Kingdom Hearts 358-2 Days

by Tomoco Kanemaki

  He strode through the corridors to the floor where Sora and his friends were now.

  “Eliminate the traitor, huh…?”

  This made it clear who the real traitors were—for the Organization, at least.

  Marluxia and Larxene were scheming to betray the whole group. Vexen was just an idiot with a laboratory, and so long as his own position was respected, he had far more interest in science than politics. That left the rest of the underground team, but it was too soon to be sure about them.

  Axel wasn’t about to ponder the morality of purging Vexen. It was just another task to maintain his good standing with Marluxia and Larxene. He might as well think of it as self-preservation. But why would Vexen conjure Twilight Town, of all places?

  Thanks to that genius idea, now even the Replica would be heading there.

  And if, by some chance, Sora found out about Roxas—what would happen then?

  How would a human react upon learning about his own Nobody?

  If Sora were to disappear, the same might happen to Roxas.

  He had to keep that from happening, at least.

  So Axel stepped into the Twilight Town of Castle Oblivion’s eleventh floor, where Sora waited.

  * * *

  This place was allegedly extracted from Sora’s memories, but it was every inch the town Axel knew. From the brick buildings to the color of the cobblestones, not a single detail was out of place.

  “Sheesh… This castle sure is something,” he said under his breath, marveling anew at the power of these white rooms and their memory-based transformations into other worlds.

  He headed into the forest that led to the haunted mansion. The Replica was nowhere to be seen, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t here.

  Sora and his friends, though, should be this way. He could hear Vexen shouting from beyond the trees.

  Keeping himself hidden in the shadows, he spied on their conversation. Regardless of the outcome, it would be easier to complete his task afterward.

  “Sora… I’ve got a question for you,” Vexen was saying. “Your memories of Naminé or your feeling about this place—which of the two is more real to you, I wonder?”

  “Naminé, of course!” Sora retorted. “Whatever it is that I’m feeling here, I bet it’s just another one of your mean little tricks!”

  What did that mean? What kind of feeling did Sora have about this world? Was it familiar to him?

  Something was happening to the connection between Sora’s memories and Roxas’s. Or had they always been so deeply intertwined?

  “Heh-heh… Memory can be a cruel thing. In its silence, we forget, but in its obsession, it binds our hearts.” Vexen’s excessive confidence had not diminished, even as he faced the boy with the Keyblade. “I told you, this place was created solely from another side of your memory. It’s on the other side of your heart that the memory of this place exists. Your heart remembers.”

  Was there something Vexen knew, Axel wondered, about the connection between Sora and Roxas…and the heart?

  “You’re wrong! I don’t know this place!” Sora lashed out with the Keyblade.

  “If you remain bound by the chain of memories and refuse to believe what is truly in your own heart…then you may as well throw it away. You are no Keyblade master—only a puppet controlled by memory. Exactly like my Riku. Your existence is worth nothing!”

  He was no different from the Replica—a doll powerless against his own memories.

  “Your Riku? Worth nothing…?” Sora scowled in confusion. “That’s enough! You’re the one who changed Riku! I’m not gonna listen to you!”

  “Oh? You think I changed Riku?” Vexen cackled.

  “What’s so funny?!”

  “Hmm… Well, perhaps you could say I changed him. Still…the fact is, you feel this place is familiar to you. And so you cannot trust your own feelings—isn’t that right?” Vexen sounded perfectly calm, as if to highlight Sora’s angry shouts.

  He really needs to shut his mouth, Axel thought, silently preparing for the right moment.

  “Every word you’ve said is a lie!” Sora lunged with the Keyblade, but Vexen’s shield deflected the blow and flung Sora back.

  “You’re no hero. Only a puppet who’s thrown away a hero’s heart.”

  “I’d never throw away my heart! I’m gonna take you down and save Riku and Naminé. That’s what’s in my heart!”

  But what is a heart…?

  “You certainly are a foolish puppet. Now die!” Vexen hurled chunks of ice at Sora.

  “Fira!” Donald was ready with a spell to melt the barrage. “Better not forget about us!”

  It was three against one, so Vexen did have a distinct disadvantage. If that trio managed to destroy him, it would save Axel a bit of trouble.

  But then another figure stepped in front of him—the Replica.

  Sora and Vexen didn’t know the other boy was here. The Replica, meanwhile, hadn’t noticed Axel hiding in the shadows of the forest.

  “Well, look who’s here,” said Axel. “Hey there, Riku.”

  The Replica whirled around. “What’s going on? You said I’d get stronger if I came here…”

  “Did I now?” Axel gave him a meaningful smirk, folding his arms.

  “Did you trick me?”

  “Not exactly. Watch the show, Riku.” He motioned toward the battle. In the course of their brief conversation, Sora had begun fighting in earnest. With the support of his friends, too, he was dealing Vexen serious damage. “The kid’s no slouch, huh?”

  The Replica made no reply to Axel’s undisguised admiration and only watched Sora’s ferocity in silence. The Keyblade tore through the air and into Vexen.

  “Ngh… To think you have such strength, even at the mercy of your memory…,” Vexen gasped out, staggering. “Your existence is a hazard indeed!”

  “None of that matters! Just make Riku go back!” Sora had the Keyblade pointed at his throat.

  “Just make him go back? You really have no idea what you’re saying. The Riku you speak of has but one fate—to sink into the darkness. And you, Sora, will share that fate! If you continue to seek Naminé, the shackles will tighten, you will lose your heart…and become no more than Marluxia’s pawn!”

  “Marluxia?! What’s Naminé got to do with—?”

  If the Replica heard about the plan— If Sora heard—

  “Heh-heh, didn’t account for this.” Axel laughed, placing a hand on the Replica’s shoulder.

  “What do you mean?” asked the Replica, but Axel just smirked and yanked his shoulder hard.

  It was enough force to knock him flat on his behind, but he didn’t hit the ground, at least not here. Axel had shoved him into a dark portal, to Castle Oblivion’s paths between. Inside the castle, he had the ability to transport others as well as himself.

  The Replica was getting in the way, after all.

  Then Axel revealed himself, stepping out from the shadows and hurling his chakrams at Vexen. There wasn’t much power in the attack, but a blow to the vitals would finish him off.

  “Guh?!” Vexen went sprawling in the dirt.

  “Yo, Sora. Did I catch you at a bad time?” Axel turned away to pin Vexen down with a chakram.

  “Ngh… Axel… Why…?”

  “I came to stop you from talking too much…by eliminating your existence, that is.”

  Vexen squirmed on the ground, desperately pleading to Axel, “No… Don’t…”

  “We’re Nobodies. We have no one to be—we just are. But now you don’t have to be at all. No more existence, no more memories. You’re off the hook.” Axel stretched out his hand, wreathed in flame.

  After the battle with Sora, Vexen had hardly any strength left. Destroying him would be almost too easy.

  “Don’t… No, please don’t…! I don’t want to—”

  “Bye now.” Axel’s fire engulfed him.

  Vexen let out a howl of anguish, though it was only a moment before flames consumed him and he vanish
ed entirely. Nobodies, it seemed, left nothing behind when they were snuffed out.

  “What are you—? What are you people?!” Sora demanded.

  “Hmm. Not sure. I wonder about that myself.” With that, Axel disappeared himself.

  Now there was no turning back…

  “Nice work, Axel. I say good riddance to that blabbermouth!” Larxene greeted him.

  He ignored her and approached the castle’s boss. “Marluxia… You sent Vexen to test Sora’s strength, didn’t you?”

  Marluxia declined to answer.

  “Not just Sora’s. Yours, too.” Larxene leaned up against Axel, acting much too familiar. “We weren’t sure if you actually had it in you to take out a fellow member. Well, I guess you did! It’s time to join up. With the three of us, taking over the Organization will be a cinch!”

  Seriously…? You think that little of the Organization and me? Axel shrugged. “So that’s where Sora comes in, huh?”

  “Of course! He wants to see Naminé, so why don’t we just let him have what he wants?”

  That got a reaction from Marluxia—a cruel smile as he ambled over to the corner.

  Naminé had been listening and looked up at him, clutching her sketchbook tightly.

  “Rejoice, Naminé,” said Marluxia. “Soon you’ll meet the hero you’ve been longing for.”

  “I’m…glad.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

  Larxene finally disentangled herself from Axel and gave Naminé a cheerful bit of advice. “But we’re warning you, you’d better not do anything to betray Sora’s feelings. Understand, little one?”

  “…I understand.”

  “All you need to do is merge the layers of Sora’s memories and bring his heart closer to you,” said Marluxia.

  Then he flicked a glance at Larxene, and the two of them disappeared from the room.

  “Naminé…,” Axel said softly. She didn’t stir.

  Chapter 5

  Chain of Memories

  IT WAS HIS TWENTY-SIXTH DAY WITH THE ORGANIZATION.

  Roxas woke up as usual and went to the Grey Area, as he always did.

  The atmosphere there, however, was out of the ordinary.

  “Then what in blazes did happen?” Xaldin’s arms were crossed, his normally stern expression even more severe.

  “Hey, I just found out, like, two minutes ago myself. But we’re in serious trouble if it’s for real…” Demyx, too, looked unusually anxious.

  That didn’t sound good. “Is everything okay?” he asked Xigbar, next to Saïx.

  “Okay? As if. Word has it at least one of the members posted over at Castle Oblivion has been terminated.”

  “Terminated…?”

  It wasn’t a word Roxas often heard in conversation. He knew what it meant, though. To stop existing.

  Then what was going on…?

  Axel was supposed to be at Castle Oblivion. Had Axel been…terminated?

  “Roxas, your mission. You’ll go with Xigbar to a different world— Agrabah.”

  Roxas looked up, surprised to be receiving orders. But of course, it was Saïx.

  And he didn’t seem any different from usual.

  “Is it true about Castle Oblivion…?” he asked, not looking his superior in the face.

  Saïx’s response was icy. “That’s no concern of yours.”

  “What about Axel?” he pressed.

  Hearing that name, Saïx narrowed his eyes faintly, not even enough for Roxas to notice. He wasn’t attuned to such subtle changes.

  “Who knows,” Saïx finally said. “Perhaps he is among the lost.”

  “Wha…?” Suddenly, Roxas had no words.

  That couldn’t be…

  “Starting today, the shop is open to you,” said Saïx. “You can buy things from the Moogle with munny obtained on missions.”

  Roxas said nothing.

  “Did you hear me?”

  “Um— Uh, yes…”

  Saïx was pointing at something—a little creature in an Organization coat fluttering its wings to hover in midair. It was a Moogle.

  “Get what you might need from the shop before setting out,” Saïx added.

  “…Okay.” Roxas went to greet the Moogle.

  “Hello there, kupo. What might your name be?”

  “Roxas,” he replied, gazing at the furry, white creature and its big red nose. Was the Moogle a Nobody, too? “What’s yours?”

  The Moogle considered a moment before answering him. “My name is of no consequence, kupo.”

  “But…”

  “Are you here to shop, kupo? Have a look, kupo, at my wondrous wares.”

  “Oh. Okay…”

  The Moogle’s shop offered a plentiful variety of things that Roxas had not obtained from treasure chests or from defeating Heartless. He bought a few items and got his equipment in order for the mission.

  “You have everything you need, kupo?”

  “Yeah…I think so.”

  The word terminated was still rattling around in his head.

  “C’mon, Roxas,” Xigbar called, as if he’d been waiting hours for the rookie to finish bargaining. “Let’s get moving already.”

  “Right…” Roxas followed Xigbar into the Corridors of Darkness.

  They came out of the dark into the brilliant sunlight of a desert city—Agrabah. Their mission today was to investigate this world.

  “Well, we know it’s too darn hot,” Xigbar grumbled, squinting at their surroundings. He turned to the boy trailing behind him. “C’mon. Let’s get this over with.”

  The urging did little to make Roxas pick up the pace.

  “What’s wrong? Dazzled by the new scenery?”

  Roxas shook his head. His voice came out low and hushed. “Do you think it’s true…that someone at Castle Oblivion was terminated?”

  “Ha-ha, so that’s what’s eating you?”

  “But we might have lost comrades…” Staring at his feet, Roxas kicked up a puff of dust. “That doesn’t bother you?”

  “Can we just keep moving?”

  “…What if they were all terminated?” asked Roxas, still unable to look up.

  “What if they were?” Xigbar made an exaggerated shrug. “Look, kiddo, the faster we can get this mission done, the sooner you can get back and find some answers.”

  At that, Roxas finally got himself to move. Their investigation was underway.

  A sandstorm had blown through Agrabah, and the city bustled with restoration work at the behest of their leader.

  After their investigation had taught them as much, Roxas looked up at Xigbar. “What now? Should we check out the palace?”

  “Nah, that’s enough for today. We already found out who’s in charge.”

  When Xigbar glanced at Roxas, though, he was still clearly despondent.

  “So we can go home?”

  “Heh. Why the rush? You leave the toaster plugged in?” Xigbar started walking. “Fine, fine. Time to RTC.”

  Roxas was right behind him—but so was something else.

  A Heartless came flying right at Xigbar. He was quick enough, though, to spin around with his Arrowguns out and meet it with a shot. It only took one hit.

  “Now I’m done with this sandpit,” he muttered. “Homeward bound, kiddo.”

  Roxas was staring at the empty air where the Heartless had been.

  “Hello? Thought you wanted to get going.” Xigbar rolled his eyes. “Well?”

  Roxas looked up at him with a question. “Hey… What happens to Heartless when they’re destroyed?”

  “They just disappear,” said Xigbar, watching him curiously. “Only the hearts remain, and those? They float off to join Kingdom Hearts.”

  “Then what about Nobodies? We don’t have hearts. Does some part of us remain?”

  “As if. We’re not even supposed to ‘exist’ in the first place. What’s there to leave behind?”

  “Then whoever it was at Castle Oblivion—”

  “Gone,” Xigbar emphasize
d. “Without a trace.”

  Roxas hung his head. “So…I’ll never see them again?”

  “Nope.”

  He felt his fists clench. So maybe I’ll never see Axel again…?

  “You coming?”

  “Oh…” When Roxas raised his head, Xigbar had already started walking. “Yeah.”

  He moved to catch up, but before he could—the world around him blurred.

  All the sounds of Agrabah fell silent. It felt like he was falling… And then darkness swallowed his mind.

  “Who are you?”

  He could hear a girl’s voice.

  Xion…is that you…? Or—

  Then Roxas blacked out completely.

  In the corner of the room with the crystal ball, Naminé sat in a chair, hunched over the big sketchbook in her lap. It was open to a page with a drawing of a little island in a blue sea.

  The rewriting of Sora’s memories was going quite smoothly.

  His memories of Kairi were disappearing, and his past was breaking apart into jumbled fragments. And where Kairi had been, memories of Naminé were beginning to fill the gaps, as if they had always been lingering below the surface.

  “Naminé,” said Axel. There was no one else in the room. “You’re all that he’s got left.”

  She didn’t reply or even move.

  The crystal ball displayed Sora, alone on the island in her sketch.

  “If you don’t stop this, no one will,” Axel added.

  Naminé turned her attention to him, and he kept prodding her. “How many times do I need to say it? You’re the only one who can help him.”

  “But I…” Her gaze dropped again. “It’s too late.”

  Axel didn’t see it that way. He had to set Naminé free from the cage of Marluxia’s control—and he had to do it now. With one stroke, Marluxia would lose his control over this castle. There was no need for a traitor to have that much power.

  “You shouldn’t give up just yet,” he said. “Say, Naminé—have you noticed? Marluxia doesn’t seem to be around.”

  “What…are you saying?”

  “Just that there’s no one here who would want to get in your way,” Axel replied breezily.