Chapter VI - Stalking

"Are you that worried about him? Come on, he's barely been with us for a month."

"You do not understand the seriousness of what he claims."

"So you do believe him! I knew it. Not even you would be one to deny a story like that."

Saïx glared at Axel, and he backed down.

"Seriously though, why are you so worried?"

Saïx crossed his arms, "If Kirux has made contact with his human self, then it means that Riku is not gone like we once thought he was."

"And his presence is a problem because he might try to swing Kirux away? I don't think that's happening any time soon, chief."

"Even if it doesn't happen soon, Riku's existence raises questions. If he and Kirux were to continue making contact, it will only spell trouble for our plans."

He looked back up at Axel, "I'm putting it on your shoulders to keep track of him. Make sure you watch him closely, and if he does anything out of sorts, you will report it to me."

Axel put his hands on his hips, scowling at him. Saïx scowled right back at him.

A few seconds after, Axel scoffed and said, "Fine. But you'll see. He's got nothin' to hide from us."

Saïx said nothing as Axel walked away. Once he was out of earshot he said, "You still do not understand..."

He turned back towards where Axel walked away, "You're letting these fake friends control your actions."

Play: Sacred Moon - Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

When Kirux was on his way to the Grey Area, Xion walked up behind him.

"Hey Ki," she said, grabbing his arm to slow him down.

Kirux turned back and smiled, "Hey Xion. Good morning."

"Huh. That's not what I expected."

"Whaddya mean?"

"Every time Axel calls you "Ki", you get all upset and tell him to not call you that. But if I ever do it, you never have a problem with it."

She then hustled to walk next to him, "Why do you do that?"

Kirux shrugged, "I dunno. I guess hearing it from Axel, it kinda sounds like a pet name or something. Y'know what I mean?"

"I guess. Xigbar's been calling me "Poppet" lately if that counts."

"Does it annoy you?"

Xion shook her head, "No, not really. That's just how Xigbar is. I'm surprised he doesn't have a nickname for you yet, to be honest."

"Hey, don't go giving him any ideas."

Xion giggled, "Maybe I will..."

"You better not."

"What are you gonna do about it?"

"Do you really wanna find out?"

Xion just smirked at him, and they both laughed loudly.

…

The two of them entered the Grey Area, which was surprisingly empty. Everyone except for Saïx, who was standing in his usual spot.

"Huh. We must be the last two to head out." Xion said to him.

"Sure looks that way. Unless Axel is sleeping in super late."

Xion giggled at that as they continued to approach Saïx.

When they reached him, he turned back and glared down at them, "You're both late."

Kirux looked at his wrist, "Funny. Cuz there's no set time we need to head out for our missions."

Xion had to hide her grin, while Saïx continued to just glare at him.

…

"You two will be working together. Go to Hollow Bastion."

Kirux frowned, "Seriously? Again? Dude, there's nothing else there. I've explored the castle there more times than I can count on my two hands."

"Are you done complaining or will you finally leave?"

Kirux slumped his shoulders down, and summoned a dark corridor, "Let's go, Xion. We've got a job to do."

Xion nodded, not speaking. She followed Kirux through the portal.

Stop: Sacred Moon - Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

Play: Hollow Bastion - Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories

Kirux sighed, as they both exited outside of the main exit, "I hate coming here."

Xion walked a few steps ahead of it, "Come on. This place doesn't look so bad."

"You haven't been here as many times as I have. Trust me, when you come here every day for a week straight, you tend to realize just how boring this place is."

"But didn't you go to Twilight Town yesterday?"

Kirux raised his hand but stopped when he realized she was right.

Xion grinned, "Well then, show me around. You know this place soooo well, right? Take me on a tour."

Kirux shot her a half-fake annoyed look and opened the main entrance.

He waved her along, "Ladies first."

Xion smiled at him, and she entered, Kirux following closely behind.

As Kirux was closing the main entrance, one of the lifts was reaching the top. The passengers got off, right as he closed the main gate.

…

…

…

When they entered the entrance hall, Kirux spoke, "Remember that guy I told you about?"

"Yeah. The one you said looked just like you."

"Well, this is the place that I ran into him at. Y'know, after I had to chase him down all over the castle."

"Right. And this is where he kicked you into the corridors?"

"Yep. Sent me flying through the corridors-,"

"-for thirty minutes." She interrupted, giggling lightly, "Y'know, it was funny when you popped up out of nowhere. We were starting to question if you were okay."

"It wasn't very funny for me, y'know."

Xion just laughed even harder.

"You gonna continue to laugh at my expense, or are we gonna keep going?"

She stopped laughing, but the smile was still very much there, "Sorry. But it's just...it was so funny. We were all just-"

Kirux put his hand up and said, "Nope! I don't wanna hear it again."

He started walking off without her, and she yelled and ran to catch up, "Hey! Wait up!"

…

"What a cool library..." Xion said, running her hand along the spines of books, "Although, it's not nearly as big as the one back at the castle."

Kirux was holding a book in his hand, looking over at her, "Yeah. But there's probably some here that you wouldn't be able to find."

"Really? Luxord says that every book in existence is there."

"But there could be millions of books in all of the universe. I doubt Xemnas or Saïx would be walking around searching for books."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Saïx doesn't seem like he'd sit down to enjoy a book."

Kirux put the book he was holding back on the shelf and walked past Xion, "Honestly though, can you see Saïx enjoying anything?"

"Apart from giving orders constantly? No, not really."

Kirux pushed the exit door open, "Yeah, me neither. Doesn't suit him if you ask me."

They exited the library, while the other entrance door opened on the floor beneath them.

A girl's voice said, "Are you sure they came this way?"

Her voice was followed by a male, "I'm sure of it."

...

...

...

The two of them were taking the large lift. Xion was resting her arms on one of the bars, looking out on the horizon, past the blue rolling hills. Kirux was leaning on the same pole but had his back turned from the horizon.

"You ever thought of what's over there?"

"Beyond the castle? No."

She looked over at him, "Why don't we go explore it a little bit? You said it yourself. You've explored this castle a bunch before, so what's the point of continuing?"

"You've got a point, but," he said as he turned to look out with her, "I think if Saïx found out we didn't check the entire castle, he'd go off on us."

He then looked over at her, "Let's just check the rest of the castle out, then we can go explore out there if you still want."

"Yeah, you're right about that...fine, we'll check the rest and the,"

Before she could finish, the lift stopped in the middle of its route. It then began going back in the other direction.

Xion was looking back, but Kirux grabbed her shoulder and nudged his head toward a dark corridor. The two entered, reappearing at the platform where the lift was supposed to take them.

"Someone is following us." Kirux said before looking back at Xion, "Keep going. It'll take them a little while to catch up with us."

He started jogging past her, and Xion followed asking, "What are we gonna do?"

"Just follow me. I know where we can lose them."

...

The large heart was still pulsating electricity, the only sound in the large hall coming from it.

Kirux peaked out from his hiding spot, looking over to where Xion was stationed. He saw her peak out as well, giving him a thumbs up.

He gave her one back before turning his attention toward the entrance.

The doors opened, and two figures entered the room. Kirux wanted to look at who they might be, but doing so would've ruined their plan.

The two came towards the massive heart, Kirux moving closer into the shadows to avoid being seen. When they got closer to the heart, they stopped and looked around.

...

One of the two spoke, a male, "They're not here. Whoever it was must have bailed."

"But that's impossible. We would have seen them." The other person, a girl this time, said, "Are you sure you even saw someone come in here in the first place?"

"I know I did. The front doors of the castle were open when we got here."

"Well, we searched the whole castle. Nobody is here."

The two of them started exiting, "I'll say, ever since Sora left you've been more and more paranoid, Squall."

"Squall" opened the door for them to leave, huffing and saying, "It's Leon."

The door shut behind them.

...

Kirux peaked out, just to make sure. He then whistled over to Xion, hopping down to where the two strangers had convened.

Xion came out of her hiding spot and joined him, saying as she approached, "I didn't expect that. Have you seen those people before?"

"Nope. Normally, all I see here are Heartless. Weird how we didn't see a single one today."

"You think we should follow them?"

Kirux crossed his arms and thought for a second, "Nah, not today. It'd be too suspicious. If we get sent back here one day, we'll go beyond the castle and check things out."

"Okay. So, now we head back?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

Xion summoned a dark corridor, and the two of them exited shortly after.

Stop: Hollow Bastion - Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories

"Did you find him?"

"No. Either they left before we could find them or they were never there at all."

Riku let out a soft exhale, looking down and crossing his arms.

He turned to the girl that was at the castle, Yuffie, "Keep a close eye on that castle. If you see anyone from the Organization, especially the guy I told you about, then I need you to let me know at once."

Yuffie gave him a nod, "No problem. We'll have Cid send you a message if we see him again."

"Thank you," Riku said before putting his hood back on.

...

"Wait," Leon said, "you never explained one thing. How are those two connected to helping Sora?"

Riku stopped before he could enter his dark corridor.

He looked back slightly, and said, "He...is the key. If we want to help Sora, then we need to get to him...before it's too late."

Riku entered his dark corridor and left them.

This chapter came out during a rough time for me emotionally.

It's been a little while since I lost someone very close to me. My dog and my best friend for the last six years, Copper, died on the eighteenth of July (can't believe it's been a month already). He had recently been diagnosed with lymphoma, even after he had already had so many medical issues. Copper had been my constant companion ever since we brought him home for the first time. He'd been with me throughout almost my entire fic writing career. He was with me through high school (all four years). He was with me my first two years of college and was one of the biggest bright spots of coming home every break I had. He died peacefully, surrounded by family (including myself of course).

Although I miss him greatly (and I will for a long time), I'm not gonna let this keep me down. I know that I'd rather have him go out the way he did rather than continue to live in the pain that he was in. I'm gonna miss Copper, but he'll be okay. God will take care of him from now on. And once I leave this earth, he'll be waiting for me.

(March 2021 edits: I've taken out all of the notes in the other chapters, but I'm leaving this one for personal reasons.)

-Broncozfan623