Chapter Sixteen: Learn

Journal: Day Five

Today was...busy.

Seeing someone fall to darkness in the Deep Jungle, even if it was a memory…

Could I have changed it?

I know...Nobodies don't have hearts. But just the idea of one of my friends falling to darkness...

But...even all that was nothing compared to tonight.

Learning about Axel and Zexion's past. Going into memories. Some powerful heartless called Ansem coming back.

And Naminé wants to learn how to use a keyblade.

She wants to help.

It's a lot...but I think I can handle this, if I've got my friends by my side. Axel and Zexion have been supporting me so far. And I'm sure Naminé will be great at using a keyblade. They're helping me, so I'll do what I can to help them too.

Once again, Roxas walked the recreated streets of Traverse Town. The first time he was too rattled to really see the town beyond the heartless he had to fight. But now as he looked around, the world seemed comfortable despite the dark. Despite the everlasting night, the lamplight illuminated shops and homes. Signs, colored glass, even a small bit of grass gave the town some otherwise needed color.

What else had he missed in those other worlds while focusing on his training?

"So Roxas, got any ideas of how you're going to do this without your keyblade?"

Axel's question got his mind off track. He needed something to defend himself. Even if it was a little simple. A stack of wood in an alley caught his eye. Jogging over, he began to rummage through the loose planks, setting aside most of the larger pieces. Finally, he found what he was looking for. "Got it!" Grabbing it, Roxas turned back to Naminé, Axel, and Zexion with a hefty enough piece of wood that he brandished with a grin.

Axel stared for a moment before shaking his head. "Roxas, that's a stick. If you're going to improvise, you probably shouldn't pick up something that I can turn to kindling in a split second."

Naminé looked down at the keyblade, then looked back to Roxas with a small smile. "Sora was able to use a wooden sword to cast magic. I'm sure Roxas can do it too."

"I agree. Even the most simple object can act as a focus." Zexion continued by holding up his lexicon. "When I first started my magical training, I started with a simple book with hardly any enchantments."

"Alright already. I get the picture." Axel shrugged with a grin before rubbing his hands together. "So. I'm pretty sure we need some targets for Naminé to practice with." He glanced up to the rooftop, grinned, and summoned chakrams to his hands in a flash of flame. "I think these'll do the trick." He tossed a fiery disc up to a loose tile on the roof, where a group of shadows scampered down to the street. "We'll let you and Roxas handle the mission from here. Seeing as how this is mostly Roxas' lesson."

The heartless slithered across the floor towards her before reforming into physical bodies. Gripping the keyblade tight, she brought down the weapon on the heartless directly in front of her and knocked it back. Two more shadows leapt at her and she began to flail, swinging the sword from side to side to keep the darkness at bay.

Roxas winced as he saw Naminé begin to panic, but then his eyes widened as he saw a stray shadow start to slither behind her. It began to take form and crouched, ready to pounce. "No you don't!" He hissed under his breath and held his stick forward, casting a bolt of fire to knock the heartless away.

Naminé glanced backwards to where the lone heartless once stood, seeing Roxas' fireball soar past her. The distraction gave one of the heartless an opportunity to swipe at her. She yelped at the pain, stepping back. Roxas began to take a step forward, ready to intervene. However, as she got some space, she raised her keyblade and stammered out "F-Freeze!" Aiming the keyblade forward, she shot at the shadows before her again and again. Each iceball knocking down a heartless before another shot caused it to evaporate until she had managed to take down the pack.

With the last shadow gone, Roxas jogged over to Naminé who was gasping for breath. Looking at him, she gingerly nodded. "Sorry, it's my first time...fighting back against someone trying to hurt me. I...I panicked."

Zexion rubbed his chin in thought. "Or your self preservation instincts kicked into overdrive in this first encounter."

Axel scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, it's...different fighting for real. Catch your breath for a minute."

Naminé looked down at her keyblade as her breathing slowed. "It feels...heavy now." She looked back up at Roxas, confused. "When you first gave it to me it was light as a feather."

He nodded, as looked down to Naminé's slightly looser grip. "Yeah. That's how it usually feels when I'm using it too."

Her shoulders sank a little as she tried to hold the weapon in front of her. "I'm doing my best to follow how you and Sora fight. Just...swinging as hard as I can."

Roxas' train of thought completely derailed at that.

Just swinging?

He knew that he usually did a lot of the same work with fighting for all of his missions. But putting it like that?

Not to mention, Sora did a lot more than 'just swinging' when they fought.

Zexion raised an eyebrow, while Axel snorted in amusement. "I think putting it like that is underselling what Roxas does, don't you think?"

Naminé shook her head. "I just started so it's all I can do. I can't do some of the special moves like he can yet."

And that's when he realized what exactly she was talking about. "Maybe it's not my moves you need." He put a hand to his chest as he looked Naminé in the eyes. "When I use the keyblade, it's like fighting with everything I am."

"You'd probably say fighting with all of your heart if we weren't...you know."

"That's not the point," Roxas dismissed Axel's off handed observation before reaching out to her. "I don't think just copying Sora or Me is going to help. I think...you need to fight the way that's right for you."

Naminé listened to his words and looked down at the keyblade still in her grip. Her eyebrows furrowing as she murmured, "What's right for me?" Then she took her left hand off the keyblade and simply held it in her right. As she did, her posture seemed a bit less hunched with trying to keep the weapon off the ground. Turning to Axel and Zexion she asked, "Let me try again."

"By all means." Axel gestured to the door leading to the next area. She and Roxas moved ahead to the plaza, where soldiers and shadows perked up at the creaking door.

Seeing the keyblade in Naminé's hands, the soldiers began to amble over towards her. Aiming with her keyblade once again she cast a bolt of ice this time. Each shot thinned the heartless coming closer. That left the shadows that slithered closer on the floor, though this time she had her eye on them. As they began to rise, she only slashed at them once before stepping away to cast a fireball at them.

Roxas watched the way she fought now and relaxed, just a bit. He still needed to keep an eye on any heartless that might try to attack him, but he had a feeling Naminé would be fine now that she found a rhythm. She wasn't trying to jump straight in the middle of a fight, but instead controlled it. Using magic to keep heartless at bay while she moved and striked when she could.

It was almost like she was dancing.

Naminé's initial fear when her training started had ebbed away. Physical harm wasn't unknown to her, Larxene and Marluxia had seen to that. And the Keyblade had a strength she could hardly deny. But danger was always different up close, and fighting face to face hardly helped her nerves.

But with magic, she didn't need to fight for long up close. Just long enough to get some distance, or recharge her magic. Making her way through memories of Traverse Town's heartless helped her focus. She began to see that she could fight the heartless, they weren't insurmountable to her. By the time she reached the fountain in the third district, she was ready for the large body that appeared, flocked by air soldiers. She glanced back to Roxas, who offered a nod and a supportive smile.

As the flying heartless swooped towards the two of them she stepped to the side, while Roxas rolled away. A swing of her keyblade got one of them in the wing opening it up to a fireball in the back. While Roxas couldn't quite slice through the air soldier clawing at him as usual, he could still use the stick to knock away its claws before blasting it in the face with Ice. She glanced over to the large body, who'd become hopping mad seeing it's backup fall.

She knew what was coming, and felt the keyblade's power help her jump up higher than she would have, Roxas following suit. It was quick enough to avoid the shockwave that the heartless sent out as it crashed to the ground. The remaining two air soldiers had gotten up and began circling around the two of them. As the large body charged forward, she began to move and evade the heartless' surprisingly fast approach. As it stumbled in the charge she saw her chance.

With a swipe, she struck the large heartless' exposed back before peppering it with fireballs. Under the barrage the heartless expired, but as it did the two air soldiers both began to dive towards Roxas. Though he managed to avoid one, the other scored a decent hit on his exposed back. Hissing, he turned to the heartless that had landed a hit and shouted, "Freeze!" In a flash, the snowball struck down the heartless. While the other air soldier reared up for another go, Naminé decided to take a chance, given how it was distracted.

Leaping up, she sliced away at the lone heartless, each hit with the keyblade knocking it down towards the ground. Hitting the pavement, the creature expired and released its heart. Or the heart it would have had if this was not a memory. She rushed over to Roxas as he looked at his scratched arm. He waved meagerly with his good hand. "I'm alright." She frowned, not quite convinced that he was in the best shape. His facade fell slightly as he looked to his injuries, but then he realized, "Um..this might be a good chance for you to practice healing magic?"

Naminé relaxed at the suggestion. "Of course. Heal." Pointing the keyblade towards him, a green light and vines flashed for a moment between the two of them. After that, any sign that Roxas was even hurt was gone as he rolled his shoulder.

Axel came up behind the two of them clapping. "Not bad at all, Naminé! Keep this up and we might be picking out a cloak your size!"

"Wait, what?" Naminé faltered as Axel's statement just killed any sense of accomplishment that she might have had.

Zexion raised an eyebrow at the hesitation. "You seem surprised. Surely you understand that mastering the power of the keyblade would grant you a place in our Organization."

"It's...just a bit much for me to wrap my head around." A few days ago, Larxene was telling her how there was only one way her story could end. As a pawn pulling the strings of a puppet. For them to just...turn around and offer her a position like this based on power. It just...wasn't right.

And out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Roxas wasn't quite in the celebratory mood either.

Did...did he understand what she believed? That there was more to living than just honoring power?

"Are you truly so eager to reward such meager strength?"

At the unfamiliar voice everyone was startled. Axel ran up besides Roxas and Naminé, summoning his weapons. Zexion scanned the area before pointing up, "There!"

Looking up, Naminé paled as she saw the white haired boy sitting on the ledge. Roxas was bewildered. "Wha...Riku?!"

Axel seemed surprised. "You know about Riku?"

Roxas sputtered, "I'll...explain later!" Though right now, Naminé knew that explaining what was happening after Roxas' missions was the least of their worries.

'Riku' stepped off the ledge, but instead of falling floated. Darkness shrouded him as he spoke in a warped voice, "This vessel once used that name. But it is now meaningless."

Axel wasted no time summoning his weapons, snarling, "Hey Ansem, haven't you heard? The heartless are finished!"

"The door to darkness is sealed, you cannot command the heartless horde as it once was." Placing a hand to his tome, Zexion called forth a lighting bolt at the gathering dark. The flash of light momentarily dispelled the shadow.

But still an echoing voice spoke, "As long as there are hearts, darkness will lurk in them." The four of them glanced around to try and find the boy as he continued,"And where there is darkness, there are the heartless."

From the fountain, darkness began to bubble from the water. It soon overflowed a shadowy tar into the courtyard. The four of them backed away, and Naminé looked down at her keyblade and over to Axel and Zexion. "I...I think I need to switch with Roxas!"

Axel nodded as flame gathered around his chakrams. "Right, there's jumping into the deep end as a learning experience and then there's this!" He blasted a gout of flame into the creeping dark, but it did little to slow the advance.

"Right now we need someone experienced to stand against whatever Ansem is conjuring." Zexion turned and scowled as shadow obscured the doors leading out. "Especially since we have no exit at the moment."

She looked to Roxas and held the keyblade out to him. Looking back at her, he laid his hand over hers on the grip and gave a small squeeze. "Don't worry. I'll take care of this." Shifting his hand down to hold onto the weapon, Roxas held out the stick in his other hand. Naminé took it with little complaint. Without the keyblade she could only cast meagre magic, but right now they needed all the help they could get.

"Do you think that you can truly find power in facing these memories? These pale imitations and conjurings of what was?" Ansem as Riku rose from the shadow and raised a hand holding a black flame. "Allow me show you true darkness!" And then he plunged it into the dark pooling around the four of them.

Roxas, saw four broadswords rise from the shadows Ansem had summoned, each of them about the size of Axel. Floating in the air, darkness from the floor rose into muscular bodies that grabbed the blades as Ansem vanished into shadows. They were a far cry from the ambling imps or other larger heartless that seemed easy enough to manage.

It didn't matter, Roxas would fight them all the same.

"Invisibles," Axel scowled as flames gathered on the edges of his weapons, "Guess he's not cutting us any breaks!" Twisting around he sent both of his blades flying outward in a circle towards the heartless. While one flinched as the burning chakrams hit it for a moment, he soon joined his companions in blocking the blows with their swords. Roxas leapt up to one of the blocking heartless and began to slash away at it, causing it to drop its guard. As the invisible turned to him, Axel flung flaming discs into its back, causing it to expire. Zexion and Naminé cast spell after spell towards one of the heartless, forcing it to block with it's blade.

Then the other two invisibles slammed their blades into the ground and vanished. A second later, rings of flame surrounded Naminé and Zexion. Roxas stopped attacking as he saw them in danger, he cried out "Move!"

Naminé tried to jump away from the dark fire that surrounded her, but it only followed her movement. She cried out, "They aren't going away!"

"Wait for the right moment!" Zexion called out, getting some distance between him and Naminé. Roxas took a step towards them, but was forced to stop as the invisible's broadsword swung in front of him. Only a moment of surprise kept him out of its path. A second later it swung again, and Roxas was forced to block the next attack. Axel's flaming chakram in its side only seemed to make the heartless angrier. Roxas tried to keep up with the assault, and could barely see what was happening behind the heartless out of the corner of his eye.

"Now!" Zexion cried out, and Roxas saw him and Naminé dive away from shadowy bursts of fire. They both seemed singed, but otherwise fine.

"Is that it?"And then Roxas heard Ansem's voice behind him."Is that all an imitation of the keybearer can do?"

Roxas slammed his keyblade into the invisible, finally causing it to fade away. The spun towards the voice, holding his keyblade overhead. Only for it to clash against a dark blade in a reappeared Ansem's hand. Roxas growled as he tried to break the block, "I...am nothing...like Sora!"

Ansem only chuckled as he pushed Roxas back with ease. "Such ferocity," Ansem shoved Roxas away and swung at him as he dodged away. "If you truly have no heart, then where does such savagery come from?"

"What are you talking about?!" Roxas shouted as he gripped the keyblade a little tighter. He saw that by now the two other invisibles had reformed. One had begun to strike at Axel, broadsword ringing against the chakrams deflecting each blow. Zexion and Naminé were able to keep the other at bay with a barrage of ice and lightning that it could barely weather. But the dark around them continued to grow, and Roxas just knew Ansem could call on far worse heartless.

Ansem smirked as a dark flame gathered in his hand. "A hollow shell has nothing but the void inside." He cast the dark fireball towards Roxas, who cast another fireball to catch it. But the dark fireball split apart around Roxas' magic and arced to hit him in the chest, knocking him back."And darkness can fill that emptiness so easily."

Roxas grimaced as he got to his feet. There was so much he wanted to say about how Ansem was wrong. He saw how pain echoed in so many nobodies that he knew. And kindness too from Axle, Zexion, and of course Naminé, something more than simple courtesy. But everything he had been taught said that was an illusion, what's worse, he had no real way to prove it wrong.

And yet...Roxas did feel something building inside as he fought. Something that the fire he cast had brought to the surface.

A Burning Frenzy within.

"WE...AREN'T...NOTHING!" He shouted as embers floated off his body. Once again, Ansem approached Roxas with a slash. But this time, when Roxas' keyblade parried the attack it forced Ansem back. Roxas continued on attacking, each slash sending a bolt of flame on the leader of the heartless until finally a ring of fire burst forth from Roxas. The attack caused Ansem to step back staggered, darkness covering his whole being. He wasn't going to let this chance slip away. He rose into the air, keyblade wound back calling out, "This is it!"

Only for a dark specter to spring forth from the mass of darkness, grabbing Roxas from the air with both hands. It was a colossal heartless, with a grip that held him in place no matter how he struggled. "ROXAS!" Three voices cried out as they saw him try and escape.

The darkness grew and became a man with silver hair in a black trenchcoat. Roxas couldn't hide his shock at seeing him. The heartless was a spitting image of Xemnas as it studied him with amusement. "Well done. I'll even go as far as to say I underestimated you." The guardian's grip tightened around Roxas and he cried out. "But you don't know what real power is."

"Leave him alone!" Naminé's voice cried out as she cast blizzard at Ansem's back.

A spell that Ansem barely even registered, much to her horror, instead he closed his eyes and smiled. "For now, I will allow you to live." The guardian heartless dropped Roxas to the ground, and darkness surrounded Ansem once again. "So you may understand the truth." And when the shadows vanished, he was gone.

Roxas propped himself up on his hands, realizing that with Ansem having left the sounds of fighting had ceased. He looked over to his friends, a bit scraped and burned, but still alright. Naminé jogged over to him and cast a much needed healing spell. Roxas gave an appreciative nod as he got to his feet. "Is...everyone okay?"

"Yeah, your little trick kicked in at the right time. Distracted the invisibles long enough for us to clean them out." Axel groaned as he dusted off his cloak. Stretching out his back, he began to make his way to the door. "Let's get back to our home floor, heal up, and figure out where we go from here?"

Zexion smiled with relief as he followed Axel. "That sounds wonderful."

Roxas nodded, catching his breath. "Yeah. sounds great. Anything we're forgetting?" He looked around at the group, but at seeing Naminé's nervous expression he paused. Did...something happen?

"I...still can't call on a keyblade."

Oh. His gut sank at her confession, and Zexion and Axel winced as held the stick limply as she shook her head. "I understand the power but...something's missing."

Roxas walked over to her and gently put a hand to Naminé's shoulder. "We'll...figure out a plan after dinner."

There had to be something they could come up with.