The Boy Who Fell Through the World III

He was alone as he walked up the stairs, his footsteps barely even leaving an echo in their wake. That was fine though as he preferred some peace and quiet. The spiraling staircase was accompanied by a series of pipes holding up glass platforms that functioned as stopgaps on the way up.

"Zexion! Zexion!"

So, he wasn't alone after all.

"Right here." He called up patiently, watching as Vexen rushed down the stairs towards him. "What is it?"

"Where is Lord Xemnas?" Vexen asked, stopping right in front of him.

"His usual spot." Zexion answered simply but briefly wondered why Vexen would even bother to ask if the man was as smart as he believed himself to be.

He should have figured out where Lord Xemnas was right from the start.

"The Chamber of Repose?" Vexen asked, glancing away with a look frustration.

"Yes. Go and see for yourself." Zexion suggested.

Vexen glanced at Zexion, looking surprised by the mere thought of the suggestion. It was no secret that Vexen feared Xemnas the most and thus wasn't likely to go and see as Zexion suggested out of fear of upsetting their leader.

"That isn't funny." Vexen snapped but calmed himself. "I suppose I have no choice but to wait. But the clock is ticking. Time is running out. What to do?"

Zexion only spared Vexen a glance as the man walked past him, continuing to mutter.

"Why is he never around when I need him? It's almost as if he knows I'm looking for him."

Zexion turned around, not bothering to spare another glance as he resumed his walking.

He was just at the stairs when another voice stopped him. "You know, I don't like that place either."

He turned around and looked up to see another man, wearing the same dark coat as him and Vexen sitting on a structure of pipes right above the staircase, his face covered by the dark hood.

"What about you, Zexion? What do you think?" The man called down with a wave.

"I think eavesdropping is intrusive." Zexion answered stoically. "Why are you even here? You and Xaldin were tasked to recruit new members."

The man jumped and landed down a few feet from Zexion.

"Have you forgotten, or were you procrastinating?"

"As if! I'm doing my job." The man answered with a shrug, placing a hand on a hip. "I'll have you know, I found one just yesterday. 'Mar' something." He brought a hand close to the chin that was still covered by the hood. "That puts the Organization count at 11. And since I've been working so hard, I had Lexeaus take my place for the day. I want to rest up for tomorrow, so I can wake up feeling nice and refreshed."

"Is that so?" Zexion asked, hand on his own hip as he made a sweeping gesture with his other arm in a sarcastic manner. "Well, then, I will leave you to it. I have work to catch up on. Good day."

He turned away to continue his walk, but the man rushed up behind him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, stopping him again. "Oh, don't be like that. Come on, stay and talk."

Zexion preferred to glare at the hand on his shoulder without permission.

"Isn't it time you told me about Xemnas's secret?" The man asked in a low tone, making Zexion pause.

The man removed his arm from around Zexion, taking a few steps forward up the stairs.

"How long ago was it? When a bunch of warriors wielding key-shaped swords appeared and unleashed a spectacular battle?" He spread his arms out grandly, trying to give a bit of drama to his tale. "And when it was all over, all that was left was a man lying unconscious without his memories."

He held up on finger and took a few steps up, arriving at the top of the staircase.

"Xemnas…er, I mean Xehanort was found by Ansem right around then, wasn't he?"

"Your point?" Zexion asked tiredly.

"The Chamber of Repose. If you recall, that's where we spent our time researching the darkness that resides within people's hearts. It's a graveyard that was sealed by order of Ansem the Wise. The first thing Xemnas did once he got rid of him was to undo the seal and build a room in the back." The man recalled. "Ever since then, he holes himself up in that room when he can, and he talks to someone."

He turned around, facing Zexion with a shrug.

"But who? For all I know, he's the only one in that room."

"Need I repeat myself about eavesdropping?" Zexion asked as the man walked back down the stairs towards him.

"Not eavesdropping." The man held up both hands in a placating manner but lowered them when he in front of Zexion. "Couldn't hear what they were saying. Dying to find out what it was, though. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"

"I know I would very much like to focus on my own duties." Zexion asked, feeling tired from everyone interrupting him from preforming said duties, and walked past the man, stopping when they were side to side. "As you should with yours. For we need to prepare the new facility immediately but there are only 11 of us in the organization. We're going to need a few more hands on deck."

"What new facility?" The man wondered as Zexion resumed walking. "Oh, you mean Castle Oblivion? What does Xemnas plan on doing with that place, anyway?"

"He already shared his intentions with us." Zexion answered, not stopping, or looking back as he walked up the stairs.

"But did you know there's something he DIDN'T share?" The man asked, turning around, and seeing Zexion stop.

There was a moment of silence between the two.

"The Chamber of Repose is part of a pair. The Chamber of Awakening is the other." The man said, all humor gone now. "Another graveyard if you want to call it that. It was constructed by someone other than Xemnas himself. And that's where he'll find it."

Zexion finally turned and face the man, saying nothing.

"That's where he'll find his other 'friend'."

Zexion narrowed his visible eye at the man, wondering just how much he really knew.

Only now, it seemed the man had finally chosen to stop talking because he was only staring back at Zexion with his face still hidden.

"So, you took on an Unversed that resembled Vanitas and then someone in a dark coat…" Terra surmised the tale he had been told by Ventus. "Sounds like a member of the Organization all right."

"You know them?" Ven asked.

"They're a group brought together by the Nobody made by my body after it was possessed Xehanort's heart." Terra answered, his voice turning hard at the end. "Xehanort plans to use them in a plan to create the X-blade."

"Again? But it failed with Vanitas." Ventus pointed out with an alarmed face.

"That's because at the end of the Keyblade War, the original X-Blade was shattered into twenty pieces, seven for Light and thirteen for Darkness. Xehanort probably gambled that creating the X-blade from you and Vanitas would work without having to resort to finding twenty pieces." Terra explained. "I know because I was trapped in a monster that Xehanort's Heartless used. I couldn't do anything but the whole time I was watching and listening. Thankfully, Aqua managed to free me and guided my heart to my armor. So, I know Xehanort plans to create thirteen vessels for his Heart and then use them against seven hearts of light."

"This is crazy. I thought we stopped him." Ven muttered, looking bitterly at the ground. "Did we do anything right that day?"

"We stopped his plans back then, but he was ready for that." Terra patted Ven on the shoulder. "What matters now is helping Aqua and then get back to the Realm of Light to stop Xehanort once and for all."

"But you said Aqua's stuck traveling through time on that world called Remnant. How do we help her?" Ven asked.

"We'll talk about that later. In the meantime, how about getting back to your story? You still haven't told us how you ran into these fairies." Terra gestured to the three fairies sitting on Ven's shoulders and head.

"I think we can cover that." Yuna stated.

Neo let out a yawn and lied down. "Do I even need to be awake for this?"

"My tale not good enough for you?" Ven raised an eyebrow.

"I liked the fights, kinda skipped out on the whole evil guy ending the world thing." Neo admitted, closing her eyes.

"…I like her." Paine commented, gesturing at Neo.

Flashback
Castle Oblivion

In the various white colored halls and rooms of Castle Oblivion a man in a dark coat paused, sensing something peculiar.

A scent…filled with light suddenly appeared in the castle and then vanished.

This castle was supposed to be desert aside from himself and the others that had been stationed here. He followed the scent up the castle floors and stopped…

The scent's origin could not be found.

How could that be?

"Zexion?"

He glanced up, seeing another man in a similar coat approaching. "Lexeaus."

"You seem troubled, Zexion." The larger man observed. "Is something the matter?"

"There is a scent in the air that doesn't belong to anyone here." Zexion answered. "A scent of pure light…As if there is a Heart nearby with no darkness in it at all."

"A Princess of Heart is here?" Lexause asked with a surprised face. "Last I heard, they were still in Hollow Bastion."

"The scent disappeared shortly after…But there are enough lingering traces for me to know that they somehow appeared on the thirteenth floor of this castle." Zexion continued. "Then it vanished."

"Vanished?" Lexeaus questioned.

"Yes. Almost as if they were never here to begin with." Zexion closed his eyes. "They were close to where Namine now is."

Lexeaus frowned as the Nobody named Namine had become an important pawn for the Organization. "Should we inform Marluxia?"

"…Not yet. We should speak with Vexen." Zexion answered.

Castle Oblivion
Few Hours Later

"I am really struggling to see the point of this."

Vexen was irritable, even to his fellow Nobodies which was why most tended to avoid talking to him if they could.

"Even if it means preventing a possible breach of the castle." Lexeaus questioned. "Who would explain to the Superior if no countermeasures were placed?"

Vexen stuttered slightly which was what Lexeaus was counting on. Despite being a Nobody, Vexen had the personality of a coward and out of everyone in the Organization, Vexen feared the Superior the most.

"A scene filled with Light appeared seemingly out of thin air on the thirteenth floor of the castle and disappeared in the same manner." Zexion stated. "If there is a secret method to entering the castle we do not know about, it is paramount we discover this secret entry."

Vexen mumbled but couldn't find any argument. "Very well. I suppose simply increasing security won't help."

"Can a security system be installed here?"

"The castle's magical properties make that difficult. At the very least, I can set up a surveillance system outside." Vexen admitted.

"Good." Lexeaus nodded in satisfaction.

"Will you be telling Marluxia about this?" Vexen then asked.

"Not yet. We have no evidence other than a strange scent only I can detect that someone had been here." Zexion shook his head.

Vexen looked to Zexion but shrugged, not caring very much. "Very well."

Secret Report: Replica Program

A research project that was helmed by Vexen when he was part of the original Organization XIII. The goal was to create empty vessels that could contain a heart and outwardly reflect its original appearance.

The previous Organization used the replica program to copy Sora's memories, hoping to give life to a Keyblade wielder of their own. But while Vexen did manage to create viable specimens, the program was cut short before it could reach completion.

Later
Castle Oblivion
Vexen's Lab

In the lab of Number IV of the Organization XIII, Vexen kept it amazingly clean and tidy which was a habit he had kept from his previous self's days. It was very high tech looking with computer screens and several suspended-animation pods.

In one of them was a boy with shoulder length silver hair wearing black, purple and blue body suit almost appeared to be made of black muscle tissue formed from darkness itself. The black faded to red around the wrists and came with purple gloves that were tucked under the suit. The suit had a purple-blue color on the chest and part of the torso with the Heartless emblem on the chest. It had purple feet and shins that faded into black legs.

It had a dark purple belt and a cloth around his waist, opening in the front. The cloth was an off-white color that fades into dark purple and is ripped all around at the bottom.

To certain people, this boy would have looked exactly like a friend but he, or possibly it was not a real person.

This boy was a Replica.

A Replica is a synthetic clone of an individual created by use of the Gummi material that was used to create Gummi ships for travel between Worlds. An empty replica takes on the appearance of a white humanoid mannequin. When a heart or data thereof is placed within a replica, the replica will take on the outward appearance of the heart's original physical form. This Replica was created using data collected by Vexen based on the boy the Replica had been modelled after as part of the Replica Program.

The project oversaw the creation of numerous replicas, which would be utilized for various different purposes.

Such as creating a warrior to handle the Organization's enemies.

That was Vexen's main concern as he continued to work on perfecting this Replica when the security system he had installed detected something and alerted him with a computer screen flashing red.

"What?!" Vexen turned away from the Replica and rushed over the console.

On it was a boy with a Keyblade…

"Roxas?!" Vexen gaped.

…facing a man in a dark coat wielding blue glowing ethereal blades.

"Superior?!"

Had Roxas turned on the Organization?!

Vexen immediately opened a Corridor of Darkness. "Marluxia, we have a situation outside! Roxas has betrayed us!"

A second later, a man in an identical coat appeared, followed by a young woman. The man's hair shoulder-length and rose pink with ruffles. His eyes were blue and his lips were pale pink. The woman with him wore the normal Organization black coat and gloves, but her black boots were more feminine and were heeled.

Her bright, blonde hair was slicked back and about jaw-length, with two long strands styled into distinctive antennae-like strands. Her eyes were emerald, green, and she was very slim with an hourglass figure that belied her true strength.

"Marluxia, Larxene." Vexen greeted.

"What is it, Vexen?" Marluxia asked, getting straight to the point. "It's not usual for you to sound so alarmed."

"Unless the Superior has decided to finally terminate you." Larxene snickered.

"Funny you should say that." Vexen pointed to the screen.

Marluxia and Larxene followed the finger, looking at the screen and both were surprised by the fight that was still happening.

"What that-?!" Larxene exclaimed. "Is that Roxas?! Fighting the Superior?!"

Marluxia narrowed his eyes, noticing something different about 'Roxas' and the man wearing the same coat as them.

"No, that Keyblade…It's not the same as Roxas's." Marluxia stated. "And the Superior's ethereal blades are red, not blue."

Vexen and Larxene glanced at Marluxia, noticing the same differences as he did but they didn't believe it mattered much.

"So?" Larxene asked.

"It means, even though that boy resembles Roxas it cannot be him. Especially since we left Roxas back at our headquarters with the others." Marluxia stated.

"Are you suggesting that the boy we see is not Roxas?" Vexen questioned. "But the appearance…It could only be…Sora?"

"It's not Sora either." Marluxia answered. "We know that Sora has not yet returned to Hollow Bastion. This is someone else."

Vexen rubbed his chin. "Yes, we were briefed on Sora's movements very recently. Too recently for him to have appeared here without us knowing."

"Well, whoever he is, he looks pretty strong." Larxene admitted with an intrigued smile, watching as the boy defeated the man wearing the same coat as then.

'Yes, he is.' Marluxia thought.

Perhaps he and Larxene could use this boy to overthrow Xemnas and take control of the Organization. They were planning on using Sora to help them but this new boy…

If they had two Keyblade Wielders on their side, their victory would be assured.

"We should inform Lord Xemnas at once." Vexen suggested.

"No." Marluxia held up a hand, stopping Vexen. "Larxene and I will identify this intruder and bring him before the Superior, ourselves."

Larxene grinned, patting Vexen on the shoulder. "Yeah, leave it to us. You've done something good for once so you can have a break."

Vexen sputtered at Larxene's comment on him barely doing anything good for the Organization but could do nothing else as she and Marluxia vanished into a dark corridor.

"You sure we'll find anything here?"

"Come on. Look at that castle. It's got to have some kind of treasure inside."

"Just because it's a castle doesn't mean there's treasure inside."

"Most of them do."

"Exactly!"

The dull sounding one sighed, knowing the other two would always outvote when it came to trying to solve matters with common sense.

They had been directed here by someone who had pointed them to many worlds that had a lot of treasures for them to find and acquire(steal).

So, when the person suggested this…World, they jumped at the idea of getting more treasures.

So far, no sign of any treasure.

The World was dark to say the least and smaller than the regular world.

Nothing was here aside from the dark, weird looking castle.

ZAP!

The three fairies froze, hearing the sound of lightning nearby even though there wasn't a storm anywhere near them.

"What was that?!" Rikku jumped, afraid of lightning.

ZAP!

"Sounds like a Thunder spell." Paine commented.

BOOM!

"That would have been a Fire spell." Paine pointed down below the mountain, seeing a bright fiery explosion.

"Come on!" Yuna flew over the edge, falling down towards the location of the explosion. "Let's check it out!"

"Yahoo!" Rikku flew down after Yuna and Paine sighed before following them.

BOOM!

The three fairies landed on a cliff overlooking a fight.

"Whoa!" Yuna gaped, stars in her eyes as she watched the fight.

"Heal!" The boy shouted, holding a key-shaped sword over his head.

"You see that?!" Yuna pointed down at the boy.

"No way!" Rikku exclaimed with a shocked look on her face.

"A Keyblade." Paine said, her eyes wide.

The boy was running now as a pair of glowing blades tried slashing at him. The fairies watched as the boy continued his fight against someone in a dark coat and it was an amazing fight to watch.

ZAP!

"Heal!" The boy shouted, casting Cura on himself again.

"He's good." Yuna whispered to her fellow fairies. "…Say, Rikku, Paine. Maybe this boy can help us."

The two looked at her.

"If we can get him on our side, we'd have a Keyblade Wielder to help us get even more treasure!" Yuna excitedly whispered her plan.

Rikku gasped but smiled brightly. "Anyone with those weapons would be unstoppable!"

Even Paine was smirking at the idea, her smile more than enough to say she approved of the idea.

ZAP!

ZAP!

"Heal!"

ZAP!

ZAP!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The three fairies watched as the battle continued until the boy seemingly won his fight as the man in the dark coat vanished from sight.

"The coast is clear." Yuna whispered once the Mysterious Figure was gone. "Let's say hello to our new friend."