"Traverse Town? Reminds me of this place I once helped blow up," the woman who was named Sombra said as they rested and walked around after dropping the woman known as Mei (if Sombra was being honest) in a hotel. Her little robot was determined to guard her. Sombra was a strange woman. Not that said much. Your experiences with women involved Cindy, Sad Muffin, and Link's grandmother. She walked like everything was a game, ready to run or chase a moment's notice.
"Why did you leave your previous associates behind?" you asked as you hip thrust forward. Sombra snorted.
"And miss this? A whole new world with magic, monsters, and opportunities to abuse? ¿Por qué no lo haría?" she chuckled as she ran a clawed hand over the stones in the 'Second District'.
"Various reasons. Loss of resources, as you mentioned earlier. unknown threats and dangers. Though such risks don't seem to bother you in the slightest." you said as the World Match spell was tricking her main language into some understandable words.
"Life without risks is barely living. Dios mío, look at this place! It's so... trusting," Sombra purred as a door just opened at her touch into some strange hat shop.
"It is certainly more peaceful than some of the places I've been," you said and Sombra peered into a window.
"So, if this isn't Earth and you can go to my World... Where else can you go? Calcetín?" she asked innocently enough. You thought of the Dark Place you found Aqua. The boring place with Riku, the water place with Link, the dead place where Cindy came from...
"I can return to those I share a connection with. Though, if needed, I can do as you saw before and go somewhere I have no connection to," you admitted before turning to her and asking seriously, "Do you have anything like that? A connection to someone or somewhere?"
Sombra paused, flicking one of her bangs slightly for a moment.
"Hm... not to a person or location. I suppose you could say I have a relationship with a puzzle," she admitted. She turned with her hands on her hips looking amused.
"I used to be impressed that my world was unders it thumb, but now? They haven't even made a drop in the bucket theirs, es gracioso," she chuckled.
"Is that puzzle part of why you and those other people were looking for our companion?"you carried on as you went past a fountain and something deep within you ached, an emptiness drawn to something out of sight, but it was gone a moment later. Sombra threw her hands up slightly in dramatic gestures.
"Hah, they thought she was hiding the location of something. I made it up so I could get a little peek at chica de hielo data. I can't access a network that doesn't connect!" she complained then tapped her chin.
"I suppose there's much bigger fish to fry then? If the worlds are all apart, who runs them? Why did they pull apart? How was it kept from another?" she listed.
"I have no idea. I just know I open a portal, walk through, and there's something else trying to hurt me," you admitted as Sombra ran a finger over a bit of the wall.
"Sometimes I get cool hats though," you added as that was important.
"Too clean... this place is so sterile," she said darkly.
It was also quiet. Like the breath before a song. Hmm, that was almost poetic.
"Have you seen anyone else here yet?" you asked and Sombra shook her head.
"Deader than the stock market for Omnic workers post war," she said.
"How odd. Someone or something usually appears before too long," you admitted. There was a pause and you went on.
"It's the first time I've seen a world so... empty." you added then there was a voice from above. Sombra turned instantly, her twin guns pointed to the top of the church looking building as a portal appeared as the voice somehow preceded it.
"A world between light and dark. Without purpose, it lays in slumber for a time it is needed again. An empty world of the lost and dreaming," came a very deep voice from the portal as a black hooded figure emerged, the same coat that Lexaeus had worn.
"Hm, a friend of yours, Calcetín?" Sombra asked, her gun steady as it took aim.
"No. No, they are not, not unless grumpy cookie decided to take a class in lore and weird robes," you said calmly. The figure looked down at you and Sombra and you could tell he had practised at it.
Looking down at people. Well, a lesser thing and a person, in this case.
"A smudge on the pages of destiny and a girl who wasn't even deemed important enough to note. I must say... this is an interesting development," the figure stood with his arms behind his back as he spoke.
"If I'm a smudge, does that make you a stain?" you responded and Sombra snapped her finger.
"Burn, baby," and in the motion, you barely caught the whizz of an object she had thrown with the snap, the silent device attaching itself to the wall out of sight.
"I would ask if you were the contributing factor to Lexaeus' demise? A loyal member to the end, but insignificant it would seem. Vexen? No... not you," the man went on.
"Gotta love the talkers," Sombra whispered as she listened.
"So, is there a reason you're here, or are you just monologuing for fun? I assume you're another Nobody of importance?" you asked and the figure looked down at you.
"Far from it. But you? You aren't even a player on the board, I'm here to put to rest a buzzing fly." he promised and snapped his finger where dozens of swirling masses appeared. Dozens of carbon copy white wriggling creatures appeared.
"Uh... you sure you don't know these ones?" Sombra asked as the things you still heavily resemble surrounded you.
"I am sure," you promised.
"May oblivion take you. Betrayal to the Organization, to your empty kind, cannot be tolerated," the hooded figure went on. Something welled up inside you at the numbers, but it felt like you were wearing the wrong skin almost.
You focused as the other Nobodies were content to watch you for now. Your wizard hat vanished to become a bucket helmet and the Silver Crown Mace appeared in your hands.
This time, the power within you surged much higher.
You focused and in response to the force coming at you, something surged into the either.
10 clanks sounded out as new shapes emerged from the portals of nothing in heed of your call and to the pulsing core of Lexaeus that you had absorbed.
Big hunking chest armours with thin little legs stepped forward, little silver capes flapping off their shoulders. Their name was clear to you.
Knights.
"Oh, backup! That's handy," Sombra mused and you wished you could agree, because while you felt the Knights willingness to aid you, they refused your commands both mental and verbally. You defeated their King, but you were not their king so to speak.
"Impossible... Lexaues assured us he could summon no Lesser Nobodies," the hooded figure said with clear displeasure.
""Perhaps your control or understanding over your subordinates is not so absolute as you believed? I only met him once and I already know he wasn't the type of guy to make others fight for him. He probably didn't like complicating things," you responded as the Nobodies around you clashed, your Knights easily displacing the Dusks.
"I, on the other hand, tend to be rather good at surprising people." you added.
The figure stared before he shook his head.
"You steal power and presume there will be no consequences? If you had a Heart, it would be crying out in warning about now. Such pitiful things, but they do have a keen awareness of terrible mistakes," the hood figure warned and turned, leaving through the portal.
The Knights finished off the last of the summoned Dusks then took one look at the now empty world and vanished back to... uh.. Wherever those types of Nobodies went.
"If I were capable of emoting, I'd be rather annoyed with him, I think." you said and turned to find... Sombra was gone.
The last time she vanished, she literally went off-world, but the figure's portal was up there. Sombra would both need to be invisible and able to tele-
...If you could feel, you'd be slightly bothered by the fact you had been ditched.
"Relax..." Sombra's voice said easily, reappearing at your side in a flash of purple.
"You give me the closest thing to stress that I can experience. Is this common for people being around you?" you asked blankly.
"Hm... yup!" Sombra announced before she held something out to you.
"I can't help it. I am still that little nina pickpocketing people on the streets of Mexico. Cloak and dagger had this in one of his pockets," she offered.
Was the thing actually labelled 'The Classified Report' or were your non-existent eyes failing you.
"Can you read it? It's like English but it hizo la desagradable with ancient German and Elvish," she complained.
It looked like common to you.
You took it and read it aloud slowly.
"Xenmas Report 5," you began.
"Once a Nobody has taken human shape, their weapon, style, and attitude becomes emulatable by Lesser Nobodies. A Dusk will become sleek and graceful if emulating music or song, flowing like a river. A raging berserker will gain a massive weapon and powerful force," you said and Sombra waved a hand.
"Nobody, nobody... don't they have any self-respect," she sighed.
"Depending on the remnants inside of a Nobody, they will emulate the style closest to the person they used to be. Forward favours the Berserkers and yet known Nobodies of Lexaeus. Cruel and manipulative types will emulate the Savage Nymph. Even those that seek knowledge above all else and power will even emulate me and become Sorcerers," you said, absorbed by the words.
"But it is important to remember... These are just masks and facades. Lesser Nobodies cannot even express the fake emotions of Human Nobodies. They simply wish to act in a manner in an attempt to be something. It is ultimately... pointless," you finished.
"So... you're a Nobody and you don't feel a thing?" Sombra asked, eyebrows raised.
"I did say 'the closest thing to stress I can experience,' earlier." you reminded then shrugged your little handless arms.
"People may act heartless. But I actually am." you went on.
"A Heart... I wonder how you can trick that?" Sombra grinned to herself.
"I lost it and I feel nothing. Barely anything beyond a whim to get me through the day. I feel hollow and you saw Mei and how she's basically catatonic," you reminded.
"I am not sure I wish to see what happens by deliberately tampering with it. It is fragile beyond words, and the smallest damage can break you completely," you decided to throw in a warning, but it only made Sombra seem more... interested.
Lovely.
-
Sombra took off to scour the town for 'parts'. She declined an escort. You checked on Mei and found her simply staring out the window, quietly hugging her robot. Somehow, she had dismantled clocks, lamps, and a few pens to build a charging station in her numb state.
"I suppose it would be in bad taste to ask if you're okay?" you asked and her eyes flicked to you.
"I woke up to find me friends dead, years of my life gone, and then I'm attacked and then I go through a portal that is colder than any ice storm I've ever experienced," she whispered.
"Well, it could be worse. You would have woken up dead yourself, like I did. I lost my Heart, most of my memories, and I have no home to ever return so I'm cursed to wander the eons of space to find something to fill my empty hole where my Heart used to be," you offered, hoping that would cheer her up by seeing her circumstance might not be so bad.
Mei turned almost robotically to face you.
"Nothing you said. Not a word you just said didn't make me feel worse," she said bleakly.
You looked down at yourself and frowned. Drat, that usually works.
"Apologises... look... I have no bones," you said with flat cheer and twisted into strange shapes. Mei's mouth dropped open.
"For a scientist, I bet that is interesting?" you tempted. Mei blinked.
"I'm a Meteorologist, not a Biologist..." she said weakly. Oh, that was easy.
"You're in another world. You're the second of your world to ever see this place," you said easily. Mei shook her head.
"Can't be... I'll...find my way back. Winston is waiting," she interjected. You raised a noodle arm.
"I can do that. Maybe wait until you're a bit... Recovered, first? You'd have to go through that cold beyond ice again." you added. Mei shivered and buried herself into the bed covers more.
"Great..." she mumbled.
"Rest. This town is empty. Recover. Then i will take you home," you promised and decided if you wanted to check up one anyone or risk looking for Aqua again.
"And- apologies. You were... Indisposed, and with those assailants coming after you... It was either bring you along on an emergency jump, or leave you to death, and that's not a fate I would willingly impose on anyone." you added as Mei might need context for her abrupt kidnapping.
You politely and tactfully left the room before summoning a giant portal of darkness to visit Riku. No need to give Mei a backdraft of cold air.
-
Castle Oblivion was white as always. You turned slowly to see three faces staring at you. Oops, were you interrupting a thing?
"Riku," thundered the man with a mask made from red belts," the enemy comes. Destroy it," the man ordered.
"Well, that is an interesting greeting." you said blandly as Mickey hesitantly gave you a nod.
"That's Eraqus, he's fine," Riku said, dismissing the man's raging posturing and blazing orange eyes.
"Hello, Grumpy Cookie. You found the only colour in this place and it hates me," you said blandly. The man turned and swept a hand out rather dramatically.
"It has no emotions, no Heart. It is lying to you-" he began and Riku just nodded.
"He told me and he still gave me food, water, and watched my back so I could nap. Things that would have been more helpful than just dumping me here," he said, crossing his arms at the man.
"Just because I don't feel doesn't mean I can't be nice." you agreed.
"It helped a friend of ours in the Realm of Darkness too! Oh, Eraqus! Aqua left me a message for you. DiZ here didn't...rescue her so she couldn't get out like we did, but she said she's much closer to the surface so she's going back to where she first fell... A place in the Darkness close to Radiant Gardens!" Mickey exclaimed.
"Why didn't you save her? She had a Keyblade too," Riku asked with narrowed eyes at DiZ.
"Oh, that's good to hear. I hope she doesn't mind that i found a sadder muffin," you said mostly to yourself.
"Another key for the Organization to use for their schemes? She's better off where she is... I survived it and so will she," DiZ replied coldly.
"How could you! She doesn't deserve that," Mickey said angry and DiZ just gestured around.
"Their schemes have already begun and all the Worlds are in danger. I do what I must to defeat these..." he turned his gaze to you and if you felt anything, you'd have been nervous at the intensity.
"Things," he finished.
"You're not a very pleasant individual, are you?" you asked calmly.
"It doesn't matter. I have the resources to aid Sora. I have the means to hide him for the Organization, I have the ability to protect Naminé from being taken again... can this unfeeling shell say the same?" DiZ sneered.
"I have granola bars and I just saved another person a moment ago from certain death." you shrugged, it wasn't a competition. Riku would do what he wanted to do for his friend. You had your own mission.
"Can you say that you will be kind?" you asked and the man turned.
"What matters of the Heart concern you? You feel no love, no hate, no sorrow... you see people as things to distract you from oblivion and your own empty existence. You do things with a logic to them that is inherently flawed. Your form does not belong to you. Your very Heart could be waiting for that body right now and you hold it hostage," DiZ said dismissively, unwilling you hear you.
"Is he always like this or did I come at a bad time?" you asked the other two, the benefits of that 'empty existence' meant you didn't have a temper. Riku stepped forward.
"Eraqus is my friend. He saved my life and even if he can't feel the same? If he has no heart, I'll show him that doesn't matter. What you choose when all you have is Darkness is what matters. He chose to be my friend or try to be. So, you either accept him or reject us all because I won't cut him off just because you made promises with some goal I can't trust," Riku said and was he... glowing slightly or was that just the long day you had?
"Hehe, Riku's right. Just because he can't feel, doesn't make his choice to act like a friend wrong!" Mickey stepped forward and smiled at Riku then gave you a more serious nod. DiZ sounded grave when he finally spoke.
"This is a terrible mistake..." he conceded and turned abruptly.
"I will have no dealings with it. It will report to your two if it must at all," DiZ said and walked on.
"That's fine, you're quite unpleasant," you agreed before telling Riku and Mickey that, "I'm surprised that you two somehow found someone who seems to feel even less than me."
"Oh, he feels a lot... it's just all so... angry," Riku said quietly.
"So, is there anything I can help you two with or should I try to reach the sad muffin?" you asked easily as DiZ went to retrieve familiar Cloaks from a bag.
Riku suddenly turned and looked regretful.
"Eraqus, I forgot to say, but I let you down," he admitted.
"You lost the granola bars? Did you not like the drinks I brought you? You shouldn't have to worry about sparing my feelings, they aren't really here at the moment." " you tilted your head and Mickey, turning pink, put a hand over a pocket.
"What? Wait, no! I ate most of those. I meant that I fought this weird clone of myself," Riku began and you remembered the rude Faku.
"When it... faded, there was this purple orb with a book symbol inside it," Riku waved a hand to gesture the size of an orange and the description sounded familiar...
"Oh, a remnant thing. Did you eat it?" you asked, checking Riku for Nobody symbols and zippers.
"No, that's on me for not being here to eat it myself. Do you know where you left it?" you asked and Riku looked troubled.
"It was in a memory card of Sora's but it's all gone now because Sora's memories are being broken down because Naminé, this girl in the castle, messed with them against her will. The cards are gone. The orb rolled away and Ansem in my Heart acted up..." he said quietly.
That was when a girl's voice interrupted, coming down the stairs that DiZ was standing near.
"The space still exists," she said warmly.
The distaste on DiZ's face was so evident it was broadcasting.
For you? It was hate. For the girl who was both like you and so clearly nothing like any Nobody you had met?
DiZ hand's shook badly enough that he wanted to strike her or shake her. This was loathing. Naminé was weird.
She wasn't empty. Not like you.
She didn't have a Heart, but there was enough 'stuff' inside her that it was basically as good as.
"Hello, Eraqus. I'm Naminé... I hope we can be friends?" she smiled shyly and Riku leaned against the wall smiling despite himself.
"You're already nicer than half the people I've interacted with, so... Yeah, sure." you nodded, holding an arm out and Naminé beamed again, brushing her blonde hair back before shaking it. This let you really see the stuff inside her seemed to be a confusing mess of one person, the stability and spunk of someone else, and the kindness mixed with light of another.
Naminé was like three people passing through the same space at the same time. It was fascinating, but you had no idea how circumstances came together for such a strange person like Naminé to exist.
You decided she was Interesting Biscuit.
"Castle Oblivion is strange. Things that linger here leave one way or another. Departing this land as if they cannot stay," Naminé explained.
"Vexen's and Larxene's lingering wills may have already left for places more intune with their last thoughts or places with connections to them. Perhaps places reflecting their nature," Naminé said quietly.
"Marluxia? Zexion?" Riku prompted and the name Zexion made DiZ turn, his body jerking as if he had been slapped.
"I think I can try to find them. Marluxia might be beyond me. Sora locked the door," Naminé bit her lip.
"Sora sounds more important by the minute, his name keeps popping up," you said aloud and Riku thought about it before smirking.
"The best idiot I know," he summed up. Naminé giggled.
"My hero," she added in.
"The one who will open the door," Mickey added almost too quietly to hear.