Kingdom Hearts II Vol 2 Page 15

  Kairi and Naminé ran down the stairs.

  I’m…still okay, Naminé told herself. I’m not disappearing yet. I’m still okay.

  Then they came to a halt.

  “Naminé… There you are.”

  It was Saïx again, blocking their way, with a passel of Nobody minions. Naminé gave him a silent glare.

  “I’m afraid leaving is not an option, Kairi.” Saïx offered her his hand. “I’ll take you to Sora.”

  Kairi hid her hands behind her back in unmistakable refusal.

  “You don’t want to see him?” said Saïx.

  “I do. More than anything. But not with you around.” She steeled herself to fight. Naminé did the same beside her.

  “If I had a heart, this would be where I fall over laughing,” he remarked.

  And then something swept aside the Nobodies behind him. Saïx whirled to see a black-cloaked man with a sword, his hood pulled down over his face.

  “You… Didn’t Roxas take care of you?” Saïx spat.

  “You can take it from here, Riku,” said Naminé.

  The man nodded, his face hidden, as Kairi stared at him in disbelief—then he rushed at Saïx and slammed him back against the wall.

  “Hmph…,” Saïx sniffed, opening a dark portal behind him, and simply faded into it.

  The other man tried to leap in after him, but Kairi moved first. “Wait!” she cried.

  Not a second later, Pluto bounded up to him, tail wagging, and as the man backed away, the portal closed before his eyes.

  He stood frozen, and Kairi approached, slow and careful.

  “Riku… I missed you.” She reached up for his hood.

  Beneath it she found Xehanort—or rather, Riku in the form of Xehanort.

  “Why…?” she had to ask.

  Riku said nothing, only looked at her.

  But then Kairi felt something in the air tremble. She spun around, and—

  Naminé and Pluto were gone.

  CHAPTER 4

  MEET AGAIN

  THEY FOLLOWED THE PATH OF LIGHT TO THE GATES of the massive, angular castle. Nobodies and Heartless promptly circled them—in droves.

  “We just have to get through this!” Sora’s Keyblade descended.

  “Huh? Where’s the king…?” Donald glanced around the vicinity but found no trace of him.

  “Gawrsh, he must’ve run ahead again,” said Goofy, not a bit worried about their king.

  “We should be running, too!” said Sora, and so they did.

  By now, they had taken down a good deal of enemies. The ones they found here were a decent warm-up but not too difficult to handle.

  But that revelation about the Heartless still troubled Sora—was it really okay to destroy any more of them?

  If they didn’t take down what sought to harm them, they would be destroyed themselves. He understood that, and yet doubts still nagged at him. What if their efforts were actually contributing to the destruction of the worlds…? Still, if they didn’t fight the Heartless, those same Heartless would destroy the worlds.

  Filled with uncertainty, Sora clenched his fist around the Keyblade.

  “You’re doing well, Sora,” someone remarked.

  From the passageways winding around outside the castle, they’d arrived in a soaring great hall, and the voice had come from above them. There was a high mezzanine around the edges of the room with an elaborate platform that might have been a stage.

  “Where’s Kairi?!” Sora shouted toward the voice.

  Saïx looked down at them from the stage. “Kairi…? Oh, I expect she’s catching up with her friend from the darkness,” he said as if it were nothing of much concern.

  “What’s that mean?!” Sora demanded.

  “She doesn’t need you anymore.” Saïx smiled, but the expression didn’t reach his eyes.

  That was the world’s most obvious lie, Sora thought. He’d had about enough of these organization guys trying to tell him what was what. “Like I’m supposed to believe that?” Sora shot back.

  “Well, that’s up to you. But you can believe this: Organization XIII has no more use for you.” Saïx lifted his hand to point at the strange moon hanging in the sky above the glass ceiling. “Just look there—our Kingdom Hearts. Thanks to you, we’ve collected countless hearts… Can you hear their euphoria? And now, all they need is one more helping hand from the Keyblade wielder!”

  He snapped his fingers.

  Darkness seeped into the walls around them, and Heartless poured out.

  “We gotta fight!” Donald called with his wand ready.

  “But…Kingdom Hearts will…” Sora averted his eyes.

  If they kept destroying Heartless, and those hearts only fed Kingdom Hearts…they would just be helping the organization. And he didn’t want to simply go along with their plans.

  But then—

  “Sora!” someone called out.

  He knew that voice.

  His head snapped up at the sound, and there, on the mezzanine opposite from Saïx, leaning out from a balcony was…Kairi.

  “Sora! Oh, it’s really you!”

  “Kairi!” he shouted back—and the Heartless swarmed over him, hiding him from view.

  “You get away from him!” Kairi shouted—and she took a running leap down from the balcony.

  Heartless mobbed her, too, closing in on her in a swarm.

  “Sora…” Her voice was too quiet. But a flash of light came to her aid. “Huh…?”

  It was Xehanort-Riku, taking her arm to pull her to her feet. Driven back, the Heartless faded away.

  Riku offered her a sword—no, a Keyblade. “Take it.”

  “Yeah. This time…I’ll fight.” She closed her fingers around the glowing weapon. It called to her, to the strength in her heart, and it too wanted her to join the fray. “C’mon—you know Sora’s hopeless without us! Let’s go, Riku!”

  She dashed again into the swarm of Heartless, and Riku was right behind her.

  Saïx watched them from above—Sora joined by Kairi and Riku.

  Meanwhile, two more teams of intruders had invaded the stronghold.

  “Well, well, Pete… This is a splendid castle. Perhaps we should acquire it.”

  Maleficent took in the surroundings, looking quite charmed. Pete stood beside her on the balcony opposite from Saïx.

  “I guess the setup is kinda nice, but… What about all the Heartless?” said Pete, a bit unnerved. “This funny in-between world’s too close to the darkness! They ain’t gonna listen to us here!”

  “Oh, but you underestimate me.” Maleficent smiled as if victory were already in her grasp as she gazed upon the castle’s architecture.

  Somewhere higher up in the castle was the other pair—or rather, another man, who had collapsed beneath a throng of enemies. But then the king arrived to scatter the Heartless and slash through the Nobodies.

  Beside him, a mysterious, unwieldy device had tumbled to the floor.

  DiZ tried to stand but lurched to his knees again as if badly hurt, his red cape fluttering.

  “Hold on…!”

  With the king’s help, he got to his feet and focused on Kingdom Hearts in the sky.

  He unwrapped the strips of red cloth that hid his face—and the face he revealed was that of Ansem the Wise. “It’s been too long, my friend.”

  King Mickey regarded him sternly. “Ansem the Wise. Why didn’t you come to me before things got so bad?”

  Ansem regarded the great moon of Kingdom Hearts again as he replied. “Xemnas, the organization’s leader, is the Nobody of Xehanort, my foremost apprentice. The burden was mine to bear.”

  “Is that all?” King Mickey pressed.

  Avoiding his gaze, Ansem turned away. “I won’t deny there was more. I was…obsessed with thoughts of revenge. My apprentices stole everything from me—my research, my pride.” His voice was heavy with regret.

  “I can’t help you with revenge,” the king said at Ansem’s back.

  “I k
now. Riku told me the same a thousand times.”

  Hearing his friend’s name, King Mickey had to interrogate further. “Where is Riku?”

  “He must be with his friends by now… He was a great help to me.” Finally, Ansem turned back to look his friend in the eye. “I found him wandering after you, and we lost track of each other, but—”

  “No, we didn’t lose each other exactly,” King Mickey cut in. “Riku just left on his own. Xehanort’s Heartless was still inside his heart. And it must’ve been hurting him a lot. But what I don’t understand is why he looks the way he does now, when in his heart he’s still Riku…”

  Ansem took a slow, deep breath before telling King Mickey the whole story.

  “I am to blame. When I first met Riku, he still had his own form, a boy’s form—likely because he had such a strong heart. I asked him to find a young man named Roxas from Organization XIII and bring him to me. When I told him it would help awaken Sora from his slumber, Riku left without another word. He fought Roxas, and I can only surmise he lost that fight. Riku must have realized it then—to fight in a world of darkness, he would have to immerse himself in darkness. And when he did…well, the results were as you saw. When Riku brought Roxas back to me, he gave his own name as Ansem. If that was what it took to save his friend, he was willing to become a denizen of the darkness. Riku was the victim of my revenge.”

  After that long speech, Ansem paused as though he’d run out of words. King Mickey stepped closer to him.

  “…Ah, how my heart ached.” Despite Ansem’s words, his expression was calm now as he looked down at the king. “I could only laugh to hide my shame…”

  “It musta been after that when I saw Riku again,” said the king. “And he made me promise him— He told me he wanted to help Sora, but he made me promise never to let Sora find out what happened to him.”

  Ansem closed his eyes for a moment, his face ruefully turned down, and then spoke again. “My friend… The time has come. I must make amends to these young people for the suffering I’ve caused.”

  He hoisted up the device that sat by his feet, then continued on his way through the castle. King Mickey followed his lead.

  He could hear Kairi’s voice…

  And Donald’s. “Sora! Hold on!”

  “Ugh, get off!” Sora shoved away the Heartless clambering on him and got to his feet. Up on the balcony opposite from the platform Saïx had just occupied, he could see Kairi and Xehanort fighting more Heartless. “What’s going on?!”

  Kairi held a weapon… It looked like a Keyblade. And the man in black beside her was Ansem— No, Sora corrected himself. That’s Xehanort.

  Why were those two fighting together…?

  As Sora hesitated, something like knives of light—a whole volley of them—tore through the Heartless around him.

  “Who’s there?!”

  He whipped his body around, and low, scornful laughter echoed through the hall.

  “Have you been a good boy?” said the mocking voice.

  “Show yourself!” Sora demanded.

  And there on the elaborate stage, an organization man stepped out of the darkness. His black hair was streaked with white, and an eyepatch covered his right eye. His features were sharp and cold. “Oh, it sounds like you haven’t, Sora—or actually, Roxas!”

  “Roxas?” Startled, Sora turned back to his friends. “Did that guy just call me Roxas?”

  Donald gave him an emphatic nod.

  “You’ve really got Organization XIII up against the wall here,” said Xigbar. “Well, I guess that must be why the Keyblade chose you. But man, did it ever pick a dud this time. You’re not half the hero the others were.”

  “Are you done rambling?” Sora retorted.

  “Me, ramble? Well…maybe I am. The point is, your time is up, traitor.”

  Xigbar leaped down from the stage, landing not far from Sora.

  “Look out, Sora!” Goofy called.

  Xigbar loomed over Sora, bringing his face uncomfortably close.

  “What’s your problem?!” Sora jumped back, readying the Keyblade.

  Xigbar laughed. “Those blue, blue eyes… They just give me such a thrill!”

  “What are you talking about?”

  In each hand, Xigbar gripped something like a blade with myriad small knives attached—the Arrowguns. “Let’s dance, kiddo.”

  The blades on the Arrowguns glowed and shot at Sora.

  “Whoa!” Sora knocked them aside with the Keyblade as he charged at Xigbar.

  “Take this!” Donald let his magic fly, and the knives of light disintegrated.

  “Sora! Keep steady!” called Goofy as his shield blocked the knives.

  But as the fight went on, another figure watched from above.

  “Looks like they’re in a tough spot…” King Mickey looked down on the fierce battle, as he and Ansem had followed the path to a higher level of the great hall. “Maybe we should help.”

  Ansem glanced back at him. “Sora and Riku are together now. We have no part to play here.”

  “Gee, I wonder if Riku will ever change back…,” the king murmured, hurrying to catch up with Ansem.

  “Riku chose that form so that he could use the power of darkness.” Ansem’s brows drew together in concern or perhaps guilt. “Getting rid of it won’t be so easy.”

  King Mickey shook his head sadly and followed Ansem.

  “Y’know, I don’t have time for you!” Sora complained as he leaped at Xigbar. “I’m going to find Kairi!”

  He swung the Keyblade ferociously at one of the Arrowguns flying from Xigbar’s hand.

  Xigbar chuckled, deflecting a blow to his body, and jumped back. “Well, you are the Keyblade wielder, after all,” he said under his breath and brushed at his mouth. “Guess I shouldn’t underestimate you, even if you are a dud, Roxas.”

  He aimed his remaining Arrowgun.

  “I’m Sora!” Before Xigbar could fire the knives, Sora dashed in with all his might and knocked the other weapon from the man’s grasp, and then a spell from Donald exploded in Xigbar’s face.

  “Sora!” Goofy called, charging with his shield raised to smash Xigbar’s jaw.

  Xigbar sailed through the air. Sora ran to where he sprawled on the floor and brought down the Keyblade. “Why’re you calling me Roxas?!” he demanded.

  “Heh-heh… Wouldn’t you like to know.” Xigbar’s body dissipated into a black mist.

  Sora looked down at the faint dark blotches he left behind. All these guys calling me Roxas—I’m really getting sick of this! It doesn’t make any sense!

  “Sora!” Donald called. “It’s Kairi!”

  Forgetting about all of that, Sora turned the other way. “Kairi! We’re coming!”

  And he ran to her.

  Innumerable small hearts floated into the sky to be absorbed into Kingdom Hearts.

  Bathed in the glow, Xemnas pushed back his hood and took in the sight. “Yes… Kingdom Hearts! Rejoice and feast on all we offer! Shine your pale light on this empty realm and share your power with us, the Nobodies…!”

  Saïx appeared behind him. “Xemnas. Is Kingdom Hearts ready?”

  Xemnas faced him with narrowed eyes. “Very soon.”

  At that, something relaxed in Saïx’s expression. “So, I can end this?”

  “…As you will.” Xemnas turned his back on Saïx, raising his eyes to Kingdom Hearts once more.

  “How I’ve longed to hear that.” Saïx vanished from the scene.

  They defeated more and more Heartless, but wave upon wave replaced them, gushing endlessly out from the dark. Swinging her Keyblade, Kairi slashed through them until the last one remaining in front of her had dissolved into nothing.

  “Wow! Nice work, Kairi!”

  At the praise from Donald, she paused, then slowly faced them with a smile spreading on her face.

  Sora, Donald, and Goofy were staring at her in undisguised awe.

  “Kairi… It’s so good to see you.” Sora g
rinned back.

  At the sight of his joyful expression, Riku’s eyes narrowed as he smiled, too.

  “You and Riku never came home, so I went looking for you,” said Kairi.

  Sora and Kairi stepped closer to each other in tandem.

  “I’m sorry,” he murmured. Riku still wasn’t back…

  Just as he averted his eyes, Kairi launched herself at him.

  “You’re not a dream…” Her arms wrapped tight around him.

  Sora stalled in confusion for the briefest moment before his own arms returned the hug.

  Looking on, Donald and Goofy couldn’t help but grin.

  But there was one more person—Riku—who turned away and started walking off.

  He couldn’t linger with them anymore. He didn’t want Sora to see him like this and realize it was him.

  “Wait—Ansem!” Letting go of Kairi, Sora called after the man in black. “I mean, Xehanort’s Heartless—I never thought for a second we’d ever see you again. Just thinking about all the things you did make me so angry…”

  Riku’s steps came to a halt.

  “But…but you saved Kairi, didn’t you?” Sora went on. “I have to be grateful for that. So—thanks.”

  Instead of looking back, Riku resumed his steps with his head lowered.

  Kairi ran up behind him and flung her arms around him. “Riku! Don’t go!”

  Sora froze. “Kairi… What’d you just say?”

  She tugged the man’s arm and said the name again. “Riku.”

  “I’m no one. Only a dweller of the darkness.” He gently brushed Kairi away and tried again to escape.

  “Sora, come over here,” Kairi pleaded. “Say something to him.”

  Mystified, Sora approached Riku.

  “Here—you’ll understand.” Kairi took Sora’s hand and joined it with Riku’s. “Close your eyes.”

  He did as she said, and in the darkness, he could feel the warmth of their hands.

  An image floated up behind his closed eyes… Riku. It was him.

  “…Riku…” Sora looked up, holding tight to his friend’s hand. “It’s Riku… Riku is here.”

  He knew that it was Riku’s hand he clasped. It was bigger than the one he’d held a thousand times before, but in his heart, Sora felt it.