I'm Nobody

by free man writer

He didn't have anything when he was born. Just a name and number. But over time, what he had grew. He, with his friends began to understand that there was more to their existence then just their name and number. They will prove that they were meant to be real. To exist. To become something more than just a Nobody. Co-written and created with Jebest4781. Fem Shepard. Now on Ao3.

24. Tensions Rising

Hey guys, thanks again for the Reviews.

Loving the excitement for Hojo and all and yes, we will be seeing more FF characters and whether or not they're part of the crew… ahem, moving along.

I'LL UPDATE INFINITE WARS WHENEVER I DAMN WELL WANT TO. SERIOUSLY MAN, YOU'RE DELAYING IT WITH YOUR CONSTANT REVIEWS. MY GOD, I WANNA DO SOMETHING ELSE, STOP ACTING SO DAMN SELFISH. YOU LEFT 30 REVIEWS ALREADY AND YOU'RE NOT HELPING! JUST STOP! Does the concept of me wanting to focus on other stories not compute with you or something? I'll come back to Infinite Wars eventually but for Fuck Sake man, I wanna do this right now.

God damn man, some people just have no patience at all.

So rant aside, let's keep this one going.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

I'm Nobody Chapter 24: Tensions Rising

-The World That Never Was-

Within the personal chambers of the Cloaked Schemer, said member of the Organization was currently seated at a desk he had set up for himself with a book he was finding difficult to read.

And it wasn't that the book wasn't interesting.

It's just that his mind wasn't really helping him to focus on the literature.

Gritting his teeth, Zexion promptly slammed the book shut and leaned back into his seat though he stood up a moment later.

"Something troubling you?"

No. VI whirled about to the front of his room to see none other than the Luna Diviner standing at the door.

"Saix." Zexion said cordially. "What can I do for you?"

"Seems like I should be asking you that question." Saix countered. "It is rare to see you so bothered."

"Is there a reason for this visit?" No. VI inquired icily.

"Perhaps." Saix said. "Our scouts have recently encountered not only Sora and his companions in Twilight Town, but our wayward traitors as well."

Zexion snapped his head in Saix's direction with the blue haired Organization member continuing on.

"And with our traitorous three were a group of individuals that were true anomalies from what we are to understand." Saix said. "Or, what we at first assumed to be anomalies."

No. VII raised his hand and waved it before him horizontally.

A moment later, seven projections of three humans and four unique looking aliens were displayed in front of the two.

Aliens that Zexion recognized.

"These are-"

"Yes." Saix nodded. "They're from that place from where our traitors had been hiding from us. It appears they had gotten bold in coming here themselves."

"Why were we not informed of this sooner?" Zexion inquired sharply.

"They were gone as quick as they appeared." Saix said. "They vanished beyond our sight and Lord Xemnas reckons it has something to do with King Mickey and his Master."

The Cloaked Schemer frowned in thought.

He only knew so much about the King and his Master that had trained him but if it was someone Lord Xemnas took note of in repelling their sight and forces, it must speak volumes on the capabilities of this individual.

"So they have returned here then?"

"Perhaps." Saix stated. "But not for long as they have not been seen since our scouts spotted them in Twilight Town."

"Twilight Town." Zexion mused aloud. "Where Roxas was found."

Saix nodded. "They appeared to slip right through us."

"What are Lord Xemnas's orders?" No. VI asked.

"We shall be making our move against them very soon." Saix said, taking a moment to gaze upon the seven individuals that were projected in between them.

"Anyone in particular planned on being deployed for their retrieval?"

"Xemnas hand picked him." Saix said. "Enough to either send them a message or bring them all back."

"Oh? Are we not going with the original plan of eliminating Axel?" Zexion inquired.

"That shall come in time." Saix's tone was firm. "But… Lord Xemnas has stated that there is something that Axel is more than likely aware of. Information that he has received from Roxas and there's an obvious possibility of the Puppet being aware of it as well."

"Secrets Xemnas isn't privy in sharing?"

"Perhaps…"

Zexion's eyes narrowed slightly at the rather… unusual behavior the normally cold and emotionless Luna Diviner was displaying.

There was something off about him.

Though, when he thought about it momentarily, ever since those three up and betrayed the Organization suddenly Saix has been rather ill-tempered at times.

Whenever the Organization spoke of Axel in particular, a dark aura began to radiate off from No. VII, something that many had taken note of. Zexion was aware of the past friendship that Saix and Axel had shared prior to the two becoming Nobodies and joining the Organization.

It was easy to infer that despite giving off a callous and unfeeling demeanor for the most part, No. VII apparently still held value in the past friendship of No. VIII with him.

Understandable as in a manner of speaking, both of them really only had each other when they joined and still remembered their past lives.

However, the more Zexion dwelled on this matter, the more he felt as though there was a missing peace to all this.

"Then I thank you for informing me of this latest development."

Saix soon left, leaving No. VI to his thoughts.

Standing there to himself for a moment, Zexion once again conjured forth the projection of the seven individuals that Saix had brought up earlier.

Looking them over in an analytical manner, his eyes stopped upon the blue skinned alien of the group.

He bore into her with his gaze, feeling his hand suddenly begin to tremble without him not even realizing it until holding it up. Clenching it tightly, Zexion found himself in mental war with himself until he conjured a corridor of Darkness and vanished a moment later.

Elsewhere within the Castle of Organization XIII, standing at one of its many balconies was one Graceful Assassin who stood alone as he gazed out into the endless nothingness that surrounded the World.

He wore a deep frown, multiple thoughts running through his mind.

Marluxia recalled his momentary time spent in the Etherium, encountering Axel with those two companions of his that he had made in his time away from the Organization. A brief bout of the memory of envy and jealousy suddenly spiked within the scythe wielding Nobody.

It was honestly still a blow to his ego and his overall plans that they had fallen through so suddenly and rapidly with an instant shock of three members just turning coat on the Organization themselves.

His own meticulous planning was thrown by the wayside only for him to be upstaged by two of the Organization's newest members and perhaps the ultimate wildcard in the group.

Much as Luxord enjoyed his themes of gambling with dice and cards, most everyone always knew of the unpredictable nature of Axel.

"Urgh, how much longer are you just going to stand there brooding like that?"

"I believe you are mistaking brooding and contemplation as two separate entities, Larxene."

"With you, the former outweighs the latter." Larxene responded with a flat look.

Marluxia merely rolled his cold blue eyes as the Savage Nymph stood beside him.

"Joking aside, Munny for your thoughts?"

"Take a wild guess." No. XII said sourly. "I'm basically grounded here 'cause of everything falling apart for us. That jerk Axel. And those two little brats. Who the hell do they think they are stealing our thunder?"

Marluxia raised a brow at her choice in words, something No. XII immediately realized.

"You know what I mean." Larxene scoffed in a bitter fashion.

"If I recall correctly, was it not you who suggested we bring Axel into the fold?" No. XI asked rhetorically. "I even remember just before our departure to Castle Oblivion that you had even considered bringing on Roxas as a part of our coalition."

"For one, the little twerp would've been easy to mold at the time." Larxene said offhandedly. "For another, we would have gotten two under our thumb. Both the original and the leftover."

"Perhaps that would not work." Marluxia stated. "It appears that Axel would be rather… resistant to the idea."

Larxene groaned aloud in aggravation. "Are we really gonna just let them collar us like this?"

"You know that's not what you and I had in mind when we first spoke." Marluxia reminded her, causing the Savage Nymph to stare intently at him.

"So what's the plan then?"

"What we had originally intended to do?"

Larxene gave him a disbelieving look. "Are you kidding me? That failed before it could even get off the ground. Besides, we needed Namine to pull this off. And she's under the protection of Sora and all his friends."

"Namine is undoubtedly a harsh loss but one we can deal with." Marluxia said. "And though she was the key to our success, losing her should not deter us in the slightest."

Larxene crossed her arms impatiently. "Ok genius, so what's gonna be different this time?"

Marluxia's expression morphed into one that held a devious and sinister smirk that he directed towards his fellow colluder.

"Simple. Namine was the key because she was the shadow." No. XI revealed. "So if she's out of the question, why not go for the original source then?"

The Savage Nymph blinked at this reveal before her own expression matched that of the Graceful Assassins.

"Well, well~ why didn't you start with that?"

Marluxia 'hmphed' in amusement, turning back to the endless void.

"Let's not rush this time around." He said calmly. "We shall bide our time. Watch what develops on all sides until we make our move."

"You know they probably won't trust us ever again." Larxene pointed out.

"Perhaps… but with everything that's happening… with everything to come." Marluxia's smirk turned deadly. "Who's to say what will happen in that time?"

"Exactly what I wanted to hear."

As the two had spoken of this in the belief that they went unheard, neither were aware of the Organization member that sported an eyepatch standing upside down in midair with seemingly nothing holding him there.

No. II smirked at the two as he gazed down at them from above.

"When will they ever learn to keep up their constant vigilance…"

-Scene Cut-

Across the cosmos, far off from the World of endless nothingness, within a cosmic cloud was the large structure of the Citadel.

Ships passed by around it, some going in with others going out.

Repairs were still going about after the battle that had occurred here nearly three weeks ago by this point.

Unsurprising considering the wide scale damage that had occurred on that day.

As all this had gone on, one of the people who were in the center of the battle was currently enjoying a nice lunch near the presidium.

She had a simple sandwich to sate her appetite since she wasn't all that hungry and was reclined back in her chair as she took a sip of her drink.

Jane Shepard abruptly flinched as she felt something small hit above her eyebrow and she lightly glared at the man sitting on the other side of the small table who was whistling innocently.

"Was that necessary?"

"Huh, what?" The red haired man said, pretending to break out of whatever it was that was "distracting" him. "You say something?"

Shepard's response was to pluck a piece of her lettuce from her sandwich and flicked it right at her friend.

The piece didn't reach far as a quick flare burnt it away before it could even get a few inches close to his face.

"Ah, you're gonna have to try harder than that, Shepard." He cheekily remarked.

"You're just asking for hard payback, Axel." Shepard deadpanned though she smirked soon after.

"Now what in the World could I possibly be doing to get such a response?" Axel inquired in false shock and disbelief.

Shepard only shook her head at his antics, grabbing her sandwich for a bite. She frowned slightly as it had gotten slightly cold.

Looking over at Axel expectantly, he only raised a brow at her as she gestured her eyes down at her sandwich.

Rolling his eyes, he gave her sandwich a quick intent look.

Shepard felt her meal increase in heat slightly with the Commander smirking in satisfaction and appreciation.

"That was childish." Axel remarked. "Aren't you supposed to be a Commander?"

"And flicking paper at me isn't?" Jane asked rhetorically.

"No."

His response made it seem like he was being honest about it.

No… no, yeah, he was being honest.

'Cheeky bastard.' Shepard internally mused.

The Nobody gave her a small grin which she couldn't help but return after a second, shaking her head at how easily she caved on her intentions of small revenge.

He'll get it eventually; of that she was sure.

Just not now.

Good things come to people who wait.

And Shepard was anything but patient… sort of.

As she munched on her sandwich, Axel propped his leg up for him to rest his arm on while grabbing his own sandwich that he had ordered.

"I hear Udina got the Counselor position." Said the Nobody, biting into his food. "Would've thought the Captain could've gotten it."

Jane snorted at that. "You kidding? David hardly stands politics. He's more suited anywhere else besides behind a desk."

"I thought they would've chosen him as Counselor." Axel shrugged. "He's a man of action and could've helped push the other Counselors to get the job done instead of sitting on their asses all day and delaying things."

"You know things don't exactly work like that."

"Can it?"

"It's politics, Axel." Shepard reminded. "By default, it doesn't work."

"Well if Anderson is going to stick around and assist, I hope he can reign in Udina's douchebaggery."

Jane rolled her eyes as she fought back a smirk. "You don't have to go that far, Axel."

"You kidding? With what interactions I've had with the new Counselor, I get the impression he'll act that way. You sure there weren't any other candidates for the role?"

"There had to be."

"Yet we got Udina."

"More like we got Udina." Shepard pointed out. "You have the luxury of leaving whenever you feel like it and not have to deal with him anymore."

"True." Axel mused. "But pretty sure Roxas and Xion would get upset at me if I tell them we're leaving."

Jane couldn't help but smile at her fellow redhead. "Yes, heaven forbid Roxas and Xion getting upset at you for something like that."

"Right?" Axel said jokingly. "They're a couple of spoiled kids now, if ya ask me."

The Commander could only chuckle slightly at his comments, wiping her mouth clean after taking the last bite of her meal.

Axel finished shortly after, the two falling into a comfortable silence shared between the two.

From nowhere, as it usually seems to be the case by this point with the Nobody trio, Axel pulled out two bars of Sea Salt Ice cream and wordlessly held one out for Shepard to take.

The Spectre nodded at him in appreciation, though her mind was still trying to figure out just where in the hell do they keep these on them.

Seriously, the Nobody trio just whip it out of seemingly thin air with them either being packaged and at times not and they still remain fresh somehow.

There must be some cosmic levels of bullshit magic revolving around these damn ice cream bars.

By this point, Jane had learned not to at least verbally question how in the hell they keep doing it. But it's a secret research project with the others. They'll get the answers to this crazy question.

Someday.

"So, any word from your Alliance brass or the Council about anything?" Axel inquired conversationally.

"You need to be a bit more specific."

The Nobody threw his arm up slightly. "I dunno. Aside from the Heartless popping up here and there with our patrols and taking out whatever comes the way of Alliance and Citadel controlled space, seems a bit quiet for now."

Shepard opened her mouth to answer, only to close it a moment later as she briefly contemplated on this manner.

What Axel said holds true, it has been a bit quiet for the most part.

They had encountered Heartless here and there, both on the ground and in space but this had become routine by this point.

Given what they've been through, it was a little unsettling.

Why was everything so quiet?

"I… wish I knew the answer to that myself." Shepard said with a frown. "Which is what worries me."

The Flurry of Dancing Flames gave her a silent look that asked why this was troublesome.

Shepard only released a sigh, leaning her elbows against the table with her ice cream dangling slightly in between her fingers over the table's edge.

"It's honestly a universal law by this point." Shepard stated. "Things go up before they go down. And that applies in the reverse. In order for things to start for everything to go up, we've got a down period. A calm before the storm."

"And you feel a shitstorm coming, dontcha?" Axel asked expectantly.

Jane grimaced as she nodded.

"I'd try not to tempt fate, but…"

"Then don't say a thing or else it will rear its ugly head."

"I don't have to." Shepard said. "It's gonna happen whether we like it or not. The Reapers, the Heartless, your Organization. Whatever other shit that just wants to pop out of the woodwork."

Axel didn't respond to that, knowing full well that those words held a great amount of truth to them.

She was right of course. It was all only a matter of time until things start to go sideways again.

Looking back on it all, it all started with Roxas vanishing suddenly.

And since then, it has been a marathon sprint from beginning to end with them at long last coming to this momentary lull period.

"We'll just have to take things one day at a time." Axel said after a few seconds of silence with Shepard only nodding in agreement.

"Got no choice on the matter."

Her friend nodded, the two rising out from their seats a moment later as they departed from the area.

What they were unaware was they were spotted by several other teammates of theirs that just so happened to be close by.

"Hey, ain't that Axel and Shepard?" Garrus asked aloud, with the others turning to the Turian.

"What?" Xion asked, Stitch resting atop her head.

"Yeah, there." Garrus pointed. "See?"

The group gazed at the direction that he was pointing at and true to his word, there was Commander Shepard and Axel walking away while casually conversing with one another.

"Should we call out to them?" Xion asked, looking up at Garrus who waved his hand down.

"Nah, leave them be." The Turian stated. "No need to bother them when we'll see them later. Besides, they're going in the opposite direction we're going. Come on, let's get going."

Xion nodded with Stitch grunting in agreement.

They had turned to leave yet their other two friends that were with them momentarily stayed behind.

Their gaze lingered on the two redheads as they saw Axel say something that resulted in his getting a flick on the side of his head from Shepard with the man only laughing at the action.

One glanced to the other and saw they had shared the same look that they had.

"So… You wanted Shepard too huh?" Kaidan Alenko said expectantly.

"What? Oh, I, uh…"

The recently promoted Alliance marine only smiled understandingly, placing an arm around her shoulder.

"It's alright, Liara." Kaidan said calmly. "I was in the same boat as you."

"Really?" The Asari turned to Alenko in slight surprise.

The LT-Commander sighed aloud, nodding his head.

"Yeah, it sort of came up as time went on when we were after Saren." Kaidan admitted with a somber smile.

Liara gazed at him sympathetically.

"How?"

Kaidan rubbed his cheek and chin slightly.

"It just… sorta happened." Kaidan said. "Every moment I saw her, I just got drawn towards her more and more. Her relentless attitude, her laser focused demeanor, how kind she was even if she can fight like a Krogan on a blood rage…"

Liara soon placed her own arm around his shoulder in response, feeling the same way as he was right now.

"I'm not in high school anymore. I'm… disappointed. Sure. But she made her choice and I'll deal with it. I'll do my duty. So don't worry about that." Kaidan stated after a few seconds.

With things coming out in the open, Liara spoke next. "I admit I was originally interested in her because of her Prothean visions, something that sparked my initial interest. But it has grown beyond that."

"Being…"

"Something I hoped to explore. Yet I'm completely fine with being professional with her. And I can even love her, platonically I mean."

"Pretty sure we're at that point really." Kaidan said with a shrug. "We spend almost every day together since we all came together."

The asari nodded as she gazed back at the red haired duo who had rounded a corner and disappeared.

"Your thoughts with Axel?" Liara inquired.

"He's a nice guy. As long as he treats her right, then that's good enough for me." Came Kaidan's response. "You?"

"I see they have a connection forming, even if they cannot." The Archaeologist said.

"Kinda puts the whole notion of no emotions and Heart and all to rest, huh?"

"Maybe." Liara said. "I admit, even I still have a hard time trying to understand what they are supposed to be at times."

Kaidan snorted. "You got that right. Still… There are more fish in the galactic sea of ours."

"What does that… ah, human expression." Liara said with Alenko nodding in confirmation. "We just have to keep on looking, I suppose."

"Agreed."

"Oi."

The two looked back to see Xion, Stitch and Garrus not far from them with the Turian throwing his hands up slightly.

"You guys coming or what?"

"Right, right, sorry about that." Kaidan said, he and Liara quickly walked over to rejoin their friends as they walked off towards their next destination.

Whilst these five teammates of the Normandy spent their time together, the rest of the squad had paired off together to do their own thing.

Axel was still with Shepard while Ashley and Wrex went out for a few drinks together.

Roxas and Tali on the other hand…

-Earlier today-

"Pleeeaaase~ Roxas." Tali had her hands clasped together in front of her making it look like she was praying really in front of her sandy-blond haired friend.

The boy in question raised a brow at her gesture.

"Please what?"

Tali groaned aloud. "Didn't you hear anything I was saying?"

Roxas blinked at the Quarian, turning back to the book he held in his hands before back at her with a sheepish smile appearing.

"Er… sorry, not really Tali. Sorry."

Tali leaned her body back dramatically. "Roxas~"

No. XIII found himself chuckling at his friends behavior with her huffing at that and crossing her arms to forcefully turn away from him.

"What is it, Tali?" He asked.

"Hmph, why should I bother telling you?" Tali inquired, keeping up her annoyed act. "You could ignore me again."

Roxas rolled his eyes at her behavior yet he still smiled as he knew what she was doing.

"Well I didn't mean it the first time." Roxas said, closing his book. "Come on, tell me."

He saw one of her glowing eyes underneath her faceplate gaze at him until she "relented" and turned to him properly.

"Well…" Tali shifted about slightly, rubbing her arm with her hand slightly. "I was hoping… the two of us could go back to Rannoch again."

Roxas tilted his head a bit at her request, frowning in thought.

"Already?" He asked. "Why so soon?"

Tali gaped at the boy, beneath her helmet.

"Roxas, how could I not want to go back?!" Tali nearly exclaimed. "It's thanks to you, I got to go back to my home planet and live! My people are never gonna believe me! I need proof this time."

He flinched at the volume of her voice as he soon held his hands up in defense. "Sorry, I didn't mean- Look, we already went there less than a few days ago and I didn't expect you wanting to go back so soon."

"But I need to." Tali now whined, sounding a bit like a child now. "Pleeeeaaassee Roxas~"

Roxas found himself chuckling slightly at the lengths in which Tali was going to for this. When he thought about it, he could sorta understand why she wanted to do this couple with the fact that as of right now, he really didn't have anything to do right now.

He shrugged after thinking about it for a few seconds. "I don't see why not. Let me get in touch with Axel so he can lend you his coat."

Tali proceeded to let out a whoop of joy and jumped in the air before hugging him tightly to the point that he was starting to lose his breath until she broke off and ran to get herself ready.

Eventually procuring Axel's coat, the pair made their second trip to Rannoch.

Stepping through the Dark Corridor, they ended back in the flower field they were in their first visit.

Gazing around, Tali reached down and caressed one of the scarlet star-dye flowers. The color seems faded, yet it radiated from the sunlight. The tips were white as they seemed to glow as well. And there were others like the scarlet flower from lapis blue and vertigo green. Just a whole rainbow of colors with similar traits.

Roxas gazed at his friend who was quite literally radiating pure joy at being here and he couldn't help but smile warmly at her.

She sighed aloud, both content and morose.

Given their symbiotic relationship with it, the Quarian people wanted to express their love towards their planet.

They sky… the rock formations… They wrote poems about them. About everything.

For their entire culture revolved around their homeworld.

Reading about the descriptions was one thing but seeing it in person was another.

Now while they heavily detailed the majestic beauty of the planet prior to the Geth uprising, there were scholars who recorded it's tragedy. A sad reminder for Rannoch's people when they were forced into exile.

A motivation for what the Quarians fought to regain in their exile in the stars.

"I wish… we could be here all day." Tali said. "I wish everyone on the Flotilla could be here right now with me."

Roxas' expression fell. He reached out to place his hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"One day you and your people will, Tali. This is just the first steps of reclaiming your homeworld. Just be patient."

Tali glanced back up at him with an appreciative look in her eyes, reaching up to place her hand over his and squeezed it tightly in gratitude.

When preparing their second trip to Rannoch, Roxas and Tali wanted to do a proper exploration. Not an extensive one, given the Geth still occupy the planet. Just enough where they could at least gauge the current state of the planet and see what they could take back with them.

Thus both had to take the silent approach so neither would be spotted and make a hasty retreat via the Dark Corridor. And neither had to use their hacking capabilities or else they'd alert the present "locals".

When exploring the city nearby the flower field, Tali and Roxas took note of its present condition. They expected that most, if not all of the buildings and structures were in complete ruins from the Geth uprising. The rubble and debris still littering the planet's surface with the local flora growing over the damage like a scar.

Instead the pair saw something else.

The windows looked all clean with hardly a sign of rust on the metal of the buildings. What bits of concrete and stonework there were in the surrounding structures were whole with hardly a crack out of place.

"It's… It's like the Quarians never left." Roxas noted.

Everything seemed so prim and proper in the order of things. Some of it even looked… sort of new. Like it was made or built not too long ago.

It was rather unsettling.

Neither knew how this came to be. There had to be extensive damage with the war.

It was 300 years ago by this point. If anything, Tali would have thought to have seen more rubble and wreckages when she thought about it.

Tali brought a hand to her chest and breathed in deeply as she gazed at the sight before her. "It most certainly does." She said softly.

"But how? Didn't the war…"

"I'm not sure." Tali murmured with a troubled tone.

"Do you think… it was the Geth?"

Tali didn't know what to think on that matter.

Did the Geth repair the buildings, the cities?

If so, then why? It would serve no practical purpose. They're AI, aren't they?

What purpose would it serve in doing this?

"I wish I knew, Roxas."

She wanted to learn more about all this but knew that as of right now, they wouldn't be getting any answers.

Not unless they wanted to look for trouble.

"Come on." Tali said. "If we stay here out in the open, we might be found by the Geth."

Roxas nodded, following after Tali as they moved towards the city structure.

They had soon come across a boutique and took a look around its contents. There were a number of clothing items such as scarves and cowls. Some of which looked very similar to the cowls worn by Quarians for their pilgrimages. Yet… this was from a time where they didn't need their suits.

And the accessories in the boutique were rather pretty good, but they don't hold a candle up to how well the ones they currently wore, courtesy of Mosh the Moogle. They were more useful and practical as they helped improve their skills and defenses. The ones here, however, were just to spruce up one's appearance in a certain clothing ensemble.

Nonetheless, the clothing and accessories were taken for some cultural significance on what else Tali wished to give back to her people.

By the end of their little trip here, Tali was once again tearing up as she held some of the clothing they had collected close to her.

"When I get back to the Flotilla… They're never gonna believe how I got all this stuff."

Roxas tilted his head at that with a thoughtful look on him.

"Why don't I come back with you then?" Roxas inquired, surprising her slightly. "Show them how we did it."

Tali stared at him in open surprise. "Are… Are you sure you want to come with me?"

"Why not. With how much you talk about the Flotilla and a number of people you're close to, I thought…"

Tali giggled aloud, unable to contain herself as she reached out with one hand and placed it over Roxas' cheek.

"You're really sweet Roxas." She said with the kindest tone Roxas had ever heard from her. "I would love to have you with me on my return."

The Nobody gazed upon the Quarian with a strange swelling going up in his chest.

*Badump*

There it goes again…

Why?

Why is this happening to him? And how?

Eventually leaving Rannoch once more, the pair made their return to the Citadel, but more specifically the Normandy to drop off their pilfered goods.

Once separating and organizing the collected goods accordingly, the pair decided to head over to Edna's clothing boutique.

"I must say, I wonder how you both were able to procure such… items." Said the designer in her private office. The short woman gazed at the assembly of goods sprawled over her workstation. "Tell me, was it from the black market or did you raid a private collector? I won't blame you if it were either."

Tali held up a finger to where her mouth was with a mischievous look in her eyes. "Trade secret."

Edna could only smirk back at the answer, a look of understanding appearing on her face before she returned to her inspection of the Quarian clothing and accessories.

"At least you were able to give me all this to help inspire me to create new lines for your people, Miss Zorah. A little renaissance if you will."

"I can't wait to tell them about it, Ms. Edna."

"Just Edna for you, my darling." the fashion designer said kindly. "You and your friends have done a great service for my business that I can never repay."

Tali took the moment to briefly look over to a holo projection of none other than Roxas wearing a skintight tank top with some stylish pants that showed off his physique. Her eyes then lingered over to several women, Asari and human all whispering to one another while eyeing the individual on the projection who was currently speaking to Edna.

Suddenly, Edna said to those nearby about how much she owed Roxas for the success of her shop and was open to questions and pictures should they ask.

A moment later, Roxas was promptly swarmed by the ladies in the shop, the boy going bug-eyed and panicked at the overwhelming amount of women surrounding him.

Tali saw all this with a flat look on her face as she gazed down at a smug and amused fashion designer.

"...You just love torturing him on this, don't you?" Tali asked dryly.

"I don't know what you mean."

The smile Edna wore was not helping the matter at all.

"Oh don't worry, you have a far better shot in being with him than either of them." Edna said off handedly.

Tali blushed profusely beneath her helmet with her jerking slightly which Edna took note of with her smile widening.

She wanted to refute this claim yet she knew that if she were to respond, it would end with her stammering and stuttering her way into her embarrassing herself.

"I don't even know if it would even work." Tali found herself muttering in a low, downtrodden tone.

Edna scoffed at such a statement.

"I've personally known my fair share of couples throughout my life. Helped get a couple of them together here and there, one way or another." Edna stated firmly. "If anything is possible of having things work out in the end, it is the power of love, my darling. Prudish as I may seem to appear."

Steam was now rolling out from underneath her hood as she watched Roxas try to survive the mauling of women who were constantly either taking pictures with him or blatantly feeling him up.

"Word of advice, darling, do try to work through his density as he's a rather naive teenager."

"That's… putting it mildly." Tali said, now feeling her brow begin to twitch at seeing a human girl not much older than Roxas place a daring kiss upon his cheek.

"Then perhaps you should mark your territory now."

Tali could only nod, shoving her way through the crowd of women to the overwhelmed Nobody and reached out to grab him by the wrist.

"Alright you Bosh'tet harpies, leave him alone." Tali said aloud, managing to pull him out of their grasps. "We have important work to do. So leave us alone."

With no further notice, the Quarian left the establishment with Roxas in tow.

"Do come again." Edna waved off as she returned to her work while her customers slowly went back to their normal businesses.

Tali had her grip on Roxas not loosening in the slightest.

"Tali, not that I mind you helping me out back there, but what's going on?" He asked aloud.

They were already away from Edna's place of business, but why is she still holding onto him?

"Because I need to make sure you are as far away from those Bosh'tets." Tali said after a moment.

Roxas glanced back at where they came from, a momentary feeling of dread washing over him as he looked back at Tali, nodding his head rapidly.

"I appreciate it."

Tali only laughed lightly, the two eventually standing in between a walkway that was built over one of the routes the vehicles within the Citadel utilized in getting around.

They gazed around the area, watching as people passed by until Roxas felt a small chill go down his spine.

His eyes widened briefly before they narrowed a moment later, his gaze darting about around him.

Tali saw this and was slightly put off by his sudden change in demeanor.

"Roxas?" Tali reached out to him in concern.

His response was him throwing his hand out to the side and calling forth Oathkeeper into his hand and getting into position.

"Everyone, clear out of here now!" Roxas bellowed aloud with many passerby's looking at him in stunned surprise.

Jerking back slightly at this action, Tali's eyes widened, quickly realizing what was about to happen.

-Insert Kingdom Hearts II: Tensions Rising-

Without another word being spoken, Tali pulled her weapon out with her Omni-Tool lighting up as she stood beside Roxas.

A second later, plumbs of silvery-white vapors, a number of Nobodies surrounded them.

There were a dozen Dusks and Creepers and a new variant that was blended into the mix.

They were bronze armored beings with spikes jettison out of the shoulder pauldrons and knees. On the left arm were a relatively large shield formed around the arm grieve and from its right arm was an axe. Coming from the handle was the blade that resembled the Nobody emblem.

It took a moment for Roxas to analyze these Nobodies as he had not seen them in quite some time now but eventually he knew who they were.

These were the Gladiators.

And they were placed under the order of the most physically powerful and imposing member of the Organization.

Gritting his teeth at the number of Nobodies, Roxas flicked out his hand and a dozen Samurai appeared around the two.

"Find Shepard and the others." Roxas said to a few of his Nobodies. "Get them here now."

Four of the Samurai simply nodded, quickly disappearing a moment later whilst the other eight remained by their leader.

They had their swords all drawn as Roxas and his group faced the opposing Nobodies.

The Gladiators banged their axes against their shields before they charged forward with their weapons raised.

Roxas was quick to intercept the coming blow towards Tali. He grunted slightly, arms jolting slightly at the power they possessed. Though that was to be expected considering who it was they served directly.

Tali in the meantime was quick to pull out her shotgun and blasted the Nobody directly into its chest. It stumbled back which Roxas took advantage of, slashing it several times before destroying it.

"Keep your distances from these Nobodies, Tali." Roxas warned. "They're one of the absolute strongest in terms of physical strength. Only Saix's come close to these guys."

Tali only nodded, moving back slightly as Roxas' Samurai moved in to engage the other Nobodies.

One of the Gladiators swung its sword down, its blade clashing with those of a Samurai.

The two unique Nobodies struggled momentarily until the Gladiator's head was pierced by two blades.

The Gladiator trembled before it popped out of existence. The Samurai Nobody simply nodded, its pillar like head at its two compatriots with them returning their attention to the coming Dusks and Creepers.

Roxas was fighting against the other Gladiators, making sure their focus was on him and only him.

These guys were obscenely strong in the physical sense.

If they were to run rough shot around here, who knows what sort of pandemonium and damage they would cause.

Tali in the meantime was running around the area, firing at the Dusks and Creepers who were combating Roxas's Nobodies.

She fired off several Omni-Bolts, the arcs of lightning lasting a great deal longer this time around.

The bolts managed to destroy several of the Creepers whilst shocking several Dusks, inflicting damage upon them.

The Samurai were quick to take out these stunned Dusks, moving onto their next set of enemies.

Tali continued these means of attack, supporting the Samurai until she suddenly had several Nobodies surrounding her.

Three Dusks and a Creeper.

Tali panicked slightly but didn't have any time to think on the matter as one of the Dusks bent down and began wiggling its way towards her in the air.

She shot it several times, with her rounds appearing to damage it slightly yet it still came at her.

Instinctively diving forward to the ground, she pivoted her body as to land on her back with her holding her gun up to shoot directly at its unzipped face at last taking it out.

She quickly rolled out of the way as the other Nobodies pounced at her, leaving a grenade behind that blew up in their faces.

The Creeper was taken out, but the other two Dusks floated upwards into the air with their bodies being singed.

Before she was able to take them out, a familiar circular weapon covered in fire appeared, cutting straight through one dusk where the other was shot down rapidly.

Landing right next to Tali, the Quarian was greeted by the sight of Axel and Shepard standing above her with the latter holding out her hand to her.

"Commander." Tali said in relief, Jane helping her up to her feet. "Axel."

"Glad we didn't miss anything." the Fiery Nobody said, holding out his hand as his Chakram returned to him.

"You alright?" Shepard asked straight away.

"I'm fine." Tali said. "But we need to help Roxas."

The two new arrivals spotted the young Nobody clashing with one of the new Nobodies that the Spectre did not recognize before.

"Those guys are new." Shepard noted upon seeing the Gladiators.

Eyeing them, green eyes narrowed as their owners barely showed his teeth. "Great, them."

"Any useful advice?" Shepard asked, Biotics flaring around her.

"Get them off their feet if you can." Axel said, cracking his neck as he twirled his weapons before dashing forward.

Nodding, Jane's biotics flared as she threw an attack at the bunch.

Several of the Gladiators got caught in a stasis field.

They immediately struggled to free themselves yet Roxas cut some down with the last of them being promptly destroyed by Axel gliding in to incinerate them.

"Axel." Roxas said happily.

"Always taking the fun for yourself, huh Roxas?" Axel asked rhetorically with a wide grin.

"You just gotta learn when to keep up." Roxas retorted, a grin to match his friends as the two went on the attack together.

Shepard and Tali joined in moments later, the Samurai Nobody also still fighting on.

With the four of them fighting together along with Roxas' Nobodies, they began to tear right through these enemy Nobodies with ease.

When everything was seemingly settled, a Corridor of Darkness formed not far away from the group.

-Insert Kingdom Hearts II: Organization XIII-

Stepping out of it, a large hooded being disbursed the passageway behind him.

Shepard and Tali tensed at the sight of this large and imposing man.

He easily towered over their friends like Garrus and Wrex and looked astonishingly powerful in the physical department.

Numbers VIII and XIII glared intently at the imposing figure

The man simply stood there until he reached up and pulled his hood back to reveal a face with very angular and strong features, such as having a square chin, straight nose and sharp cheekbones. His ginger hair was slicked back into messy spikes that seemed to curl at several ends.

"Lexaeus." Axel said tensely.

"Roxas, Axel." The largest member of the Organization peered down at the traitors with his light blue eyes. "You have done well so far, hiding from the rest of the Organization."

"Glad to know we impressed the others." Taunted the Flurry of Dancing Flames, grasping his weapons tightly.

The Silent Hero was nonplussed by this mocking tone, simply crossing his arms and closing his eyes.

"But you already know that this charade ends here and now." Firmly said No. V of the Organization. "Return and you will be spared."

"And if we say no?" Roxas shot back, getting back into his ready stance with the others mirroring the gesture.

Lexaeus simply stood there until he unfolded his arms.

Raising his hand, grains of sand and rubble erupted from Lexaeus' palm. Moments later, he grasped onto it as the earth disbursed. In his grasp was a massive, heavy axe sword that was about a meter long. The blue handle was roughly as long as the blade made of black, red and yellow metal. To any normal being, it would be laborious to use without extreme strength.

Moments later, No. V rested his weapon, Skysplitter on his shoulder as he went into his battle stance.

Lexaeus opened his eyes with an intense gaze to them now. "Then you shall fall."

With a bellowing shout, dark power quite literally exploded off of the Nobodies form with winds whipping up from and around him.

-Insert Kingdom Hearts II: The 13th Struggle-

"Your rebellion ends here." Lexaeus roared, raising his Axe Sword and slammed it down on the ground.

The earthquake that came caused them all to stumble as it appeared to shake the whole damn Citadel.

Roxas was the first to recover, jumping into the air and gliding straight for him with him spinning in the air for a downward strike.

No. V simply raised his hand and caught the Keyblade in the middle and swung Roxas, tossing him away.

"Roxas!"

"Stay focused." Axel declared, zooming straight at the large man who saw him coming.

Lexaeus quickly slammed his weapon down onto the ground, a wall of Earth appearing around him.

Undeterred, Axel charged up his fire stopping a foot away from the Earth wall and threw his Chakrams down to the ground. The weapons embedded themselves into the ground, spinning rapidly before rapidly going in circles around the Earth until they created a large fire pillar that surrounded the barrier entirely.

It subsided moments later to reveal molten earth with Tali and Shepard momentarily believing the day to be won, only to see Axel still on alert.

Their hopes were quickly squashed as Lexaeus literally burst out from the ground behind Axel.

The redhead, however, appeared to anticipate this as he instantly ducked down to avoid Skysplitter from splitting his head open.

Leaping into a corkscrew spin in the air, Axel flung his Chakrams several times with No. V deflecting them with either his hand or weapon.

Lexaeus then began swinging his weapon around which appeared to be wild at first yet every time he seemingly "missed", his Skysplitter "struck" the air which sent shockwaves all around that momentarily stunned No. VIII.

Axel saw this coming and hastily jumped back to avoid this, throwing up his chakrams in defense.

Though he did have them up in time and was a good distance away from the Earth-wielding Nobody, the very edge of his Skysplitter managed to strike Axel's weapons.

This was enough of a hit to send Axel flying back, crashing hard onto the ground.

"Keelah!" Tali said aloud.

Shepard growls after seeing this, raising her rifle.

"Hey you bastard! Eat this."

She began firing rapidly at the large Nobody with Tali joining in a moment later.

No. V flinched slightly, though not from getting damaged at the bullets peppering his body.

Quirking a brow, Lexaeus rounded on the two with him casually raising his weapon to deflect the shots.

"Alright, how bout this." Shepard said in response to his lack of a response, throwing out a Biotic stasis field at him.

The ginger haired Nobody then did something Shepard didn't quite expect.

He swatted the Biotic stasis field she shot at him aside with ease.

Tali and Shepard both lowered their weapons in disbelief.

"...Oh that's bullshit-"

They were interrupted when Lexaeus leaped into the air with his weapon poised high. When he came falling back down, they dived out of the way from the coming strike.

The moment his weapon met the ground, rocks and pieces of metal jutted out and went all over the place.

"Shitshitshit!" Shepard exclaimed, trying to avoid all the oncoming metallic pieces.

To add more assault to the mess, Lexaeus swung his axe sword down again and again, causing more and more quakes to be felt throughout the station, to have more debris burst out of the ground in forming large pillars. With a mighty swing of his weapon, he broke off the formed pillars and had them flying towards his present opponents.

Shepard and Tali desperately moved about to dodge the coming attacks as they would no doubt crush them quite easily if they were to properly land their mark.

One of the pieces of debris was about to hit Tali, who's eyes widened in terror.

However, from behind her, she felt two pairs of thin hands grab her and quickly threw her towards nearby cover.

At the last second, Tali managed to catch sight of a Samurai that appeared to be the one to have saved her burst out of existence as the large piece of debris went right through it.

"Oh that Bosh'tet." Tali muttered before crashing down to the ground.

As Lexaeus stood back up again, he deftly ducked a second later from the slash Roxas directed at him as the boy appeared right next to him.

He casually brought up his Axe Sword, deflecting several attacks from Roxas before attempting to grab him which No. XIII deftly flipped away from.

Just before he landed on the ground, Lexaeus hefted his weapon up and slammed it down to the ground with an orangish-red shockwave appearing around the area he struck.

The ground shook violently and everything abruptly began to tilt and angle itself in a bizarre fashion that threw most everyone off.

Landing on the ground, Roxas immediately had a sense of shaking vertigo as the world around him shifted entirely.

"Keelah, it feels like the entire Citadel is shaking!" Tali exclaimed, barely being able to maintain her balance.

"It might as well be." Shepard grimly said.

Tripping forward, Roxas unfortunately stumbled right into Lexaeus's hand that grabbed him by his neck.

Multiple pillars of Earth rose up from the ground around them.

No. V flung XIII into one of them, Roxas grunting aloud in pain as his back lit up upon impacting the rocky wall.

"Just give up!" Lexaeus shouted, bursting forward with his Skysplitter reared back to strike the Key of Destiny down.

Just before he could reach the boy, a large bolt struck his chin, making him flinch with a blue furry blur tackling his face.

"RAAAAA!"

"Gah, insect." Lexaeus snarled, grabbing the blue creature off his face and threw it away.

He did it in time as he saw someone falling down towards him with a weapon being directed right at his head.

Lifting up his Skysplitter, he met his weapon with that of a Keyblade.

"Ah, the puppet at last." Lexaeus commented, gazing back at the young brunette girl who was struggling to try and overpower the Silent Hero.

More shots suddenly struck him with Biotics encasing him a moment later followed by Axel reappearing in front of No. V, unleashing his spinning Chakrams that caused a visible wince from Lexaeus this time.

Gritting his teeth, Lexaeus roared out with darkness exploding off of his form that sent several small shockwaves.

Axel had jumped up and grabbed Xion, getting her away from No. V and he quickly managed to snag Roxas as well.

He landed right next to Shepard and Tali who were now joined by Garrus, Liara, Kaidan and Stitch.

"Are you guys alright?" Liara asked in worry.

"We're alive." Tali said with a foreboding tone.

"Axel, is that-"

"Yeah Gary, one of our old chums." Axel said, back in his ready position once more.

Lexaeus gazed upon the group before him, eyes focusing on three of them specifically whilst holding his Skysplitter by its handle with the edge embedded slightly into the ground.

They stared right back at him, weapons in hand as the air grew silent momentarily.

"All three traitors stand before me now." Lexaeus said aloud after a few seconds of silence. "Good. At least you're willing to face me rather than flee like you all did at the start."

The Normandy crew was wary as they waited for the man to make his move.

What they did not expect was a grin to appear upon the stoic expression of No. V.

"Perhaps I can enjoy this."

Lexaeus crouched down slightly, his dark power exploding off of his form with dark wisps mixed with earthy colors added into the aura.

"Darkness, give me power!"

Roxas, Axel and Xion threw their weapons up defensively, simultaneously grunting as they were slightly pushed back but remained standing firm.

The rest had to use their own means of standing strong.

Stitch clenched Roxas' leg with Shepard and Garrus grasping Axel's shoulders. Kaidan and Liara mimicked the action with Xion and Tali held on to Roxas.

Once the shockwave ended, Roxas, Axel and Xion dashed forward together.

Xion spun her Keyblade in circular fashion, winds whipping up around them with Axel flicking his right hand. A small flame turned into a raging inferno that served to propel the three of them right towards Lexaeus who lowered his stance and had his Skysplitter resting on his shoulder in anticipation.

As they drew closer, Lexaeus angled his left foot slightly into the ground itself.

The floor from him up to the trio of Nobodies charging at him cracked apart with pieces of rock and metal jutting out.

They were not to be deterred however as they simply leapt and dodged the sudden obstacles.

Getting in close, Roxas thrusted his Keyblade forward which met with Lexaeus's weapon. The impact sent a small shockwave with five pillars of light bursting out from Roxas' Oathkeeper.

Two of them struck No. V, making him barely flinch.

But it was enough of a visible reaction for the triple attack to press on.

Axel appeared right by Roxas and the two of them raised their weapons together and swung down with all their might. The combined effort managed to strike Lexaeus's weapon and lowered it enough for Xion to come in for a Wind and Light laced Keyblade strike.

Lexaeus skidded back slightly but remained standing strong.

"Good, good." The Silent Hero praised. "It appears you have not neglected yourselves in strengthening your power. Perhaps I shall be in for a proper fight."

They didn't have a chance to respond as the large man threw his Axe Sword forward, the weapon spinning in the air as it came at them.

The trio dove out of the way and their friends behind them did the same as they saw it was coming for them as well. Skysplitter spun around the area before returning to its owner who then let out another burst of energy and power.

"Fucking hell, this is like some Dragon Ball Z type shit." Shepard said aloud, the energy once again pushing them back.

Stitch roared, rolling up into a ball and going at full speed towards the Nobodies battling one another.

"Stitch, wait!" Tali called out to him.

"Forget it, Tali." Garrus said, holding up his rifle, firing several times. "He's probably the only one out of all of us who can directly help them."

Much as they hated to hear this, the Normandy team knew that Garrus wasn't wrong about that.

They had been able to take on the Heartless, the lesser and higher ranked Nobodies and even a possessed Reaper and Heartless enhanced Saren.

But the way this fight was going?

Even they knew they were outclassed by this point.

"Really wondering if those "special powers" from Yen Sid are gonna kick in at all." Kaidan said, firing rapidly at the Lexaeus who was currently swinging his Skysplitter in wide arching motion in front of and around his entire body to get their three friends away from him.

As he finished his swing, Lexaeus smashed his weapon down to conjure forth another pillar of Earth and metal which he punched, shattering the pillar into dozens of smaller pieces. The chunks bounced around the area, managing to strike Roxas, Axel and Xion several times when four were grabbed out of the air and thrown at Lexaeus's head.

The ginger-haired Nobody felt each one break upon hitting him, looking towards the small blue furred alien that growled at him challengingly.

Lexaeus' response was to charge up once more, a rustic colored aura flaring up around him.

He had been doing this continuously throughout the fight and with each one, it grew bigger and more intense. The rustic color slowly became more red as time went on.

In mere moments, Lexaeus leaped into the air with his aura exploding and swirling around him.

"Oh Shit!" Axel yelled out. "Everyone clear the area!"

No. V came crashing down as his axe sword cleaved through the ground. Large crevices were formed as they started spreading outward. Even going so far as to hitting the nearby structures.

Seeing this, some of the others knew it would be a matter of time until the fight will be beyond the confined space.

"Jesus Christ, how the hell are we supposed to fight him?!" Kaidan exclaimed in stunned horror.

"We can only support them from afar." Liara said solemnly, worry etched on her face.

Sirens were soon heard in the air, making Garrus grit his teeth.

"Dammit. Can't let them get involved. They can't handle a guy like this." The Turian said.

"Go, Garrus. We more or less have it handled now." Shepard said, shooting again at No. V who didn't even register her shot.

No. V unleashed another wave of large rocks that were flung at Roxas and Xion but Axel jumped in front of them and threw his hands out horizontally.

A large wall of flames appeared in front of them, the fire being so intense that the rocks were melted away and turned to steam.

Once they subsided, Xion went on the offensive first.

She jumped back slightly, spinning her Keyblade before she went in for a Sliding Dash her Keyblade striking Lexaeus in the chest.

Roxas followed that up with Stitch having made a warble of a sound before jumping up into the air into his ball form. No. XIII reared his Keyblade back like a baseball bat and struck Stitch with his Light infused weapon.

The blue, literal furball, rocketed into the air and smashed right into Lexaeus' face actually managing to stun him.

Axel went in for another attack, Chakrams charged up with fire.

Getting right in front of Lexaeus, Axel flicked his spinning weapons at the Earth Nobody.

"Let the Flames Burn You!"

In an instant, the air around Lexaeus crackled and combusted into a large explosion of flames.

The flames were not to last as they heard a bellow from within, the fires being disbursed off of the charging form of No. V.

Even though he appeared unscathed, there were a few tears and scratches upon the man's cloak that were appearing to stitch themselves back up.

"Impressive." Lexaeus praised, slamming his Skysplitter into the ground that caused rock formations to burst out form around him.

Roxas, Axel and Xion jumped away from them with Stitch simply going around them and pouncing at Lexaeus only to be swatted away.

"Stitch!" Xion cried out, looking back at No. V with a glare.

Her form flashed momentarily, thrusting her Keyblade forward, she went into her newly named move Corkscrew Rave.

She had taken inspiration from the Sonic Raid she had seen before in her dreams at times and had developed her own variant where she is more nimble and airborne.

Her spinning body struck Lexaeus, going into a 90 degree angle upwards before spinning down again for another hit, angling herself to fly away from No. V before repeating the process another twelve more times.

The last one however was caught by Lexaeus, with him swinging Xion around up into the air before slamming her hard down into the ground.

He raised his Skysplitter up when he was suddenly engulfed in bluish-white aura that made him levitate momentarily before his black and red aura expelled whatever it was that caught him. As he fell back to the ground, he saw the same aura surround Xion and had her pulled away from him towards one of those other individuals that kept firing those pebbles at him.

Lexaeus glared at them but was unable to do anything as Roxas and Axel reappeared and went in for a dual attack, forcing him to refocus his efforts on them.

Once Xion was pulled towards her friends, she was quickly assisted back up though she was slightly wobbly on her feet.

"Are you alright, Xion?" Shepard asked, concern clear as day for all to hear.

"Just need to catch my second wind is all." Xion panted out, casting a Cura one herself.

"Goddess Xion, how are you even standing right now?" Liara inquired, momentarily flinching at the shaking ground.

The group turned to see Lexaeus having his weapon embedded into the ground whilst his other hand is raised defensively up to hold back Axel and Roxas' attacks.

"Keep back." Xion shakily said, consuming a Potion to get more of her health and energy back.

"We can't just stand back and watch you three fight this monster." Kaidan said aloud.

"That's exactly what you're going to do." Xion said, uncharacteristically fierce with an intense look directed at her friends. "Lexaeus is physically the strongest member from the Organization. You saw just how much damage he could do with a one hit and how much he could take."

"Xion, you can't seriously expect us to just watch while the three of you get yourselves killed." Tali implored.

No. XIV's posture slacked slightly. "Yeah, I know… but you guys just can't."

"But you nearly got killed there." Kaidan emphasized.

"I know and thanks for the save, everyone." Xion said earnestly. "But you need to keep back. You could all get killed if he gets his hands on you."

Much as they wanted to dispute such a notion, they hated how right she was.

They could only watch as Xion sprinted forward to rejoin Roxas and Axel.

"What do we do, Commander?" Kaidan asked nervously, wincing at how effortlessly Lexaeus destroyed a wall that Roxas had back up to.

Roxas was fine thankfully but he was starting to look winded as the fight went on.

Axel was frazzled yet he fought on with a growing ferocity one matched by No. V.

All the while, one Turian detective was fleeing from the area of the fight for an important task of his own.

When the C-Sec vehicles arrived, Garrus was the first to greet them.

"You guys need to get out of here now! It's not safe here!"

One of the officers was quick to recognize the Turian and spoke. "Vakarian, what the hell is going on?!"

"What the fuck is causing all these damn Earthquakes?!" A human yelled out.

"Is the Citadel under attack again?" A Salarian asked.

"We got a big mess on our hands, that's what!" Garrus shouted back at them. "This area is not safe and if you guys go in, you will die."

That sent a visible chill down those that had arrived.

Garrus began shouting out orders to the assembled C-Sec officers.

"Keep back and secure a perimeter. Make sure nobody comes through here. Commander Shepard and the rest of her squad are fighting the cause of these quakes."

Seeing various debris sailing through the air and breaking through the nearby structures, Garrus was quick to bark out an order.

"We need to evacuate these buildings, immediately. I don't wanna see any civilians get crushed by these collapsing on them."

No. V kept his gaze at the traitors in order to keep track of their movements.

Lexaeus cannot measure up to their speed, but he can overwhelm them with his strength.

Getting the timing right, he was able to snatch one of the Organization's traitors and hurled them into the air. Jumping right after them, he soon intercepted their trajectory and brought his axe sword down onto their back and sent them rocketing down to the ground.

"Axel!"

Lying in the ground, No. VIII gritted his teeth as his body ached from the recent blow.

Before Lexaeus could smash his weapon down onto the traitorous redhead, he was smacked around by the Keyblades. They were able to push No. V back far enough to give Axel some breathing room.

"Hold on Axel." Xion said, throwing her Keyblade up to cast a Curaga.

Feeling his pain subside, Axel gave her a thankful nod before seeing Roxas continue his assault on Lexaeus.

He was going in for a series of blows that were rapid and frantic.

Ars Arcanum.

When the assault came to an end, No. V let out a roar as his flame-like aura exploded.

The surrounding aura grew much larger and far more intense than before with black, red, yellow and purple colors were present.

"He just keeps powering up." Xion whispered in dread.

"Not gonna stop us." Axel grunted, rising up to his feet while pulling out a Hi-Potion from his coat. Tossing it up above him, Axel felt more of his damage dissipate.

By his side, Xion tossed an Ether for herself to restore her magical reserves and the duo ran forward as Lexaeus and Roxas continued their duel.

Bringing his axe sword down, Roxas was soon quick to throw up a Barrier. The coming blow crashed onto the hexagonal defense the Keybearer threw up, resulting in it cracking significantly while having the surrounding ground area bend from the pressure to form a massive crater.

"So you could deflect that." Lexaeus commented as he quickly brought his weapon back up. "But what of another."

Canceling out his Barrier, Roxas quickly swerved around Lexaeus and delivered a volley of strikes onto the ginger-haired Nobody.

When the attacks landed on him, there was hardly a flinch made from the hits.

Quickly grasping onto Roxas' Keyblade, Lexaeus threw No. XIII to a nearby structure. Roxas struck it's surface and was about to recover. Yet this was halted when the ginger haired Nobody slammed Skysplitter onto the nearby ground area and shattered the building's foundations.

In mere moments, the building started to topple and collapse.

Not wanting to get crushed by this, Roxas quickly formed a Dark Corridor around himself and vacated out of there.

From any onlookers, they could only gape in seeing the building topple down as it soon crashed into the neighboring one, halting any further fallout.

"Holy shit." Muttered one of them.

Appearing not far away, Roxas realized he needed to up his game.

Focusing on his Keyblade, he switched out Oathkeeper for Pirate's Dream. One done, Roxas took the initiative and advanced.

Pirate's Dream was soon met with Skysplitter as the two wielders went on to see who was superior. Lexaeus won the little bout as he swatted Roxas away. Yet he wasn't deterred as No. XIII threw his Etherium-styled Keyblade at his opponent. Lexaeus maneuvered his head around to avoid the hit, but he didn't pay attention to see the Keyblade quickly return to Roxas' grasp.

Soon after, Roxas delivered a volley of sword strikes onto the surprised Nobody. After that, he dashed forward as he performed Sonic Blade onto Lexaeus as he kept rushing back and forth onto him.

This onslaught came to an end when Lexaeus leaped high into the air. And with his fiery aura surrounding him, No. V came soaring down like a meteor strike.

The resulting impact caused a massive crater to form with a fiery shockwave breaking more of the surrounding structures.

When this occurred, Roxas leaped back and had his Keyblade out to block the blast. It was rather much as he ended up propelled back too quickly. Looking back, he saw he was coming closer to colliding against a ruined structure.

Focusing power into his Keyblade, he shifted it into its Pirate's Sail Form change.

Quickly hopping onto the solar surfboard, Roxas used the shockwave force to ride himself out of there and ride into the sky above.

Seeing this occur, Lexaeus bellowed. "You can't run from this!"

"I'm not!" Roxas said out loud, riding his Form changed Keyblade.

Maneuvering around, the sandy blonde Nobody activated the thrusters and shot towards Lexaeus down below. When he was getting in close, Roxas shifted his Keyblade into the Pirate Thruster gauntlet Form change. Landing behind his opponent, he had the thruster go off to propel his arm upward. The strike was met as Lexaeus stumbled forward.

Roxas didn't let up on the assault as he continued delivering propelled punch after propelled punch. Lexaeus retaliated in swinging his weapon around, but Roxas weaved through the swings left and right at his own command.

It wouldn't be long before Lexaeus broke through and managed to close the gap, prompting Roxas to retreat. Soon after, he shifted his gauntlet into the Solar Flagpole form.

Making it to a nearby building, he ran along its surface before leaping off once high enough. Thrusting his weapon forward, he focused onto his opponent as green light gathered just above the hexagonal patterned flag before an 'X' appeared on Lexaeus' form.

In mere seconds, the light broke as green beams of energy shot out and rapidly struck down No. V.

When the dust settled, Lexaeus hotly glared at Roxas.

"I tire of these tricks of yours."

"Then do something about it." Roxas challenged.

However, before Lexaeus was able to move, a series of explosions went off around him and a large body in red armor tackled Lexaeus though he was promptly booted back into Roxas.

Grunting, Roxas used his own strength to push the large Krogan off of him.

"Sorry about that, runt."

"You sure took your time, Wrex." Roxas remarked.

"Give me a break. I was on another arm of the Citadel when I felt the quakes go off." Said the Krogan Battlemaster. "You have any idea how annoying it was to procure a skycar in this mess and get over here in time?"

"Roxas." The blond looked over to see Ashley running towards them. "What the hell is going on? Who's this bastard?"

"More insects appear." Lexaeus snorted. "Perhaps these may serve as a better challenge."

Wrex growled aloud, taking a moment to give Lexaeus a once over.

"So you're one of those Organization bastards, huh?"

No. V didn't respond, merely hefting his weapon back upon his shoulders.

"Keep back you two." Roxas warned, getting back into position.

Wrex only huffed, grasping his gravity hammer with both his hands.

"And miss out the chance to really test my mettle against someone like him?" The Krogan already broke into a run. "Fat chance!"

"Wrex, wait!" Roxas ran forward to stop him but the Battlemaster already jumped at the large man with his hammer reared back.

As Wrex swung at the imposing Nobody, he barely registered the hand that put a stop to the weapon.

Wrex blinked, grunting slightly as he tried in a vain attempt at pulling the weapon out of the Earth-wielders hand.

Lexaeus grasped the gravity hammer that Wrex tried to hit him with, a fierce glare directed at the Krogan Battlemaster.

"I'll show you power!" Lexaeus stated, proceeding to toss the Krogan away with complete ease.

"Fucking bastard." Ash yelled out, firing her incendiary rounds at No. V who was unaffected by the rounds until the last one she fired was quite the volatile explosion that sent Lexaeus stumbling back slightly.

Ashley blinked, looking at her gun then back at the man in the black coat before she grinned.

"Not so tough now, are ya?"

"Do you really think you should be mocking him like that?" said a voice next to her that made her jolt momentarily.

Seeing who it was, she punched him across the shoulder.

"Don't scare me like that, Axel."

Axel smirked momentarily, holding out his hand to catch his returning Chakram. Seeing this, Williams put two and two together and…

"Ah man, it wasn't my own?" She said dejectedly.

"Gonna need a lot more than what you have to hurt Lexaeus." Axel warned, already running forward having seen Roxas re-engage the enemy.

"Ashley."

The Alliance Chief turned to see Shepard, Liara, Tali and Kaidan running over to her with Stitch hanging off of Tali's shoulder.

"Shepard, everyone." Ashley let out a breath of relief. She then jolted her head up at the sight of Xion leaping over them and going in for a corkscrew attack that clashed momentarily with Lexaeus's weapon.

"What took ya so long, Ash?" Kaidan asked.

"The whole damn Citadel is shaking." Ashley exclaimed. "People are freaking out and panicking everywhere. They think we're under attack again."

"We might as well be." Liara said grimly, looking over to the Nobody trio combatting the much larger Nobody.

"What can we even do in this situation?" Tali asked nervously, stumbling from another quake caused by Lexaeus slamming his Skysplitter down to where Axel stood a moment ago.

"What can we do?" Ash asked rhetorically.

"Sure ain't stopping Wrex." Kaidan commented.

Everyone looked over to see the Krogan Battlemaster having recovered and running at full speed towards the quartet of fighters.

"Wrex, wait!" Jane yelled out.

It was too late as he had reached Lexaeus and swung his gravity hammer, striking No. V's back.

The man only jolted slightly, rounding about on the Krogan and punching him square in the stomach.

Wrex keeled over, falling to his knees while he clutched his stomach and let out several wheezing coughs.

Lexaeus was about to finish him when his face was struck with a dual Keyblade swing courtesy of Roxas and Xion.

Wrex was quickly pulled back by Axel, throwing a Potion into the air that washed over the Krogan.

"You reckless idiot." Axel berated, being joined by the others. "What were you thinking going in to fight him like that?"

"And let you three have all the fun?" Wrex asked rhetorically, grunting with pain still.

"Wrex, don't you ever do something that suicidal again!" Jane snarled.

The Krogan was about to respond but the steel melting glare made him rethink his response.

"It's gonna take a while for that to get out of his system, you know. Hundreds of years' worth of habit won't change in an instant." Commented Axel.

Wrex rounded on the redhead with a glare of his own which left No. VIII unphased, as he had already turned his attention back to Lexaeus who had just sent Roxas flying.

"How can we beat him?" Tali asked, trying to calm herself from freaking out at the sight of her friend being rag dolled.

"We need to break through his aura. It's the only means of actually putting any hurt on him." Axel said. "That aura is only gonna get stronger as time goes on unless we stop it or pierce it."

"Got any bright ideas on effectively doing that?"

Axel opened up his mouth to say something when he was interrupted by Shepard.

"And don't say just hit him really hard."

…..

…..

"You shut him up real quickly." Ash pointed out.

"Roxas said the same thing when we fought Sovereign and I couldn't take up with the bullshit behind it." Shepard rebuked.

"...To be fair, that fact hasn't been proven wrong."

"Shut up, Axel." The Commander looked on ahead to see Xion and Roxas continuing their bout against Lexaeus.

"Just need to get him off his feet, most likely." Kaidan noted.

"How is that supposed to help?" Axel asked in bewilderment.

"I don't know, I'm spit balling here!" The LT-Commander responded in kind.

"Better do it fast, cause those two are gonna need help." Ash pointed out.

"Right, 'scuse me." Axel bolted forward, unleashing a torrent of flames; propelling him to join back into the fight.

"What do we do, Shepard." Tali asked.

The Commander was at a momentary loss, thinking at a thousand miles a second until she noticed around them the damage that was beginning to accumulate here.

Buildings were beginning to show visible signs of damage and the screams of terrified civilians were not subsiding.

"We need to get to a more open and less populated area." Shepard stated. "It may help that big bastard but maybe it'll help our friends out too. They can stop holding back and go all out on him."

"That's a gamble Shepard." Ash pointed out.

"It's all I got right now." Shepard admitted, turning to the Nobodies. "Roxas, Xion, Axel! Follow us!"

"What?"

"Just do it." Kaidan said, holding up his rifle to fire at Lexaeus before he and the rest of the Normandy team turned tail to run.

"Should we-"

"Forget it, let's just go along with it." Axel said, throwing up a wall of flames to blindside No. V before the three of them quickly followed after their friends.

They knew the trio were Lexaeus' target and would go after them, no matter what the battlefield may be. He will follow, no doubt about it. But will he intercept them too soon prior to reaching safer grounds?

Rushing forward as fast as they could, the three traitors sped after the others.

In the meantime, instincts screamed at them to come up with a plan to take down the Silent Hero.

Little strategies formed with what they presently had. Some worked, others didn't. But what choice did they have in their present situation?

Garrus had linked back up with them midway from their run via a commandeered C-Sec vehicle that had the rest of them save for the Nobody trio pile in as the chase went on.

After a grueling cat and mouse chase throughout most of the one arm of the Citadel, the group ended up at a large park with a lake with the only buildings in sight were located a couple of miles away.

The moment the Normandy crew entered the premises, Lexaeus crashed into the area some distance before them. Staring down at them with his enlarged aura flaring wildly.

The Krogan Battlemaster, who was the last one to arrive in the vicinity, snarled as his adrenaline was starting to kick up a notch.

He hadn't felt this way in a long time, only recently when he joined in the fight against Sovereign. And the earliest he could recollect in feeling such a way was during his Rite and taking out a Thresher Maw all on his own to ascend into "adulthood".

Not letting up on the charge he kept up once arriving in the park, Wrex kept moving onwards. His grip on his gravity hammer tightened even further as the aura inside of the weapon flared even more.

"God dammit Wrex, STOP!" Shepard yelled out to him yet it was for naught.

Mustering much of his strength, even added with a biotic flare, the Krogan swung his weapon with all of his might.

Wrex's attack was stopped dead in its tracks when his hammer swing was parried by Lexaeus' axe sword. Before the Krogan could properly register what happened, he was grabbed by his neck and slammed right down to the ground. He didn't even have a chance to breath as it was quite literally knocked right out from him via a kick to his chest that sent him flying.

The others were about to rush forward only for multiple rocky pillars and growths to explode out from the ground.

Wrex was wheezing, clutching his chest with one hand whilst the other was loosely grasping his hammer and trying to get back to his feet.

"I admit." Lexaeus said, walking towards the downed Krogan. "Your tenacity and unwavering will is something to be commended. But you are an ant facing against someone like me. There is no shame in admitting defeat. However, you insist on getting in our way. I have a mission to complete to bring those traitors in. Stand down now."

Something inside Wrex snapped upon hearing that.

This being… was showing him mercy.

How dare this Pyjak piece of shit show him, Urdnot Wrex, mercy?

Especially after seeing how he had harmed his comrades, his brothers and sisters in arms.

His Krantt.

He was here to take three of them away and do God knows what to them.

And he would not allow that.

"THAT'S IT!"

Wrex's body let off a very unusual red flash that encompassed his very being when his blue biotics started shifting.

The Krogan Battlemaster rushed forward, a small curving barrier began to appear just above Wrex's crested head which in turn was starting to transition into a glowing blood red color.

One the Krogan reached Lexaeus, he reared his head back and struck the Nobody at full force.

Rather the previous times that he had been struck by anybody that wasn't a Nobody, this attack had a visible impact on the Silent Hero.

Lexaeus recoiled with his expression indicating clear to all that this headbutt damaged him.

Wrex wasn't done as he proceeded to bash his head several more times against the Nobody with him then switching over to his hammer and reigned down a series of blows upon No. V.

The others stared on in open shock and awe as to what they were witnessing.

"Wha-what the-?" Ash could barely form her words right now.

"What's happening?!" Liara exclaimed aloud in stunned disbelief at seeing Wrex at last go toe-to-toe with the Nobody that seemed untouchable.

It took them a moment, but the Nobody trio of the Normandy soon began to recognize this themselves.

This was something they had seen before be performed by extraordinary individuals back home in their Worlds. Individuals that were able to tap into a power that allowed them to fight the Heartless, fight Nobodies and other individuals of incredible power.

And now…

Wrex was tapping into his own.

"It's what Yen Sid did back at his tower." Xion said aloud. "What he gave you all."

"What he… wait, you mean-"

"Yeah." Roxas shook his head excitedly. "Come on."

Roxas charged forward, with Xion, Axel and Stitch running after him.

The others hesitated until Garrus and Shepard were the first to move in with the others following after them a second later.

They unleashed everything they had on the Nobody, their strongest members quickly joining in on the beatdown with Wrex and were beginning to simply wail on Lexaeus.

The assault upon the Earth based Nobody was devastating and effective with the team starting to see how No. V was beginning to feel the accumulation of damage.

"Keep pressing it-"

"GRAH!"

Once more, the dark aura that they had seen Lexaeus call upon from before was back and it was larger than ever.

The explosion of power sent them all flying back with an overwhelming pressure in the air.

No. V pounced forward, grabbing Roxas and slammed him down to the ground. Roxas coughed aloud, a wad of blood flying out of his mouth.

"You only delay your defeat!"

Roxas managed to crack an eye open, glaring heatedly back at him until an aura of light appeared around him.

"Hey Lexaeus, remember the first few days when I was with the Organization? Remember what you specifically taught me?"

In an instant, Roxas broke free of Lexaeus' grasp and reared his Keyblade back that was encompassed in his Light and grew into a larger sword.

A second later, No. XIII began to deliver a torrent of light based attacks as he beat Lexaeus back with his Limit.

No. V kept hissing in pain, feeling the burns of Light upon his body. It was a different sort of burn in comparison to the fire damage that Axel had inflicted upon him.

To escape from this onslaught, Lexaeus conjured forth several pillars of earth between himself and Roxas that gave room between the two.

Lexaeus then smashed his Axe Sword into the pillars of earth, with the debris crashing into Roxas.

No. XIII fell to the ground, bouncing several times until he splashed down into a nearby lake with the lower portion of his body getting soaked. He let out a groan in pain as he began to feel the effects of the fight more prominently.

Just how long will they last against a Nobody with such fortitude?

Gritting his teeth, Roxas attempted to rise but found his body screaming in protest.

He truly was beginning to reach his Limit and he wasn't sure how much longer he was able to go on.

Hearing heavy footsteps, Roxas looked up to see Lexaeus approaching him.

The others were scattered about from the last explosion of No. V's aura that had sent them all flying and were all quite frankly dazed after such a defensive attack.

"Why do you continue to resist, Roxas?" Lexaeus asked calmly. "You know that no matter what you try, we will eventually bring you back. Why waste such frivolous actions?"

Roxas hissed aloud, rising to his knees as he glared defiantly at the much larger Nobody.

"You don't know anything, Lexaeus." Roxas retorted. "You're working for Xemnas who lied to us all."

"What is this? A last ditch effort?"

"You're fighting for a liar, Lexaeus." Roxas stated. "Xemnas lied to us all. About everything. Kingdom Hearts, the purpose of the Organization, everything."

No. V found himself pausing momentarily.

Due to this momentary lapse in the man's posture, he was met with a silver Keyblade strike to the head which slightly staggered him.

Snarling, he grabbed the next swing with his hand and flung Xion away who crashed down hard.

"Xion!" Roxas yelled out only for him to get struck down as Lexaeus turned his attention over to the Puppet that returned to her feet with blood running down the side of her head.

Her entire form was filled with cuts and if one looked closely under the holes of her coat, there were multiple scratches and bruises she hadn't healed yet.

Trembling, she raised her Keyblade in front of her as Lexaeus began walking towards her.

"No matter what you do, it's useless." Lexaeus said to the No. XIV. "There is nowhere you can run where we can't find you."

"It's as you say, but that doesn't mean we'll give up without a fight." Xion proclaimed, standing on shaky legs.

"Hmph, I must say, you've impressed me greatly Xion." Lexaeus praised. "I had assumed that being a puppet created to emulate No. XIII's capabilities, you would possess some level of power. But you've shown me that you are not as worthless as a doll some within the Organization believed you to be."

"I should feel so honored." Xion sarcastically said, wincing as her body was sore by this point.

"If you surrender yourself, Lord Xemnas shall show mercy upon you."

"And return to a life where I have no choice but servitude and slavery to those bastards?!" Xion hissed aloud, momentarily startling the normally stalwart Nobody.

That… was far too genuine of a reaction to be falsified.

"No." Xion proclaimed passionately. "I'm never going back to the Organization just to be their tool or destroyed cause I'm expendable in Xemnas' eyes. I am me. Nothing else. And I have a life here now. I have friends here who I care for more than anything in any and all Worlds. You may claim that we're Nobodies, but…"

From her pocket, the Thalassa seashell keychain she procured back from the Etherium galaxy was starting to shine. In mere moments, it faded away from its confinement.

"I… I love them." Xion declared without a hint of doubt holding up her Keyblade. "I love my friends with all I have and I will do everything in my power to fight for them and stay by their side."

A few seconds later, Xion's Kingdom Key was encompassed in a pillar of light as the Keyblade started to change. Water swirled around it rapidly as the shape began to morph into something much more unique then the skeletal base design of her old Keyblade.

Lexaeus's eyes widened greatly at seeing such a sight, completely caught off guard by this.

Once it was over, something new was held within Xion's grasp.

The weapon was reminiscent of cresting waves, both along the shaft and at the teeth as it seemed to glow like crystallized sapphire water. The heart-shaped hilt was surrounded by some smaller bits of water with a leather handle in the middle. And hanging off from pommel was the Thalassa seashell keychain.

"Pretty…" Xion muttered to herself as she inspected the details.

Seashell's Resonance… That was the name that seemed to pop into her head.

A name that suited this Keyblade quite marvelously.

Such a shame she couldn't marvel her new Keyblade any further as she heard Lexaeus charging right towards her.

In an instant, she instinctively somersaulted away from the charging Nobody.

Remembering details from the book she read alongside Roxas, and recollecting attributes of Demyx's skills, Xion started to form ideas on what she can do with her new Keyblade from what inspiration she recently acquired because of it.

And with a surge of energy, she enacted her assault.

Once some distance away, Xion quickly fired a volley of Water Shots to knock Lexaeus back before using the surrounding water to help unleash a mighty Wateraga attack. The explosion of water swallowed No. V whole as he was momentarily drowned in its substance.

Xion didn't let up on the assault as she zoomed in and batted the towering man for a bit. She ended the physical assault by jabbing her Keyblade into the lake as she set off a massive Water Bomb to knock Lexaeus into the air. No. XIV then casted a Triple Blizzaga prior to a Thundaga on the soaked Nobody, which added more damage onto him.

Recovering in the air, Lexaeus flared his dark aura as he dive bombed towards No. XIV. In an instant, she threw up a Mine Barrier around her as the water covered up its presence. She then threw up a Barrier, she let the attack hit. The moment it broke, she casted a Counter Blast. With both that and the Mine Barrier finally going off, Lexaeus was sent flying into the air once more.

Leaping into the air, she focused with all her might in being sure Lexaeus was in her line of sight. Thrusting her Keyblade forward, a mixture of light and water particles rapidly gathered at its tip. The mixture enlarged and condensed in mere seconds.

As Lexaeus started to fall once more, Xion unleashed her Shotlock.

The water orb exploded as shining projectiles shot out and homed into the form of Xion's opponent.

The barrage of light water orbs crashed into him and exploded upon impact as he was hurt quite enough.

Landing back into the lake, Xion saw Lexaeus crash not far away as he laid in the watery terrain.

"You like it?" She mocked with a cheeky smile prior to using a Hi-Ether onto herself.

No. V slowly got up as he hotly glared at the young Nobody.

"Don't mock me!" Lexaeus growled out.

Swinging down hard, No. V struck the ground with crevices and rocky pillars exploding out and going directly towards Xion.

Clenching her teeth, Xion quickly swung her Keyblade forward and a torrent of water shot out in response. Yet rather than it being just a random deluge of water, the water formed into a proper stream that weaved itself around the multiple rocky protrusions coming from the ground.

Xion thrusted her Keyblade forward and the flowing rapids of the water pathway took the puppet for a ride, dodging the oncoming earth attack until reaching the end of her watery path.

Arriving in front of Lexaeus, she threw herself upwards with a gust of wind whipping up in her wake.

Pointing her Keyblade at No. V, she concentrated on her magical reserves and in a stroke of improvisation…

"Wataeroga!"

A spiraling spear of Winds and Water was sent flying straight at the Silent Hero who had his Skysplitter at the ready.

He swung it at full force, striking the spear with seemingly shattered it.

However, what he did not expect were the droplets and arches of wind to reshape and reform into smaller spears of the dual element attack that proceeded to shoot right at him.

The large Nobody let out a yell of pain, momentarily feeling his grasp on his weapon falter.

Then, from nowhere, Axel and Roxas appeared on either side of No. V with both their weapons being enshrouded by their elemental affinities.

"You're finished!" they both exclaimed, cleaving through Lexaeus.

A moment later, they were on opposite end with their target falling to his knees while clutching his weapon.

"Roxas, Xion, now!" Axel yelled out with both his friends getting ready to go in for the final attack.

Collapsing onto one knee, Skysplitter dematerialized with No. V breathing heavily.

"This… isn't over."

In an instant, he was swallowed up in a Dark Corridor as he soon disappeared from the Citadel.

The Nobody trio stood warily, checking their surroundings for anything else that may spring up until…

All three fell to the ground with their weapons vanishing from their hands.

Roxas and Xion leaned upon one another and both leaned back on Axel who had his head resting atop theirs.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck~" Axel let out after a long moment of extended silence for them to catch their breaths.

"Is he really gone?" Xion asked nervously.

"Yeah." Roxas said in tired breaths. "For now. Just licking his wounds and all."

"He won't be the only one." Axel grunted out, slowly sliding down between the two until he plopped face first down to the ground. "Just leave me here for a few days."

Roxas and Xion said nothing as they simply collapsed on top of him, all three letting out simultaneous groans of relief and agony. Their bodies were aching from head to toe and no amount of magic or Potions would alleviate them of this soreness.

Injuries maybe.

But this was just too much.

It didn't take long for the rest of their friends to find them and rather than asking questions as to where Lexaeus had gone off to, they simply joined the trio on the ground.

They were all exhausted and tired beyond compare.

Far worse then what they had gone through with Saren.

Right now, they just were gonna lay there together and rest.

No amount of C-Sec or other officials were gonna pry them away from their resting spots.

What they did know was the fallout that all of them were gonna have to deal with in regard to speaking to the Council about what had transpired.

That and the fact that all the hard work of repairs that the Citadel had been undergoing had been quite literally spat upon and thrown by the wayside.

Who knows how long it'll be for the Citadel to be repaired now after this recent attack.

For now, those of the Normandy ground team didn't care.

"Roxas… Axel… Xion…" Jane managed out.

"Huh?" Was all they could muster.

"You guys are weird."

Nothing but pained laughter was what came out of the entire team as C-Sec began arriving at the bizarre scene of the dog piled team.

AN

So, this one was in essence, a really, really fucking long fight.

One I had been DYING to get to.

Jebest4781: Sorry for the wait on the upload here guys. Things on our end have been a tad stressful, given the stuff leading up to Thanksgiving. Workloads being an utter mess for both of us, respectively.

FMW: Yeah, new job and more responsibilities and all that shit has been a pain in the ass.

Jeb: Not to mention writing out this whole fight had been… a strenuous thought process. There being not much in references that could've been used to help write out on how to work out the Lexaeus encounter.

FMW: There was meant to be SO MUCH MORE believe it or not but think on this. This was basically 30 pages from our POV of nonstop action. We had to get creative and EVERYTHING with this fight but by god, pretty sure we delivered. I cannot stress enough just how powerful we intend on portraying the Organization members in their own respective manners. They are some of the hardest bosses in the KH series (KH2 final mix in particular; even on Critical/Proud Mode) for a reason.

Jeb: Trying to keep things in accordance with said series elements and translating them into this story needed to be carefully brought in with present environments. For instance, this whole fight happens on a giant space station and Lexaeus' strength and seismic powers cause shit to occur.

FMW: Yeah, there's gonna be some serious fallout after this fight in the next chapter. But, aside from that, hope everyone's happy at seeing Xion's brand new Keyblade. If you guys want a proper visualization as to what her Keyblade looks like, Jebest found a brilliant rendition of it on DeviantArt. Find the artist Hexalys or search on DeviantArt Xion's Keyblade: Seashell Resonance and you will see a good visual of the Keyblade. That's Xion's now.

Jeb: Though if you want to speed things up, think of the Brightcrest Keyblade and change up a number of details and that's essentially it.

And it's really blue.

But there is one important little thing I should say. We're gonna be slightly slowing down now for the time being. J and I have been on a marathon run with this story, pumping out 24 chapters in two months with over 400K words in that time.

We'll cool our jets a bit on this one for a bit while returning to our other works. We need to return to A Song of Fire, Ice and Hearts, gotta get back to Infinite Wars and my two Halo/Mass Effect stories I have with BulletStormX.

We'll still update this one consistently as possible just not a crazy fuck like we did in these past two months. Need to cool our jets on this one.

So folks, other than that, thanks again for reading.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.