“C’mon, do you guys remember anything at all?” said Sora, practically begging.
“Umm…” Donald frowned, concentrating, then he hung his head. “Nope. Sorry, Sora.”
“We’re supposed to be lookin’ for a friend who’s real important to us, too,” Goofy added. “But I just can’t remember.”
“Oh…”
There are memories Donald and Goofy lost, too…the memories of our friends. The important things we came to find.
“Actually, I’m getting kinda scared,” Donald admitted very quietly. The sound of the waves rushed on between them in the stillness.
“Then, we really should make a promise!” said Goofy, trying to break the dismal mood.
“Huh?” Sora looked up.
“What you said back there, it kinda got my brain a-thinkin’. When you make a promise, and you decide you’re gonna keep it no matter what…maybe it gives you the courage to face the scary stuff!”
“Courage…?” Sora mumbled.
My promise to Naminé… My promise to that girl… I made it this far because I’ve been trying to keep my promise.
“Yeah! Good thinkin’!” said Donald with a jump. “But what should we promise?”
“Ahyuck. That’s easy! Even if we get scared, or we’re in trouble, or even if we get split up… Or even if we sorta forget each other…” Smiling, Goofy held out his hand.
Looking up at him, Sora nodded and put his hand over Goofy’s. “Whatever happens, we’re friends.”
Donald added his hand, too. “All for one and one for all!”
No matter what happens…even if we get separated, even if we can never see each other again…we’re friends forever.
“Even if one of us gets lost… So the three of us will always be together.”
“Huh?” Sora heard that voice from somewhere. He looked around—but there was no one else to be seen besides Donald and Goofy.
Maybe it was just the waves…
The blue sea lapped at the shore.
“What’s wrong, Sora?” asked Donald.
“It’s nothing. C’mon, guys, let’s go!” Sora ran across the beach.
Back in the hall, Naminé softly sat down beside Riku, who was still lying on the floor, and touched his hair.
A fake Riku made by us, the fakes…
His memories written and rewritten so many times. A poor puppet only made to be used.
Maybe we’re still better off compared to him…
“Naminé.”
She looked up. “…Marluxia.”
It was him—the one in charge of Castle Oblivion.
“Come along, Naminé.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.
“But—but Riku…”
“Don’t you worry about that worthless puppet.” Marluxia barely glanced at Riku before leaving, still holding Naminé by the arm.
The trio went farther, easily fighting their way through the Heartless that appeared. The next room was the deck of a ship and the one after that a forest of big green lily pads—all definitely worlds that they had visited inside the castle.
But the memories of those places were faded and vague. They could hardly remember at all.
All they knew was that in each place, they’d made friends. And even if they lost those memories, their friends would still be their friends.
Just knowing that made it all right. They could keep going.
“Hyah!” Sora swung the Keyblade down on a Heartless.
It’s okay—my friends are still here, even though I’m losing my memories. That’s why we’ll be all right.
Marluxia walked up through the stories, dragging Naminé with him. There was the big room that served as the entrance hall to the twelfth floor.
She’d left her sketchbook in the room with the crystal ball. She closed her eyes and imagined a scene.
I wonder where Sora is now?
All the worlds inside Castle Oblivion—I lost control of them and they’re getting jumbled together. I hope he doesn’t get lost…
But if he isn’t lost, then he has to be coming to this hall soon… The thought made Naminé’s face cloud over with worry. And if he can’t defeat Marluxia, he won’t be able to get his real memories back…
“How’ve you been, Marluxia?”
Hearing the new voice, Naminé opened her eyes again. Axel stood there smirking.
“You have some nerve to show your treasonous face around here.” Marluxia let go of Naminé to give him a deadly glare. “Some nerve!”
“Treasonous? Whatever do you mean?” Axel replied breezily.
“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 shook a fist at him.
“Oh, right, your big plan. 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.”
Just as Axel said, Marluxia had been scheming to betray the organization.
Organization XIII. A bunch of Nobodies.
“But you—you destroyed Vexen!” cried Marluxia, flinging his arm out in a wild gesture.
“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. Oh, and I had to make you trust me.”
Axel grinned, but his eyes glinted with a viciously cold light.
“So, this whole time, your only goal was to gain proof of our plot… Is that it, then?” Marluxia sounded resigned.
“Well…you did give that order yourself. ‘You must eliminate the traitor.’” Axel spread his arms—and then, in each hand, he held a round spiked chakram. “And I always follow orders, Marluxia.”
“Hmph. If only that were true,” Marluxia sniffed.
“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 took Naminé by the arm once more, dragging her in front of him.
“Is that your shield? Won’t do you much good. I don’t mind eliminating her as well.” Axel brandished his chakrams. “Ready for real oblivion, Marluxia?”
“Hmph… We’ll see about that. Are you listening, Sora?”
Naminé stood taller, trying to see—and it was Sora and his friends who came dashing in.
“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!” Holding the Keyblade ready, Sora glared.
“Oh, come on now. You’re Marluxia’s puppet already?” Axel turned to face him, unhurried, with a mocking shrug.
“You think so? After I finish you, he’s next!”
“Heh… Look, Sora, 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 raised his chakrams again and leaped into the air, and Sora blocked his strike with the Keyblade.
“Blizzaga!” Donald flung a spell at him, but Axel jumped back to avoid the blast of ice by a hair’s breadth.
“Why don’t you just take care of one another, then…” Still holding Naminé, Marluxia disappeared with her.
Axel raised one eyebrow. “Tch… He got away. —Well, Sora, let’s see what you can do!”
He moved toward Sora in slow, even steps, as if trying to lure him to rush in.
“You don’t have to tell me!” Sora jumped up. Behind him, Donald had his wand ready.
The impact clanged through the Keyblade up Sora’s arms.
“Hmm? Is that all?” Axel knocked him aside.
“Here goes!” Spinning around, Goofy moved in.
“Oh, you’ll burn!” Axel shot out flames, and a wall of fire rushed toward Goofy.
Donald was
there to counter it. “Blizzaga!” Great chunks of ice launched at the wall of fire—but didn’t douse it.
“Aaah-hoooey! Ow-ow-ow!” The fire seemed to chase Goofy around.
“Donald! You help Goofy!” Sora shouted and hurtled through the flames to get in range of Axel.
“You’ve got a ways to go…” Blocking Sora’s attack, Axel gave him a cocky grin. “It’s funny. You really have nothing on him.”
“Him…?” Sora echoed.
Axel pushed him aside and laughed. “There’s plenty more up my sleeves for you! Take this!”
The chakrams were wreathed in fire as he flung them at the trio.
“I know! Donald!” Sora ran to him and whispered in his ear.
“Wak?”
“We did it when we beat Vexen, didn’t we?” Sora raised the Keyblade high. “Here goes, Donald!”
“All right!”
Sora threw the Keyblade like a boomerang.
“Blizzaga!” Donald flung the spell at the spinning Keyblade, surrounding it in ice crystals.
“Ya-hoooey! Here I come!” Goofy hurled himself after the Keyblade.
“Oh?” Axel held the chakrams ready out in front of him to block, but the ice-covered Keyblade spun and knocked them from his hands. In the next instant, Goofy was there to crash into him with his shield.
“…Ngh!”
“Axel—!” The Keyblade returned to his grasp and Sora jumped at him.
Stunned by the blow, Axel fell to his knees. “…Not so bad after all.”
“We did it!” Donald pounced on Sora.
“Well, you’re better than I thought. It was worth saving you after all.” Axel smirked even as he slumped to the floor.
“Saving me? What d’you mean?”
“Sorry, I’d hate to kill the suspense.”
“Axel!” Sora shouted, but he was already fading—though the smile on his face didn’t.
Then Axel was gone, leaving only a single card behind.
“…Saving me?” Sora repeated as he picked up the card.
How did Axel save me?
What connection do I have with that guy?
And who else was he talking about?
Axel only kept saying things that made no sense…
“C’mon, let’s keep movin’,” said Goofy, while Sora was lost in thought.
“We gotta help Naminé!” Donald waved his wand around for emphasis.
“Oh. Right… We better go.”
I have to save Naminé…and get my memories back.
The image on the card was this very castle itself. Sora climbed the stairs and held the card up to the door.
SHORT CHAPTER
FRAGMENTS
THE ROOM LAY FAR UNDERGROUND IN THE BOWELS OF Castle Oblivion.
In that place ruled by gloom and shadow was a single man, his face half hidden behind long bangs. His name was Zexion. Number 6 in the organization.
“What’s going to become of the organization…?” he murmured.
In reply, another appeared in the room—Axel, whom Sora thought he’d just defeated.
“Naminé’s betrayed you. Sora eliminated Larxene.” Smirking, he approached Zexion. “The question is which one of us will be next to fall.”
“…It might be you.”
“Me? I doubt that.” Axel folded his arms. “You see, just before I got here, I pretended that Sora beat me to a pulp enough to make me disappear. So, I won’t be fighting him again, at least for a bit.”
“For a bit…?”
Zexion nearly asked what that was supposed to mean but held his tongue. There was no need to ask him questions.
“Which means,” said Axel, “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?”
Marluxia might be in charge of the castle, but he was still only number 11. And Axel, as number 8—despite being on good terms with Marluxia—saw him as a lower-ranking opponent for Sora.
Of course, their assigned numbers in the organization did not directly correspond to strength. What had happened to Vexen was proof enough of that.
“I’m saying that Marluxia tried to use Sora to take over the organization, and Sora will be the one to eliminate him.”
So it’s no longer necessary to compete with Marluxia, who tried to take possession of the hero of light, thought Zexion. Then, what should we do with the hero of darkness who is in our hands now?
“Then…our reason for obtaining Riku is no longer valid.”
“Are you saying we’ll have to dispose of him?” said Axel. “You want to go up against Riku after he took down Lexaeus?”
They’d already lost three members of the organization here in Castle Oblivion. They ought to avoid losing any more. Naturally, he had no intention whatsoever of fighting Riku.
“I’ll do things differently,” Zexion replied with a slight smile and went on to tell Axel of a certain important matter.
He wouldn’t have to get his hands dirty. He could finish this from a distance.
CHAPTER 11
CASTLE OBLIVION
Maybe it would be easier if I lost my memory.
But…if I do, I’ll forget Sora. That would be even sadder.
I did the same thing to Sora.
Sora… I’m sorry.
Riku… Forgive me.
This is my crime…and my punishment.
I’m no one… I’m her shadow.
Even while he—while Marluxia has me by the arm, I’m praying.
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR, THE HALL STRETCHED on, looking much the same.
“So this is what the castle really looks like, huh?” said Donald, even as he destroyed some Heartless that came for them.
One appeared right in front of Goofy and he yelped, jumping back.
“These are different from the ones we’ve fought before!” shouted Sora as he brought the Keyblade down on them.
They looked like Shadows, the weakest kind of Heartless, but not quite the same shape, and the way they attacked wasn’t the same, either. Quite a lot of them appeared, but they each moved differently.
“There’s something weird about ’em…” Donald whacked a rather meek Heartless over the head.
It was hard to say exactly what was different about them, but…
“Hey. What are the Heartless, anyway?” Donald wondered after they’d defeated all of them.
“What are they…? Gawrsh… Didn’t somebody tell us once?” Goofy said with his head cocked to one side. “Sora, d’you remember?”
Sora shook his head. They’d forgotten so much—even important things. But he’d never thought much about what Heartless really were. “We better just get rid of them and keep going.”
“I guess so…” Goofy seemed like he had more he wanted to say.
“Let’s go.” But even as he urged them on, Sora stood there confused, feeling a haze come over his mind.
This isn’t the time to think about stuff like that… Marluxia has Naminé. And we don’t know what happened to Riku. Actually…if the Riku here isn’t the real one, where is the real Riku?
Blue sky. White sand.
Riku stood surrounded by the sound of the waves.
The world he knew as home—the Destiny Islands.
Back then, he’d wanted to leave it behind. But now he missed it so badly he could hardly stand it.
I’ve been alone since I left the islands.
But that’s how I know—even if I have to keep going alone, I’ll be all right.
“Riku! You’re not alone!”
It was King Mickey who told him that—but the king wasn’t here with him now.
How long do I have to walk this path by myself? Maybe I’ll always be alone…
Riku ran up the beach. Almost like in those days.
Sora…where are you?
No matter how far they went, all the rooms looked the same—as if they weren’t moving at all. But Marluxia might be in he
re somewhere.
“This castle is huge!” Donald complained.
“We’ve come up twelve stories, so there can’t be much more,” Sora replied and resolutely kept walking.
“Ahyuck! Right.” Goofy followed, still in good spirits. “Y’know, Sora…”
“What is it, Goofy?”
“Losin’ memories is kinda scary, but it’s not really all that bad, huh?”
Sora stopped in his tracks. “Yeah, it is! We were on a quest, and we don’t even remember what for!”
“But the three of us are still goin’ around together. That part didn’t change.”
Goofy wasn’t wrong. Even with their memories missing, they could still keep going. They still had their feelings.
Maybe that was better than being manipulated by false memories.
“Sora, do you remember?” asked Donald.
“Remember what?”
“Our promise!”
“’Course I do! Even if we get scared, or we’re in trouble, or even if we get split up, or forget each other—we’re friends no matter what.”
“Then, even if you forget ’em—your friends are still your friends!” Donald told him cheerfully.
“I guess… But I still don’t want to. I’d rather remember them!”
People who were special to him… His friends… He wanted to remember all of them.
“Yeah, well—same here!” Donald frowned. “But what happens when we get our memories back?”
“What do you mean? They’ll just be back, right?” said Sora, but that didn’t seem to be any comfort to Donald.
Our memories will go back to the way they were before. So I’ll be like I was before I came here…? Then, what about everything that happened inside the castle?
“We gotta remember what we were lookin’ for on our journey,” Goofy added.
He was right again. This wasn’t the time to be overthinking things.
They had to help Naminé—and remember what they were searching for. There was no other way to keep going.
Sora started walking forward again.
When they had gone through more white rooms than they could count, finally they came to a more spacious hall, where pillars towered and chandeliers of carved marble flowers hung from the ceiling.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories The Novel (light novel) Page 17
