Hollow Bastion.
Mickey was hesitant to tell you the exact world Aqua had fallen in and given Riku's shocked expression, the World was pretty important it seemed.
"It had another name, but the World was so harmed and twisted since the Heartless couldn't find the Keyhole that it turned into Hollow Bastion and the memory of the name was lost to darkness with no one around to keep it afloat," Mickey explained.
"I see. So worlds can be affected in more than one way by darkness." you tilted your head,"Do you two have any idea what I should look for? My connection brought me this far, but I am not sure how to keep moving towards her." you asked with your usual calm tone.
Mickey thought about it.
"Hmm... I don't know much about the Realm of Darkness, even when I went there. It's a tricky place. I think... if you really want to see Aqua and you don't fear the Dark? Hollow Bastion itself might show you the way... but also, Aqua's heart will be calling out to you. I know you don't... well, you're a good person, Eraqus, but you might have to try really hard to hear her," Mickey said with a sort of sad smile.
That wasn't really an issue on your end.
"I will continue to try, until I succeed. Aqua is a friend. And she needs us, so we will find her. Regardless of which path we have to take. That is what friends do. I know that without a Heart," you promised the king who looked surprised then a little happy.
"Matters of the heart aren't really my strong suit. We'll find her as long as we keep looking. I can't feel disappointment or discouragement. Hurrah for being empty," you waved a noodle arm and Mickey actually gave a brief chuckle.
"I'm glad we met. It's nice to know not all Nobodies are out to get us," he smiled and held out a hand.
You took the hand and felt you had maybe made a new friend?
Mickey Mouse Social Link gained!
Eraqus gained: +1 to travelling rolls in the universe.
"Another connection, another link to Aqua. Your friendship will bring me closer to finding her, this I know," you said as you slithered off to Riku who was now wearing the dark cloak of the people around.
DiZ had confirmed they were called Organization XIII. It was weird you could sense it was produced with the letters in the red mummy's words.
"Eraqus... be careful. I don't want to lose another friend to the Darkness," Riku said softly and you had to admit, he looked kind of cool in the coat.
"I will be as careful as I usually am. It's not my fault trouble tends to find me, besides it's generally not the Darkness that's trying to destroy me," you answered casually. It was the dead, in most cases. Zombies, ghosts...Sombra who was like a person who could be a ghost...
Riku sighed as if you caused him some pain.
"You're no better than Sora," he said but he was smiling despite his tone. You took that as a compliment from what you heard.
"You two -you and Mickey- will make a fine beacon for my return. Don't get lost yourself, I'm counting on you to light the way," you said and Riku touched his chest with a small smile.
"My Heart... is going to be travelling the road to dawn. I'll light the way for you," he said and bent down with a suddenly shy smile.
"Thank you... for everything," he whispered. He did a strange thing of pulling you into some strange combative grip with both his arms, but he applied no real pressure.
"I'd say trying to crush me is counterproductive, but you're not applying any pressure. Is this meant to be a gesture of some variety?" you asked dryly and Riku pulled back, scanning you for humor.
Which, he should know by now you did not possess.
"It's a hug. To show how much you mean to me now...as a friend," he said slowly and nearby Naminé giggled.
Ah, hugs were tools to confirm friendship of good standing. You'd have to remember that.
Riku Nlink upgraded! (Light and Dark damage does an additional +1 damage)
Riku touched where his Heart would be.
"I felt that..." he mused then gave you a cocky grin. "You can use my Heart until you get your own," he said and stood up with a serious nod to Naminé.
"All the pieces for one, but not technically a heart... So, are you what the step between a Nobody and a normal person looks like?" you asked quietly and Naminé looked at her hands, troubled before she just smiled sadly.
"I'm something that shouldn't have existed mixed with something that could not have existed. I'm a real mess," she giggled.
"Shouldn't and couldn't are less and less meaningful terms, these days. If you're a mess, at least you're a friendly one, unlike the red mummy," you muttered and DiZ must have heard the comment because he headed towards you both.
"I'll be fixing Sora, but if anything comes up? I'll be sure to ask you to help. They're all going to need help," Naminé said quietly and DiZ strode beside her.
"Your damage is all you should focus on. You ruined Sora beyond recognition. We'll be given you a chance for redemption, only because no one else can undo the meddling you've caused," DiZ said sharply and Naminé shrunk for a moment before her blue eyes sharpened.
"Sora and I will see each other again. We made a promise," she warned and DiZ scoffed.
"An empty promise based on a lie and made with a thing that should not exist. Sora should ever be so lucky to be free of it," he said darkly.
"Even things which are empty deserve to exist. And I'm sure he'd prefer to wake up to Namine than you. You accuse her of meddling, but aren't you doing, and haven't you been doing the same? What makes your actions more worthy than hers? What makes your existence more worthy? What proof do you have, that you are meant to be here, and she is not?" you said and DiZ sounded more weary than angry at this point as he spoke.
"I have never harmed or hurt a Somebody or a denizen of the Light. I can swear to you with all that remains of my Heart. I certainly did not take a hero of the light and reduce him to a confused mess of false memories and anger," he said and Naminé did look down with regret at this.
"And meant? Worthy? You forget your existence is based on a tragedy. A victim of the Heartless, crude surgery with a Keyblade. You are not natural, you are not survivors, but discarded shreds left behind that once the Heart is free... you prevent that innocent person from becoming themselves again, leaving their hearts floating in the limbo. What right do you have to hold on to that which isn't even yours? You are thieves that linger because your Heart was strong. A shadow casted off the light and yet you proclaim you have a right to this existence at the cost of someone else? The King, Riku, Sora, and I have never used a stolen body to run around proclaiming our existence, can you claim the same?"
"Is it theft of a body to be born into one? I did not steal this body. It was mine from the beginning. It was left empty, and I have done my best to fill it. In that same regard, we cannot change the circumstances of how we come into existence. Even if it is one of emptiness and unnatural, we live these lives that we had no choice in being brought into." you aimed for a simple understanding.
"If a home is empty while the owner is away and the door forced and left wide open? Does it make whoever finds it first the new owner? You fire poetic waxings, but in the end you cannot argue that the very shell you run around in was another person' body that you simply took for your own. Born into it or found... you should not exist because your existence is a lie. You live on someone's borrowed existence." he fired back.
He was strangely animated and his voice wasn't even that... angry anymore. It was more... some emotion you didn't quite get.
"Am I not the same person, merely bereft of my own heart? Am I the thief, or the victim? Your argument is placated on the idea that nothing remains of the original personality when the heart is stolen. Do you know that assertion to be true, or are you arguing from ignorance?"
"It is the case because I've seen both the Heart and the Body exist separate. The shell runs around with borrowed powers and existence, while the Heart struggles to fight on and be itself. The Heart is halved in power, without his true strength and even some of his memories have now fled him to the shell that lives in ignorance of the fact it continually weakens the Heart of the body it now inhabits," DiZ said gravely. Riku looked up sharply.
"Sora?" he said with shock.
"Isn't a sample size of one a bit too narrow?" you asked calmly and DiZ hesitated then nodded in agreement.
"I'm not in the habit of removing Hearts and causing any more suffering. The Heart leaves, the body is lost and a Nobody is formed. I've only even recently learned about the act of the Heart and Body recompleting themselves. The body must return to Darkness where a soul or will keeps the memory it together and it calls to the Heart that helped shape it. Your kind only rose in prominence recently with the attack of Ansem," DiZ said, twisting his frown into a sardonic smirk.
DiZ was quiet for a moment.
"I do not like Nobodies, but perhaps I am pushing my data in roads with my own biases. We shall see soon enough which of us is wrong or perhaps... which of our theories are in accordance... Eraqus," DiZ said and strode off.
"It was interesting having a discussion with you." you said but besides a slight shake of the shoulders, he gave no hint he heard you.
"Wow... that was amazing," Naminé said earnestly in awe.
"I just... said stuff I thought made sense. I guess he was doing the same." you answered easily as DiZ announced he was opening a portal to the realm between. An endless stretch of paths and grass that if one travelled in one direction turned the sky to night and the other to day as one approached either the Realm of Light or Darkness.
"Well it seems this is where I must go. Stay safe everyone, even you Diz," you called calmly.
"Find me soon, okay?" Riku said and pulled his hood up to walk through the portal.
"Your light shall be my key home." you responded and Riku's bright laugh echoed back through the portal. Mickey followed quickly then Naminé who gave you a cheerful wave, and DiZ paused for a moment.
"I shall be setting up a base in Twilight Town. Seek us if you must," he said firmly and went through the portal himself. The portal closed, leaving you utterly alone in Castle Oblivion.
But all you needed to do now was find...
"Aqua, here I come," you said and there was a strange breeze through the corridor that faded, it sounded almost like a sigh or a snore but you chalked it up to the Castle being weird.
You focused and the portal opened before you.
You jumped through and the usual swishing of Darkness, oblivion, nothing, some bits of light... and you emerged on to a scarred World.
You looked around as Riku had mentioned that Hollow Bastion had a massive weird looking castle. You idly watched a cloud go by as you peered about. Everything in this world was so far down...
Oh. You were at the top of the castle. That made more sense. You focused on the bond with Aqua and how thinly it was stretched. You felt it vaguely pulling in one direction and having no other leads besides what seems to be a town in the distance forming slowly under random attacks of Heartless... you followed the pull.
You had seen other Dusks defy gravity to the point of flying up buildings in squiggly patterns, but for some reason you were too heavy for that and could only squiggle along the ground and in this instant down a building slowly. You entered the castle which was teeming with Heartless. All of which ignored you with little more than a yellow gaze. Heartless, with no people around, were mostly docile wandering creatures. Since you had no Heart, they treated you like a walk decoration.
You continued to move about without much issue until you found a strange chapel. While Aqua's bond did not end here or have any attachment to the area... something did.
A taste of... Darkness and Nothing. There felt like there was a lingering connection of Darkness to another place in the castle set in the wall, but it wasn't anything to do with Aqua... you wondered if you should check it out or press on to find Sad Blueberry Muffin? You decided Aqua would take precedence.
You left the room and followed the twisting passage to a truly strange place. Large bands of tape had been stretched across the doorway with a sign that read 'Stay out. Dangerous. - Restoration Committee.' Well, it wasn't an option so you slipped past and a bright beam of light shot out of the walls from hidden little etched symbols. You were blinded, but otherwise unharmed by the explosion of light.
Some deterrent against beings of Darkness?
You entered a large chamber with six dark blue alcoves that looked like they were supposed to hold something. Ahead, you saw a truly massive machine that spewed a chaotic mess of darkness and energy across a key shaped hole. The energy wasn't as turbulent as it could have been. Like whatever source of energy it fed off was now closed to it and it was running on fumes. Metallic vein-like pipes ran across the ceiling like this was the Heart of the castle.
The inside of the swirling darkness was where your potential bond to Aqua was pulling. Stepping inside the void was an experience unlike anything else. You have been in the realm of Darkness, you have been in the Realm of Between and Light... this zone? It was a furious storm of all the Realms churning through an unstable nexus point.
Nothing would be travelling through here without being torn to shreds or already being in a state so inhuman it didn't matter and you wondered why you came when the bond tugged at you towards not the now healed scar in the shape of a Keyhole but to the corner where whispering could be heard.
You moved closer and the voice became clearer.
"I...fell...here...think," Aqua sighed in the distance, beyond a wall of angry energy. Her voice was breaking through to the Realm of Light from her spot in the Realm of Darkness. You pressed into the wall, but there was a harsh pushback that singed your noodle arms.
You were not getting through easily and knowing Aqua was there, helped, but her proximity to this strange World of nebulous darkness and light was making it nigh impossible to lock on to her for a quick portal.
Without her being here, you could not find her in the obscuring Realm of Darkness alone. But since she was here, you could not get to her without aid...
"Aqua, can you hear me?" you called very loudly. There was a pause.
"Eraq... is that y.. You came for me... nk you!" her voice turned relieved and for a moment, the wall of energy seemed to pressed in from the other side.
"Ow!" Aqua yelped and the pressure removed itself.
"Yeah, the wall wasn't kind to me, either. You seem to be having trouble as well. I can hear you, but there's a wall keeping me from reaching you. I'm trying to figure out a way to get one of us through... Any ideas?" you called and Aqua's voice took a moment to reach you... it was sounding further away and the room around you was undulating.
"I'd use my Key... ut I don't want to let...ings here out. They'll...apart Radi...ens," Aqua called back.
"Maybe you can seal it from this end once you're through?" you offered logically.
"Not the...same. Can;t lock...what I brute forc... attering the barriers. You can't ju...qus? You...getting...ainter!" Aqua called in worry.
"Find...armour...find my ...mour!" she finally said. Okay... that was new and vague.
"I'll need a bit more than that," you yelled back as the room began to shrink.
"Made with my...eart. My Hear...it's conn...to me!" Aqua managed once last burst of clearer communication before the walls crackled dangerously. It was time to go.
"I'll find you. Just hold on," you said and slithered out the room as the storm collapsed in on itself. The portal blinking out as you just escaped it. Now, beyond the machine key-hole door was just a simple stone room with a faint white mark in the shape of another tiny Keyhole. The heavy scent of Darkness faded and once more you were left with a task of finding a connection to Aqua.
You sensed about, but traces of Aqua were either too buried within other energies or too far away. You'd be frustrated, but that was beyond you. If Aqua 'fell' here then her armour must be around here.
It would just take some searching!
-
The moon was still small. Barely bigger than one of the Nobody vessels that repelled the Heartless around this place that never was.
He stared at it with apathy for hours, hoping for that spark of desire that should be rising within him.
"You should be working," came the chilling deep baritone of the Superior. Saïx turned with a bow already occurring.
"I was thinking about the anomaly," he spoke in defence of his inaction. Xenmas stood beside him and gazed at the forming Kingdom Hearts for a long moment.
"We are shells that once hosted powerful Hearts, it is not surprising that such inconsistent beings would arise even amongst our own. However, even I was surprised to see it acting with such candid whims with a lost off-worlder. Such a fast little mouse. I do wonder if she'd make a fine replacement for the traitors. Larxene's spot is open, no?" he spoke logically.
"From your report, the girl sounds more trouble than she's worth. The issue is that the Dusk commanded Lexaeus' Nobodies. A force we did not know existed," Saïx said coldly.
"Lexaeus was always the one to act, never to show. No doubt he simply did not find the idea worth sharing. He was never one for the spotlight," Xenmas responded with a shake of his head.
"You could have forced your will over the anomaly. Put this case to rest, but you let it leave, I don't understand," Saïx turned his yellow eyes to Xenmas' orange ones.
"...Perhaps I wish to see how far a lone shell could ripple the pages? Something that even they, the masters of fable, did not predict?" he mused and Saïx frowned, the Superior's words making no sense to him.
"I believe we have enough wild cards around. The anomaly even left for Hollow Bastion on a mission. Who is it looking for? Why is it determined to find them?" Saïx asked, narrowing his eyes at the moon.
This caught Xenmas' attention like nothing else.
"Did it now? How very interesting..." he said and turned without another word. Saïx watched him for a long moment.
"You can cease snooping. You didn't fool anyone," he called above where Xigbar sat on a high ledge. The man grinned as he jumped down without a pause.
"Heard you were talking about a weird Dusk," the man grinned and Saïx turned to him with cautious disapproval.
"That tone implies you know more than not," Saïx accused and Xigbar examined his hand for a moment.
"As if. I just happened to run into one that I assumed was under our Superior's command. Nothing too weird," he shrugged. Saïx weighed the balance of pushing and retreating. Too much deviancy from the path and he'd never find 'her'. Too little resistance and he would become naught but the pawn Xenmas truly desired.
"And what do you plan to do now?" he asked as he heard the puppet's constant badgerings to Demyx about Roxas' coma coming from down the hall. When would he wake up... when would Axel return? When... when... when.
The thought of the puppet, Roxas, and Axel playing around, enjoying each other's company, becoming...friends made the coldness in his chest intensify until he was utterly numb to anything but his own goals.
Saïx wished he had a heart just to despise Axel and that degenerate puppet. Xigbar seemed to sense it and he smirked.
"Well... not gonna lie. I'm not the fan of someone changing the endings like the boss... so I think I might remove our little problem," Xigbar said and his eye flashed bright yellow for a moment.
Saïx felt like there was something going on that he had yet to uncover and Number 1 and 2 of the Organization knew more about than anyone else in the group.
"Oh, and let the others know that finding Sora is top priority. If we squish the half-pint before he's fixed then we hold the Key," Xigbar waved a hand over his shoulder as he walked off.
Saïx would sooner help Xigbar dress than do anything he commanded. This anomaly would personally be assessed by Saïx... if nothing else, Axel seemed to be good at making friends these days.
Perhaps this was the edge he had been looking for to finally begin to cut into the mystery that was Organization XIII?