Afterdeath
Author's note: I'm really sorry this took so long! The original epilogue consisted of the scenes "Day 17" onward, but then when I was finishing up posting chapter 10, I decided I should add the scene I've called "Day 11." This threw off the whole epilogue. I had to rewrite large portions of the chapter and add several more new scenes to make "Day 11" fit.
And this also made the epilogue ridiculously long! So I've had to split it in half to make it more manageable for me. The second half doesn't need as much editing, so I should be able to get it up pretty soon.
Thanks for your patience! I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 11: Epilogue Part 1
Day 1 After the Battle for the X-Blade
Yen Sid departed from Radiant Garden in the early morning to go reclaim his tower. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy went with him. That effectively left the keybearers with nothing to do but rest, and by midday, Aqua was restless and anxious to be doing something. Terra (whom she had firmly vouched for) and Ventus were both still unconscious, but under the good fairies' watchful care. Lea wouldn't leave Isa's side, and Roxas and Xion weren't inclined to go anywhere without Lea. So that only left Kairi and Sora that Aqua knew well enough (and trusted enough) to recruit for her errand. After grimly warning them to be prepared for a serious fight, she opened a path and led them to the Land of Departure – the former Castle Oblivion.
They spent the rest of the day searching the castle from top to bottom. They could find no trace of any Riku replicas, or anything else dangerous. The oozy remains of Vexen's experiments had gotten jumbled together in one of the basement rooms, but the greatest hazard it seemed to pose was from the smell. All three of them agreed that they could deal with that later.
Or make Even clean it up – but Sora kept that thought to himself.
Finally, Aqua admitted there was nowhere else to search, and she switched modes. She gave Kairi and Sora an overview of the history of the Land of Departure and the training of keybearers. Now that peace had been achieved, she considered it her duty to reopen the castle to the training of present and future keybearers, and she intended to start with these two. Together, the three of them checked on all the world's automated defenses and reactivated most of them to satisfy Aqua's paranoia. No being of darkness, Aqua vowed solemnly, was going to catch them off-guard again.
"What about Riku?" Sora spoke up, with growing concern. "He uses the power of darkness… sometimes, anyway. But he's not evil! Are you going to block him from coming here?"
"Terra is the same," Aqua admitted slowly. "Yen Sid and King Mickey have… have had much to tell me on the subject. Especially with regard to Riku's powers. Sora, I would never exclude Riku from this place. Clearly… the teachings of the keybearers will need to be revised. The mere presence of darkness within a person is not an indication of disposition to evil. It's what they choose to do with the darkness that matters. I… I didn't understand that before. Neither did my master. But suppression of darkness shouldn't be the ultimate goal. Control is what Terra needs – like Riku has already achieved…" Aqua trailed off, staring into space as she continued wandering in her thoughts.
Sora and Kairi just agreed enthusiastically. They both could sense a lot of baggage and backstory in Aqua's speech, and they didn't want to get involved more than they had to. They had their own issues to come to terms with, with Riku… and now Kurix.
Finally, exhausted, the trio went back to Radiant Garden. Sora went straight to his designated sleeping pad, in a back room in Merlin's house, and flopped down on it. He noticed the silver-haired nobody sitting against the opposite wall, and said "Hi, Kurix," in acknowledgment.
Kurix's gaze shifted to Sora. He said nothing – he just stared. He didn't even blink.
Sora finally had to roll over and face the other way to escape that relentless gaze. He needed to get some sleep, after all. He just didn't understand why he felt so guilty about doing so…
X-X-X-X-X-X
Day 3
The keybearers and their prisoners officially moved to the Land of Departure. When asked, they all pretended that they were moving in order to get out of Leon's hair. (Leon had gotten progressively more withdrawn and grumpy as he had had to keep dancing around all those extra people while trying to take care of his everyday tasks. So the excuse seemed reasonable.)
(But poor Leon was just the scapegoat. The real issue was that Aqua and Yuffie kept nearly coming to blows. But no one was going to admit to it. Especially since Sora hadn't even noticed.)
The prisoners' accommodations were substantially nicer in the Land of Departure, anyway, so they had no cause to complain. In Radiant Garden, they had been housed in an old, drafty jail. Here they got their own rooms, which were practically hotel rooms… albeit that locked from the outside. And that were magically self-contained to prevent their inhabitants from escaping by dark corridor or other magical paths. Not that the prisoners were likely to risk it after their black coats had all been confiscated, but still… better to be a little overly cautious.
Kurix was nearly left behind in Radiant Garden. Roxas only just remembered to go look for him before the last group left. He eventually found the nobody sitting still in a corner in Merlin's house, staring at the wall. Presumably that was where Sora or Kairi had left him. Roxas tried to ask Kurix about it, but got no response. The nobody stood and walked along with Roxas with little prompting, however. Roxas felt a flare of anger at the nobody's treatment, and resolved to confront Sora about it.
By the time Roxas and Kurix had reached the Land of Departure, however, the anger had bled away. Roxas didn't feel like trying to lecture Sora. Sora wouldn't understand Roxas's ire – how could he? Sora had never been a blank slate, thrown into a confusing world and just wanting to understand who he was and why he was…
Roxas insisted that Kurix be given a room of his own, fearful that the nobody might otherwise be left sitting in a corner of the castle's main hall overnight. Roxas showed Kurix to his room and talked to him the whole time, explaining notions such as sleeping when it's dark and getting out of bed when it's light – things that Roxas remembered had confused him during his first few days of existence.
Kurix never said a word in response, but Roxas felt better for making the effort.
X-X-X-X-X-X
Day 7
Kurix still didn't go anywhere by himself. Someone had to walk him to his room every night and go fetch him every morning, or else he'd remain in his room the entire day. Roxas was usually the one to do so. But either Sora or Kairi had already gotten Kurix up this morning, because the three of them were present in the kitchen, having breakfast. Or rather, Sora and Kairi were talking to each other, and Kurix was poking at some mush in a bowl with a spoon.
"Hey Sora. Kairi." Roxas gave a slight wave, and got similar responses in return. He sat down by Kurix. "You put it on your spoon, put it in your mouth, and swallow it. It's food. Although nobodies technically don't need food."
Kurix stopped poking at the mush and stared at Roxas intently the whole time he was speaking. He really seemed to be listening this time.
Roxas smiled. "Good morning, by the way." He got up and went to go look for something to eat himself. Now that he wasn't a nobody, he did need food. He was still having trouble remembering to act on this fact before a strong, abdominal discomfort would remind him. And the variety of things available to eat! Roxas would have just continued to subsist off of ice cream, except Lea had explained that he couldn't do that anymore or else he'd end up with a different abdominal discomfort…
"Good morning… Roxas."
The familiar voice sent a chill down Roxas's spine. He spun around and looked. Kurix was staring at him. Blankly. Innocently?
Kurix frowned. "Did I… say that right?"
Roxas smiled back, genuinely, while Sora and Kairi both gaped comically. "Yes, that's exactly right, Kurix," Roxas said. "Thank you. A very good morning to you, too!"
X-X-X-X-X-X
Day 11
Isa cried out in his sleep, suddenly waking Roxas who was dozing in a nearby chair. Roxas watched the blue-haired man thrash in his sleep, in the grips of another nightmare. Isa's face contorted in a grimace that seemed typical of Saïx. But Saïx's distinguishing scar was no longer there. Saïx was no longer there. This was Isa now, Roxas reminded himself.
Isa's breathing slowed and so did his movements. He'd had a few other episodes like this in the past few days, but they never lasted long. And Isa never woke up. Until he finally did, Lea had insisted that someone needed to stay with him at all times, so Isa wouldn't wake up alone. Roxas settled back into his chair again. He checked his watch. Two hours left on his shift. Then he could go wake Lea and get some sleep.
Isa started mumbling to himself. His noises became more urgent, and he started wrestling with the blanket. He somehow got his arm tangled in it and seemed to start panicking over it; Roxas hopped out of his chair and hurried over to try to help.
"No, no, please…! Lea, don't–!" Isa's thrashing nearly launched him from the bed. Roxas had to grab him to keep him from falling. Isa's eyes snapped open. "Lea!" Panicky, dilated eyes struggled to focus on Roxas. "Where is Lea?!" Eyes open. Awake. Actually awake!
"Hold on! Just calm down – I'll go get him!" Roxas fled the room. He didn't know what else he was supposed to do. He didn't know how to – didn't want to – deal with Isa like this. His own existence was still confusing enough.
Lea was sleeping of course, and it took shaking and even shouting to awaken him. Once Lea was awake enough to comprehend what Roxas was saying, he was up and out a door in a flash.
Xion, whose room was next door, heard the commotion and joined the group. Together they reentered the room to face a terrified Isa – who probably should not have been left alone but Roxas was so not ready to deal with this and he just wanted to let Lea handle it…
"Lea! You're alive!" Isa's eyes locked onto Lea as though he were his only anchor to reality. He shakily tried to get up from his bed, but Lea met him first and grabbed him in a hug
"Me? Yeah, I'm fine! We were all really worried about you! Whoa, easy there – I've still got a couple of bruises…" Lea added the last part as Isa's desperate grip became a little too tight.
Isa let go reluctantly. After visually inspecting Lea for any signs of injury and finding none, Isa was adequately satisfied. He then took a moment to look over at the others. "Roxas. You're… Roxas, aren't you?" Isa finally was able to focus on and recognize the one who'd been present at his awakening.
"Yeah. It's me." Roxas gave a little wave and forced a smile that he tried to make reassuring.
Isa looked as awkward as Roxas felt. He clearly didn't know what to do with this situation, either. "Oh. Hello again. Are you… how are you doing?"
"Oh. I'm… just fine. Thanks." Roxas glanced to Lea for some sort of guidance, but all he got was an amused smirk.
Isa finally noticed Xion. He stared at her, eyes wide and unblinking for a long moment. Xion was wearing her black coat again – she still preferred its familiarity over normal clothes. It hadn't bothered anyone else, but Isa was put on edge. "Who are you?" he snapped at her. "And what are you doing here?"
Roxas surged forward. "That's Xion. And you'd better be nice to her!"
Isa continued staring at her, frowning now. "You have a face," he declared in confusion.
"Of course she has a face!" Roxas snapped.
Isa glanced over at Roxas, apparently bewildered by his outburst, then looked to Lea. "Did Xion always look like this to you?" he asked his old friend.
"Um…" Lea scratched the back of his head as he tried to recall. "I thought so? But I guess she kept her hood up all the time at first…"
"She always looked like herself to me!" Roxas insisted.
"Roxas, Axel – it's okay," Xion said with a gentle smile. "Sai—er, Isa is right. I didn't have my own form at first. And as I grew stronger, different people saw different things when they looked at me. Roxas, don't you remember the time that I looked like Sora?"
"But—!" Roxas frowned, failing to find a counter argument. Remembering that very confusing day made him feel uncomfortable.
"I wasn't a normal nobody," Xion reminded him. "I wasn't like you. I didn't have my own identity before – but now I do."
"Huh," Lea declared after a pause. "What did Xion look like to you, then?" he asked Isa.
"An empty coat. With nothing inside but shadows." Isa shook his head, then finally broke off from staring at Xion. "It was really creepy seeing you fawning over such a thing. I thought you were losing your mind. But if… if she looked like this to you, then your behavior makes much more sense. She was always a person to you." He glanced over at Xion again, his face now more thoughtful. "I am sorry for the way I treated you," he said, slow and evenly.
"It's alright," Xion said cheerfully. "It wasn't really you, anyway. You're different from Saïx. Axel and the other organization members have already explained to me how it works. You don't owe me any apologies for what Saïx did or said back then."
"It still needs to be said," Isa said with complete seriousness. "He was still a part of me, and it wouldn't be right for me to leave such a wrong uncorrected."
"Aw, you're such a sweetheart!" Lea bent over to give Isa a one-armed hug. "I missed the real you so much! Saïx was always so cold and wouldn't even pretend to care about anyone!"
"He literally couldn't," Isa reminded Lea, wincing at the memory.
Lea felt the reflexive movement and immediately released Isa, studying his eyes anxiously. "How are you feeling? Is everything all right?"
"I… I don't know. Am I? How would I know?" He started scrubbing one hand across his face and suddenly froze. His hand rested over the bridge of his nose. "Lea… I need to know—"
"The scar is gone," Lea assured him. He grabbed Isa's hand and moved it to one of his ears. "And your eyes are green and your ears aren't pointy anymore. You're completely human now."
Isa traced the rim of his ear, needing to verify its shape for himself. "I believe you, but… I need to see it myself. Do you have a mirror?"
Lea spun around quickly, checking the room for anything sufficiently reflective. "I'll go find you one," he declared as he ran out the door.
This left Isa alone with the two special nobodies whose only experience with Isa had been as Saïx. He fidgeted with the edge of his blanket inbetween shooting nervous glances up at them.
Roxas sighed loudly. "We're not going to attack you. We don't want… revenge or anything like that. It's just kind of weird for us, thinking we knew you, and then finding out you're really someone completely different."
Isa nodded and continued fidgeting with the blanket. "Lea and Axel… were not all that different."
"Yeah, we've noticed," Roxas said drily, rolling his eyes. "He still loves doing stupid stuff."
Xion giggled. "But Lea is nicer. And he doesn't try keeping secrets from us."
"You mean, you haven't caught him at it yet. Lea has always had his secrets," Isa said seriously. Then he rethought what he had just said and flushed. "I mean… he wouldn't keep anything serious from you two! You're his best friends…" he trailed off.
"So are you, Isa!" Xion insisted.
Isa just sighed and slumped his shoulders. He went back to staring at his blanket.
That was when Lea came back. "I found one!" he declared, brandishing a mirror. "Take a peek!" He was so enthusiastic he almost accidentally hit Isa in the face with it.
Isa reacted quickly and grabbed the mirror before it hit his nose, clearly anticipating Lea's careless action. Without comment, he stared at his face for several long moments.
Finally Lea got bored. "Yes, you're gorgeous," he declared, yanking the mirror away. "So, do you believe me now?"
"I already said I believed you… I just needed to see it myself." Isa slowly eased himself back down onto his pillow and dragged his blanket up to cover his chest. "It just all seems too much like a dream… like none of this is real…"
Lea shifted uncomfortably. Then he forced a laugh. "Of course this is real! I mean, you never had this good of an imagination, right?"
"Ouch," Isa said with a dry smirk, while closing his eyes. "Real high esteem there, Lea."
Lea fidgeted some more. "Isa, are you doing all right?"
"Just tired…" Isa mumbled, clenching his eyes closed tighter.
"Oh… okay. We'll, um… we'll just let you rest for a while."
"Thank you, Lea."
Frowning, Lea, rubbed at the back of his neck. Then he shrugged, and motioned for Xion and Roxas to follow him out. Once out in the hall, they locked the door behind them, locking Isa in.
Isa's eyes snapped open once he knew they were gone. He sat up on the bed and drew his knees to his chest tightly. Finally, he released the tight hold he had on his emotions and let himself break down sobbing.
X-X-X-X-X-X
Day 17
Roxas and Kurix sat up on a high ledge, overlooking the castle in the Land of Departure, just enjoying the view below. In silence, they observed Sora going through some training exercises, supervised by Aqua. After a few minutes, Kairi came out and sparred briefly with Sora. No sound of the battles carried far enough up to reach the watchers. The loudest noise they could hear was the trees overhead rustling gently in the breeze.
"Where did you go?" Kurix finally asked, without preamble. "It's been days."
"Sorry, I was on a mission, and it ran longer than expected," Roxas explained. "We figured out which world another of the princesses had come from, so we were escorting her back home. And then we had to help give explanations for where she'd been…" Roxas trailed off. Kurix still showed little facial expression. It made him hard to read. Roxas didn't know if the nobody was actually interested in hearing the details of his trip or not. He decided to jump to another subject. "What did you do while I was gone?"
"Nothing really. I just stayed in my room. Sora and Kairi came to see me a few times. But they don't tell me about what's going on. All they want to talk about is past memories with Riku."
Roxas winced in sympathy. "You don't have to stay inside, you know. You can go other places."
Kurix shrugged. "There's nowhere I feel like going. I still… can't really feel anything. I remember that I cared about my home. But I can't go back there like this…"
Roxas made a sympathetic noise. They both sat in silence for a while, admiring the view. It seemed strange for a world to be so green, and with a sky so blue. Sitting on this ledge brought to mind all the time he'd spent on the clocktower in Twilight Town.
And now he wanted ice cream. Maybe he could persuade Lea or Xion to go to Twilight Town with him to get some…
"How are… the others doing?" Kurix eventually prompted.
"Oh! Right… Well, Isa's doing a lot better now," Roxas informed Kurix. "He's still having nightmares a lot. But he's not sleeping all day anymore. So that's good." Isa still was reluctant to talk to anybody except Lea, but it was still progress. Roxas moved down the mental checklist. "Terra's also doing a lot better. Yen Sid decided that he doesn't need to stay locked up anymore."
"Terra?" Kurix asked with a frown.
"Oh yeah, you remember the guy who was reformed from Ansem, Xemnas, and an angry suit of armor? That's Terra. He… he thinks he remembers you, from a long time ago."
"Oh. Terra is his name? Yes, I remember him. He gave Riku his keyblade." Kurix frowned slightly in thought. "Riku always wondered what happened to him…"
"Huh. Well, now you know!" Roxas forced an awkward laugh. Terra had been extremely traumatized from his long possession and… separation into multiple pieces. He had also taken Riku's current condition extremely personally and was determined to blame himself. Everyone had decided it was for the best to keep Terra and Kurix apart for now.
"And Ventus?" Kurix prompted.
Roxas winced. "He… still doesn't remember anything from after he and Vanitas were split apart. But it turns out, he knew Marluxia in his first life. The two of them were friends, if you can believe it. So they've been pretty happy talking to each other, catching up on events… and swapping horror stories about Xehanort…" Marluxia's somebody – Lauriam, he was calling himself – was only calm around Ventus. The rest of the time, he became extremely panicky and agitated. Like Terra, he was clearly suffered lingering effects from his treatment at Xehanort's hands. But unlike Terra, Lauriam wasn't coping as well.
"And everyone else?" Kurix prompted after Roxas became lost in thought again.
"Oh, um…" Roxas started mentally running down the list of the original Organization Thirteen to remind himself who he hadn't mentioned yet. "Xigbar… I guess he's Braig now… is still locked up. It seems like he was knowingly helping Xehanort from the start, so we can't really trust him.
"Dilan, Aeleus, and Ienzo are back home. Mickey decided that Vexen – Even – was recovered enough to go back with them. So they're all doing fine.
"Demyx and Luxord – I forgot their real names – are still here. I guess their worlds are still sleeping, lost in the darkness, so they can't go home yet. Yen Sid is working on finding their worlds so Sora can restore them. I might even get to help, if Yen Sid thinks I'm ready." Roxas was honestly pretty excited at the prospect. It would be his first time to go on a mission that would actually help the worlds. Escorting the princesses home was important too, of course, but it was still just clean-up work, rather than doing something new. "Oh, and Larxene is still here, too. Arleen, I mean. But she's… actually nice now. It's pretty weird. She was really mean to me as a nobody." Roxas shuddered involuntarily at the memory. "Anyway, she's not sure, but she thinks she came from the same world as either Luxord or Demyx, so she's waiting with them. But she's also pretty smart, so she might end up staying between worlds and helping Yen Sid or Mickey with stuff. She's… been trying to work with Naminé a bit, looking for ways to search for your heart." Roxas frowned a bit.
Kurix nodded in understanding. "You shouldn't get upset by it, Roxas. I do want to get my heart back."
Roxas exhaled loudly. "I know! It's just…"
Kurix studied Roxas's face. "You really hate Riku, don't you?"
"No! I don't hate him! I just…"
"Really, really don't like him," Kurix concluded for him. He frowned at Roxas. "Does that mean you won't be my friend anymore, once I get my heart back?"
Roxas swallowed wrong and started coughing. It saved him from having to answer Kurix.
But Kurix just waited, patiently. Once Roxas had settled back down, Kurix said, "I remember fighting you, as Riku. Do you hate Riku for taking your life away?"
"I told you, I don't hate Riku. I just…" Roxas trailed off again. "I don't know what I'm feeling, okay?! He makes me so angry that I just want to punch him in the face!" Roxas slammed a fist into the ledge. "But I don't really want to hurt him because I know he's Sora's friend and he's really important to Sora. Does that make sense?"
"No. But then, I'm not able to understand that sort of thing anyway. You need a heart to understand feelings, I think."
"You do have a heart," Roxas countered sharply.
"Not enough of one," Kurix shot back. "I can remember having feelings, but… that's all. Sora and Kairi are my best friends… but I feel nothing when I'm with them. Same with anyone else. Same with you."
"Why do you agree to spend time with me, then?" Roxas scowled at him. "If our time together means nothing to you?"
"Because Riku always wished he had gotten to know you better." Kurix still spoke utterly dispassionately. "So I want to spend time with you because that was something he wanted to do."
Roxas was shocked into silence. Kurix was content to let the silence stand this time. They stayed where they were, watching people walking around the castle below, and enjoying the breeze through the trees, until the sun started to set. Then at that point Roxas stood and started walking Kurix back inside for the night. With Kurix content to walk in silence, Roxas was left to his own thoughts.
All the allies of light had asked the former dark vessels what had happened to Riku, of course. That was almost the first thing they had done once they had gotten everyone settled in Radiant Garden. And each of the former vessels had given a very similar account of Riku being struck down… and then Vanitas removed Riku's heart and claiming it for himself. But no one knew what Vanitas had done with the heart after that. Vanitas was no longer around to ask, and Ventus didn't even remember his own time with Aqua and Terra yet, let alone have access to Vanitas's memories.
Sora had checked right away to see if Riku's heart had transferred to Ventus. But Yen Sid and Naminé quickly helped confirm that there was only one heart within Ventus. There was no sign of Vanitas, either – but everyone assumed that at least some of Vanitas must have fused back into Ventus in order to cause the youth's new short-term amnesia and recovery of previously-lost memories.
Everyone was concerned that Riku's heart might have somehow slipped into Kingdom Hearts, along with Xehanort and all his copies, during the final fight. Naminé was no longer to feel any trace of Riku's presence, which did lend weight to their fears that Riku was really lost. But they hadn't given up yet. There was still the possibility that Vanitas had transferred Riku's heart to somewhere else. And Merlin said that he had seen a potential future with Riku in it. So there was still hope.
There were more extreme measures – involving complicated time travel – that might succeed in getting Riku's heart back. Yen Sid was already starting to look into the process. The former dark vessels all believed Xehanort had done something of the sort to revive Vanitas in the first place, so it should be possible.
And there was also chance that the replica of Riku might be able to help them somehow – like giving them a starting point to track or summon Riku's heart. If they could ever find him – or them.
There were still no signs of any of the replicas, in spite of continued efforts to search. Sora was certain that at least one must have escaped. Naminé said that she had taught the original replica how to make dark corridors – any of the duplicates would have that skill as well. And it made sense that if all the heart fragments had reunited into a single replica, then once whole, he would be free from Xehanort's influence and could head off to wherever he pleased. Which of course meant that the replica could be anywhere by now – thus creating another potential wild goose chase for the keybearers go on in their quest to save the original Riku.
But in the meantime, Roxas was in no hurry for them to get Riku back, and he was feeling a little guilty about it. At least, he felt guilty every time he was around Sora. But something just felt right about him taking Kurix under his wing, the way Axel had done for him when he had first awoken as a nobody. Roxas was enjoying the chance to nurture this new being, and he found himself dreading the transition that would make Kurix cease to be.
It was Roxas's own fault for getting attached to the nobody, he knew. Many of the others had been avoiding Kurix for just this reason. But it just hadn't seemed fair to have Kurix have to exist for who-knows-how-long of a time and not have anyone want to treat him like he mattered. How horribly lonely it would be to exist and know that no one really wanted you – they just wanted the person that would be created from you.
Roxas saw Kurix to his room, and then he continued on downstairs. Kurix was sleeping a lot still – he wasn't very strong as a nobody. It was just another reason that made Roxas feel protective of the fledgling nobody.
x-x-x
Roxas headed downstairs and found Xion and Lea in the kitchen, working on pan frying a mountain of potstickers. Roxas helped himself to several of the finished ones.
Lea laughed and waved at him. "Roxas! Have I got a story for you! That princess that Mickey, Xion, and I escorted home? She said she got turned into a frog once!"
Roxas made an incredulous face. "Whaaat? No way! You're just making that up!"
"No, it's true!" Xion proclaimed with a giggle, then she launched into the tale. Lea threw in frequent embellishments. The trio spent the next few hours together laughing, swapping stories, and eating way too many greasy but delicious potstickers.
The hour grew later, they finally got the kitchen all cleaned and back in order, and then Xion excused herself to head to bed.
"I think I'll… go see how Isa's doing." Lea awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "I should have saved him some food…"
"I'll come with you," Roxas offered. He followed Lea down the now-familiar path to the basements where the castle had recovery rooms that locked from the outside.
Maybe it was slightly paranoid, but they were still locking up their "guests" at night, and only letting them out during the day when accompanied by an authorized person. Isa, Lauriam, and Terra were still prone to panic attacks or sudden violent outbursts when upset, after all. Keeping them contained helped limit their ability to injure others… or themselves. And except for Braig, all the prisoners had all been very understanding and hadn't complained about the accommodations.
And Braig… well… Braig was still insulting and threatening everyone at every opportunity, so no one wanted to trust him, anyway.
Lea and Roxas reached Isa's room. The door was unlocked, and no one was inside.
Lea was more than a little overprotective when it came to Isa, so he immediately panicked. "Where is he?! Did someone take him out? Is he okay?!"
Roxas grabbed his tall friend's shoulder. "Lea, calm down. We'll find him. I'm sure he didn't go far."
Over an hour later, Roxas was rethinking his assessment of the situation. They had searched the whole basement, twice. They had checked in with all the other prisoners/guests to see if they knew where Isa had gone. They didn't.
Braig snidely suggested that maybe the lost man had gone to look for Xehanort.
They ignored him. Or tried to.
At the point they needed to check the upper floors, Lea and Roxas had started waking up the others to help them in their search. Roxas was starting to actually get concerned. What if Braig had been right? What if Isa had been overwhelmed by the darkness and was becoming Saïx again? What would Saïx do now?
Saïx would take revenge on everyone that had helped stop Xehanort. But Isa was still physically weak. All the keybearers would easily be able to defend themselves against him. So there was no reason to worry about any of them.
Roxas's thoughts went back to Kurix. Isa going evil was a long shot, but Kurix was the only one unable to defend himself. Roxas decided it made sense that he should go and make sure his friend was all right.
Kurix's door was slightly ajar. Roxas pushed it open and saw Isa standing beside the bed, pointing a blade at the sleeping Kurix.
"What are you doing?!" Roxas rushed into the room, keyblade in hand.
Isa dropped his weapon in fright and stumbled backward. He looked around as though disoriented. Then his eyes focused on Roxas with weapon in hand, and Isa immediately summoned a dark corridor and slipped through.
"What's going on?" Kurix asked. Of course, there was no way even he could sleep through that.
Roxas thought backwards through what he had just seen. Isa had been wearing only pajama pants – not even any shoes. He had been pointing a weapon at Kurix, but he had been standing there motionless until Roxas startled him. And he had looked confused by where he was after Roxas had yelled at him. Was Isa sleepwalking? Roxas had only recently learned that that was a thing – courtesy of Terra doing some weird things at night, like trying to tear a hole in the wall with his bare hands.
And now Isa was gone, running off through a dark corridor with no protective clothing on. Roxas buried his face in his hands. Lea was going to be furious.
Lea was certainly upset, but he kept his temper under control. Roxas still wasn't used to the differences in behavior between Lea-with-a-heart and Axel-with-a-partial-heart. Lea was a lot more patient and forgiving. "I know you didn't mean to scare him off," Lea said to Roxas, trying to comfort him. "We just need to try to figure out where he would have gone."
"But he… he took a dark corridor. Without his coat."
Lea winced. "Well, hopefully once won't hurt too him bad. We'll grab his coat to take with us, too."
"But where do we look for him?" Roxas pressed, feeling even more guilty since Lea was taking this so calmly. "He wouldn't go to Twilight Town, would he?"
"Hmm, probably not. That was our place. Let me think." And Lea continued to think in silence all the way back downstairs to the storage room to grab Isa's coat. Once he had the coat in hand, Lea summoned a dark corridor and beckoned Roxas through.
"You think you know where he is?" Roxas emerged out onto the other side. They were in a very familiar looking white and gray corridor. "The World that Never Was?" he asked in surprise.
"You see, unless he had a mission, Saïx never really went anywhere. He always stuck around the castle. So if he was panicked and went somewhere without thinking, I figure he'd probably be here." Lea led them to a few different places: the infirmary, the gray room, Saïx's room, Axel's room. "Hmm." Lea made a face. "It smells weird in here."
"That would probably be your fault," Roxas said.
Lea shrugged. "Whatever." He summoned another dark corridor and stepped through. Roxas followed.
There were in the center of the White Room. "Where Nothing Gathers" is what Xemnas had named it. Demyx had always called it the throne room.
Lea looked upward. "I knew you liked your chair a lot, but seriously? This is where you choose to hang out?"
"Lea." Isa was huddled in his throne, looking rather pitiful. He stared down at them in confusion. "Why are you here?"
"Looking for you, obviously." Lea dark-portalled his way up to Isa and perched himself on the armrest. He handed Isa the coat. "Roxas guessed you were sleepwalking?"
"I'm… sorry for scaring you," Roxas said, trying to mean the words. "What were you doing in Kurix's room?"
"I… I don't know." Isa shook his head and rubbed his face with both hands. "I thought I was just dreaming again. There was something I needed to do. But then you where there and I…"
"Sleepwalking," Roxas affirmed, feeling a bit embarrassed that he had let himself trust Braig over Isa. "I'm really sorry I yelled at you. You just… you had your weapon out and I was worried. Do you remember that?"
Isa stared blankly down at Roxas. He shook his head again.
"How did you get out of your room, anyway?" Lea asked. He helped Isa put the black coat on to speed up the process. "Did we forget to lock the door?"
"No, I just… I went to the door, and it opened for me."
"That… doesn't make any sense." Lea frowned.
Isa hugged his legs to his chest. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry to cause you so much trouble."
"It's… it's okay." Lea put an arm around Isa's shoulder. "It was just a little sleepwalking. Terra does it all the time. And no one got hurt – especially you – so everything is fine. Let's just get you back home. I'll stay with you tonight, if you'd like."
"O-okay."
Lea made a dark portal that swallowed up himself and Isa. Roxas made his own and went back to their new castle.
X-X-X-X-X-X
You know, I just realized that it's a shame I only have one more chapter. It would be great to finish the story with a full 13. Hahaha, oh well. I'm not going to stretch the story for the sake of number of chapters.