At last, Naminé got to her feet.
“Just make it count.”
She gave a tiny nod and then dashed out of the room.
He suspected she was heading to where Sora was right now—to Destiny Island.
Alone now, Axel laughed out loud. “Now this should be interesting. So it was worth all that trouble after all!”
He approached the crystal ball and peered at the image of Sora there.
If Sora was lost…that might mean Roxas would be lost, too. And Axel would do anything in his power to stop that from happening. He hadn’t been tasked with terminating the hero of light himself, but he had no way of knowing what orders the others might have received.
“Now, then! Sora, Naminé, Riku, Marluxia, Larxene! It’s about time you gave me one hell of a show!” he crowed to the empty room.
Roxas was fast asleep in his bed, alone—until two other figures stepped into the room.
“Naminé must have begun her work,” said Saïx, observing Roxas’s slack face. Beside him, Xemnas was doing the same.
Whatever was happening at Castle Oblivion, no intelligence had come beyond the news of a termination. It was enough to arouse suspicion that the lack of communication was deliberate. At this point, Saïx and Xemnas had no choice but to put faith in Axel’s efforts there.
“Will he wake from this?” Xemnas asked.
“I am told he will,” said Saïx, “provided she strips the hero of all his memories.”
“Then much hinges on the affairs at Castle Oblivion,” Xemnas murmured, as if to remind himself, and looked at Saïx again.
“Xion has gained power over the Keyblade, as we intended,” Saïx reported dispassionately. “She can fill Roxas’s role in collecting hearts for the time being.”
If number 14 could wield the Keyblade, the mysterious slumber that had seized Roxas would not pose a problem.
They observed him in silence for a few moments, until Saïx turned toward the door.
“And the chamber?” Xemnas asked, halting him. “Have you found it?”
This was a crucial inquiry, deeply connected to the existence of Castle Oblivion itself. He had not, however, found the room in question.
“No, sir. I would say progress is slow…if we were making any to speak of.” With that, Saïx sedately walked out, leaving Xemnas alone with the sleeping Roxas.
Xemnas stared down at the boy. “So sleep has taken you yet again…”
If the words had reached Roxas in his dreams, the boy gave no indication.
She stole into Sora’s memories—into Destiny Island.
In here, there will be a false version of me from the memory I made.
Naminé could see Sora fighting the giant Heartless on the tiny island, and she ran along the stormy shore as fast as her feet would take her.
“Naminé…” After he’d won the battle. Sora called out to the phantom of her.
An illusion—the false girl that Naminé herself had forced him to see.
“Sora… You really came for me,” she said as the gale began to settle.
“It’s you… It’s really you…” Sora sounded overjoyed.
The phantom shook her head.
“I’ve gone through so much just to see you!” he said.
“I know… Me too.”
I wanted to meet you so badly. Naminé’s smile was tinged with sorrow.
Her powers…were working.
“But this isn’t right. I messed up. I wanted to see you…but this isn’t the right way.”
She turned away from him toward the sea. Though there had been howling wind and whitecaps a moment before, everything was far too still. Even the rush of the waves had ceased.
Not a sound could be heard.
When she woke up, everything was the same as it always was. She was in her room on her bed.
Although she felt a little muzzier than usual.
Xion got up and looked in the mirror. It’s me. Nothing new.
After getting ready for the day, she went to the Grey Area and found Saïx and Xigbar there.
“…Where’s Roxas?” she asked Saïx.
“None of your concern.”
Xion had expected as much. Saïx never answered her questions.
Then Xigbar poked his face between them. “There you go again, Saïx. Why’re you so mean to our Poppet?”
Saïx pointedly ignored him.
Xigbar always talks to me, at least, thought Xion. He’s so much nicer than Saïx. I like him.
“They’re saying Roxas fainted or something, and he’s still out like a light,” Xigbar supplied.
“Huh?” Xion started. Roxas was unconscious…?
“You worried about him?” Xigbar nodded understandingly. “Aw, sweet little Poppet. Why don’t I take you to visit him later?”
“Okay…”
Xigbar patted her on the head.
Why is he always calling me “Poppet,” though? she wondered.
“And who gave you the authority to—? No, I suppose there’s no harm in visiting him.” Saïx relented. “After your mission.”
For once, he wasn’t shutting her down. “What’s the assignment today?” she asked.
“Investigating, the same as yesterday. Although you’ll be going to a different world this time.” Saïx described the place to her.
“…All right.” Xion nodded and stepped into the dark portal.
The sky and sea had turned black as the darkness overtook the world of Destiny Island.
The view had come from Sora’s memory of the last time he’d seen this island.
“Look! You gave this to me, didn’t you?!” he cried, holding out the paopu fruit good luck charm.
But it was a fake, designed to go with a fake memory.
“You still have it…” Naminé looked at the sea, a gentle smile on her face.
But that Naminé was the phantom.
“No, Sora! You can’t trust me!” The real Naminé finally reached them.
This world was an insubstantial, unstable existence inside a memory. Any disturbance would erode and change it. The other Naminé was fading away.
“Think, Sora,” Naminé urged him. “Think just one more time, about who’s most special to you. Call out to that shard of memory that glimmers faintly deep inside you. No matter how far away the light gets, your heart’s voice will always reach it.”
“Who’s most special to me…?” Sora stared down at the good luck charm in his hand. “That’s easy. It’s you, Na—”
The instant he began to say her name, it glowed—and then it transformed from the yellow star of a paopu into a different charm entirely, made of five seashells tied together.
“SORA!” someone called out. Brilliant light flooded the island.
“What just happened…?” Sora looked around. The sea was its usual blue, the sky bright and clear. And he was alone on the beach.
The only thing he could hear was the sound of the waves.
“Who…was that? I can’t remember her…but she feels so familiar…” Sora made his way across the sand.
Alone, Xion strolled along the shore of the islet, next to the beautiful blue ocean.
Destiny Islands, this world was called. The sand crunched softly beneath her feet, and the unceasing rush of the waves filled her ears.
“It’s so pretty here…,” she murmured. A seashell peeked out from the sand at her feet. She plucked it up and put it in her pocket.
Then Xion heard voices approaching. She darted away from the water’s edge and hid in the shade behind some rocks.
It was an Organization rule to avoid being seen by a world’s inhabitants.
“Pick up the pace!” A boy came running down the beach.
“Aw, slow down, Tidus!”
“C’mon, does saying that ever work?”
A girl was chasing him, the breeze jostling the flipped ends of her hair. Another boy, who looked a little older, wasn’t far behind.
The first boy, Tidus, skidded to a
halt so suddenly that the girl crashed right into him. Behind them, the older boy was able to slow down on his own.
“Ow! Don’t stop short like that!” the girl whined.
“Look…” Tidus pointed to someone perched at the end of the islet—a girl with bright-red hair.
“Kairi hasn’t been doing too well…,” the first girl said with a worried sigh.
“Eh, she’ll cheer up soon,” the older boy replied, brushing off her anxiety.
Xion crept away before they could notice her.
* * *
On the twelfth floor of Castle Oblivion, Sora had emerged from the Destiny Islands of his memories and was now fighting the Replica.
The Replica raised his sword to strike.
“Riku, don’t!” Naminé cried.
But he ignored her and swung. “You’re through, you impostor!”
“NO!” she screamed. A flash of blinding light filled the room.
The Replica staggered back with a small sound of pain, sinking to the floor.
“Riku!” Sora ran to him, trying to help him up. The Replica’s eyes were open and unseeing. “Naminé? What did you do to him?!”
At Sora’s reproach, she could barely manage a shake of her head. But…I had no choice.
“Broke his heart,” a ruthless, feminine voice replied instead. “More like she smashed it, really.”
Sora and Naminé both whirled around to find Larxene.
He laid the Replica gently down on the floor. “Then—then what’s gonna happen to him?!” he demanded.
Sora still believed with all his heart that the Replica was the real Riku, his friend.
“Ha-ha! You’re so much fun to watch,” Larxene cackled. “If it’s Riku you’re worried about, well, no need for that. Riku was never really here, you see.”
“What d’you mean?!” Sora readied the Keyblade to attack her.
Larxene only giggled at him. “Oh, you think I’m just gonna tell you? That’s too easy! My, my, what to do!”
“Enough with the games!” Sora’s patience had run out, and he took a threatening swipe at her with the Keyblade.
“All right, fine, have it your way. I know it’ll just kill you to hear this…but I can live with that.” Larxene took a step closer and peered gravely into Sora’s eyes. “That thing lying there is just a puppet Vexen made as an experiment. No more than a toy. It’s laughable, really. It called you an impostor, but it was the fake all along.”
“He’s not Riku—? A fake?!”
“A fake in every possible way! It was only finished recently. How could it remember anything? It doesn’t have a past! Get it? Its memories with Naminé were just planted, not real. Meaning all this time, it’s been picking fights with you over memories—counterfeit, trumped-up, completely bogus memories!” Grinning, Larxene turned to Naminé.
Roxas was in his bed, fast asleep.
Xion softly placed the seashell beside his pillow. “Roxas, I got to go to the beach today. It was so pretty…”
No one had put anything else in here for him. Maybe she could bring back more.
“I’ll come again tomorrow, Roxas. Okay?”
She quietly left his room.
Larxene was gone after losing her battle with Sora, and now he was headed up to the thirteenth floor to take down Marluxia. Naminé sat on the floor beside the prone Replica and stroked his hair.
This poor boy was nothing but the Organization’s puppet, his memories written and rewritten again.
“Naminé,” someone said.
She startled and looked up. “Marluxia…”
It was him. The one in charge of this castle.
“Come along, Naminé.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her upright.
“But—but, Riku—”
“Don’t you worry about that worthless puppet.” Marluxia cast one unfeeling glance down at the Replica lying on the floor and walked away, dragging Naminé with him.
They arrived elsewhere on the twelfth floor, and someone appeared in front of them.
It was Axel. “How’ve you been, Marluxia?”
“You have some nerve showing your treasonous face around here!” Marluxia snarled, flinging Naminé away from him.
“Treasonous?” Axel repeated, cockily feigning innocence. “Whatever do you mean?”
“Why would you let Naminé go?! If it weren’t for you and your needless meddling, the Keyblade master would already be ours to command!” Marluxia trembled with rage.
But what was rage to the nonexistent heart of a Nobody?
Once, they had known anger and laughter and tears. Furious shaking was no more than an instinctive response ingrained in the patterns of memory.
“Oh, right, your big plan,” Axel drawled. “Use Naminé’s powers to rewrite Sora’s memories little by little and make him into Naminé’s lapdog so you’re controlling Sora through her. And then, along with Larxene, you take over the Organization. Am I right? I’ve got news for you, Marluxia—that makes you the traitor.”
“But you—you destroyed Vexen!”
“Yeah, I got rid of him. What about it? All I did was eliminate one of us who failed to serve the Organization’s purpose.” Axel smirked. “Oh, and I had to make you trust me.”
“So this whole time, your only goal was to gain proof of our plot… Is that it, then?” asked Marluxia, resigned.
“Well…you did give that order yourself. ‘You must eliminate the traitor.’” Axel spread his arms wide and summoned his chakrams. “And I always follow orders, Marluxia.”
“Hmph. If only that were true.” Marluxia sniffed derisively.
“Larxene paid the price for her disloyalty. And so will you. In the name of the Organization, I will annihilate you.”
“You can try!” Marluxia snarled and grabbed Naminé again, yanking her close.
“Is that your shield? Won’t do you much good. I don’t mind eliminating her as well,” Axel told him, chakrams blazing. “Ready for real oblivion, Marluxia?”
It shouldn’t make any difference to him or to the Organization whether Naminé lived or not. He would destroy anyone in his way.
“Hmph… We’ll see about that,” said Marluxia. “Are you listening, Sora?”
And in fact, Sora came rushing in, ready for another battle.
“Oh?” Axel lowered his weapons.
“Axel says he’s willing to harm Naminé to get to me,” Marluxia shouted. “But you won’t let that happen, will you?!”
“…Axel!” Clutching the Keyblade, Sora glared at him.
Still? Axel thought. Facing Sora like this reminded him of Roxas, which made him uneasy. The memory of a feeling welled up within, something that had never come over him when he confronted Marluxia or Larxene or Vexen.
But those connections were no more than memories of the past—Axel had never cared about anyone since becoming a Nobody.
What was happening? Why was Roxas so important to him? Why was Sora?
So long as he understood what the stakes were, he should have no reason to recoil from terminating someone. After all, he was a Nobody with no heart.
And yet…he didn’t want to do this.
“Oh, come on,” he said, feigning indifference. “You’re Marluxia’s puppet already?”
“You think so?” Sora retorted. “After I finish you, he’s next!”
“Heh… Look, Sora…” Axel stared hard at him.
None of that mattered; he couldn’t eliminate the kid at this point. He would just pretend to lose. Go out with a real bang.
“We’ve got more of a connection than you might think. I’d rather not fight you, but…I can’t let myself look bad here!”
Axel sprang into the air to attack.
In the dim, gloomy chamber in one of Castle Oblivion’s basement floors, Zexion stood with his arms folded, lost in thought. “Vexen destroyed, and now Lexaeus… What’s going to become of the Organization…?”
Lexaeus had just fallen in combat with Riku.
The air in th
e room rippled, and someone answered Zexion’s soliloquy.
“Naminé’s betrayed you. Sora eliminated Larxene. The question is which one of us will be next to fall,” Axel commented.
Scowling, Zexion did not turn to face him. “…It might be you.”
“Me? I doubt that.”
Zexion had never trusted Axel one bit. In fact, he had never trusted anyone besides the original members of the Organization—those he had once known in the laboratory. But he found two especially untrustworthy: Saïx, who had somehow wormed his way into Lord Xemnas’s confidence, and his close acquaintance Axel.
“You see, just before I got here, I pretended that Sora beat me to a pulp enough to make me disappear,” Axel went on. “So I won’t be fighting him again, at least for a bit. Which means the next to fall will be Marluxia.”
“Sora beat you, so there’s no way he’ll lose against Marluxia—is that what you think?”
Although the castle had been entrusted to him, Marluxia was only number 11. Their assigned numbers in the Organization did not directly correspond to strength. And yet, it seemed Axel, number 8, saw Marluxia as inferior. He would be wrong. In truth, Marluxia’s strength in battle surpassed his. Axel was underestimating him simply because of his rank.
“I’m saying that Marluxia tried to use Sora to take over the Organization,” said Axel, “and Sora will be the one to eliminate him.”
Finally, Zexion turned to look him in the eyes. “Then…our reason for obtaining Riku is no longer valid.”
The hint of a smile at Axel’s mouth was not a pleasant one. “Are you saying we’ll have to dispose of him? You want to go up against Riku, after he took down Lexaeus?”
“I’ll do things differently.” With that, Zexion disappeared.
“Well, I wonder how he’ll manage that,” Axel murmured. “…Oof, I need to take a breather.”
Prodding at his injuries from the fight, he vanished, too, leaving the dim room empty.
After Marluxia’s defeat, Sora and Naminé turned to each other and smiled. The Replica watched in a mild daze.
“You okay, Riku?” asked Sora.
At the concern in his voice, the Replica looked up with a gasp. His answer came slowly.
Kingdom Hearts 358-2 Days Page 7
