Chapter Seven: Questions

Secret Report: Marluxia I

This situation is growing more unstable.

The hampering of Sora's memory manipulations presents obvious risk, in that we cannot rely on his decreased power to manage him. However, if the princess of heart should arrive and make contact with him our ultimate goal will prove to be impossible. Naminé's manipulations can only go so far.

Regardless, provided said contact is not instantaneous, we should be able to manage the situation. Indeed, the memories drawing Kairi to our castle may serve to make her compliant to our plans.

At the very least, we should not attract the attention of Xemnas.

I would much rather our work remain a surprise to them.

Kairi looked around at the pale white corridor she had found herself in. Refined, yet so utterly blank. But just looking at it made something in her heart shiver. The door of light vanished behind her. "Looks like I'm committed to this." So she began to call out.

"Sora? Riku? Naminé?"

An echo was her only response.

"Anyone?"

Then from behind her she heard the tell tale swirl of darkness she heard so much in Sora's heart. Wheeling around, she saw the shadows fall from the miasma. She looked at the toy sword in her hands. She remembered all too well that Sora's attempts to fight heartless with the sword did nothing.

But magic did. She knew she had some kind of spiritual power. From what she had heard of the other Princesses of Heart, they were able to hold back the heartless with that sort of power. Of course, she had the advantage of watching Sora learn magic from within his heart. She could recall some of the basics. Right? Like fire, fire was simple. Just focus on the concept of heat...draw on the magic within her and-

"What are you doing here?"

"Aah!" Though the ethereal voice startled her, the mental jolt was enough for the magic to manifest. Thus the shadow was engulfed in flame.

"You must lea-"

"Hey, could you wait a minute!?" Kairi shouted as the other heartless made a lunge for her. She backed up and focused on casting again. The spell came quicker, now that she understood the feeling a bit better. A few moments later, the heartless evaporated from the flame.

The stern voice spoke again, "Magic can damage them greatly, but without a keyblade, they will not die. If you linger, they will return in greater numbers. Leave, now."

Kairi shook her head, "No. Not without my friends."

The voice that spoke was not impressed, "You do not know what lies ahead. What twisted machinations lie beyond. It would be better for you to leave Castle Oblivion behind. To wait for them to return to you."

She frowned as she processed the words of warning, "You said that people here have some kind of plan. My friends, Sora, Riku, Naminé...they're a part of that?"

A moment of silence before the voice spoke again, "Yes, they are. Though the last has been here for some time."

The answer then became incredibly easy for her, "Then there's no way I'm leaving. I'm not going to be left behind when Sora and Riku are in trouble. And especially not when I've finally found where Naminé has been all these years!"

"You know her?" The voice asked.

"Of course I do." Even if the memories were hazy, Kairi knew that Naminé was important to her.

The voice sighed in resignation, "There is power within you, to be sure. But you will hardly be able to use it with a stick."

Suddenly, there was a flash of light, "This might suffice far better."

As her vision cleared, Kairi saw on the ground something familiar. Though flowers entwined around it, the shape was unmistakable. "A keyblade? How did you-"

"A story for another time. Know this. If you take this, I will no longer be able to hide you from the forces in this castle."

She didn't hesitate. "I've had enough of staying out of the way." Taking the keyblade in her hands, she felt the strength flow directly from her heart. It felt...almost nostalgic.

"Well said, Kairi."

She blinked in confusion, "Wait...How did you know my name?" for once, the only thing that answered was her own echo. "Hello?" Now she received a response, unfortunately it was in the form of Heartless soldiers appearing from the darkness. Wasting no time she swung her Keyblade into the oncoming heartless.

"Hang on everyone. I'm coming."

Zexion furrowed his brow at the scrying orb, it's view still shrouded in darkness. Even taking shifts during their sleeping hours had allowed for little insight from either of the teams in Castle Oblivion.

Vexen looked over to him in annoyance, "You said that there was a presence of pure light in this castle."

Zexion simply crossed his arms at the accusatory tone, "Yes, for a moment, it was unmistakable. However, that location was obscured a moment later by a powerful shadow."

"Heartless gathering around her?" Lexeaus speculated as he watched the crystal ball, "The best I can tell is that the force obscuring our view is quite powerful."

"But not quite old," Zexion closed his eyes and tried to discern the obscuring scent that filled his nostrils, "If I had to put a number on it I'd…"

His eyes shot open in realization. In recognition of a nostalgic smell, warped as it was.

"A number? Go on?" Vexen prodded as he looked over.

"It's about ten years old." Zexion began to create a dark portal, "Now if you must excuse me, I need to prepare for Roxas' mission today."

Vexen sighed and rubbed his forehead, "Very well, I will monitor and debrief you once we—"

"The darkness appears to be clearing." Zexion paused at Lexeaus' note.

"Really? Yes...it seems to be distant from Sora. So we should…" Vexen looked back up and began to shake his head, "No need to stay on our account, we should be able to handle matters from here. Go. Watch over the Organization's keybearer."

Giving a short nod, Zexion walked through the portal, back to his chambers. With Roxas still uneducated in the usage of portals, he would have to wait for him to arrive at his quarters before departing.

But once again, Roxas' outburst in wonderland occupied the back of Zexion's mind.

"If you are going to be a part of this organization, you will need to be self-sufficient."

"How can I do that if no-one tells me anything?"

"I mean...I get that this is last minute, but don't we usually get a halfway decent mission briefing…?"

At the time, Axel's words washed over him. As Zexion once again saw an image of a boy.

He had so many questions on what was going on. What the researchers wanted. What they were even looking for.

Why did they need to take so many hearts? Why did he have to die?

But no-one told Ienzo anything. It wasn't until he was Zexion that he got any answers. Until he was old enough to handle important matters. And set aside his childish ways.

Roxas was already fighting for his life...was that not important enough? Mature enough to know the truth?

Marluxia had given Zexion some forewarning as to what was next in Roxas' journey. Perhaps he should be informed of what he would be facing?

He needed something to focus. With his lexicon, he dispelled the glamour in the corner of the room. The cold storage box sat, running silently. He reached inside for his long-preferred method of calming his nerves. One that he kept from all Organization members. For if they knew the truth, his reputation would be in tatters.

The creak of a door interrupted his rumination.

Roxas walked down the hall. Axel told him to go ahead and fetch Zexion, since he was still waking up after his shift sleeping. Though Roxas wished he could talk with him. Try and sort out what was bothering him since visiting Naminé. Just hearing about the plan was strange to him. Having Sora be with Naminé, like they knew each other the whole time. As if they were the most important people to each other.

And Naminé had no choice.

It was like a ball of ice seething in Roxas' stomach. Shouldn't they like each other before being together? Was all of that really necessary for Sora to be on the Organization's side? At the very least, Axel would probably give him a better answer than Marluxia and Larxene, since they both seemed to just want to make Naminé as miserable as possible. And Zexion seemed to have little interest in her period, much like the rest of the Organization on the lower floors.

Speaking of which, he finally found himself at his quarters, he opened the doors...

And saw Zexion frozen in front of a mini-freezer, holding a package.

"What are you doing here!?" Zexion hissed through his teeth.

A very familiar package, "Is...that sea salt ice cream?"

"This…" Zexion stuttered before slamming the freezer shut and hiding the treat behind his back, "This is an object of paramount importance to my research and—!"

"Can I have some?"

"It is not...what?" Roxas' question caused Zexion's rant to come to a halt.

"If you've got extra popsicles could I have one?" He asked almost eagerly. He really craved something more comforting after missions.

Zexion's eyes moved shiftily, before he sighed, "I suppose...on one condition." He held out the ice cream packet and pointed to it, demanding, "No one else in the Organization is to have any idea that I am hiding this."

"Hiding what now, Zexion?"

Roxas turned around as he realized that Axel had finally gotten ready. Though now might not have been the best time for Zexion, who only seemed to grow more mortified, "Axel…! You...You can't…!"

Axel chuckled as he walked in the room,"So sorry Zexion, but I've just learned a bit too much."

Zexion shoved the ice cream back in the box, before icily asking, "What are your demands to secure your silence?"

Axel wasted no time in pointing to Roxas and himself, "One popsicle for both of us each day after we finish our daily mission. Got it memorized?" Zexion continued to glare at Axel's calm ultimatum, "Do this, and no one in the Organization will know you've got an ice cream stash."

Finally, Zexion sighed, "Agreed."

All in all, Roxas perked up at the prospect of ice cream after the mission. "Alright! So..what's our next world for today?

Axel opened a new portal, "Olympus Coliseum. You're going to be fighting in a tournament."

Zexion began to walk over to his desk, considerably calmer, "A particularly challenging opponent shall await you at the end. You only need to reach them for us to consider this mission a success."

Though the implications of that statement made Roxas a little nervous, "Wait, so...he's really tough? Who's the big boss?"

Opening a drawer to retrieve a notebook, Zexion flipped through the pages, "Normally the roster is kept secret, but I believe it would be better to set some expectations here." Coming to a stop, he handed the notebook to Roxas.

Roxas scanned the roster, starting from the bottom of the list all the way to the top.

And when he read the name there, he knew it well.

Axel frowned after reading the list, "Wait...really? You sure this is a good idea?"

"We see this is an effective measurement of skill, as well as a test of his resolve." Zexion motioned to the portal.

Roxas set the notebook on the desk before briskly walking through.

He had a lot to prove here.

Naminé watched the crystal ball as a boy entered Olympus with his two friends. The image shifted to a nearly identical one at Marluxia's gesture.

"You understand what we seek to accomplish here?"

She knew it. But as ever, Marluxia and Larxene's plans were incomprehensible to her in their necessity. But here, all she had to ask was, "Who...are you hoping is going to win?"

Larxene sniggered next to her, "Well, the kid obviously is going to be crushed, I just want to see how he reacts to it." Crossing her arms, she continued, "So what are you waiting for? Let's get this match going!"

Like she had a choice in the matter. They'd just beat her until she complied.

So Naminé did as they asked as always.

And with a change to the living memories, Hades ignored Cloud, and sought out a new contender to help take down Hercules.