Nexus HWR 8.5 The Dread Fort Part 3:
Three Months Ago
"Let me out of here!" Black Star screamed. He slammed his fists into the bars in front of him, got filled with electricity, and thrown back across his cell. The spiky haired boy jumped back up to his feet and charged the bars again, diving headfirst this time as his arms were currently not responding, his nerves overloaded by all the shocks he had been receiving.
"Shut up already!" A prisoner in the cell to the left shouted.
"Every God damn day with you!" A mutant prison guard growled over. He had spiky black hair, sharp black line tattoos on his chin and neck, and sharp quills sticking out all over his face and out the top of his head. Quill walked down the corridor between the two walls of cells, and he lifted up a remote in his hand. "You really want another helping?"
"Please," Black Star remarked, stepping back towards the bars with black smoke coming off of his forehead. His hands were clenched into shaking fists that he could no longer unclench, and his arms and legs were still wrapped in white bandages from the battle that got them caught. "Do it!" Black Star yelled when the mutant did not reply at first.
"Black Star, enough," a man in his own cell said before Quill could use the torture devices strapped to each one of their left ankles. The prisoner got up to his feet and glared over at the steel bars, out at the mutant behind them, "You know he's not gonna break out of here. Just let him scream," the taller man with red hair that spiked out in every direction behind and above his head held out his hands and grinned like it did not matter either way.
Black Star continued to snarl out at the mutant, but the man covered in quills just turned towards the guy who spoke to him and smirked. "Let's see how long you can keep that cocky attitude," the Asian man began. Axel kept grinning, but his face did make a small movement as he became confused at the mutant's expression. A few people in the cell across from his and Black Star's also got up to their feet and stepped closer to their bars, sensing that something was up. Quill leaned closer to the bars and he smirked towards the red haired man, "Who would have thought? I didn't know you creeps even had the ability to go rogue," Quill laughed after saying it and Axel lost his smile.
Gon Freecs stepped closer to the bars of the cell across the hall and one to the right of Axel and Black Star's. "Hey Axel, what is he talking about?"
"Oh," the mutant began, his smirk getting even bigger as Axel's grimace got deeper. "He never told you?" Quill asked, leaning even closer to the bars as he did. As soon as he asked the question, the sound of a loud buzzer rang out through the prison followed by the creaking of a thick metal door opening up. The prison was loud and full of shouting prisoners, but the person who just walked into the cell block had footsteps that echoed inside every cell and quieted them all down. Quill chuckled as he glanced left, then turned back to the bars and grinned at Axel who was looking to the right to try and catch a glimpse of this person as soon as whoever it was came into view. Quill continued, "I never would have thought someone like you would be a part of that stupid Resistance. Though then again, I don't know if I really can call you 'someone,' can I, Nobody?"
The others in the cell with Axel all darted their eyes to the man, including the blue haired kid right on the other side of the bars as their mutant prison guard. Black Star's eyes were wide, and what he was just told was confirmed by the expression on Axel's face that his squad leader never showed them. The taller man had his eyes pointed down, and his fists unclenched as he heard the word echo in his mind.
"Axel's a, Nobody?" Soul muttered from the cell across from the taller man's. Kuwabara stood to his right with his bottom lip dropped, while Gon in the next cell down stared thoughtfully over into the other cell at his older friend.
"That's right," Quill called out as those footsteps got louder, showing they were getting closer to their cells. "He probably never told you because he-"
A hand shot out between two of the bars and it gripped Quill by the front of his shirt. The mutant only had a second to open his eyes wide, and he never got to extending quills out of his chest to impale the hand, because the boy who grabbed him pulled back hard into the bars and filled both himself and the jail guard with electric shocks. He did not let go right as the electrocution began though, instead smirking out at the screaming prison guard while hundreds of prisoners around the jail roared out cheers. After several seconds of this Black Star could not handle it anymore and had to let go of Quill before stumbling back and collapsing to the ground.
The mutant lying on the floor had faded irises and he seized over and over on the other side of the bars. Black Star was breathing heavily, but he still got up before the man who had not felt those shocks before, and was not used to, or prepared for, them at all which sent him into shock. Black Star stepped towards the bars and he glared down at the man fidgeting around on the dirty floor in front of him, "Who the fuck cares if he's a Nobody?" Black Star leaned forward and reached a hand out of the bars, being careful not to touch either of the ones on his sides so he could grab the remote he saw next to Quill and pull it back into the cage with him.
"Black Star hold on," Axel started.
"I almost have it," Black Star said.
Gon was near the bars one cell away on the left of theirs so he had a better view of down the hall than Axel who was farther back in the cage. He spotted the figure whose footsteps did not speed up despite Quill's collapse on the ground, and his eyes widened in realization. "Black Star!"
The more muscular young teen reaching through the bars glanced over at Gon, then turned his head the other way to see what the big deal was. He looked right, then lifted his head up and his gaze rose from the base of the black cloak the man had on, to the zipper going up the middle of it, and finally to his face that had a large X-shaped scar over the middle of it. His blue hair was long and his eyes were cold and emotionless as he stepped towards Black Star, reached down, and grabbed the remote right as Black Star's fingers were touching it.
"Saix!" Axel shouted.
Black Star stood up and he pulled his arm back inside the cage as he could not reach Saix from this far away. "You know this guy Ax- ahhH!" Black Star grabbed at the sides of his head as his anklet turned on. His body filled with pain and he roared at the top of his lungs.
"Black Star!" his friends shouted from cages all around.
"Bastard!"
"Who are you?!"
"Axel," Saix said, staring at the figure before him closely. "You have avoided us for too long. As you will not join the Organization voluntarily, I must resort to drastic measures." Without turning away from the red haired man, Saix continued, "Everyone in this cell, move to the sides. Turn around and put your heads and hands against the walls. If you do not comply, you will meet the same fate as that boy." Black Star continued to scream as Saix did not turn off his ankle bracelet.
Most of the others in the cell with Axel were not his comrades and walked to the walls immediately. A woman who ran over to Black Star's side and was shaking him and yelling at Saix to stop turned towards Axel. She had fearful eyes, but she spun back towards Saix and yelled, "We won't-"
"Do it Tsubaki," Axel said, his voice full of resignation. He heard his other comrades shouting at him from across the cells, and he bowed his head and continued, "Don't worry. They won't kill me." He lifted up his gaze and stared out of the bars at Soul, Gon, and Kuwabara who were looking back at him. "I promise, I'll find a way to save you all."
"Three seconds," Saix said.
"Now Tsubaki," Axel demanded, looking down at the woman on her knees who was looking his way hesitantly.
She got up, and took another second to look into Axel's eyes, before finally turning right and walking to the wall where the rest of the prisoners already were complying with Saix's orders. She put her hands and face against the wall, tears welling up and coming out the corners of her eyes. Tsubaki could hear Black Star's screams and could still see the look of resignation on Axel's face even with her eyes clenched shut and her forehead pressed against a cold concrete wall.
Axel stood in the middle of his twenty by twenty foot cell and he stared out at Saix who lifted up his right hand. Another loud buzzer sound went off and the bars in front of Axel opened up. Saix continued to stand in place, but he lowered his arms down to his sides and made a small nod of his head backwards. As he did so, the ground beneath him ripped into a dark circle and an oval of darkness eight feet tall shot up behind him. Axel started walking forwards and he avoided looking around at his friends as he did. He could hear them shouting his name, even Black Star who lay face-down on the ground, screaming it in between roars of agony. I will come back for you.
The captured Nobody stepped through the portal, and Saix nodded his head as his mission was completed. He looked down at the man on the floor and as the buzzer went off again and the cell bars closed, Saix stated, "Thank you for your cooperation." Quill was still twitching and Saix narrowed his eyes at the mutant. "Magneto is a reasonable man. He will understand that this is for the best." None of the prisoners in the cell block had any idea what he was talking about. Saix dropped the remote in his hand, letting go of a button as he did and getting Black Star to stop screaming. The others in that cell looked away from the walls now that they thought it was okay, and Black Star weakly lifted up his head. Most others could not see because of their cells' positions, or because the black portal behind Saix blocked their sights, but the few in the cell Axel just exited watched as the blue haired Nobody reached down and grabbed the twitching mutant by the shirt.
"What are, you doing?" Black Star snarled, wanting to be the one to finish off Quill himself.
"A gift to Magneto," Saix said, the people in the cell in front of him the only ones able to hear his quiet voice. Saix's hand covered in darkness as he held the mutant at his side, and as he turned towards the portal the darkness on his hand started spreading to surround the figure. "A power-up for one of his warriors," Saix continued as he stepped into the portal with Quill in hand. He smirked as he stepped through the darkness, And another member of the Organization.
Present
Dread Fort
"Why did you bring me here, Saix?" Axel growled. The Nobody with spiky red hair had a black eye, cuts on both cheeks, and bandages on his arms covering injuries much worse than the ones he got getting captured almost four months earlier.
Standing in front of the man chained to the lowest floor of the Dread Fort, was Saix. The Nobody in charge of the city and surrounding region was not alone in the dark room though. Lurking all over the floor they were on, the stairs on either side of them, and the upper sections of the room, were Nobodies: Dusks and Berserkers, Samurais, Snipers, and Dragoons. Silver Nobodies of different shapes and sizes walked around mixed in with Nobodies that had faces like Saix and Axel. Back in a part of the lower floor they were on that was the most lit up in the Dread Fort, a scientist holding a clipboard in one hand was typing with his other onto a panel in front of two large cylinder tubes. The tubes were made of glass and were empty, but they were very bright as there were yellow lights on the tops of the insides. Two Nobodies with faces stood on the sides of Saix as well, one who Axel recognized as the jail guard from the first prison he spent time in after getting captured by the Co-op. The second figure's face, Axel recognized much better. He recognized it as the face of his best friend.
Roxas had a straight expression on his face, hiding well the feeling of hatred he had for the man on his left. Saix could still feel that hatred coming from him, but he ignored it as he responded to Axel, "You know what happens at the Dread Fort."
"Then you really did it," Axel muttered, his thoughts confirmed. "Where is he?"
Saix turned away from Axel without responding. He took two steps the other direction while the two subordinates he left behind stayed guarding the prisoner. He faced the man at the strange machines connected by tubes and split apart by fancy-looking computers. "Vexen," Saix began. The genius scientist typed a few more buttons in and then turned around to face the Lord of the Dread Fort. Saix continued, "Demyx reported in. He has arrived at the Order of the Sith. He will return with Lea shortly. Is the Integration Chamber prepared?"
Vexen grinned over at the serious figure with crossing scars over his face. The scientist had long dirty-blond hair down his back even farther than Saix's as his fell all the way to his waist. He held up his arms and his black sleeves that were longer than his fellow Nobodies' slid up a little to reveal his open hands. "I just finished," Vexen claimed. Axel was already grimacing deeply at the sound of the name Saix mentioned, but now he looked behind Vexen and his grimace grew even deeper.
"You know," Axel started up loudly, making the other Nobodies look back towards him. "I don't know who you guys think you're messing with, but you really think a shmuck like Demyx can handle Lea?" Axel laughed and he leaned forward, grinning in a dangerous way over at Vexen. "Lea's going to free me, then I'm going to destroy you, again." The reaction on Vexen's face made Axel's suffering and terrible situation feel a little better. He smirked at the enraged look on the scientist's face who once begged him for his life, only for Axel to incinerate him with his chakrams.
"Why you-"
"Enough," Saix said, holding up his right hand and silencing Vexen. The scientist ground his teeth furiously that he was quieted, but he did not speak out against his superior. His eyes darted to Axel though and the red haired man could tell that as soon as Saix was not looking, Vexen would get his revenge somehow.
The ruler of the Dread Fort turned away from everyone and Vexen clenched his fists while glaring at Axel who glared right back at him. Both of them spun their attentions to the part of the room Saix just turned to though, as out from the floor in between a few Dusks, a black portal appeared. "Come on, oof- stop it!" A figure got tossed through the portal and hit the ground hard. A second figure stepped through the portal that closed after him, but Axel's gaze was focused solely on the man flat on his face on the floor.
Demyx cracked his neck to both sides as his portal closed, then he rubbed his left cheek where a bruise was forming. The Nobody with cyan eyes had dirty-blond hair that stuck up near the front of his head then pulled back into a long mullet. Demyx threw up his hands that were inside of black gloves that matched his cloak and boots similar to the rest of his fellow humanoid Nobodies. "Turns out Lea wasn't too thrilled about the news. Who knew?" He dropped his arms back down to his sides and then smirked past the body of the man lying in front of him over to the one chained on the ground, "You excited, Axel?"
Axel did not respond to his old comrade who was only one rank beneath him in the Organization. He used to be number VIII, and Demyx followed up with rank IX. Axel stared straight at the figure lying on the floor whose head was covered on all sides by dirty red hair. His clothes were ripped up and he had cuts on much of his body just like Axel. The guy lifted his head up a little and his green eyes locked with Axel's. "Hey Lea, how you doing?" Axel said to his Somebody.
"Got caught," Lea muttered, his voice scratchy and his face covered in some burns that made it hard for him to fake the same confident-looking expression Axel was faking. "Sorry 'bout that."
"I should be the one apologizing," Axel told the figure in front of him. "You-"
Vexen stomped a foot down on Lea's back out of nowhere and the Somebody's head slammed back down into the floor. Axel yelled at him and the scientist laughed at the reaction he got. "It does not matter what condition you two are in when you go into the Integration Chamber. The process will bring you back to full health, as well as restore your heart," by the end of the sentence Vexen was grimacing. He himself did not have his Somebody's heart as of yet, but here was Axel about to get his. The scientist ground his teeth then turned away and stepped off of Lea in annoyance, "Malx Lewx, get them ready for the integration process."
The Nobody of Maxwell Jordan, the mutant formerly known as Quill, nodded his head in Vexen's direction then walked over to Lea himself and yanked the prisoner up on his feet. As he got Lea almost fully up, Lea smashed his head to the side and headbutted the mutant Nobody. Malx growled and then grabbed Lea tighter around his arm, before extending porcupine quills straight through his skin and causing the man with spiky red hair to scream in agony.
As Axel shouted at them to stop again, Roxas turned away and ground his teeth in anger. Malx Lewx dragged Lea towards one of the tubes as Vexen lifted back up a clipboard and examined it. Saix looked around as this was happening and he frowned. The blue haired leader of the Dread Fort turned towards Demyx who was walking away with his hands behind his head, "Demyx." The ninth ranked member of the Organization spun around and then groaned at the look Saix was giving him.
"I just got back," Demyx complained.
"Jixsan was told to report, but he has no arrived yet, and this must be done as soon as possible," Saix explained. Demyx sighed then lifted up his hands, creating a blue instrument that looked like a guitar with three strings, called a sitar, as tall as his own body. He slammed the bottom of his instrument down on the ground and then nodded at Saix, waiting for his orders. Saix continued, "Bronxi's Somebody is in the eastern section of the city. Retrieve her and bring her back to me. Her name is Nico Robin."
"Nico Robin huh?" Demyx asked and scratched the back of his head, not seeming too into these orders. Saix shot him a glare and Demyx stopped scratching to hold up that hand defensively, "Alright alright, I'm going. Man," he turned and swung his hand in front of him, creating a black portal to walk through. "Fighting girls is such a drag." Demyx stepped through and the portal closed behind him, but Saix still did not look at ease.
"He's strapped in sir," Malx told Vexen once Lea was immobile inside one of the two tubes.
"Good," Vexen said. He turned and looked across the room, "Now Axel," he called over and Axel's frown could not get deeper. "Your entire world is about to change. I do hope you change your mind about the Organization after you and Lea are merged. Though if you don't, I won't be too heartbroken."
"He will," Saix said calmly and assuredly. He turned and looked down at Axel who was still chained to the floor. "We have been patient with him so far only because of the high chance that he changes his mind upon being merged with his Somebody."
"I won't work for that bastard Xemnas," Axel growled as Malx got closer to him. He glared straight into Saix's eyes, "A completed heart, a stronger body, those things won't change my mind. Lea and I are already our own people. Got it memorized?"
Lea opened up his partially closed eyes from inside the tube as he stared out at Axel who gave him a reassuring smile. Lea nodded his head and the other red haired man chuckled, "See?"
Saix said nothing, but he did nod at Malx Lewx who stopped next to Axel. The Asian man covered in quills reached down to unchain Axel from the floor. Axel's smug smile faded and he and Lea shared a look of despair as despite their attempts at bravado, they knew this was it. They were surrounded by Nobodies, a Lord of the Cooperative, and both of them had on bracelets that could fill them with pain and stop them from escaping on a second's notice. Vexen smirked as Malx got Axel off the ground, Saix watched as Isa's childhood friend's Nobody got pulled towards the Chamber, and Roxas saw Axel's depressed look and he had to stare at the floor to hide the guilt all over his face.
CRASH! Roxas's head snapped up and all of the Nobodies in front of him spun around. Malx spun and Axel turned with him, Lea lifted his head up more to see over Vexen who turned as well, and Saix's eyebrows narrowed in towards his nose as he turned to the other half of their lowest basement. They all turned so they could look to the upper part of the bright room up the steps on either side of the lower wall that Axel was just chained in front of. They looked up to the upper section's railing where there was a giant hole in the wall behind it and a massive white fist sticking through that wall.
The fist pulled back and shrank down, and then two figures walked through the hole in the wall. They were shadowed at first, but the farther they got the more visible they became and the more everyone in the room dropped their jaws. Vexen stumbled backwards and dropped the clipboard from his hand while Saix's eyes popped open huge. Roxas's shocked look turned to one full of relief a second later, only for his relief to change to nervousness a second after that. It was Axel who stared at the railing with the most shock in his eyes as any of them. He stared at the young man on the right of the two who was around the same height as the other, only without the straw hat on his head that would have covered the big brown spikes in his hair. Axel's dropped jaw started to close and he gasped out, "Sora?"
Sora had his mouth open to shout something at Saix, but when he looked into the room his eyes opened huge and he shouted, "Axel?! What are you-" he stopped and looked behind Axel to a couple of glass tubes where inside one a man who looked exactly like Axel only even more beaten-up was strapped to a metal contraption with tubes sticking off of it up into the top of the glass container that had metal pipes and computers attached all around it and in between it and the other empty tube. Sora turned to Roxas and thought about what his Nobody told him, and he figured out what was happening very fast. "Roxas?!" Sora shouted.
Roxas got confused but before he let it show on his face he thought about why Sora would be acting surprised to see him and remembered Saix was right behind him and he should have reported it if he knew Sora was there. Nice, Roxas thought, though he was even more nervous now as out the corner of his eye he spotted Saix's surprise fading completely and a more determined look coming to the calm Lord's face. Rank VII in the Organization, Saix, the Lord of the Dread Fort, pointed his right hand up at the railing and stated, "Roxas. Go acquire your Somebody and bring him back here. The two of you will be merged by the end of tonight."
Luffy's eyes turned huge and he pointed a hand down at the man pointing up at Sora. "Sora's not getting merged with anybody! I'm gonna kick your ass!"
"Saix, I can't-" Roxas began to the man behind him on his right.
"In a single second, I could have a Dusk report to Xemnas that you were uncooperative. Naminé will pay the price," as soon as he finished speaking, Roxas looked back up at Sora a lot more seriously. Luffy remembered Sora telling them that Roxas and him had cleared things up, but the look Roxas was giving him now was not that of an ally. Roxas lifted up both hands and a couple of Keyblades formed in them.
"Hurry it up Malx," Vexen snapped at the mutant Nobody who was just watching this all in confusion. "Before Sora gets down here!"
Malx shook his head and then tugged Axel harder towards the tubes. Axel pulled away from him though and broke free in that moment. He had the confusion of the room on his side and he turned to run towards Sora and Luffy. He was leaving Lea behind, but the further he got from his Somebody the safer he knew the man was. He only made it two steps before a hand gripped his cloak's hood and yanked him back. Saix tossed Axel backwards towards Vexen who reached up and caught the beaten Nobody tossed to him.
Luffy and Sora jumped over the railing, Luffy holding up his left hand as an open palm and curling his right into a fist behind him as he did. Roxas jumped up in the air while Sora formed two Keyblades himself, but Roxas had more force in his jump and he changed their momentums towards the lower wall beneath the railing that they slammed into and then straight through. As they went crashing into a different part of the basement, Luffy yelled out, "Gum Gum Pistol!" He slammed his hand towards Saix who was in between him and the tubes in the back of the room that he did not really understand their purpose but knew it had to be bad by the way Sora reacted to them.
Saix did not form his weapon yet. Instead, two Samurai Nobodies jumped in between Luffy's fist and the Lord of the Dread Fort. They took his punch and skid back, but then swiped sharp arms down at it to try and cut the rubberman. Luffy yanked his arm back fast as he landed on the ground, then had to leap left fast as Sniper Nobodies fired sharp gray diamonds at him. Where he landed, three Berserkers were charging him with huge thick hammer-like blades in their hands that they started spinning around at the pirate. Luffy punched his right arm to the side and his body covered in steam, and at that moment Saix rose up his hands in front of his face.
"Gear Second!" Luffy vanished as his skin turned red and steamy, and all of the Nobodies attacking him lost sight. He appeared in front of Saix with his right fist punched forward, only for it not to reach the Lord he was trying to hit. He aimed for Saix's chest, but in front of Saix's entire body there was now a very wide weapon made of light blue steel. The weapon itself was seven feet tall and Saix had both of his hands gripping the white shaft of it that went from above the top of his head down to the bottom of his chin. He pushed back with his claymore, a thick melee weapon named Lunatic that had a silver seven-pointed star at the end of it with a golden cross inside it that had sharp points on it touching the inside of the outer seven-pointed star.
The force of Saix's push sent Gear Second Luffy flying backwards into a part of the lower wall that was not broken from Sora and Roxas smashing through it. Luffy landed at the base of the now-crumbling wall on his feet and pressed a steaming fist down on the ground. He glared up at Saix while his hat that was on his head fell down to his back but did not fall off thanks to the string around his neck that kept it in place. Luffy's black hair waved around as his fists turned the same color and he shot towards Saix again, "Let those spiky guys go!" Luffy shouted as he threw his arms forward in a Gear Second, Armament Haki-infused, Gum Gum Jet Bazooka, otherwise known as his Eagle Bazooka.
Lea looked through the glass tube that was now fully sealed to the rubberman outside who was trying to save him. He turned left and looked past some of the computers to the other tube that he could only see the head of the man inside it. "Yo Axel, you know who this guy is?"
"He's with Sora," Axel shouted while struggling against Vexen's efforts to strap him into the tube. "They're going to get us out of this!"
"I hope so," Lea said nervously, looking through the glass and watching as Luffy shot back and forth trying to get past Saix. "You've got this!" Lea yelled at the rubberman.
Saix lowered Lunatic and released one of his hands from the heavy-looking weapon. He pointed that hand forward and all of the remaining Nobodies in the room moved towards Luffy at once. "Gum Gum, Hawk Gattling Gun!" Luffy yelled. He slammed his fists forward rapid fire and dozens of Nobodies got destroyed one after the other by Haki-infused punches. Saix narrowed his eyes and the hand he had pointed out shook some, making twice as many Nobodies as were already in the room appear.
"Quickly, quickly," Vexen mumbled to himself as he typed faster and faster into the machine.
"Isa, please," Lea begged. The man outside of his tube did not turn around as he continued to send hordes of Dusks, Samurais, and other Nobodies at his rubbery opponent who started roaring as his Hawk Gattling Gun was going on for too long.
"Isa has been a part of me for six months now," Saix said without turning to face Lea. "Our memories were always one, and now so are our hearts. You will understand the feeling soon enough my friend."
"Friend?" Lea asked, his voice getting louder. "I know only the Nobody keeps control in there! Can Isa even hear me?! ISA!"
"Do it Vexen," Saix said, then directly in front of his face appeared the rubber pirate who ignored ten Nobodies between him and Saix and the others that were still forming to race straight up to him. Saix rose his weapon to block Luffy's right fist that he had pulled back far, only for Luffy's left foot to slam up under his chin and knock him into the air. Saix gasped as he was thrown so hard up by Luffy's Gear Second kick that he flew all the way into the ceiling and then smashed straight through it into one of the lower halls of his Dread Fort that was still above the very bottom one where they merged Nobodies and Somebodies.
Luffy landed down where Saix was just standing as ceiling pieces rained down around him. His Gear Second state faded as he snapped his gaze down to the machines he was about to break, only once he looked down he wished Gear Second had lasted a few seconds longer. The tubes were already closed and Vexen was finishing typing right now on his computers, so Malx Lewx had nothing to do but focus all his attention on the man trying to stop the integration. Luffy's Observational Haki kicked in as soon as he saw the man in front of him spiking out; on the entire front of his torso from his face to his chest to his stomach and covering each of his appendages, thin black quills stuck out of him and then shot all at once towards Luffy who dove to the left to avoid them.
They moved faster than bullets though, and there were too many of them to dodge. The right half of his body got slammed by over ten quills that hit his right arm, his cheek, and more than half of them got in his right leg that lagged farthest behind. He hit the ground and did a somersault before flipping himself back up on his feet. As soon as he put weight down on his legs though, he yelled out in pain again just like he did when the quills connected. He clenched his fists to attack Malx, but his gaze snapped to the ceiling first as Saix came dropping down with his claymore lifted up above his head, making Luffy jump back to avoid being smashed by the blade.
As he was still in the air moving back, Saix slammed his weapon into the ground and three cracks shot out from the collision. One of those cracks went straight under the machines Vexen was working on and the scientist yelled, "Watch what you're doing!"
"Stop wasting time and merge them," Saix scolded back while jumping off the collision towards Luffy.
"Hold it!" a voice shouted from through a hole in the wall.
"Oh no you don't!" Another voice that sounded very similar shouted.
"Done," Vexen said. He reached out towards the computer in front of him and hesitated for a moment, looking straight into one of the glass tubes and into Axel's eyes before pressing the button and smirking at the man.
Sora and Roxas came tumbling through the hole in the wall for some reason and then each sprung away from their counterpart to stand facing one another with Keyblades risen. Both of them were using Master Form, with all of Sora's clothes having turned yellow, and Roxas's black cloak being lined with yellow stripes. They spun towards the tubes that started glowing bright while Luffy and Saix collided in the air above them making wind and debris fly around them. Some rocks slammed into the machines and a crack formed on Lea's glass tube, making Sora and Roxas both go wide-eyed with hope. The machines started blinking red, an alarm went off, steam came out of metal tubes, and the walls started shaking as Saix smashed Lunatic into the pirate's left side and sent Luffy smashing into the wall on the right of the tubes at a hundred miles per hour.
The glass tubes both cracked some more as Saix landed on the ground, and he spun around just like Sora and Roxas to look over at the machines. The lights inside them kept getting brighter and brighter while Vexen backed away from the smoking computers, shouting about how everything was malfunctioning. A fireball burst out on the panel he was just typing on, then that flame expanded five times in size making Vexen fall to the ground and cover his face with his arms as he yelled in pain. The scientist scrambled up and ran away from the tubes, shouting, "Everyone get back! It's going to blow!"
Sanji jumped up in the air, kicked the air beneath him, and shouted, "Sky Walk!" He kicked the air so hard he bounced off of it and shot forward, then forward and right, then bounced off a wall and down towards the ground where his dashingly handsome opponent was twirling around a staff and waiting for him. Right as Sanji got close, Jixsan smashed the butt of his black staff down on the ground and the golden ring on top of it bounced up as he lowered the elevation of the hallway. Sanji's eyes widened at this strange power as it did not look like Jixsan hit the ground hard enough to form a crater.
Jixsan did not create a crater by slamming his staff down so hard though, the floor just moved down on its own after being tapped by the staff. The walls stayed where they were but seemed to extend to match the elevation of the floor. Sanji's kick went right over his Nobody's head, and he changed his direction by flipping in midair and then kicking the air behind him again. As he did this though, Jixsan lifted his staff off the ground and jabbed it Sanji's way.
Sanji knew it was coming with his Haki and dodged to the left, then stuck his right leg out towards his opponent, "Èpaule!" The leg he had kicked at Jixsan went above his opponent's shoulder, so Sanji lifted it up higher and then smashed it straight down on Jixsan's left shoulder, making the Nobody hit the ground and this time an actual crater was created.
Jixsan gasped out and then clenched his teeth as he pushed his hands down on his sides. "What the Hell?" He muttered as he got up to his knees, pushing his staff down to help him get up. "How did a shitty chef like you get so strong?"
"Thought you had all my memories?" Sanji snapped back as he landed in front of the Nobody who threatened going after Nami, Robin, and Weiss earlier. "Then you know exactly how I got this strong."
"No, idiot," the other blond haired man in the hallway growled back. He was panting while he continued, hoping that his Somebody did not notice he was just doing this to catch his breath, "You were never that strong. Something must have happened, since Port Royal."
"Port Royal?" Sanji asked.
"The last thing I remember," the Nobody replied. He stopped panting and he slammed his staff down on the cracked floor beneath them, making the entire floor tremble and then lift up fast towards the ceiling. Jixsan dove towards Sanji as the chef fell backwards away from the section of the ground rising fastest. Jixsan jabbed his staff straight into Sanji's stomach and then kept shooting forward as he kicked the air behind him using the same technique Sanji used a minute ago. Sanji winced when the staff hit him, but he ground his teeth and covered his left leg in Haki, before swinging it around and slamming it into Jixsan's extended arms.
The Nobody yelled out in pain and his staff fell from his hands. The elevation of the hall was still funky as they dropped and Sanji rolled into a wall hard while Jixsan bounced off the kick twice as far. Jixsan groaned in pain as he staggered back up, then his eyes opened huge as Sanji was already up and jumping right in front of him when he opened his eyes. "Oh shi-"
Sanji's leg spinning across the front of his body hit Jixsan in the neck before he could finish cursing, and the chef shouted, "Collier Frit!" Jixsan got knocked off his feet and flat to his back with a loud thud. Sanji then leapt up in the air and called out, "Brochette." His whole body started spinning while he pointed one foot down so he looked like a drill. Jixsan coughed and opened his eyes to see Sanji about to slam down into him with a powerful blow. He rose up his hands and his staff emerged out of the ground on his right, appearing in his hands for him to jab up as hard as he could with a white glow around his weapon.
The two of their attacks collided, and Sanji kept spinning down on the top of the staff his foot was pushing against. He pushed harder and harder and the ground beneath his opponent was creaking more, and more, and then the floor broke completely and the two of them fell through the hallway. They dropped and Sanji spun faster again but Jixsan was pushed off harder and gained some distance between them. Jixsan rolled to his left on the piece of rubble he was falling to the floor below on, then the Nobody cursed as Sanji's foot hit that large stone and shattered it with his drill-like kick.
The shattering of the boulder made Jixsan fly off of it on a few broken pieces. He hit a floor and bounced, then on the second bounce he slammed one of his hands down into the floor and skid backwards. He dragged his nails on the floor and Sanji frowned deeply as he watched the man's fingers start bleeding, My Nobody isn't a chef. He knows I would never risk hurting my hands like that. Sanji landed down on the ground on the floor below where they were just fighting. He heated up his right leg and started lifting up his glowing red knee so it was in front of his chest. "Diable Jambe!"
Jixsan growled Sanji's direction and he lifted up his right leg as well. Sanji's eyes opened wide as he saw his opponent's leg heating up and turning red to match his style. "What the," Sanji began. "Now that I think about it, why haven't you been using kicks? Even if you did not get stronger from fighting in the War against the Underworld and in Metropolis, your kicks should still be our most powerful-"
"Don't say 'our!'" Jixsan roared over at Sanji. The chef froze and the Nobody in a black cloak continued shouting, "I am not you! You're a shitty Somebody, keeping your heart all to yourself so that I can't give my whole being to the ladies!" Despite how idiotic that would sound to most, it sounded completely serious to Sanji who narrowed his eyes at the figure ahead of him who was shaking with rage. Jixsan kicked off the ground with his leg that was not red and smoking, sending himself flying incredibly fast towards Sanji.
Not fast enough though, Sanji thought as he kicked off the ground towards his opponent too. They were almost at each other, then Sanji kicked the air below him a little and rose up over Jixsan's first kick. He slammed his own leg down on his Nobody's stomach and Jixsan's whole body curved over it. The cloaked figure flew off the kick and down into the floor below which he created another crater in only even deeper than the first one he made on the floor above.
Down the dimly-lit hall from the cracking floor, a couple dozen people turned around and looked towards the dark hall where they heard a loud crash come from. Larxene was standing on stage next to two rows of ten people down on their knees, and hearing the crash from down the corridor she twisted her mouth into a snarl. "It is not a problem," she announced loudly for all the powerful people in the room who were thinking about going to check it out. Squads of Nobodies emerged out of nowhere and blocked the entrance because there were too many of them heading into the halls for any of the people to push through.
Larxene took her eyes off the crowd in front of her for a second, but when she looked back towards her slaves to continue auctioning them off, her eyes opened huge at the sight of the figures up on stage with her. A short blond man turned to her and chuckled with his white teeth shining at her. "Hehe, looks like you've caught us," Meliodas said, while behind him Weiss was bent down with a set of keys in her hand and was taking off one ankle bracelet after another.
The blonde Nobody shook with rage and reached down to grab her remote that would let her turn on the bracelets to kill all the slaves now. When she grabbed at her waist though, the remote was gone and her eyes opened up huge at the sight of Ban standing on the other side of the stage, holding up the remote in his hand right before crushing it with one simple squeeze. "You do not understand," Larxene began and ten knives appeared in her hands, sparking electricity. "What you have done!" She finished with a roar.
The others at the auction turned and were staring at the stage in surprise now. A couple moved towards it to stop Weiss from freeing the other slaves, but Ban moved towards the front of the stage first and he held a long steel pair of nunchucks in front of him while glaring at all the people before him. "Try it," he said, grinning a mouth of shark teeth as he did and his red eyes glowing. "I'm itching for a fight."
Since everyone in the Fort was supposedly rank orange or above, they were all wary of Ban. Then again, each one of them was a powerful fighter and a half dozen of them charged at the stage while others ran for the exit and some just watched amusedly. Larxene charged at Meliodas and threw her knives, only for the short man standing there to reach up and catch all of the knives with hands moving at incredible speeds. He got shocked by them but one could not tell by looking at the man who looked like a kid grinning on Halloween. Meliodas dropped the knives and then reached up a hand for the green hilt sticking out over his shoulder.
Sanji lifted his foot high above his Nobody as he stood next to Jixsan on the cracked floor. The Nobody was on his hands and knees and it looked like the fight was over. Jixsan twitched though before Sanji could bring his leg down, and then Jixsan's head snapped up fast and he looked straight past Sanji's legs, past all the silver Nobody forms sprinting down the hall towards them. Sanji saw the look on his Nobody's face and the look of anger on his own as he was about to slam a foot down on Jixsan's skull froze and faded. "A lady is in danger!" Jixsan shouted, pushing himself back up with strength he did not think he had. In front of Jixsan however, Sanji stood in his way with a foot still glowing red. "I'll give up on getting my Somebody. I have to get past you, and I will kill you if you get in my-"
"Go," Sanji said, lowering his leg and moving to the side of the hall. Jixsan's one showing eye not covered by his blond flip of hair opened wide, but he did not hesitate to start sprinting down the hall. As the Nobody ran though, his face was full of confusion and disillusionment. Why?! Why did he let me go? I must disgust him! I know I disgust him! He could just as easily save this lady himself!
The chef watched his counterpart jump up and kick through the air to go over the heads of the army of Nobodies coming his way. Sanji turned to the Dusks and Samurais and a few other strange ones he did not recognize in the ranks and rose back up his leg. His leg was no longer red, but he held up his fists in front of his face and brought his right knee in between his elbows. A faint glow surrounded him and he yelled out, "Raaa!" before flying forward and sending dozens of Nobodies smashing up in the air, into the walls, and ripping them apart.
Far past where Sanji was destroying Nobodies, Larxene was grabbing her right shoulder that was covered in blood with her left hand. She winced in pain but then lifted both arms again no matter how bloody her right was. "This is unacceptable!" She screamed. Larxene was shaking and she pulled out a single knife for each hand that sparked lightning out around her while her blonde hair waved around behind her. Meliodas put his green sword hilt back over his shoulder even as Larxene charged recklessly at him, as he no longer believed he would be needed. He turned and walked over to free more slaves, while the girl currently on her knees with the others stood up and spun around.
Larxene lifted her knives up over her head and then brought them down for Meliodas's back. Meliodas froze and his eyes opened wide, turning around as fast as he could. Weiss shot past the Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins while he was mid-turn, and she brought her rapier up fast, knocking both of Larxene's knives out of her hands so fast that the older woman fell backwards. Larxene hit the ground and Weiss rose up her rapier, a look of fury on her face as she did. She pulled her hilt back, then jabbed forward, only for Larxene to vanish from in front of her. Weiss could only see a blur and she snapped her head to the right angrily as Larxene was whisked away by something.
"I don't believe it," Meliodas said. He did not turn around because Larxene was attacking him, as he knew that was going to happen before he started turning away anyway. He turned because what he felt coming could not have been right, but there he was, standing there and making Weiss's eyes the size of saucers.
The teenage girl with a long white ponytail did not know what to say. She stared forward at a loss for words at the sight of the man who had the same color hair as Larxene and held the mean woman in his arms bridal style. "Larxene-chan, are you alright?" He asked. The man in a black cloak had a trail of blood coming down from his left nostril, the left sleeve of his cloak was ripped off, and his forehead about his swirly eyebrow was bruised. Jixsan coughed once and some blood came out on the corners of his lips, and the man winced but did not drop the wounded woman in his arms.
"You're, not Sanji, are you?" Weiss asked. She had to make sure. It was clear what was going on, but the way he acted towards women was so similar then maybe… The angry look on Jixsan's face made it certain that he was not who she just mentioned. Those people we brought with us, who are they? They said Sora chased after a figure in a black cloak, but, but he's not the only one with connections to the Organization.
"Put me down," Larxene growled, struggling a little but not very strongly as Meliodas's attack on her was draining a lot of her strength. "We can't let them take the slaves. And, we can't let Swixes' Nobody get away," she turned her gaze to Weiss, but then winced and Jixsan's decision not to let her go became even more final.
"We will fade soon," Jixsan said in a low whisper. Larxene snarled but said nothing and the man continued, "Let's leave it to Lord Saix." A black portal opened out of the ground behind Jixsan and he stepped backwards, taking Larxene with him despite her weak, non-genuine protests. Jixsan felt a presence on his right as he stepped into the portal and he darted the eye not covered by his blond hair over and saw Sanji standing at the entrance of the room, no regular Nobodies remaining in sight around him. The two of them locked eyes for a second, then the portal closed and Jixsan and Larxene were gone.
Weiss turned the direction Jixsan was looking right at the end and she stared into Sanji's eyes. "Tell me, what do-" BOOOOOM! An explosion rocked the entire Dread Fort and the hallway behind Sanji filled with bright red light. The chef started turning his head and his eyes began growing huge at the sight of the flames billowing down the hall as the other people rank orange and up who had started going down it sprinted back. He watched as all of them were enveloped by the flames and he rose up his arms and crossed them at the very last second, before the flames shot through the entrance and slammed into him too.
Three Minutes Earlier
"I don't know where all the guards went, but now's our chance. Come on!" Killua shouted in a hushed whisper. He jogged towards the open gateway where the Nobodies that were there a minute ago had disappeared into thin air as if they were called somewhere else. Running on his right side was a taller teenager with jet black hair who looked around him for some enemies that he might have to unsheathe his sword to fight.
Okumura Rin was not just looking for enemies around the near-empty courtyard though. He was on the lookout but did not spot who he was looking for and frowned deeper. "Up there," Killua said and Rin snapped his gaze up the steps to see what he was talking about. Killua had stopped running and the two teens only three years apart, one fourteen and the other seventeen, frowned at the sight of five Samurai Nobodies appearing at the top of the steps. It was as if whenever someone who was not supposed to be there got close, those Nobodies would appear to protect the place.
"What do we do?" Rin muttered. He did not know whether he should unsheathe his sword for something like this, but Kil turned to him and chuckled and his hesitant look.
"Don't worry, I've got this one," Killua told him. The kid started jogging up the stairs, and the Nobodies at the top jogged down towards him. They rose up sharp swords, but Killua surrounded himself in a white glow and dodged back and forth easily to evade each of the attacks. One of the blades came too close to the top of his hair though, and he had to duck faster in annoyance at that. He shot a hand up as he ducked and while his white aura thickened around his hand, he grabbed the blade and yanked the Samurai off the ground. Kil's hand was covered in Ko making it a lot harder so that the blade did not dig into his skin, and he did a full three-sixty while holding the Nobody, smashing it into all of its comrades.
All of them fell away, then got up and charged at him again. These things might not be too strong, but they are durable. Kil jumped ten feet in the air to dodge as the silver creatures that came from every direction slammed weapons down at the same time. He landed on the shoulders of one and pressed down with his legs while twisting its head-part around and ripping it off. Rin watched very nervously as these creatures had similar body types to humans, and Killua bounced around dismembering them all with ease like he knew exactly what he was doing. Kil's left hand's fingernails extended and he shoved it through the torso of the final Nobody, and the creature shattered into a flash of light that faded after a second.
As soon as the final Nobody vanished, a dozen more appeared around the top of the stairs. Kil and Rin dropped their jaws and Killua turned to look at the older boy. "Screw it. Let's just run past them." Rin nodded as it seemed like that was a better idea than trying to fight a seemingly limitless number of enemies.
Rin frowned deeply as Killua ran through the ranks of Dusks that appeared, thinking back more than a year in anger. They're just like the Heartless. They never run out. No matter how many I took down, Ansem had more waiting for me. Rin sprinted up the stairs and he saw Killua's back as the younger boy got into the entrance. The Nobodies filled the space between them, half chasing after Killua and the other half facing Rin ready to attack. The half-demon snarled as he thought about the day Ansem turned him into a slave of the darkness, and he lifted up his sword getting ready to unsheathe it. Killua called his name out and said to just jump over so they could keep going, but then both of them froze.
The ground beneath them felt like it was just hit by an earthquake and Killua spun around in shock. He stared into the Dread Fort behind him and heard screams echoing out through the building. The floor beneath his feet was rumbling, and then he saw the glowing light far ahead of him. He snapped his head to a dark entrance of a staircase leading down, and watched with huge eyes as very fast people sprinted up those stairs and dove to the sides, right before a massive fireball shot out of the tunnel and into the main room. Someone had just made it to the top of the stairs when the fireball shot out and Killua watched as the woman screamed and her skin got ripped from her body before the rest of her flesh melted off her bones. The fireball faded and he watched as bones with barely anything left on them fell at the top of the stairs, but the kid who watched this was not thinking about that woman at all.
Luffy, Sanji, Killua's heart rate sped up and he shouted without turning around. "I'm going to see if they're okay!"
Rin was just then getting his balance as he had stumbled about when the Dread Fort shook, and he snapped his gaze over the Nobodies only to see Killua vanish from sight in that instant. Fast, was the only thing Rin could think as he had no way of following the spiky haired kid. All of the Nobodies seemed to lose interest in him too, and they all faced Rin while others who had escaped the fireball inside now stared towards the entrance wondering what was going on up here considering the basements of the Dread Fort were full of mayhem.
Theseus walked in from where he was on the main floor with a woman covered in guns next to him. He and Revy were on their way out of the Dread Fort together when the explosion hit, and they headed faster to the entrance to see what the fuss was all about. The two of them looked around and saw a few people had burns near the top of the stairs, but most who were fast enough to escape up the stairs had avoided being damaged by the flames. Eight people looked towards the exit of the Dread Fort where silver Nobodies were facing off against a teenager holding a sheathed sword.
I have to catch up to Killua and find out if the guys are okay. Rin tssked but he saw no way to avoid it and he grabbed his hilt tight to pull it out of the sheath. Then, as Rin was right about to pull the Kouma Ken out and ignite himself in blue flames, all of the Nobodies in front of him flattened to the floor as if the gravity on them had increased a hundred fold. They got pressed down so hard that they all vanished in explosions of white light, even though the air around them had turned purple when the gravity increased. Rin froze, as two figures appeared floating down from above the top of the entrance on the inside of the Dread Fort.
They lowered to the ground inside the entrance and looked out at the teenager standing there and narrowing his eyes at them. The smaller of the two figures that lowered glared at the teen who he was shocked to see, but the taller of the two just grinned. Amaimon and Mephisto touched down and stared ten feet forward at the black haired teen who did not put down his sword. Mephisto looked straight into Rin's eyes while all those powerful people behind him stared at the demons' backs in confused silence. The purple haired demon wearing fancy white clothes narrowed his eyebrows and began, "I have been anticipating your arrival, Okumura Rin-kun."
"Ack-ack, uck-ah," Vexen coughed over and over while waving an arm in front of his face.
The scientist in a black cloak swiped away the smoke in front of him and finally stopped stumbling around. He looked towards the Integration Chamber, or where it used to be at least. The ceiling above them had completely blown apart, and Vexen smirked before coughing some more.
"We're okay?" Sora wondered as he got up to his feet. He turned left and saw Roxas getting back up too, and Luffy pushing a large chunk of ceiling off him from a little farther away. The pirate reached down and ripped some black quills out of his body but Sora nodded seeing he was okay. The teen then looked forward towards the source of the explosion that was still covered in smoke, but at least most of the flames that came with the explosion had faded away.
Saix and the mutant Nobody were also back on their feet, though Malx Lewx took longer and had both sleeves of his cloak completely ripped off showing burnt arms beneath. He had soot all over his face and coughed like Vexen before turning right to the Nobody scientist with blond hair and yelling, as his ears were ringing and he had no idea how loud he was being, "How the Hell did we survive?!"
Vexen continued looking into the smoke but he began speaking as he did. "The ability to merge two beings, two hearts, as incomplete as one of them may be, is an amazing feat, and requires an incredibly powerful energy source. The condensed Spiral particles necessary for the Integration Chamber have always been unstable. I knew that an explosion of great magnitude would occur should the Spiral particles' casing be compromised. In case of an event like this however, I built a failsafe into the chamber to expel any explosion upwards to protect myself and those in this lowest basement," Vexen smirked, "as well as the subject inside the chamber."
Everyone stared past the scientist into the smoke that was only now starting to thin out the slightest bit. As it did, the people in the lowest basement wondering what had happened inside the chamber when the explosion went off, watched as a black silhouette appeared in the smoke. They looked around as that shadow was on its hands and knees, looked for another silhouette to appear as the shadow got to its feet, but they saw only the one. The silhouette had big spikes sticking out from the shadow of its head, and they could tell the figure was looking their way as the lengths of those spikes were equal on either side of the head.
The figure stepped out of the smoke, his face no longer bruised or scratched up at all. He wore a black cloak that somehow looked un-damaged from the explosion, and he looked down at his right hand that he rose in front of him, then smirked in a way that made Roxas and Sora both go wide-eyed. "I am Axel," he said, lifting up his head and smirking into the room where Sora, Luffy, and the Nobodies all stared back at him in wonder. Vexen's eyes were huge at the look on Axel's face that looked nothing like the dreading, regret-filled expressions of the two who were put into the chambers only minutes before. Axel grinned menacingly, "This is better than I could imagine."
Luffy's eyes were huge as he looked at the guy. He looked behind him for another one, but there was only one, and he seemed so different from the two who had cheered him on to beat Saix and save them.
Axel chuckled darkly and he rose his right hand in front of him and clenched it into a fist. "I'm grateful, Xemnas," Axel began, an evil smirk spreading across his face. Saix grinned at the result while Vexen humphed as this was what the Organization was hoping for, though he himself was partially hoping Axel would not be so changed by the procedure. Roxas and Sora were both staring at Axel in shock as he opened up his right fist in front of him and slammed his open hand out to his right side. Axel smirked their way and a bright light glowed in front of his right hand, making everyone, all of the Nobodies, Roxas, Sora, and Luffy, all stare at the red-haired man first in confusion, then shock.
"Is that-" Malx began.
Vexen gasped and took a step back.
"It can't be," Saix said.
Luffy turned his head to see how Sora and Roxas would react, but they were just as shocked as everyone else in the room.
The two spiky-haired boys the same height as each other lost the yellow highlights to their clothes and they turned back to normal. A Keyblade vanished from one of their hands each, making it so both of them were only holding those Legendary weapons in their right hands, just like the man in front of the destroyed Integration Chamber. Axel's right hand had a circular red hilt in it covered in spikes, and out from that hilt was a blade that started off yellow, got more orange the farther down the blade it got, then turned red right at the end where it curved and spikes of red flames stuck out. Hanging off the hilt of his weapon was a keychain just like the ones hanging off Sora and Roxas's weapons. Axel stood there, holding a Keyblade, while everyone else stared at him in awe. "Lea was a Keybearer," Axel said, then swung his right arm forward and pointed the end of his Keyblade out at Sora whose expression turned to one of despair. Axel smirked, "Who knew?"
A/N Thanks for reading! We finally get a look at Axel who was not in the Capital with the rest of Gray's old team, and now we know why too. Axel was captured months ago, but it was them finding Lea around this time which allowed them to be merged in case anyone was confused. Sanji beats up his Nobody, the Sins freed the slaves and beat up Larxene, but Jixsan escapes with Larxene. Demyx is sent after Robin, Luffy says he's gonna kick Saix's ass, Axel's transformation is unsettling, and Rin faces off against Mephisto and Amaimon! A whole lot is going on! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
-On a different note, I know I've been posting a chapter a day for the last two weeks now... but that's over, sorry ;(. I had all of chapter 7, and the whole start of chapter 8 written out when I started posting them, (except Zoro's chapter which I finished the day before I posted it), but admittedly, I just finished writing this chapter earlier today. And what's worse, I have nothing written down yet for next chapter except the summary. Even worse, next chapter is going to probably be the longest of the Dread Fort, which means I have probably near 20k words to write before I post it. And worstest, (sorry for all the bad news), the two chapters after The Dread Fort Part 4 are started, but also not yet finished. Also, just to top it all off, next week is finals week at college and I'm going to be stuck studying during my free time when I want to be writing this :(. There is one plus side to this, and that is that I have 9/10 parts of Nexus HWR Chapter 9 already written completely, as well as 8.9, which means that once I finish up the next three chapters I will be posting another 10 straight! So, hope this doesn't bum anyone out too much, there'll just be super suspense as to how the Dread Fort is going to end in the next part of this chapter!
Darugus chapter 42 . 21h ago
The other nobodies there are nami robin rin and wiess
Also nice chapter
Nice call on those Nobodies, though they aren't actually in the Dread Fort, only mentioned by Jixsan when he said their Somebodies were there. Thanks for the review!
7lights13darknes chapter 42 . 22h ago
That was awesome! I was not expecting zexion to go so quickly but I'm not complaining. The battle was really good considering how short it was. I have a couple things to say:
1) i did notices the mention of rins nobody. ( good job on the whole switching the names by the way)
2) how many members are in the organization now because larxcene said #xxiii (23 right?) so it has expanded and this time above 14 ... Get it? ( xion reference)
3) the suspense is killing me i want to see sora and roxas take those guys down! ( I'm getting tired of typing there names)
4) i like how you did soras reaction to seeing larxcene. My cousin once pointed out on how out of all villians she made legit made in the actual game. Sure the rest of them angered him but he actually wanted to kill her ( along with Marluxia) so i think it was well done.
5) speaking of character development and all i think i know who you are doing the best so far( drum roll ) ... King mickey because know has seen him or know where he is! Get it ( this was meant as nothing but a fun joke and nothing more
All jokes aside you are doing awesome and keep up the good work. Oh yeah i was wandering if sora could do more summons like mushu, tinkerbell, or chicken little . ( i keep doing kh stuff because like i said big fan it is actually half the reason i started reading nexsus. The other is because it seemed really good anyways and the first chapter got me hooked on it) thanks for such a great fanfic and hope you liked the jokes. Don't worry i wont do them often ( those were the only too i had for know anyways)
Thanks for the awesome review! Mushu, Tink, and Chicken Little could all be summoned, just like Simba, Genie, Stitch, and Arceus, (who knows when they ever will though?) :P. Xirn, Manix, Bronxi, Swixes, Jixsan, and Dalgrefxi. We've seen/heard of six new Nobodies so far from the characters trapped by Ansem. Also turns out the Organization was making Nobodies as well with Quill's Nobody: Malx Lewx (which was the best I could come up with with Maxwell as a starting name). Zexion kicks the bucket but Larxene doesn't?! XD Sometimes stuff happens, but yeah we'll see what happens about Marluxia and Mickey and Xion and everyone... Anyway! Thanks again everyone for reading this story and to those of you who reviewed! 'Till next time!