Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories The Novel (light novel) Page 26

  “…Riku. Of course.”

  Lexaeus nodded, then vanished again.

  In the room with the crystal ball, Naminé sat on a chair in the corner, staring down.

  Right about now…Sora should be heading to the island. I’m there on the island…to part him from the last shards of his memory.

  “Naminé.”

  She looked up to see Axel standing there. A member of the “organization”—but she had the sense there was something different about him, something not quite right.

  “You’re all that he’s got left,” he told her gently.

  Her gaze dropped. I was the one who merged Sora’s memories to make that happen… But there’s nothing I can do. Not now.

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

  At that, she looked up again. She didn’t really know what he meant.

  “How many times do I need to say it? You’re the only one who can help him.”

  “But I… It’s too late.” Her voice was scarcely audible.

  Everything was already in motion. How could she stop it now?

  “You shouldn’t give up just yet.” Axel moved closer to her, peering into her face. “Say, Naminé—have you noticed? Marluxia doesn’t seem to be around.”

  “What…are you saying?”

  Axel smirked at her. “Just that there’s no one here who would want to get in your way.”

  You’re saying…that you won’t stop me? she thought.

  Slowly she got to her feet.

  “Just make it count,” said Axel.

  Naminé gave him a tiny nod and ran out of the room.

  After watching her leave, Axel laughed softly. And then louder. “Ha-ha-ha! Now this should be interesting. So it was worth all that trouble after all!”

  He went to the crystal ball to peer at the image of Sora.

  “Now, then! Sora, Naminé, Riku, Marluxia, Larxene! It’s about time you gave me one hell of a show!”

  Grinning to himself, he touched the crystal ball, and the image changed. It showed the Replica.

  “And you, Fake,” Axel murmured, gazing at the image of the Replica running across a marble hall. “You’ll set the final act in motion…”

  Naminé ran down the castle stairs.

  Right now, Sora should be in one of those white rooms.

  I have to hurry… I’m not going to make it.

  Just as that went through her mind, something bumped into her. Thinking it must be an organization member, she braced herself—but it was the Replica.

  “…Naminé!” he shouted, his face stark white.

  Her shoulders began shaking. “Riku… I mean… Replica…,” she started. But her voice was so small that he didn’t even hear.

  “You know, I— You said you hated Sora…and you never wanted to see him again… So I thought I’d keep you safe. But…he’s got the same kind of pendant that you gave me… What does it mean? Naminé, what’s going on?!” The Replica was shouting, clawing through his hair in raw confusion.

  “…I…” She looked down for a moment, but then gazed straight at him. “I’m sorry.”

  He fiercely grabbed her by the shoulders. “Sorry? Sorry for what?!”

  “I made up your memories. They’re fake…and so are Sora’s,” Naminé told him, each word slow and deliberate. “I can control people’s memories… I’m a witch.”

  “My memories…and Sora’s memories are fake?”

  “I linked together the chains of your memories. I made them both. Your memories are fake, made with links from Riku’s memories… And I instilled them into the puppet that Vexen created.”

  As what she told him sank in, the strength left him, and he sat down there on the floor.

  “I’m sorry… I was wrong. So I have to go right now.”

  “What are you talking about?!” he screamed, clutching at his head. “Naminé, tell me!”

  “I don’t have time now. I’m sorry…Replica.” She turned away from him and ran.

  “Naminé! Wait! Please!”

  She didn’t look back.

  “Naminé!”

  No one was there anymore to hear the Replica’s cries.

  When Riku finally reached the great hall, it was filled with an awful stench. Sensing an unsettling presence, he stopped and stood ready with Soul Eater.

  “That smell… You’re another one of those ‘Nobodies,’” said Riku, and then the Nobody revealed himself.

  “I am Lexaeus. You’ve done well thus far. But to possess your powers and yet fear darkness… What a waste.”

  Riku scowled. “I do not…fear it!” he said as if to convince himself. “I’m—”

  “I sense that you do,” Lexaeus interrupted, quite unperturbed. “You’re also capable of controlling the darkness. Cast away your useless fear. Open your heart and embrace the darkness.”

  “And if I don’t?” Riku retorted, steadily closing in on Lexaeus.

  If he embraced the darkness, he would become stronger—but he didn’t need that kind of strength. He only wanted to use his own strength.

  Lexaeus gave him the briefest of smiles and raised his heavy ax-like sword. “Then, you lose both light and darkness—and disappear!”

  Enormously powerful darkness radiated from him, fierce enough to make Riku think of Ansem.

  Riku grunted as the pressure of it slammed against him.

  “I, Lexaeus, will not yield to the frail heart of an infantile coward! Now, stop resisting—and let the darkness in!”

  “Never!” Riku brandished Soul Eater and rushed at Lexaeus. “I am not afraid of the darkness!”

  “Ha! Nonsense! You can become stronger… But if you do not accept the darkness…you will be destroyed!” Lexaeus’s sword knocked Riku back and came down on the floor with enough force to cleave it, scattering chips of marble, which Lexaeus crumbled in his fist.

  “Ngh…!” Leaping to avoid more flying shards, Riku sailed over Lexaeus’s head to land behind him, twisting himself just before he landed to slash at Lexaeus’s back. “How’s this?!”

  He struck Lexaeus a few blows until—

  “This isn’t over yet!” Lexaeus threw his weapon at Riku.

  “Augh…!” The heavy sword bounced on the floor and came straight for him. “You…won’t defeat me…and neither will the darkness!”

  Riku had fallen to one knee, but he stayed low, and dashed in under Lexaeus’s guard to stab up at him with Soul Eater.

  “Rgh… To think…you had so much power…” Now Lexaeus dropped heavily to his knees.

  Riku jumped back to put some distance between them, also out of breath. “What’s the matter, Lexaeus…?” he said between gasps.

  Even without using the darkness…I can still defeat you.

  “Darkness isn’t…all it’s cracked up to be, huh?” Riku told him. “This fight…is mine.”

  Lexaeus gave him a cruel smile. “Hmph…so I must accept my defeat here. But do not make the mistake of underestimating the darkness in me! As I am destroyed, it will leave this ruined vessel and drown you!”

  Then there was a terrible shock wave far greater than what Riku had felt from the darkness that Lexaeus radiated before the battle.

  “Wh…what’s happening?!” A relentless swirl of darkness surrounded him, swallowing him up until he disappeared into it.

  Lexaeus laughed madly. “This is my strength… I, number five in the organization… I who was once his favorite pupil!”

  Those were Lexaeus’s final words before he vanished into the darkness.

  He was in the dark. Nothing but darkness, on and on forever… Riku stood there alone.

  “What…happened to me?” he murmured, trying to look around. “Where am I?”

  A whisper replied to him. “I see you now…clearly…”

  “Lexaeus?!” Riku cried.

  The whispery voice seemed to be mocking him. “Riku… I can see your heart.”

  “No… It’s not Lexaeus,” Riku said to himself. “Darkness this foul could
only be…him?!”

  That presence…that stench. He knew it.

  “Ansem!” he shouted.

  That name—it might as well be the name for the darkness that was lodged inside him.

  The voice laughed at him. “You called out my name, Riku. You have been thinking about me…”

  It sent a chill down Riku’s spine. Those memories…he would rather forget. That revolting feeling in the moment when Ansem had taken over his body…

  “You are afraid…of the darkness I wield. Good. The more you think of me…the nearer my return draws. And when I have awoken, I will take hold…”

  Riku involuntarily shrank back. It felt like the darkness was closing in, suffocating him. Closing in…on his heart.

  “And your heart will be mine to command!” As the voice said that, the man himself appeared—Ansem.

  Riku couldn’t move, as if that cold stare turned him to ice on the spot.

  How could he escape the darkness? How could he escape Ansem? The terrible gaze pierced him through.

  Then he heard another voice. “Riku! Fight! Don’t let him win!”

  As Riku heard it a ray of light shone on him. “Your Majesty…!” he cried, and the light grew, turning everything bright.

  “You meddlesome king!” Ansem’s shout faded into the light.

  Riku woke up, groaning, to find himself in the hall again. He felt a little unsteady, but nothing hurt.

  “The king… He protected me?” he murmured, getting slowly to his feet. “Your Majesty, where are you? Please, answer me!”

  He looked frantically around the hall, but the king was nowhere to be seen now. Or heard, either.

  “But you’re with me, aren’t you…?” Riku’s hand, at his chest, curled into a fist.

  “Remember, Riku, you’re not alone.”

  He thought he could hear the king’s voice quietly telling him that… And he started walking again.

  It can’t be true, the Replica thought. My memories, all fake—that can’t be true!

  He ran as if to chase after Naminé, even though she was long gone. He had to make her take back those words. And he had to keep her safe from Sora.

  Sora’s memories are the fake ones…

  He opened the door only to find yet another marble room. But in the middle of it, Naminé and Sora were talking.

  I have to protect her from Sora… That was the only thought in his head.

  “Because I went into your memories and—” Naminé was saying.

  “Let me explain this!” the Replica interrupted.

  “Riku!” cried Sora, startled.

  “Plain and simple,” the Replica went on. “Your memory is a train wreck. You’re not the one who’s meant to protect Naminé. That’s me! But here you are, getting led astray by all those false memories!”

  He lunged for Sora, his sword poised to strike.

  “No! Stop it!” Naminé screamed. But the Replica never heard her.

  Sora grunted and blocked his blow with the Keyblade.

  “I’m the one who will protect Naminé!” The Replica jumped back and then swung at Sora again with renewed momentum.

  “C’mon, Riku! We don’t have to do this!” Sora shouted.

  As if in refusal, the Replica knocked him back hard.

  “Sora!” cried Naminé.

  “Ngh… Riku…” Sora was trying to get up.

  The Replica walked steadily closer to him. “Looks like I win.” He held his sword over Sora’s head.

  “Riku, don’t!” Naminé shouted again.

  Oblivious, the Replica swung. “You’re through, you impostor!”

  “NO!” As she cried out, a flash of light filled the room.

  The Replica’s vision blurred. He made a tiny, pained sound, and everything wavered. The strength went out of his legs.

  “Promise?” It was Naminé’s voice from somewhere far away.

  “Riku…?”

  He could hear Sora calling his name. But…he didn’t understand. Am I…?

  “Riku! Riku!”

  Sora’s voice was so distant…

  I hate you. Why are you calling my name like that?

  And then he lost his hold on consciousness, and he was sinking.

  CHAPTER 7

  REJECTION

  “VEXEN AND NOW LEXAEUS… WHAT’S GOING TO BECOME of the organization…?” Zexion murmured.

  As if perfectly timed in response, the air in the chamber wavered. Zexion looked up, and there was Axel, who should have been somewhere aboveground.

  “Naminé’s betrayed you. Sora eliminated Larxene.” Smirking, Axel stepped closer. “The question is which one of us will be next to fall.”

  Zexion frowned in distaste and spoke without looking at him. “…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.”

  The way Axel said the words for a bit caught somehow in Zexion’s mind, but he didn’t ask.

  “Which means the next to fall will be Marluxia,” Axel went on with a faint smile at his lips.

  “Sora beat you, so there’s no way he’ll lose against Marluxia—is that what you think?” said Zexion.

  Even though he had been placed in charge of the castle, Marluxia was only number 11 in the organization. And while a higher-ranking number did not necessarily indicate greater strength, Axel, who ranked at number 8 and was closer to him, saw Marluxia as a lesser opponent.

  “I’m saying that Marluxia tried to use Sora to take over the organization,” said Axel, as if concluding an argument. “Sora will be the one to eliminate him.”

  At that, Zexion looked up to press him further. “Then…our reason for obtaining Riku is no longer valid.”

  “Are you saying we’ll have to dispose of him? You want to go up against Riku after he took down Lexaeus?”

  It was not likely that they could win against Riku—not if Riku had defeated Lexaeus, who had prided himself on the warrior’s strength that let him hold his own against the highest-ranking members of the organization. Certainly not Zexion himself. He never had the slightest intention of facing Riku head-on.

  “I’ll do things differently,” Zexion replied, a slight smile coming to his normally expressionless face.

  “I’m sorry…Riku.”

  As he sank deeper and deeper into the darkness, the Replica was sure he heard that voice.

  He wasn’t Riku… And yet, he was glad to hear Naminé call him that, he thought dimly.

  We did make a promise, didn’t we? On the night of the meteor shower, I promised I’d protect her.

  “You are my crime…and my punishment.”

  Don’t say that! he wanted to scream. But he couldn’t. If he did, it would hurt Naminé.

  “If only somehow my prayers could reach you…”

  They are reaching me, Naminé! See, I’m already free.

  Light shone on the Replica. It was the light of Naminé’s hope.

  “Where…?” the Replica heard himself say, and then consciousness returned. It was the same great hall in which he’d fainted before. “Naminé…?”

  It must have been Naminé who had called to him. But she wasn’t here.

  “What…happened to me?”

  All he knew was that he was not Riku. He was a fake, created as a copy of Riku.

  But…that didn’t matter. Only one feeling filled his heart—the wish to protect Naminé.

  The Replica began to run…to where Naminé must be.

  “I’ll have all my friends’ memories, so I can piece my own together again!” Sora was shouting at Marluxia and Naminé.

  It sure would be nice if I could do that…, the Replica thought.

  Marluxia snorted derisively at Sora’s claim. “Ignorant fool. When Naminé uses her powers to erase your memory, you’ll be nothing but an empty husk! Your heart will no longer feel or care about anything!
Just like that pathetic imitation of your Riku!”

  As Marluxia was ranting, the Replica dashed in under his guard. My heart can still feel! And it can still care about people!

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” he said evenly and slashed up with his sword.

  The unexpected blow knocked Marluxia to his knees. “It can’t be—!”

  “Riku!” Sora ran toward him.

  The Replica didn’t turn. “No. Only an imitation.”

  And he pointed his sword at Marluxia again.

  “You’re a shell—a husk who had everything taken! Everything!” Marluxia spat.

  “What did I ever have to lose in the first place? Both my body and my heart are fake,” the Replica replied, sure of himself now. “But there’s one memory I’ll keep—even if it was just a lie! Whether it was a phantom promise or not…I will protect Naminé!”

  She stared at him silently.

  Everything else in the Replica’s mind was false. Only that was true.

  “Riku…!” Sora stood beside him and likewise faced Marluxia with the Keyblade ready.

  “Imbeciles…!” Marluxia got to his feet. “You would knowingly shackle your heart with a chain of memories born of lies? You would cast aside your heart’s freedom?!”

  You’re wrong, the Replica thought. There are memories I don’t want to lose. That’s why I was able to wake up.

  I haven’t cast aside my heart’s freedom. I only chose to have those memories. And I was able to choose because my heart is free.

  Pale pink flower petals began to swirl around them.

  “You turn from the truth because your heart is weak… And you will never defeat me!” The petals took the shape of an enormous scythe in Marluxia’s hands, and he swung it at Sora and the Replica.

  “Ngh—!” A step ahead of Sora, the Replica managed to block it. “Sora, now!”

  At his cue, Sora leaped into the air to bring the Keyblade down on Marluxia’s head. But Marluxia flung the Replica back and raised his scythe in time to ward off the blow.

  “That’s not all I’ve got!” cried Sora, jumping up again as soon as he landed. “Donald, Goofy!”

  As if they’d timed it all from the start, Donald hurled a spell at Marluxia. “Firaga!”