Chapter XXIII; Hero
Yuki looked around the world she had just entered. It was another new world to her. Before her was a large arena of some kind, statues stood on either side with swords crossing over the doorway. There were boards up with list of names. Yuki assumed they were for tournaments this world was recorded to hold occasionally.
Yuki slowly walked into the arena. She could hear the cheers of a large group from inside. A tournament must have been occurring at this very moment. Yuki slipped into the arenas stands hiding amongst the crowd. In the arena she saw a man fighting off Heartless. She frowned watching him defeat the Heartless. There seemed to be plenty of them. Why would she have to increase their numbers?
Yuki watched a little while more, waiting for what seemed like the perfect moment. When the man defeated all of the Heartless he turned to the crowd, waving with a smile. His eyes scanned the crowd, watching the spectators faces. When his eyes met Yuki's, his smile faded a bit. Yuki shrugged and snapped her fingers. For a second her eyes flashed bright yellow, like the eyes of a Shadow.
The crowd gave a gasp as a large group of Heartless appeared behind the hero. He turned to face them quickly, clenching his fist at his side. He charged at the Heartless without hesitation. Off to the side of the arena a fat little goat man ran back and forth in a panic. The crowd however didn't seem to notice anything wrong. They cheered loudly as they watched the hero fight.
It only took him a few minutes to defeat the extra Heartless. Yuki smiled, impressed with his strength. She summoned more Heartless into the arena. The hero ground his teeth together before beginning the fight once again. The fat goat man looked ready to pass out from stress.
This repeated several times. Yuki would summon Heartless for the hero to fight. The hero would defeat them then yell a few words to the goat man, then Yuki would summon more Heartless. The cycle was repeating itself over and over again.
Yuki left a greater pause than normal between the Heartless. She was thinking of other ways to complete her mission. Pressure the hero into turning into a Heartless. She could always just steal his heart. But that would be difficult with such a large crowd. The little Heartless had worn him out, but Yuki figured it would take a lot more to break him.
Yuki tipped her head to the side with a small smile. Once again the heroes eyes had landed on her. Yuki whistled softly, four notes in an upward progression. The sound echoed through the arena more than it should have, making the crowd look around, finally realizing something was off.
Behind the hero formed a large vortex of shadows. From the shadows a large bird spread its wings. The Heartless sigil was in clear view on its chest. The hero turned to face the Phoenix in shock. But the shock only delayed him a second. He charged straight at the Phoenix, ready to take it down.
He put up more of a fight than Yuki thought. He grabbed onto the black and white flame covered tail and used that to throw the bird around. When he released the birds tail it took to the sky and turned on him. It shot balls of darkness at the hero who managed to roll aside at just the right time. As he charged at the Heartless again the bird shot beams of light at him, knocking him to the very edge of the arena. The crowd had gone silent by now, knowing this wasn't planned for. Yuki was able to hear the heroes words now.
"Since when have Heartless used light?" The hero questioned. The Phoenix gave him no time to ponder as it flew at him with its claws extended. The hero rolled to the side, but was knocked back by the birds wings. The birds claws grabbed hold of him and hit him on the ground several times. It dropped the hero and landed on top of him, a claw placed on his chest to hold him down. It lowered its head, an electric blue eye trained on the person under its foot. All it needed was the order and he would be no more. The hero was pushing on the claw trying to get free. But his strength had been worn down by the constant fights. He would turn into a Heartless if Yuki ordered it.
Silly, the hero always wins. The voice of a child said in Yuki's head. Yuki froze for a minute. That voice was so familiar, she had heard it before. In her dreams maybe. Yuki sighed and waved her hand. The Phoenix tipped its head to the side but obeyed. It pulled back and let the hero get up.
The hero wasted no time to charge the bird like Heartless. He landed a few blows before the Phoenix vanished in the same vortex it appeared in. The crowd burst into huge applause as the hero turned to face them with a smile. Yuki slipped out during the chaos, heading towards the entrance of the arena.
At the entrance there was a strange man waiting. He had blue skin with blue fire for hair. He wore an all black toga. He looked at Yuki with mild interest as she walked towards the exit. He scoffed.
"Jeez, aren't you a small fry. And you almost had Hercules gone." The man said. Yuki shrugged. "Come on, you could've been something else, I mean, the one who finally beat the great hero Hercules. Why in Hades would you give up?" Yuki shrugged again.
"Don't you know, the hero always wins." Yuki said. The man narrowed his eyes at her.
"Oh, I get it, I get it." He said pacing back and forth. "But, uh, listen kid. If he's the hero, what does that make you?" Yuki thought about it a minute before answering. She smiled softly deciding on her answer.
"I guess that makes me just a Heartless." She said. The man stared at her. He shrugged after a moment of thinking.
"Oh well, then I guess there's no helping it." He snapped summoning a large group of Heartless. Yuki stepped back in surprise, but the man took it as fear. "Oh, yeah. You're not the only one around here that can control these buggers. This isn't anything against you personally. But I can't have the competition." He said wearing a smirk.
Yuki met his eyes calmly, mirroring his smirk. She waved her hand off to the side. The Heartless stared at her a moment before turning towards the man. He stepped back surprised.
"What?!" He cried out. "How dare you little filth betray me! I am the lord of the dead!" He yelled. Yuki crouched down and rested her hand on a Shadows head. It nuzzled into her like a cat or dog would.
"The shadows betray you because they serve me." Yuki said simply. The man growled.
"This isn't over by a long shot brat." He said, and disappeared in a column of flames. Yuki stared at where he had disappeared before waving her hand and banishing the Heartless. She glanced back at the arena with a smile.
"Good luck, hero." She said as she summoned a dark corridor and left the world.
*3*
Yuki sat beside Roxas. X and Y were no where to be found, neither were Xion or Axel. Roxas looked to be thinking really hard about something. Before Yuki could ask Axel arrived. They exchanged the usual greetings as Axel sat on Roxas' other side.
"Where are the other three?" Axel asked. Yuki and Roxas both shrugged. "Huh, weird." Axel stated. There was a moment of silence, but it was broken by Roxas.
"Hey Axel," Axel looked at him waiting for him to continue. "Is there anything you couldn't bear to lose?" Roxas asked. Yuki tipped her head to the side thinking. That was a strange question. Axel looked at Roxas just as confused.
"Where'd that come from?" Axel asked. Roxas shrugged.
"On my mission today, there was someone who had something like that. Something so important he couldn't bear to lose it." Roxas replied. "Why don't I have anything like that?" He asked. Axel looked away with a frown.
"Because you don't have a heart." He said simply. Roxas looked down thinking.
"I guess." He said. He turned to Axel once more. "But Demyx doesn't have a heart, and I think he'd get upset if you took his sitar away." He challenged. Yuki laughed.
"I don't think that's the same Roxas." Yuki said. Roxas looked at her with a pout. Axel laughed a little with Yuki. He stopped laughing and took a second to think it over.
"I guess for us, the closest thing would be our memories." Axel decided. "The memories of the stuff we couldn't bear to lose back when we couldn't bear to lose it." Both Yuki and Roxas frowned.
"But we don't remember anything." Yuki said sadly. Roxas nodded in agreement. Axel smirked at them.
"What about your present?" He asked. Yuki looked up at him confused. Roxas furrowed his eyebrows. "You guys can remember stuff from the organization, right?" He promoted. Yuki thought about it and nodded.
"Yeah, I guess we do." Roxas said. "I don't think I could bear to lose my memories of you two, Xion, X, or Y."
"There you go." Axel said. "Everybody's got something they want to hold onto." Yuki nodded still thinking. The thought she had had when talking to Roxas some time ago had returned. She really didn't want to lose them.
"It's scary to think this could all vanish." Yuki said softly. Axel looked over at her curiously.
"Scary? That's a feeling." Axel commented. Yuki shrugged.
"I know we can't feel, but it's still a scary thought." She said. Axel looked down thinking.
"A thought then." He decided. "Not a feeling."
"Are you sure?" Roxas asked. Axel paused for a minute to think of his answer.
"Maybe you just remembers what it's like to feel scared, and you think you're feeling it now." Axel explained. Yuki frowned, but nodded anyways.
"Maybe."
*3*
Day 150- Too Precious To Lose,
Today on the bell tower we talked about what was too precious to lose. Axel said for us without hearts the closest thing we have is our memories from before. But since me a Roxas don't remember anything, we came to the conclusion it's our present. I don't ever want to lose any of my friends. I'm scared to think it could ever happen.
On another note. I heard a voice in my head saying the hero always wins. Makes me wonder where I fall in the story. Guess I'm just a Heartless.
*3*
Yuki walked up the stairs to the top of the clock tower. She had finished her job quickly, dispite the fact that flying was new to her. But she wasn't one to question how worlds work anymore, not after being in Wonderland. Compared to that world Neverland was normal.
At the top of the stairs Yuki paused to catch her breath. She was about to join whoever was already there, but froze hearing Xion's voice.
"Roxas, why are we doing all this? Working for the Organization?" Xion asked. Yuki had to admit, that was something she thought about often and she was eager to hear someone answer it.
"What do you mean, why? So we can have hearts of our own, right?" Roxas replied.
"Why? What do we need hearts for?" Xion asked. Yuki couldn't help but to remember they had a very similar conversation a while back, when Kingdom Hearts first became visible. Then Roxas had been asking the questions and Xion had tried to answer. Now the roles were reversed.
"I don't know." Roxas answered honestly. "But I figure once we have them we'll be in a better position to judge. Right?" He continued.
"Maybe." Xion replied, sounding uncertain. "I just wish I knew what I was doing here. How I got here." Xion paused for a minute thinking. "I started having the weirdest dreams." She said.
"Really?" Roxas asked. He sounded surprised. Yuki wondered if he was having dreams too. Just like she did.
"I can't really remember what they're about. I just wake up feeling like something's wrong." Xion said. Yuki nodded to herself though she knew she couldn't be seen. She knew exactly what Xion meant.
"Well if it makes you feel any better, Xigbar said you and me were pretty special. Exceptional, he said." Roxas said trying to cheer Xion up. Yuki flinched, thinking that probably wasn't the best thing to say.
"Special just means different." Xion said solemnly. "It's because I'm a mistake." She said in a whisper.
"You're not a mistake." Roxas said. Xion was silent for a minute.
"Well, we may both be exceptional. But I don't think we're the same." Xion said. Yuki heard footsteps that told her Xion was leaving. Yuki pulled back against the wall to let Xion past. She stood silently for a second thinking before turning to follow after Xion. Yuki ran down the stairs rushing right past Axel. He turned to watch her confused before shrugging and heading up the stairs.
Just outside Yuki saw Xion looking over the town.
"Xion!" Yuki called. Xion looked up at her with a frown. She turned to walk away, but Yuki caught up to her and caught her wrist. "What's wrong?" Yuki asked.
"Nothing, I'm just tired." Xion said softly. Yuki frowned.
"I heard most of your talk with Roxas." Yuki said releasing her hold on Xion's wrist. "If you don't want to talk about it anymore that's fine. I just want to try and help." She continued. Xion looked at her with sad eyes.
"Unless you can go back in time and stop me from messing up a mission I don't think you can help." Xion said.
"Is that what's bothering you?" Yuki asked. Xion nodded. Yuki smiled softly. "If it makes you feel any better, I messed up a mission too. I'm still in a lot of trouble for it." Xion looked up at Yuki surprised.
"Why?" Xion asked. Yuki looked down at her feet.
"I can't steal a heart." She said bashfully. "It makes me sick, so I couldn't complete my last mission to turn someone into a Heartless. And I couldn't find a way into the mansion out in the forest, so I failed there." Yuki continued to explain, keeping her lie about the manor in place.
"Oh." Xion said. She was silent for a minute thinking. Yuki watched her, trying to decide what was best to say next.
"You know, even Nobodies aren't perfect." Yuki said softly. Xion looked at her and smiled, though only a little bit.
"Thanks Yuki." She said.
"No problem." Yuki replied. She took hold of Xion's hand. "Come on, let's go do something fun. You look like you need some more time away from that castle of yours." Yuki insisted. Xion smiled and allowed Yuki to lead her away through a dark corridor.
*3*
Day 151- What Makes Us Different?,
When I got to the clock tower today I over heard Roxas and Xion talking. Xion was talking about how she was a mistake and she didn't get why we needed a heart. Funny since when me and Roxas were the ones asking she answered. After their talk Xion tried to leave, I caught up to her and tried to help her. It seemed to work a little.
All of this got me thinking. If we're all doing the same stuff to reach the same ends, what makes us all different?