Chapter Twelve: Stranger

Journal: Day Four

So that was Sora.

I...I could barely fight him. I've still got a long way to go. I need to keep training and fighting…

Just to survive?

Sora asked me if there was something more than survival that I was fighting for...

I…

I want to see Naminé again. More than that, I want her to be free.

I wonder…Does Sora feel the same way about that girl? About Kairi?

Is this anything close to what feeling is like?

As Axel turned on the assailant, he mentally kicked himself. He knew the Organization mostly focused on fighting heartless and the like. But that didn't mean the local wildlife couldn't put up a fight.

And gauging from the size of the leopard bearing down on Roxas, it had plenty of fight in it. Not enough strength to bite through the keyblade, but enough to keep its prey pinned. A few seconds more, and the cat would figure out some way to get past Roxas' defense.

And Axel couldn't have that.

"Hey kitty! Chew on this!" Was all the warning the beast got as Axel tossed flaming chakrams into the creature's side. The leopard howled in pain as it was knocked off Roxas, but a moment later it was back on its feet and facing down the three of them. Zexion opened his book and began to call on thunder. Hissing at the electricity, the leopard darted everywhere to avoid the worst of the lightning.

Giving Roxas an opening to hit the distracted creature. The beast snarled as Roxas slashed at it with the keyblade, leaving it open to the rest of Zexion's barrage. As the spell ended, Roxas' last hit flung the beast into the side of the house, planks cracking at the impact. The leopard slowly rose and eyed one of the windows. It sprang across half the width of the room in an instant…

"Oh, no you don't!"

But Roxas was faster, tossing a glowing keyblade at the animal, stunning it. In an instant, Roxas recalled it and flung it again and again. Each hit caused the beast to buckle, limbs trembling more and more until finally they gave way. The leopard slumped to the floor, and Roxas let out a shaky breath. "I think that did it." He walked over to the creature and gave it a nudge with his blade.

Only to jump back as the leopards' eyes opened and it roared, it leapt again. But this time, someone else knocked it down. Leaping through the open door, a man with a spear slashed at the animal. The strike knocked it into the already weakened wall which collapsed, sending the creature careening into the treetops.

With the main threat gone, Axel was able to get a good look at the man. Clearly well built and fit, that much was obvious as all he wore was a loincloth. He looked over the three of them with wary eyes behind his long scruffy hair. Roxas however, was a bit less worried as he stepped forward. "Thanks for the help."

The man kept looking, but after a few seconds his grip on his spear relaxed. "Help. Thanks." It was more grunts then actual talking.

At the man's silence, Axel coughed and asked, "Uh...Anyone else around here?"

"Anyone...around?" A tilt of the head. The man seemed to ponder the words before answering more confidently, "Anyone around."

Zexion could only sigh and rub his brow. "Anyone around more literate perhaps?"

"Literate? Literate..." Again the man mulled over the words, but then he began to eagerly nod. "Camp! Camp know literate!"

Zexion gave a tired nod. "Yes. We are looking for someone and a camp would be a good place to start."

Though Roxas was a bit puzzled. "We are?"

And Axel realized they'd forgotten to tell Roxas exactly what the mission here even was. And so did Zexion, gauging by his embarrassed expression. Axel put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll explain along the way. For now, let's just keep up with our mangy pal here."

Once again, Roxas had no idea what was going on. Though this time it seemed more because Zexion had gotten distracted with some of the science stuff about the card, while Axel tried to move things along. That and the big animal that tried to eat him after they arrived. Well, at the very least they weren't keeping him in the dark on purpose. As they climbed down to the forest floor, he asked, "So what did Zexion mean when he said we're looking for someone?"

As the mysterious man led the way through the jungle, Axel spoke a bit more quietly, "Someone here is going to fall to darkness, and with that, summon the heartless."

"And you will work to defeat them all when this happens." Zexion continued as he brushed aside yet another stray vine.

Roxas rubbed his chin. It sounded simple enough, but there was one problem with that. "How will we know who's going to fall?"

Axel looked back with a familiar grin. "Leave that to us. We'll let you know. Just get to know the world for now so you're ready when the time comes."

Eventually they were led to the clearing where the campsite was at. At least that's what Roxas assumed, given all the strewn about boxes and random pieces of furniture. Not to mention the tent that was set up. Something on one of the boxes caught Roxas' eye. A small transparent picture in a frame. He picked it up and turned it over in the light, "What's this?"

Zexion looked closer at the object as Roxas held it up. "A projector slide. Still used in some worlds, but it's a bit too fragile for prolonged use."

Axel chuckled as he got a better look, "Oh yeah. Last time I remember seeing this, I was alive. Wonder what it's showing?"

"Ah! Yes, please be careful with that!" A woman called out from the tent before walking out to meet them. She was in a simple dress, decently suited for life in the jungle. She walked over to Roxas and held out her hand. "We had just finished gathering them together again, and I'd hate for something to happen to them." Roxas nodded and handed the film over to her, at which she gave a relieved smile. "I see you've met Tarzan. But given you can speak english I don't think you're from around here."

"Not really. We're...travellers," Roxas settled on before continuing, "Though we wouldn't mind stopping here for a bit, Mrs...uh…"

"Porter. Jane Porter." She gave a nod.

"Well, I'm Roxas, this is Axel and Zexion." He gestured over to his friends. Axel gave a wave with a cocky grin, while Zexion simply nodded.

Tarzan mulled over the names, "Roxas. Axel. Zexion."

"If you're travellers then you chose some exceptionally poor clothing for this jungle." An older man spoke from behind some of the boxes. He walked out to meet them in a tan outfit with a rifle in his hands. "Are you sure you didn't mean to go on an expedition to the arctic?"

Jane rolled her eyes with a sigh. "If they're comfortable in their outfits, Clayton, then that's their business."

That's the one thing Roxas never got used to. No matter what, his clothes seemed to be usable no matter how hot or cold it was. Zexion gave a few sniffs as he looked at Clayton while Axel just tugged at his own robe with a smile. "Trust me, it's better than it looks."

Tarzan ambled forward on hands and feet toward Jan and pointed back, "Roxas. Looking. Someone."

Jane tapped her cheek as she pondered what Tarzan said. "Well...besides our camp there aren't that many people around." Though a moment later she nodded with a smile. "But I think we can figure out something that might help."

Clayton scoffed as he fiddled with his rifle. "So we can help these strangers but we can't go and look for the gorillas?"

Jane's eyes narrowed. "I believe that's my concern. And to be frank, I find your eagerness to find these animals given your proclivities is most dubious." Clayton scoffed and went over to a corner of the camp.

Zexion and Axel looked to each other with raised eyebrows before Axel stepped forward. "Anyway, what'd you need these for?" Axel pointed to the projector slide. "We're a bit far away from a lecture hall."

Jane walked to the tent with Tarzan while looking over at them. "Well, actually I was hoping that we might be able to use them to communicate with Tarzan. I'll show you if you want." Well, might as well, given Roxas didn't have much else to go on. Entering the tent, Roxas saw what he assumed to be the projector standing on a table. Or at least something that was projecting light onto a screen. "Tarzan was raised by the gorillas, so his grasp on the english language is tenuous. But that doesn't mean he's not intelligent."

Joining them, Zexion and Axel glanced at the screen. While Axel still didn't seem convinced, Zexion was nodding along. "Of course. Just because he has no comprehension of language doesn't mean he can't understand pattern recognition. In fact, given gorillas tend to live in pacts, I believe he'd be rather well versed in communicating among…"

"There we are."

Zexion and Axel stopped speaking as Jane put the slide into the projector and the picture was displayed. "Castle." Tarzan understood it in a moment, yet Roxas felt it was almost an understatement.

"It looks amazing." He murmured. He had seen The Castle That Never Was once from the outside. An imposing building that towered over the city. But this picture showed a different take on such a building. One that seemed to inspire respect and beauty.

"Where...where did you find this?" Axel murmured as he took a step back.

Roxas couldn't quite place it, but there was something...different in his eyes.

Jane crossed her arms as she looked at the picture, "You know I'm not exactly sure where we got this. I picked it up from the archives back home as a sample to test the machine, and I didn't have time to check the source."

Zexion also began to head outside the tent, with a similar expression. "I...I see...Just...just a moment."

Jane raised an eyebrow then nodded, "Alright, in the meantime, I'll see if there's any new slides I've got lying around here.

Roxas furrowed his brow as he followed after them. He reached out to their backs. "You alright?"

"I...yes." Zexion took a breath, steadying himself. "I just didn't expect for...that picture to be here."

Axel shook his head and crossed his arms. "Yeah...Real blast from the past to see how home used to be, that's for sure."

Roxas could tell this topic was...difficult for the two of them. And that the middle of a mission was not the time to discuss it. So he gave a small smile. "Talk about it later?"

"Please." Zexion was relieved for a change in the discussion

Axel rolled his arm as he began to walk out towards the camp. "We'll go take a look around, see if anyone else is here. For now...just stick with Tarzan and Jane."

Roxas nodded. It made sense. He should keep an eye on them in case one of them might fall.

But as he turned to the tent he had to admit some part of him didn't want that to happen. Jane seemed kind and intelligent, and Tarzan…

"Ahh!"

Tarzan had snuck up right behind him. Catching his breath after yelping in shock, Roxas asked, "C-Can I help you?"

Tarzan's brow furrowed as he looked back towards the image on the screen. Jane was still looking through the boxes for more slides. "Home." He spoke towards where Axel and Zexion had gone. He turned to Roxas and repeated the word. "Home?"

No...Roxas knew it was a question.

"It's...hard to say." The Organization's instructions for secrecy wasn't ironclad. Especially since this was just a memory. Still, Roxas suspected it wouldn't be a good idea to talk about The World That Never Was.

Tarzan frowned as he took in the answer. But then he asked something else.

"Family?"

Something that made Roxas just...stop. He had friends, sure. People he knew and trusted. But family? Someone who was there since the beginning, that cared about him and he could trust unconditionally?

Roxas muttered, "I don't have anything like that."

"Nobody?"

Roxas cringed at the word. "I...have some friends." He did trust Axel and Zexion, though they didn't tell him everything. Despite how the Organization seemed to keep them bound in red tape. And of course there was Naminé. More than anyone, he trusted her. Knew that she cared about him, just as much as he did.

But...

"But not quite family." He turned to Jane, who had joined the two of them. "Forgive me for eavesdropping."

"No. It's...Axel found me. And...took me in. But I don't have anything really like family." It was simply the truth of what he was. He never could have a family.

"Help." Roxas looked up to Tarzan's determined face. "Help find."

"You want to help? How" Roxas was confused as Tarzan walked past him and looked towards the forest.

Jane's eyes widened, "The gorillas? Are you sure?"

Tarzan was quiet for a moment before nodding.

Roxas was in better spirits as he went out into the camp. "Alright. I'll let Axel and Zexion know."

Axel could be doing a lot better right now. He had faint memories of his first few months as a nobody. The ache, the numbness, and the memories.

So many memories.

Memories that seemed to make that ache worse. Which is probably why Xemnas and the other top brass in the Organization made a point to not dwell on them. Nothing beyond the simple reminder of what was lost.

But seeing the castle from his long lost childhood home was far from simple. And looking at Zexion, it was probably worse for him. Granted, he actually lived there. "Do you think we should tell Roxas? About all that?" Honestly, they were in the best position to give Roxas any idea about what that old city was like. What with almost everyone else who came from there having discarded it handily.

Zexion took a breath, his expression smoothing itself out as he nodded. "He wants to know the truth."

"Does it matter?" Really, that was the one plus of forgetting things. It made life a lot less complicated.

Zexion thumbed through his book pages. "He should know something more about us. As well as the Organization's past."

True. What with all the craziness that had come with Roxas joining the Organization, there hadn't been time to give him a history lesson. "Well, I'll just talk about what I remember. And that's not a whole lot." Honestly, despite his age as a member of the Organization he only had hints of what they did.

If the issue was a problem for Zexion, he didn't show it as he snapped his book shut. "Fair enough. Now…" Zexion tilted his head toward the other end of the camp with a smile. "Let's see if what I smelled is right."

Of course. If there was anything Axel could trust to help take his mind off of old memories, it was work. And while Roxas' lack of social graces made him a bad choice in encouraging strong willed people to choose the darkness, Axel had more than enough to cover for him. The Organization was always on the lookout for strong willed individuals they could recruit.

And by recruit, he meant turn them into heartless, and hopefully Nobodies.

Coupled with Zexion's weird ability to smell a person's darkness, they were able to get quite a few hearts to fall to darkness. And right now, it looked like the hunter was the one they needed to get the mission done.

As the two of them came up to Clayton's corner of the camp, they saw he was examining his gun with a wistful sigh, "Ah, I wouldn't give to see such a fine piece of craftsmanship put to real use."

Axel smiled and crossed his arms. "And hunting gorillas would be real enough for you?"

Clayton spun around with his weapon trained at them. A born fighter in an otherwise peaceful expedition. Something that often meant resentment. He glared at them before asking quickly, "What are you really here for?"

"Just as we said, we're looking for someone," Zexion calmly stepped forward as he answered, "And I'm certain you would be most helpful."

Clayton lowered his gun after a moment, before scoffing and beginning to turn away. I'm a professional. My employment—"

"Oh you're absolutely a professional." Axel put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. He grinned as he waved a hand at the rifle. "You're kitted out with a gun that means business."

Zexion began to rub his chin, nodding at Axel's words. "And I'm certain a man like you has an unparalleled talent for knowing his prey."

The flattery worked like a charm as Clayton's expression relaxed, and he even began to give a good natured chuckle, "Well, I do take great pride in my work."

"Yep." Axel nodded along but then looked away with a sigh. "It's just such a shame the rest of the expedition doesn't see it."

Judging by the scowl that appeared on Clayton's face, there was more than resentment behind his anger. "Of course they won't. Blasted bleeding hearts!"

Zexion walked past Clayton to the path leading to the forest. "They'll never see, unless you make them. Show them what you're really good at."

Soon his anger began to turn into wide eyed glee. And the tell tale aura of Darkness began to radiate from him. "Yes...Yes! I just need to know where those beasts are hiding! If only that wretched savage would tell us!"

Zexion began to chuckle as he walked back to the main camp. "I'm sure we'll find a way to get him to talk."

Axel joined him, though Clayton hardly seemed to notice being let go in his mania. "And when you find them, you'll know what to do." Just as they planned, the hunter was in a frenzy. Now all they needed was the right circumstances.

But how could they set that up?

"Hey." Roxas' voice got their attention as he walked to them from across the camp. "Tarzan's willing to take us to the gorillas in the jungle."

Zexion stared for a moment. Axel simply smiled, "Good to hear, Roxas."

Once again Roxas, Axel, and Zexion followed Tarzan through the jungle. Though this time, Jane walked alongside Tarzan as they made their way deeper and deeper. Jane still seemed to be surprised. "This whole expedition, we've been trying to find them. I...I can't believe we're actually going to see them." Eventually, Tarzan came to a stop by one of the larger trees. With a pointed hand upward, he made their path clear.

As Roxas climbed higher and higher, he couldn't help the occasional glance downward. But as he did he saw Axel looking towards the forest floor with a strange frown. "Is everything alright."

Axel looked up towards him and waved his hand. "Just watching for anyone following us."

High and higher they climbed. Up the twisting and winding trees. Swinging from vines to approach a part of the forest where the trees themselves seemed to have gathered almost into a wall. The only way past was through the branches near the treetops.

As they finished climbing over the trees. Roxas could see the clearing before him, and some rustling of the tree branches. The three of them carefully made their way down with Jane, while Tarzan jumped down much more nimbly. Though it was strange. The more Roxas saw him, it almost looked like Tarzan was jumping twice. And what's more he had a feeling he could do it too.

But as Tarzan made his way forward, making a series of grunts and hoots Roxas could only guess at the meaning of. But as there were similar sounds in the trees ahead it was obvious what Tarzan was doing. He was talking to the gorillas in their own language, and soon they began to peek out from their hiding spots. Jane was awed as she stepped forward. "There's so many of them." Gorillas looked down at them from almost every tree branch.

Roxas clearly saw the way Tarzan looked to all of them with a smile on his face. Even though they seemed so different, they were still a family?

It must be nice…

And then a bang rang out through the trees.

Roxas spun back and looked up to where the sound came from. Clayton was there with a smoking gun in hand, and a wicked grin on his face. There was a strange glint in his eyes, and some strange miasma that Roxas just knew he'd seen before. And what's more, there were yellow eyes in the shadows behind him.

Jane shouted as she took a step back. "Clayton?! What are you doing?!"

"My job Miss Porter!" He reloaded his gun as he continued to rant, more yellow eyes appearing behind him as the aura around him grew thicker. "I'll hunt down every blasted gorilla on this continent if it's the last thing I do!" At the height of his mania, Roxas realized what it was that swirled around Clayton.

It was darkness.

One of the yellow eyed creatures dove into Clayton and emerged from the other side. As it landed before them, Roxas knew what it was. A heartless. The monkey-like monster opened its hands to reveal a heart swirling with darkness. Darkness that seemed to have overshadowed the heartless' victim. Clayton began to vanish, leaving his darkness to pool around the heart and reform into him.

"C...Clayton?!" Jane gasped as she took a step back, slowly shaking her head.

"Not Clayton! *&&X%! Not Clayton!" Tarzan shook his head frantically as he grabbed his spear.

More and more of the heartless leapt down next to their new comrade. The gorillas began to back away as the heartless Clayton lifted his rifle to the air, and shouted one word with a grin.

"Hunt!"

Some of the monkey heartless bounded forward, while others began firing with slingshots. Tarzan was first to leap into action against them with his spear, though Jane did her best with a particularly sturdy tree-branch.

But Roxas was the only one who could really turn the tide. He began to hack away at the horde of heartless. He could tell that his work was beginning to pay off, heartless falling to the keyblade as he sliced at the shadows. He turned back to see how Tarzan and Jane were doing, and saw one of the heartless advancing on one of the gorillas that had gotten its leg caught in a vine.

"Not a chance!" He readied his blade, and dashed forward, first to the heartless attacking Tarzan and Jane, and then to the one menacing the gorilla. All of them falling before his sonic strikes. Slowing down, he whacked the root holding one of Tarzan's family down, who offered what he hoped was a supportive grunt before running away.

"Roxas! Focus!"

Axel's words brought his attention back to the fight, just in time to realize Clayton's gun was aimed right at him. Just a second to react. But it was enough for him to bring up his keyblade in time to deflect the shot from the crazed heartless.

"You can't get sidetracked by the weaker heartless!" Zexion spoke as he cast another volley of ice at the back line heartless, "We need to fight the leader to end this!"

Roxas looked at Clayton. They had only met a few minutes ago. He seemed gruff at first. But then again, so did some of the other organization members. Axel and Zexion were so strange at first, but then he grew to like them.

But now Roxas would never know what kind of person Clayton was. And some small part of him hurt knowing that.

Right now, though, he had no time for that. He rushed forward toward him. Swinging his keyblade to knock back some of the lesser heartless. The gun was still trained on him, and as Clayton pulled the trigger once again, Roxas handily deflected the bullet. He couldn't help but smile. That was two bullets for each barrel, Clayton was out of ammo! He leapt towards him to knock away the gun.

Only to be caught in the chest with one more shot from the gun. Roxas was thankful that the keyblade made him strong enough to withstand such blows, but that didn't mean it still didn't hurt. He could feel the wind knocked out of him as he was thrown towards one of the trees. Axel and Zexion rushed towards him and helped him up. "How many shots does that gun have?!" Roxas wheezed as he caught his breath.

"It seems his transformation into heartless has done away with such a limitation." Zexion muttered as he waved his hand. A green light with vines appeared over Roxas, and he could feel his pain and aches vanishing. Of course, that same healing magic Sora used. Might be useful to learn himself.

"Well, if he wants to play keep away so can we!" Axel shouted as flames gathered around his chakrams, and he tossed them at Clayton. Reaching for his machete, he was able to knock away one of the discs while the other one caught him in the arm. But he hardly seemed slowed down by the attack, or even hurt.

Clayton leapt toward them, snarling endlessly, "Hunt! Hunt! HUNT!" Roxas was able to parry the frenzied strikes well enough, and after one wide swing too many, was able to strike back. Clayton flinched as Roxas struck him, leaving him open to more attacks. With each blow giving them more room to maneuver, Roxas saw the gun arm dangling to the side. It was a chance to disarm him, or at least get rid of those bullets. He swung his keyblade as hard as he could against the barrel of the rifle and smiled as it was knocked back.

Only for it to stop, and looking at Clayton's hands he could see why. It was almost fused to them to the point where it was impossible to tell where skin and iron began or ended. In his shock, Roxas kicked the hunter away and he fell to the ground. But as he rose, he didn't just get to his feet. He began to float, swaying from side to side.

Tarzan and Jane backed away from the sight, holding their weapons ready to defend against what Clayton had become. He turned towards the two of them, again repeating the same word of "Hunt!" And soon began to lurch towards them, gun aimed and ready to fire.

Roxas began to run towards him, "Zexion! We need ice!"

"Of course!" With a wave of his hand, bullets of cold began to barrage Clayton, but some of them were wide enough to reveal something else. Something that Clayton was riding on. Whenever an ice shard hit underneath the floating man, it revealed a green thing with yellow eyes.

As Roxas approached, he thrusted his blade towards the phantom creature, and with a howl, it revealed itself. A giant chameleon with a heartless symbol reared up and glared down at Roxas.

"Stealth sneak. Tough thing to fight in a jungle like this." Axel scoffed as he readied more flames, "Too bad it has a hard time hiding again once you find it!" Waving his hands, Axel created a wall of fire to surround the three of them and the Heartless.

Hissing, the lizard leapt towards them while it's rider was undisturbed. The heartless began to kick at Axel, its blows ringing against the chakrams summoned back into his hands.

"Don't forget about me!" Roxas tossed his keyblade at Clayton atop the Stealth Sneak's back. He flinched as the glowing weapon struck him, and Roxas summoned it back for another toss. Once again the rifle was aimed at Roxas, so he aimed his throw right into the weapon's path. Sure enough, the bullet was knocked away by the much larger keyblade, and with the attack Clayton was knocked off his heartless steed.

The heartless turned towards Roxas, recognizing it no longer had a rider. With a snarl it charged at him, but Roxas leapt over it and onto its back. The stealth sneak began trying to buck him off, but he held on and rained blow after blow onto the creature. Each attack made the flailing worse and worse. Eventually, the heartless managed to fling him away towards where Clayton had fallen.

Their eyes met, and with his free hand, Clayton grabbed Roxas and flung him to the ground. "Hunt!" He repeated once again as he aimed the rifle to Roxas' face. His eyes widened as he desperately tried to think of a way out. Axel and Zexion were too far, and the heartless towered over the two of them.

And then Roxas thought of one last desperate plan.

"I'm...no-one's prey!"

Choking out his defiance, he managed to fling his keyblade into the Stealth Sneak. The heartless reeled and screeched as the weapon pierced its hide. The heartless Clayton looked up and saw it begin to stumble forward towards him and panicked. He let go of Roxas and tried to aim his gun. Roxas managed to stumble away and avoid the beast falling on top of him.

The remains of Clayton however, were not as lucky.

After a moment lying on the ground, the heartless dissolved into darkness, and from the nothing that remained as it vanished. So did Clayton. Roxas let out a shaking breath, trying to calm himself. But Axel clapping him on the back derailed that attempt. "Nice! Scratch one more memory!"

Roxas couldn't help but frown. "Yeah...I guess…"

The lack of cheer in his voice caused Axel to tilt his head curiously. "Hey. What's up?"

He sighed, shaking his head. "Clayton, I know he became a heartless and tried to kill us. But before that he was still a person." It still sounded crazy even as he spoke about what was bothering him. But he still had to say it. "Couldn't we have done something? Tried to stop him?"

Axel paused for a moment before eventually shrugging, "Well...this is a memory. I'm not sure we could have done much to change what already happened. Besides, this isn't real anyway." He waved a hand, and Roxas looked around. Tarzan and Jane were nowhere to be seen, in fact the entire jungle seemed almost quiet. The only change was the white door of Castle Oblivion. "See? It's all stuff that's done already. So I wouldn't worry about it."

Again, some part of Roxas hurt as he realized he might not get the chance to talk things out with Tarzan and Jane and what had happened. They wanted to help, but he only put their family in danger.

Zexion frowned for a moment before shaking his head. "Some people are more susceptible to darkness than others. Clayton was solitary, he had no one who might have intervened. I doubt strangers such as ourselves could have pulled him away."

Axel patted his back as they began to walk towards the door. "Hey, cheer up. You won, right?"

Roxas eventually gave an uneasy smile. "Yeah, I guess I did."

Even if he just couldn't see it like that.