“Not by yourself, you won’t.” Saïx eyed him with cold disdain. “This target is extremely dangerous.”
Roxas was not deterred.
But before he could insist, Axel spoke up. “Then how ’bout I tag along?”
Saïx turned to Axel, somewhat reproachfully.
“I know Castle Oblivion better than anyone else in this outfit,” Axel pointed out with a smirk.
“…Very well,” said Saïx. “Go, then, and teach this fraud the price for wearing our coat.”
Axel and Roxas exchanged a glance and a nod.
Maybe this would bring them a little closer to Xion.
Riku walked through the Corridors of Darkness with Xion. It was her idea—she said she wanted to return to Castle Oblivion.
The castle stood on another level of a liminal state, among all the realms.
He was doing everything in his power to see her hopes fulfilled. That, he believed, would show him the path to what he must do.
The bizarre silhouette of the castle rose out of the darkness. He felt like its shape had changed since he’d first come here, even since he’d met Xion here the other day—or was he just imagining things?
Xion stared up at it as if in a trance. “Are you all right?” For an instant, her form had seemed to shimmer.
“I’m fine.” Her hood was pulled up deep over her face, and he couldn’t see her expression.
What is this place anyway? Riku thought. Why’s it here…?
“So this is Castle Oblivion…” Roxas looked up at the strange castle. He’d never been here before. Another new world…but was it really a “world” at all? It seemed more like an extension of the liminal darkness of the corridors.
This was where Xion was born. And where so many fellow members of the Organization had met their ends.
“What could possibly be here?” Roxas wondered.
“I told you before, there’s a research facility,” said Axel.
“To research what?”
“I dunno, research is research… Nobodies and Heartless, I guess, stuff like that.”
“What did they have you do here, Axel?”
The third question had him at a loss. Axel scratched his head. “Just recon… More or less.”
That didn’t satisfy Roxas. “What do you mean, more or less?”
“Classified stuff,” Axel replied with a shrug.
“Ugh, fine…” Roxas knew he wouldn’t get a real answer once Axel busted out the classified label. “Can we go in?”
“Sure. We’re here on a mission, aren’t we?”
Roxas pushed the door open. The interior didn’t look much different from the Organization’s castle where they lived. He stepped inside…
And a weird sensation came over him, like everything was twisting somehow…
That’s Axel right behind me…isn’t it? And you’re the noisy quacking one, and you’re the easygoing one who talks slow… Wait—huh?
What is this?
“Roxas?!”
He heard Axel worriedly calling his name as pain jolted into him. “Ow—my head—!”
The wrenching agony didn’t stop at his head. His chest hurt, too. What’s happening to me?
“Easy, man! C’mon, let’s retreat for now…”
He knew it was Axel holding him up by the arm, and yet…
“There’s nobody here.”
“I don’t know for sure, but something just told me he’d be here…”
One look at this castle and I just knew. Our very best friends…they’re here.
My friend… Xion.
“No… We have to…find Xion…”
So he said, but it took all his strength to speak, and he collapsed to his knees. It hurt. Everything hurt. He could hardly breathe.
“In this place, to find is to lose, and to lose is to find…”
“Wh-what’s happening?”
I don’t understand. Whose voice is that? Is it…Marluxia? Why do I hear Marluxia?
And the others… Who are you?
“Roxas!” Axel was practically carrying him.
He looked up at Axel’s anxious face—and then it warped in his vision.
All these pictures…rushing into my head… What’s happening?
“We’re leaving. Now!” said Axel.
“No, wait… There’s something… I can almost…”
Almost—but I can’t. He felt so faint…
“Giving up already? I thought you were stronger than that.”
Who is that? Who’s talking to me?
Giving up? I’m not giving up. No way!
“—Riku!”
He lurched violently awake. His head no longer hurt, at least, but he still had no idea what had happened.
“Whoa, you okay there?” Axel peered at him, clearly concerned.
Did I pass out…?
“What happened to me?” Roxas asked.
“You collapsed right inside the castle doors. Don’t you remember?”
“I remember going inside the castle…” He got to his feet. “But that’s it.”
They were still in Castle Oblivion. Anything that took place once he went through the doors was a blank, though. He felt a little bit woozy but not too bad.
Axel still looked worried. “Hey, you should take a breather.”
“I’m fine. I want to see what’s here…” Roxas began to head for the door at the other end of the hall—but then he saw them.
Two people in black cloaks, watching him and Axel.
One he didn’t know. But the other was definitely—
“Xion?!” Roxas ran closer. He just knew it was her.
Xion took one step toward him but then backed away again. Behind her was a swirling dark portal.
“Xion, wait!”
She vanished into the corridors. As Roxas dashed after her, the other cloaked figure blocked his path. “Get out of the way!”
He summoned his Keyblade, but the figure stepped through the portal after Xion. And Roxas followed.
“Roxas, wait up!” Axel ran after him in turn.
Now what…? She hadn’t expected to find Roxas in Castle Oblivion.
Had she dreamed about it last night because it was on his mind, too? She’d never suspected that the connection between them could run that deep…
Xion was running. But she had nowhere to go, not really, and she ended up in a familiar place—Twilight Town.
She ran through the cobbled streets and paused to catch her breath at a dead end in the tunnels.
“You want to go back?”
“Wha—?” The question startled her, but it was Riku. Her voice dropped to an uncertain murmur. “I don’t know. I can’t figure it out…”
“Then go to Hollow Bastion. I’ll distract them.”
“But—”
“If you don’t know what you want, it’s not the right time yet.”
Just not the right time… Xion nodded and opened another portal. “Thanks, Riku.”
Once again, she disappeared into the corridors.
He pursued the other cloaked figure.
Why are you running away, Xion? What’s wrong…?
When Roxas followed them out of the corridors, he arrived in Twilight Town. He knew he wasn’t chasing Xion. And yet, for some reason, he had to…
Everything felt jumbled in his mind.
“Hey. Roxas, settle down a second,” said Axel.
How was he supposed to do that? His chest heaved.
“They’re gone. We’ve lost them.” Axel put a hand on his shoulder.
Roxas looked back at him. “But… Xion…”
“No way was that Xion.” Axel sounded so dismissive, although he was breathing hard, too, having to keep up with Roxas in a determined sprint.
“No, the other one was! The one who escaped before,” Roxas protested. He was sure of it.
“At least we know she’s safe,” said Axel. “She’ll come home when she’s ready.”
Something about that reply bot
hered him. Like Axel was deliberately being obtuse. “But won’t they turn her into a Dusk?” he prodded.
Axel let out a deep sigh. “Not necessarily.”
Well, then what? Say something! Roxas thought, his frustration rising. “Who was that guy she was with? Why is she cooperating with him?”
He knows about Xion.
His hands balled into fists, and he bit his lip as he stared down at the paving stones.
Chapter 3
Fracture
XION SAT ON THE BED, CLUTCHING HER KNEES. If she kept on like this, she might as well be back at the Organization. It would all be for nothing. I have to decide now.
She’d been glad to see Roxas and Axel yesterday. Glad, and yet—she didn’t know how she could show herself to them.
At the knock on the door, Xion looked up. “Is that you, Riku?”
“I’m coming in.” The door opened, and Riku strode right over to the bed. “I was in Twilight Town.”
“And? What happened?” she asked, blinking up at him.
His reply was hushed. “I told them where you are. That’s all.”
She didn’t follow.
Riku noticed her confusion. “There isn’t much time left, Xion. But you already know that, don’t you?”
Yes, she did—but she didn’t know what to do. Riku wasn’t here to save her. The one Riku wanted to save…was Sora.
Still, he was helping her because it would help him.
“The only thing I can do is give you time to decide what’s really important to you,” he went on. “But we don’t have too much of that, either. So I think maybe you should go back for now.”
“Go back…?”
“You don’t have to find the answer right away. Don’t take too much longer, though. Just go, and it’ll come to you how you want to spend the time you have left.”
“But, Riku, I…” Xion looked down at her hands and sank into thought.
Right… Either way, I’ll still be going “home.” So maybe what Riku is trying to say is that I should go back to the Organization first. Being away—it’s affecting Roxas and Sora, too. Why am I so afraid to go back? I’m not scared of Saïx or Xemnas. I… I’m scared of facing Roxas. But I know I can’t keep hiding like this. I have to go back.
To the place where I belong.
Every time he tried to wake up, all Axel could think was how badly he wanted to go back to sleep—although he was getting enough rest.
He just wished he could have a day to himself and do nothing but sleep. It was probably some remnant of his human memories.
Besides, this world was always dark, even in the morning. The deep indigo sky and its heart-shaped moon outside the window might as well be a night sky.
Axel rolled over. He still had a few more minutes. But then he began to think about yesterday.
After fainting in Castle Oblivion, Roxas had called out Riku’s name. Not unlike the time Xion murmured Sora’s name in a swoon.
What had come to Roxas there in Castle Oblivion? Had he remembered something? Without his memories of his human life, Roxas couldn’t possibly know who Riku was. But he called his name. That could only mean a memory had come back to him, in some form.
It made him uneasy.
Maybe it was a bad idea, bringing Roxas to Castle Oblivion to jog his memory. And they’d ventured to the castle thinking they might learn where Xion had gone—but Axel hadn’t expected them to actually find her. And Riku, the other one in the black cloak…
Axel had seen Riku several times in that castle, back when Roxas was still fairly new. He didn’t like to remember all the intrigue now, nor how he’d treated the Replica. After all, he’d been the one to determine where the Replica should go.
What had changed since then? He didn’t know whether it was Organization XIII, or himself, or something else entirely. But things were definitely different.
Roxas and Xion were like a pair of mirrors, reflecting each other back and forth. But was that all? Xion was just a vessel, an empty disk to hold a copy of Roxas’s “powers.”
Nobodies derived their personalities and abilities from memories of their human lives. But what exactly were those abilities? What gave rise to them?
The answer that came to mind was the presence of memory itself. They were chained by their memory, and in those bonds was power. So it was probably fair to say that Roxas and Xion were bound by the same memory.
As Roxas’s powers were being copied into Xion, she was absorbing his memories, too. But somehow, Axel suspected there had to be more to it.
There in Castle Oblivion, Roxas had called out for Riku. Axel figured that the castle’s strange aura had provoked some kind of reaction in his memories, like metal filings in a magnetic field—but he might be wrong. Everything about Roxas’s memories was so uncertain.
“But what if…?” Axel muttered.
What if copying powers from Roxas wasn’t all that Xion was doing?
He knew the questions he had to deal with, but he wouldn’t be able to work out the answers himself.
“Ugh, I’ve got enough on my plate.” He groaned, imagining Saïx’s face if he reported all this.
Those days as a trio had been so wonderful. Why did this have to happen?
The memory of his heart twinged. Had the breakdown of a friendship always been this painful? It was hard to tell when he didn’t have a heart anymore.
“Don’t wanna get up…”
But he dragged himself out of bed, taking a huge stretch and cricking his neck. He had to get to the Grey Area early if he wanted to talk to Saïx.
Most likely, today would be another bad day.
Roxas hadn’t expected to sleep very well, and he was right. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. The center of his head felt heavy, like something pressing from the space between his eyebrows all the way back.
But yesterday… Yesterday I saw Xion.
Why was she avoiding me? Why was she running away from me?
Axel must have realized it was her, too. Axel was the one who said they could go find her, and Roxas had looked and looked and looked. But he got the sense that Axel wasn’t.
And yesterday—Axel didn’t seem to feel the same urgency. Well, maybe because he didn’t feel anything as a Nobody. Of course, a nonexistent heart wouldn’t ache at their friend’s disappearance. But Roxas didn’t have one, either. So why had he been in so much pain since Xion left? He was sad. The days dragged by in an endless gray fog, and nothing was any fun.
He couldn’t understand what was going through Axel’s head during the search for Xion.
He couldn’t understand Axel, period.
Roxas climbed out of bed and gave himself a quick once-over in the mirror.
Would he have time to go looking for Xion today…? He shook his head, trying to soothe the prickly feeling in his chest, then went out the door and down the hallway. But before he reached the lobby—he came across Axel and Saïx.
“You’re ordering me to what?!”
“Now that Xion has had contact with that man in the black coat, tell me what choice is left.”
The obvious tension piqued Roxas’s curiosity, but they fell silent when he approached.
“Um, Axel…?”
Axel looked away.
What? Why won’t he look at me? Were they talking about something they didn’t want me to hear? Uncertain what to ask, Roxas hesitated.
Saïx spoke first. “Xion has betrayed us.”
“What?!” It felt like the wind was knocked out of him.
But Saïx didn’t give him any time to absorb it. “You saw the creature consorting with that impostor. What more evidence do we need?”
“That’s not evidence!” Roxas retorted. “You don’t know why she was with him!”
Just because they’d seen her with that other guy, that meant she’d betrayed the Organization? Roxas wasn’t going to believe that. He looked at Axel in desperation—but Axel refused to meet his eyes. Why won’t you say anything?
“I think we all know, and you just don’t want to accept it,” Saïx remarked, his voice dripping with disdain.
“He might be forcing her…,” Roxas mumbled.
Saïx only snorted at him. “Spare me your repulsive displays of would-be sentiment.”
But that was the only thing Roxas could think of. Xion wouldn’t betray the Organization…or her friends. Would she? He stared at the floor, his fists clenched at his sides.
Were Nobodies and humans really all that different?
“It’s not a display!” Then he raised his head to glare at Saïx. “Why is it such a crime to give each other the benefit of the doubt?!”
“That’s enough, Roxas.” Axel put out an arm in front of him before he could lunge at Saïx. “C’mon, dial it back.”
Roxas chewed his lip. He didn’t have a handle on anything.
Saïx looked down his nose at him. “The impostor has resurfaced in Twilight Town. Go and destroy him, Roxas—like I expected you to do yesterday.”
“Wh—? Destroy?” Roxas stammered.
“Yes, destroy,” Saïx replied, now cool and businesslike. “It seems you need clear orders, or you’ll just let the target escape. This is an elimination mission.”
Roxas hung his head and said nothing.
“Axel, you bring back Xion. Gagged and tied up, for all I care. And if that proves too troublesome, then you are authorized to adopt a more permanent solution.”
“What?!” Roxas cried. “Saïx, no!”
“Roxas. Easy!” Axel had to hold him back again from launching himself at Saïx.
“You have your orders. Get going.” Saïx promptly walked away.
Roxas bit his lip, staring down at his boots in fury.
The silence went on long enough to be awkward, until Axel scratched his head and sighed. “Well, this is pretty icky, huh?”
Without Saïx as an outlet, Roxas’s rage turned on Axel. “You’re not actually gonna follow those orders?!”
Axel only scratched his head again. “Relax. I’ll think of something clever once I find her.”
“Something clever…?”
“Yeah. Just trust me, okay?” Axel gave Roxas a pat on the shoulder.
I trust him… I want to trust him. I get it. Roxas looked at the floor again. I know I can trust Axel. But still…
Kingdom Hearts 358-2 Days Page 25