. Hold on a second...why am I finding enjoyment out of this? Dropping the claymore that I was able to wield I wondered how that sensation of sadism came over me or the blinding rage I felt during my assault on those creatures.

"I...felt a surge of angry come over me..." Looking at Sora I felt guilty with those thoughts running through my head while bashing those nobodies up. I shouldn't have gotten a delightful feeling watching them fade out of existence like I did with that claymore in my hand. He simply smiled while giving me a thumbs up pose. We didn't have time to celebrate when some of those dancing nobodies appeared along with a few of Auxaq's own nobodies.

"What the-" I felt one of these guys kick me with their legs while the magical nobodies cast some kind of spell that was holding me up in the air. These guys were actually cooperating together in order to fight back against us. I tried to use magic, but then I felt my body slam down into the ground hard likely that gravity spell was the source of my suffering. I wondered if she might laugh at me, such a sight would certainly make anyone else laugh but I guess without a heart Aqua couldn't express genuine enjoyment.

Glaring at these jewel-encored creatures I fired back at them with some magical heat, but their barriers made my attacks pointless while those dancing ones continued taunting me while spinning around us.

"Don't worry, Kairi! I've got these guys."

He's always looking out for me when I was in some trouble, so when a few of those magic users tried ganging up on Sora and Donald I charged at them with Goofy blocking the dancing nobodies with his shield. Stabbing one in the "eye" area I was actually hurting them without their barriers getting in the way this time taking out the most annoying of the bunch still battling us to stop our progression. Watching the last of these dancing nobodies fade I knew we were getting closer to the leader behind this chaos.

There were so many things this nobody referred to as Xemnas needed to pay for...

"Let's keep going and find our other friend." You're right Sora. No matter how I just felt wasn't reflecting what I was doing by destroying these nobodies and heartless. This had to be done for the sake of saving the universe and not for selfish reasons! After entering a door I could see Riku was waiting for us here but I knew that Sora didn't know the truth about the person he was looking at with a slight amount of anger on his face.

"Wait, Ansem! I mean, Xehanort's Heartless...I never thought for a second that I'd ever see YOU again."

"Hold on a second, Sora." I tried grabbing my friend to calm him down but he wasn't even willing to listen to me right now.

"Just thinking about all the things you did makes me really mad. But...But you saved Kairi, right? I have to be grateful for that...Thanks." Riku merely started to walk away, but I couldn't let him face all of these dangers by himself. No matter what stands ahead for us, the three of us would need to face it TOGETHER as a team. Tugging on his arm a little I pleaded with him to stay with us, even saying his real name to reveal to Sora what's happened to our friend.

"I'm no one - just a castaway from the darkness." That isn't true, and we both know that!

"Sora, come here. Say something to him." As I saw him walk over to us in confused, the only way I figured he would see what I see would be with contact. Putting his hand over Riku's and mine we all could see Riku as he really looked in the darkness surrounding his current self. Sora finally sees our friend in the form of the "man" who ripped us away from the islands.

"Riku...It's Riku. Riku's here..." He was on his knees crying, and I couldn't stop my own tears from coming down my face knowing how much this meant to him.

"I've looked for you!"

"C'mon, Sora. You've got to pull it together."

"I looked everywhere for you!"

"I didn't want you to find me."

Well, at least we're back together once again even if the situation could have been better for our long-awaited reunion.

"I was starting to worry you guys weren't ever gonna catch on. Sora never did pick the brightest friends."

"What do you mean by that?!" Yeah, Riku! Some attempt of making light of this situation. Both Donald and Goofy looked just as unhappy with that comment as myself.

"Why didn't you let me know you were okay?"

"I told you. I didn't want to be found. Not like this...I couldn't. I fought with Ansem. With...Xehanort's Heartless - when it invaded my heart, and I won. But to use the power of darkness, I had to become Ansem myself." Such is why Riku had on that black blindfold over himself, but it seemed that it wasn't enough to keep him as he was before using the full power of darkness. Even if he couldn't turn back yet, the power Riku has would be needed if we were going to overcome the rest of the nobodies in this castle. Riku would have to rely on this darkness for just a while longer until things are settled for good...

"So how 'bout it: Think we can handle one last rumble together? The King's waiting!"

"Yeah! Let's get going!" Finally, the three of us were back together again with nothing that would split us apart once again.

The World That Never Was: Proof of Existence

Our determination filled us with the boost of confidence to move on further into this place as we came into a strange room filled with many different square tiles.

'This place almost seems like a graveyard...' Most of these panels were red in color likely representing the fallen members of this group, which meant the ones that were blue indicated their status of being "alive" right now.

"This is the room where...we all built to prove that we were alive..." Looking over at Sora, his eyes were looking down at a square with two keyblades crossing over each other almost looking like the shape of the letter x. Was this the grave belonging to Roxas? It was still light up in the color blue, and yet, the area was destroyed like all of the other red areas. I wondered what Sora must have been thinking, his hand moved over the symbol etched into the tile while I saw another keyblade logo in this room.

"This must be Auxaq's tombstone." Like the other remaining lit areas, her stone had a huge pillar of light glowing, but this one didn't seem to have a weird light glowing around this archway, unlike Luxord and Saix's stones according to Riku.

"It seems the pathway has been blocked off," Riku told us when he tried moving past the huge circular area that was past all of these graves in this room. "We must have to enter those portals to face members of Organization XIII." I gasped when he gave the suggestion of us having to fight either that scarred man, the man who tried playing some card games with me and or the nobody who's been messing with us for quite a while formerly known as Aqua.

"This could be a way to stall us for some more time, so their giant heart in the sky will become whole by the time we reach Xemnas."

"Most likely, but we shouldn't underestimate Xemnas' followers. Some members of Organization XIII see fighting as a game. No matter what the rules are, you'll always have a chance to win. Don't miss that chance." I wondered how that advice would help us against Luxord, but I figured that should be the first nobody we go after here.

"Are you okay, Sora?" Looking over at him kneeling in front of that monument for Roxas he didn't respond to me, which made us confused about what thoughts must have been running through his head.

"I...have to lay myself to rest for good. Sora is the winner...and not me." Was that Roxas speaking or Xion? Either one of them could be in the position of resting inside of my friend with no will of their own anymore. I felt quite bad about knowing this, unlike Sora who seemingly was still unaware of why he was talking like this.

"We have to keep moving, Sora. That is what Roxas and Namine would want from you two."

"What do you mean by "want" Riku? Namine is still with us...right?" My eyes looked downward as I felt confused by my own words. She was still here in the castle...there was no way that-

"Riku is right." Sora rose up from the spot meant to honor his nobody self with new determination shining in those blue eyes of his, and we decided to confront Luxord who had the title: The Gamble of Fate.

As we entered through this portal, the first thing we noticed was some kind of beam being sent into that moon in the sky that would soon become a new Kingdom Hearts.

"What's that?"

"It's the King and DiZ- I mean, Ansem the Wise." DiZ? Ansem the Wise? Was he here along with Mickey? I certainly wasn't expecting to run into him, and I for sure wasn't thrilled to encounter that man again after our last conversation.

"They must be higher up. We better hurry." I knew we had to make it quick before another lesser nobody showed up, so instead to throw us off complete a humanoid nobody appeared to snap his fingers.

"What the-" Cards suddenly appeared, so I ran through them when they began to circle around Riku, Donald, and Goofy. Sora and I then noticed the man who had to be Luxord reveal that our friends were suddenly gone from this place!

"You!"

"I'd rather we just skip the formalities." He must plan on using our friends as leverage to make us fight him in this place. Holding out our keyblades this nobody merely looked at us with a confident smile on his face; he must be fully aware of the rules of whatever game he wanted us to play and would take advantage of our lack of knowledge about his abilities.

"The first to run out of time is the loser."

A sudden, heavy weight came down on my shoulders after hearing that comment while remembering the fact about each of these stronger members of Organization XIII.

'If Demyx controlled water, and Axel wielded fire could Luxord have mastery of time itself?' That means we can't waste any of our time in defeating this guy before something bad likely happens to us. Before I could even strike, a bright flash of light blinded me for a moment before I saw that Sora had been turned into a dice block?!

"There. Now, the game is truly fair." Running after Luxord I refused to let him turn my friend into one of his tools used for some kind of sick game.

"You did that just really get me angry, didn't you?!" I growled when he didn't deny my claim before tossing out some of those cards he was moving around to attack me.

"Cards!" I saw those paper cards grow much bigger in size while Sora tired moving around while in that shape of a dice block.

"I challenge you!" My back was getting hit by a few of these giant cards while Luxord kept moving away from my range of attack. Running at him I tried cutting down the huge cards that were protecting this nobody from my attacks. I knew that Sora couldn't remain as a cube for the rest of his life, and the universe depended on the both of us stopping these rest of these nobodies.

"Don't squander your time." Says the guy making it waste it with these annoying little games, so I made the point clear how angry I felt when I smacked him a couple of times with my keyblade.

"Kairi!" Sora? He didn't look like a face stuck on a moving dice block anymore as he joined in with my attacks on these huge moving cards to get to this nobody.

"Look closely now." Suddenly he vanished from our line of sight making us wonder how he could have disappeared like that. Observing the cards moving down and up off the floor I saw one of them actually resembled the image of Luxord.

"That must be him!" Sora nodded while we hit that certain card to make him appear in front of us again. He didn't look happy we managed to win that game of hiding and seeking, but then I saw him wave around a card in front of me.

"This was meant to be one-on-one..." I tried running away, however, the next thing I knew my body was stuck in a cramped space. Is this how Sora felt while trapped in the small area of a dice block.

"Kairi! You change her back to normal go now!" While I was trying to move around Luxord suddenly grabbed me and tossing me into a pile of cards he set up nearby.

"Scatter!" I tried to move around or scream to let Sora know where I was, but while trapped in this card I was practically powerless while in this state unable to do much else until I was freed out of this card. Feeling Sora move his hands through the pile I knew he was trying to look for me in this pack of cards until I heard him groan out in pain.

"Don't you remember when you used to play with me, Roxas? Those times when we used to enjoy challenging each other to the best of our abilities, the days when I forget there wasn't a beating organ in my chest because of the fun we had together!" Like Xigbar this nobody seemingly was treating Sora like he knew about the activities performed by his own nobody, which seemed odd considering how less harsh Luxord sounded compared to that sniper. Did he genuinely like Roxas compared to some of the other members?

"Hey. Stop calling me by that name, the name is Sora!" Smiling I felt him grab hold onto me, and suddenly I was no longer stuck inside of a card rather my hand felt his pull me out of this pile of playing cards from Luxord's personal set.

"You...truly don't remember or care about us despite those days we worked together for the sake of regaining our hearts." His face actually expressed sadness when Sora merely shook his head before Luxord pulling out smaller cards from the sleeves of his cloak.

"I see, even so, do you know the rules?" A pack of cards came up behind him each having either x symbols or an o sign on them. This must be like before when I had to guess correctly the right letter when those other dice-user nobodies attacked us.

'We have to get this guess right or lose more time in this battle...' My eyes observed the cards shifting around before they stopped and then flipped around making it hard to see the symbols on them.

"We have to guess the order of the symbols?" Nodding, that was what I figured would be the correct answer to this little puzzle game.

"XXOXO?" Sora's answer made Luxord flinch as the cards disappeared from behind him giving us the chance to strike him while his guard was down. He suddenly sent out those cards to swipe at us trying to defend himself again before he disappeared once again into his cards that were shifting around the ground. Strike a weird clock I saw Luxord swing a card at me forcing myself to block it with my keyblade.

"You are quite the interesting player! Shame we are on opposite sides of this conflict."

"Yeah, but that is the nature of this twisted game. You win or you die..." I knew Sora was surprised by that reply, yet this is what these nobodies wanted from us by pushing things this far. Dodging his card swipes I knocked him a few more times with my keyblade before telling Sora to grab my hand, the momentum I used to pull him forward allowed him to rush after Luxord before he summoned more cards to defend himself.

"Look who's on the top of the game!"

Is he tossing out a whole deck of cards now? I had to jump out of the way as Luxord began to send these cards after us in a deadly game of pick up while this nobody began to spin around the place. He must be desperate to win now if he's pulling out this kind of trick, and then I noticed all of the cards begin to swarm around me, so I began to cut them down even if there was several more coming when I cut down some more heading at me.

"Sora...Do you know the rules?" I saw a huge series of cards that were surrounding Sora and Luxord making me nervous about what was going on over there while I dealt with this pack of cards before they overwhelmed me. Sora might need me to help him; I was so close yet so far away from my friend who was still battling against this nobody on his own right now.

'I will not lose here when there are still many people waiting for us to prevail!' Pushing forward with the remaining strength I had to cut down the rest of these cards moving around me. I tried running over to Sora only to feel the cards slip underneath my feet causing me to fall over on the ground, and by stabbing through some of the cards I slowly regained my footing while seeing Sora and Luxord without those giant cards blocking them. Then, Sora tossed around Luxord's own cards back at him.

I knew he likely was almost done, so I ran up while jumping on the cards to keep them on the ground to hit Luxord with a Thundaga spell to keep him stunned and unable to move around for a few seconds.

"You play the game quite well."

This has to be the end of our fight. Sure enough, Luxord pulled out a few more cards to defend himself, but it was too late as I saw the cards get sliced in half revealing a defeated Luxord kneeling over in pain likely on the verge of getting erased from this world.

"How could you... Roxas...or do you prefer the name Xion instead?"

"That's SORA!" I smiled at my friend correcting Luxord before he vanished out of existence following in Xigbar's footsteps. Turning back I saw Riku, Goofy, and Donald return to us after we had overcome that Fair Game. One down and only three more to deal with now...

"Tell me something, Kairi. Should your friends come and find you, the gamble you made to become a keyblade user would it be worth the risk?" Luxord asked me while we played a round of his card game as I was stuck in that prison area. At the time I wasn't sure if my answer would be correct since it was my choice to come into this place however when I saw Riku and Sora smiling at each other I knew what I told him was right in my heart.

"We will be the winners of this game, Luxord. Nothing personal, but I think you might have put your money on the wrong team."

"Perhaps my dear...soon we shall see who lady luck will favor in the end." I guess that she likes myself and Sora former Gambler of Fate. You've lost this game...

[ Short update, but next time will be more interesting with Saix's last fight with Sora and Kairi. I can't couldn't do much else with this besides mainly stick to how it went down in the game with the lack of a real boss fight. Anyways, the Eclipse on the 21st should be interesting for a once in a lifetime opportunity just don't look at the sun directly. Hope you've all been having a good summer, and for those going back to school good luck with your classes and with your learning process. ]