(no subject)

[radiant-purity.livejournal.com]

Who: Sora, Open
What: Getting readjusted
Where: Destiny Island
When: Noon
Rating: PG


Even though the alarm clock radio had been playing music for almost five hours straight, it couldn't pierce the slumber of the softly snoring pile of blankets and sheets that lay in the bed by the window. The airplane attached to the top of the ceiling was making very slow revolutions from the wind that blew past the curtains into the room. Not even broad daylight could get through the blankets covering the snoozing teenager on the bed.

But the sounds of footsteps reaching his door stirred the prone figure. The footsteps went past his door though, fading as they went down the stairs by his door.


Managing to unglue his eyes from each other, Sora sat up shedding the blankets covering him. With an almost endless yawn, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. After having to pry a stubborn piece of eye goo from the corner of his eyes he looked around his room.

"Wha..?" he said with a cracked voice. "When did I get home?"

Twisting his upper body he turned off the radio while it was in the middle of a commercial and threw the rest of the blankets off himself, planting his feet on the ground. He stood up and stretched until he was on tippy toes and his arms were unable to extend any more.

Sora looked down on the ground to see the clothes that were magically made for him by the three fairies. "Oh yeah. I forgot all about getting here last night." He gave a smile as he picked them up and began putting them on. Wouldn't do to be walking around naked now that he was home.

As soon as he was done tying to the laces for his shoes, Sora opened the door to his bedroom and hurried down the stairs, wondering exactly what kind of reaction he would get when his parents saw him back. Back after all this time. However, when he got to the bottom, his smile faded. It was empty. The living room and kitchen were both empty.

A note on the door his mother had left for his dad was on the door. 'See you at dinner after work.'

"Work?" he said puzzled, scratching his head. His mother didn't work before.....before all that. "A lot changed I guess."

Scribbling his own note underneath his mother's handwriting, Sora read it to himself real quickly and nodded with a smile. 'Be back after dinner'

When Sora opened the door he actually had to reach down a bit to turn the knob. Before he had been swept up to Traverse Town, he had to lift his hand up to open the front door. According to the alarm clock when he woke up, it was about noon. But Sora had no idea what day it was. Giving a mental shrug he broke into a sprint down the road leading to the ocean. Where there would surely be a small boat there for him to use to get to the island. He had to make sure he was home this time. Not some kind of messed up dream.

Comments

[you-see-lies.livejournal.com]

The first thing Sora would see, of course, would be a man only a few inches taller than him, clad in a the garb of a member of Organization XIII. He would be standing only six yards in front of Sora, with the hood up. This, of course, was Zexion, the sixth member of Organization XIII, and the master of illusions and manipulation.

Sora would have walked right into one of Zexion's illusions. The hallucination he would be having would be that of Destiny Islands in flames, several of his friends laying dead, with the Heartless swarming over them in droves. Darksides would be standing tall over the island, tearing the treehouses down. Shadows and Neoshadows would be everywhere, scaling the trees to destroy survivors, with the hearts of Sora's friends disappearing at every turn.

Zexion, however, would remain staring at Sora from beneath his hood, saying nothing. This illusion was meant to be symbolic, and nothing more. At Sora's feet would be a shattered picture of him, Riku, and Kairi, with a drew drops of blood on the broken glass frame.

Zexion said nothing. He needed Sora to get the picture, before he ceased the illusion.

[masterheartless.livejournal.com]

Xehanort growled as he spotted Zexion. "The damned fool" he muttered as he covered the distance between the two of them, placing a hand on the nobody's shoulder. "Cease your illusion, Zexion. Or have you forgotten your own superior" he said, while his look was much diffrent from that of Xemnas, he knew Zexion of all people would at least be able to tell he was the same person.

[you-see-lies.livejournal.com]

He could 'smell' Xemnas a mile away, and as such, lowered his hood and turned to the... elder man? He 'smelled' identical to his Superior, but... of course. This was indeed Xehanort, but this Xehanort was before he ever became young again by inhabiting that Keyblader's body. Zexion had a heart back then, and he was only a child... a child whose parents were killed, and who was adopted by Ansem the Wise, and by proxy, this very man.

So... Xion and Xigbar were telling the truth. It was Xehanort. That means, that Zexion was obligated to obey.

"... Of course," Zexion said quietly, allowing reality to return to Sora's mind. So much for his plan.

[radiant-purity.livejournal.com]

As soon as Sora closed the door behind him he saw the hooded figure before him. Before he could even take a wild guess at which Organization member had survived, he took in what was going on around him.

"Wha-" he looked from the fires, to those who were screaming in terror. His eyes widening, his pupils shrinking as he felt his throat go dry. And suddenly someone else appeared from a portal of darkness. Sora's horror turned into confusion. He claimed to be the 'superior' of Zexion. Upon the old man's mention of the member's name Sora blinked a few times. He didn't recall ever seeing that Organization member.

And just like that, the town was back to normal. As if whatever had just happened never did.

"I didn't think there were any of you guys left." Sora said quite unhappily. Not even on his first day after returning home could be a normal one. "And that's not Xemnas." Sora pointed out as looked at the bald geezer next to Zexion.

"So what do you want? What was all that about?" he asked as his hands balled up into fists. They had never brought him anything but trouble.

[masterheartless.livejournal.com]

Xehanort shook his head. "You poor deluded fool, I'm Xehanort to be truthful" his eyes flashed. "The real Xehanort, before my fusion with that blasted keyblader left me with no memory and no keyblade" he said as he flicked his hand, summoning his blade. "Now Sora, I need a new body"

[xiv-obsession.livejournal.com]

Xion watched the scene unfold from a safe distance away. Her hood was up to hide herself from view. She had tagged along after Zexion, trying to be stealthy and have him not notice, just for a chance to see what Destiny Islands looked like.

...and to see what Sora really looked like. Even though she had once been part of him, she had never seen him in the flesh. It was an opportunity she couldn't pass up.

Her eyes widened as she heard Xehanort outline his aims. Immediately she paled at the thought of so evil a being taking control of Sora and using him for his blackhearted schemes.

She wouldn't...couldn't...allow it.

Xion slipped out of her hiding place and came up behind the lot, facing Sora, so Xehanort and Zexion's backs were to her. Not wanting to alarm Sora with Kairi's face, she just kept her hood up.

"No! You can't! I won't let you!"

[you-see-lies.livejournal.com]

Zexion remained silent throughout this entire ordeal. If Xehanort wanted to occupy Sora's body, then who was the Cloaked Schemer to stop him? Xehanort was the Somebody of his Superior. He simply took a few steps back, before a familiar scent entered his nostrils. However, that scent was identical to the scent emanating from Sora. Could it be Roxas?

Zexion turned to see a familiar face underneath the hood. "No..." he whispered quietly, and quickly went to her side. "What are you doing here!?" he whispered. This wasn't supposed to happen, Xion was supposed to stay back at the room. He didn't want her in harm's way... and he didn't even stop to ponder why her scent was so similar to Sora's.

Sora might have been on his "KILL THE NOBODIES" tangent, and Zexion didn't even know what kind of person Xemnas was like with a heart. He couldn't risk harm to Xion, and as such, stayed at her side. She was too important to the Organization... and to him.

[masterheartless.livejournal.com]

Xehanort growled as Zexion moved to Xion. "right I didn't tell you about the girl. Zexion, leave her. She's not a nobody, she's a remnant, a mere clone of Sora here if you will, since the boy is here, I don't need her." he said as his eyes flashed in anger.

[radiant-purity.livejournal.com]

Sora became even more confused when another dark hooded member arrived. But he couldn't tell whether she was here to help, or if this was some trick. The only way he knew it was a female was by the tone of her voice. But it seemed the two Organization members

The old man who claimed to be Xehanort, which was even more puzzling to Sora, has definitely said the wrong words.

"Not when I'm here. Not after all we all went through just so we could all be back here." he said referring to Kairi and Riku. His vivid blue eyes looked at Xehanort's face with an unyielding tenacity. "I don't know all what's going on here, but you'll never take my heart or my body!" his voice ripe with emotion. He put both his hands in front of him and in a bright, white flash the silver kingdom keyblade appeared. Sora glared at Xehanort over the edge of the weapon that had felled many heartless, nobodies, and more than half of Organization XIII.

"I've had enough of being treated like a toy." Sora said, one hand gripping the hilt holding the blade sideways, the other with it's palm pressed against the silver lined edge.

[xiv-obsession.livejournal.com]

Xion's eyes stayed on Sora, even as she was questioned quietly by Zexion. She had felt a strong urge to follow him, to see where and what exactly he was doing on Destiny Islands, and now she was glad to have followed that desire.

Still, she flinched as Xehanort so casually dismissed her presence. There was no hiding it anymore, she figured. The cat was well out of the bag. 'At least I don't have to be the one to try and explain it...' she thought. It seemed a pity too. After all, Zexion was one of the small handful of those in the Organization who treated her like a person.

She lowered her head slightly and walked past the two of them in Sora's direction. Her hand clenched, and Oathkeeper appeared in her grasp.

"I don't want to fight you. I can't." she said, looking up just enough to see the boy's face. It was unnerving in a way. But he was kind, she could tell that just from his eyes. He was worth defending. Sora was the Light they needed. Xion turned around fast and pointed Oathkeeper at Master Xehanort. "And I won't...I won't let anyone use him! Being a puppet for you, I'd rather die than let anyone else know what that's like!"

Ugh! Damn HTML codes...

[you-see-lies.livejournal.com]

He had been keeping his eyes closed, ever since Xion walked past him. So many conflicting thoughts... so many different ideas floating around in his head. His lack of emotions allowed him to approach this logically, before it hit him.

Xemnas was never one to lie to his followers, least of all someone like Zexion, the most intelligent member and one of the founding members of Organization XIII. He wouldn't have suddenly gained a heart and not told the others, especially since Zexion was only sent to this world by that very same man a few days ago. He was thrown off at first by this man 'smelling' like Xemnas, but...

No. This man, no matter what he was calling himself, was not the Superior.

Zexion used his Illusion powers to walk right next to Xion as she took her position next to Sora, so that it would appear as if he stayed in the same place. He broke the illusion when both Xion and Zexion were standing adjacent to Sora. "So... it has come to this, Superior.." Zexion spat the last word, holding out his hand. The Book of Retribution would appear in his hand, the pages flipping by themselves, anxious for battle. "You are not Xemnas," Zexion began. "The true Xemnas knows the use of these Keybladers, and wouldn't keep a new-found heart a secret from us. I apologize, 'Xehanort,' but I can't allow you to interfere with our plans." Sure, it wasn't the friendliest way of forming a temporary truce with Sora, but Sora certainly didn't seem like the type to look a gift horse in the mouth.

He disregarded Xehanort saying that Xion wasn't a true Nobody at the moment. There were far more important issues to deal with.

late comment is late - yay for the flu

[xwaytothedawnx.livejournal.com]

Adding to Sora's confusion, yet another cloaked figure appeared, stepping out of a corridor of darkness to stand in front of him, with his back to him. The black hood hid telltale silver hair from view and the blindfold his those bright eyes.

It wasn't until he held out his hand, allowing his Way to the Dawn keyblade to materialise that it becomes apparent that this hooded figure is none other than Riku.

[masterheartless.livejournal.com]

Xehanort shook his head. "Zexion, while I am unsure what you meant by the keybladers, I wasn't referring to Sora when I mentioned them, I would have you know that the reason I hadn't informed you of a new heart was because I couldn't find any of the Organization except for the traitor until recently. Anyway, how are you even still alive? When I came here, the entire Organization had been destroyed. I suspect time-travel but without Vexen, I can't be postive" Xehanort said as he snapped his finger. A group of neoshadows appeared behind him. "Nevertheless, I find it admirable that you still hold to the foolish goal I had during my time as a nobody. Luckily I'm back and I have my memories and powers with me. Good bye, Ienzo" Xehanort said as he started to split the ground

[radiant-purity.livejournal.com]

If there was one thing Sora wasn't expecting, it was to see someone else wielding a keyblade. He gaped at her keyblade, the Oathkeeper. Sora himself had used it before when he attached it's keychain to his keyblade. The fact that she wasn't going to just standby while Xehanort threatened Sora was a big boost. Paired with the fact that Zexion was with her and ready to fight was puzzling in and of itself.

When yet another cloaked figure appeared, Sora was about ready to just ask if this was some kind of Organization party based at Destiny Islands. When he had opened his mouth to ask just what was going on now, his mouth simply stayed open.

The keyblade that formed in his hand was all too familiar. For a very brief moment Sora had wielded that keyblade when he fought Xemnas alongside-

"Riku!" Sora said surprise and excitement in his voice. Just minutes ago Sora had been hoping to find Sora and/or Kairi at the small island in the ocean. He really wanted to talk to him and catch up with all that has been going while he was gone, but Sora had to put that aside for now.

Looking back to Xehanort, Sora tried to make sense of all that he was saying to Zexion and the other keyblader. The only thing he did get, and was also confused about, is that the Organization was no more.

"Let's do this." Sora said to Riku as he took a few steps forward, his kingdom key gripped tightly in his hand. As the ground began to quake with the rift that was going Sora quickly jump passed the growing crack and made short work of a neoshadow, buying him just enough time to fend off an attack from another one nearby. He needed to get to Xehanort.

After all, he was the one bringing this nightmare up to front door.

[fullofheart.livejournal.com]

She felt like she was being pulled away, out of her home and down towards the beach for one reason or another. Kairi couldn't understand it at first, and thus followed her instincts as she laced up her shoes and quickly left her home and followed the direction her heart seemed to show her.

The first thing she sees, ironically, is not her friends; she stops short upon noticing the splitting earth and the Neoshadows forming around the area that...her eyes look up and her heart seems to clench slightly at the sight of Sora kicking the heartless' butt, Riku and...two others beside them. Organization members? Why?

A bit confused, she turns to look at the opponent, whose aura of darkness sends a chill up her spine and causes her to shiver a bit. She doesn't want to distract the fight or become a burden...and it was one of these times she wished she had a Keyblade like the rest of them.

So she stood in the distance, eyes flitting from one person to the other, her mind thinking about what her options were in this situation...

[you-see-lies.livejournal.com]

Well, that about proved it. This man wasn't Xemnas; Xemnas would never stoop to summoning Heartless to fight his battles for him. Zexion nodded a greeting to Riku, whom he thought was at Castle Oblivion, but the other Keyblader's timing was impeccable. If this man truly was Xehanort, he would have gotten his followers hearts, too... unless, of course, his plan was to betray the Organization all along.

"I've had about enough of your lies," Zexion said monotonously, as his lexicon began levitating in front of him. "If you truly are the Superior, you may consider this my... resignation." With that, copies of the Book of Retribution began appearing everywhere, in Zexion's trademark fighting style of overwhelming his opponents with a flurry of magical attacks.

Before Zexion would begin attacking, he turned to Sora and Riku. "I'll explain this later. Allow Xion and I to deal with these troublesome Heartless. You have more important things to worry about." Like a puppet master, the Cloaked Schemer manipulated his lexicons to bombard the Neoshadows with razor-sharp pages. A neoshadow tried to leap at Zexion, but his own true copy of the Book of Retribution opened up in front of him, and a large, black claw erupted from within the pages, grabbed the neoshadow, and crushed it within its palm.

Zexion paid no attention to the new scent... a scent that was identical to that of Naminé, though, admittedly, Zexion had never met Kairi face-to-face.

[xwaytothedawnx.livejournal.com]

Riku nodded at Sora's words, and again at Zexion's. So much for peace and quiet on the Islands. He guessed it was true what they said - be careful what you wish for - he had wanted adventure and now he was right in the middle of this. He removed his blindfold, and pulled down his hood, shaking those silver locks free.

He went to move forward, but paused when he saw Kairi. Holding out his free hand he let a second keyblade appear - Destiny Place - the same blade he had given her to fight with in the World That Never Was. "Kairi. Catch." He didn't want her involved in the fighting, but he knew if he kept her on the sidelines she would totally kick his butt for it.

[xiv-obsession.livejournal.com]

Xion's eyes widened in disbelief at how many people had come. They were all here to help Sora, even Zexion. His turn had been the most surprising, though she could see the logic behind it. She remembered Xemnas...and this man was not him, though he claimed to be.

More surprising was Riku's sudden appearance. Briefly she wondered if he would remember her, but inside she hoped he didn't. She'd caused him enough trouble.

As the Neoshadows began their approach, she rushed forward to meet them. One clawed at her, but its face collided with Oathkeeper and it was gone in only a moment.

[masterheartless.livejournal.com]

Xehanort grinned as he flicked his hand, the ground it self splitting and rising as he rose above their attacks. "I don't have time to deal with you Zexion. You always were blinded by your youth." He put his hand out as the air started to grow cold as he cast a Blizzaga directed at the new girl. "Kairi. The Princess of Radiant Garden. How nice"

[you-see-lies.livejournal.com]

"I think not," Zexion said quietly, and teleported directly in front of Kairi. His copy of the Book of Retribution opened, with a dark vortex forming on the pages. Just as he did in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, the Blizzaga spell was absorbed into the pages, granting Zexion access to the full force of spell to be used later. Another Neoshadow was approaching behind Xion's back, but Zexion used one of the levitating copies to open, and with the pages acting like teeth, devoured the Neoshadow in a manner similar to the Radical Treatise.

[radiant-purity.livejournal.com]

Sora gave a determined nod to Zexion and wove his way through the neoshadows that were being cut by the pages from Zexion's book. It was certainly unique, but he didn't have time to think about the the workings of Zexion's attack methods. Having an eerie feeling Sora looked behind him as he continued making his way to Xehanort and he saw a black shadow on the ground following him and he skidded to a stop. The neoshadow rose from the ground to slash at him. He quickly ducked and rolled under the swipe and brought his keyblade up with both hands in an upward ark that sent the neoshadow into the air were it was sliced in half by a razor edge page from Zexion's book.

As Sora turned his attention back to the old man, he saw him cast a blizzaga spell, but who in the world was he aiming at? He looked over and saw

"KAIRI!" he shouted. And what happened next took him an extra few seconds to understand. Zexion had absorbed the ice magic, defending Kairi when he could not. He owed him one, he really did. He looked to Riku and saw that his friend was handling everything quite well. As was the other hooded figure. He would quiz Zexion and his companion later though.

He ran full tilt at the old man who had just tried to harm one of the very few people Sora would have done anything for.

Holding his keyblade with both hands, he hoisted it up and ready to strike as he rapidly approached Xehanort.

"You're not hurting anyone else!" he said fervently as he swung the silver keyblade at him.

[fullofheart.livejournal.com]

Kairi caught the keyblade just as the weird man...How did he know who she--

She braced herself for an attack that never came to be, as Zexion seemed to deflect and actually absorb the magic that she knew would have frozen her, and she felt the cold air swirl quickly past her now-heated skin. What...was going on? She was a bit stunned at first, but then she got her mind back into reality and jumped back a bit from behind the Organization member...or ex-organization member? She didn't know.

"Thank you." She called out before swinging the keyblade around in a semi-circle and catching that stupid shadow that wanted to get her from behind, looking over her shoulder towards the fighting Riku and Sora...who was going after the man who tried to hurt her. "Go Sora!" She called out, sidestepping another shadow attacking her and slamming the keyblade into its head, repeating the process with other random blows near the creatures formed from the darkness near her.

No way on this world was she going to stand in the sidelines this time around.

[masterheartless.livejournal.com]

Xehanort watched as Zexion asorbed the spell as Sora ran up the wall of earth. Xehanort sighed as he disapated his own keyblade. "I don't have time to deal with children. But i'll leave you something to play with" he said as he summoned an large Unversed. the spinning wheel like Wheel Master appeared as it started to move forward onto the group as Xehanort faded into the darkness behind them.

WTF? Xehanort can't summon the Unversed. Only Vanitas can. I'm gonna pretend that's a Heartless...

[xiv-obsession.livejournal.com]

Xion grumbled silently as the old man got away. She would have tried to go after him, but the Heartless surrounding her barred her exit. Still, she slashed through them, Oathkeeper biting into their shadowstuff flesh, intending to kill. More often than not, the Neowshadows' claws dug into her limbs and back as she tried to hit them.

However, she forgot the bigger Heartless that had appeared. With one stroke, it knocked her aside into a section of wall. She let out a groan as her head lolled about, slipping her hood back a bit, before she slipped into unconsciousness.

Agreed.

[you-see-lies.livejournal.com]

"Xion!" Zexion yelled. He had been watching the Heartless ever since it had appeared. Behemoths were dangerous Emblem Heartless, and while he would love to destroy it, he needed to protect Xion. She was far too important to the Organization to allow her to die to a Behemoth and a few Neoshadows.

Zexion began gliding towards Xion at a high speed, but first he had to draw them away from Xion. Tapping into his powers over Illusion, he would make it appear as if Xion had gotten up, and was running away. The Neoshadows would be driven away from Xion's body as Zexion landed on his feet next to her. "Xion... talk to me Xion, are you okay?" She had a pulse... good. But, he had to protect her. The Behemoth had begun stampeding towards Kairi as she was nearest to the two of them, and due to her Keyblade, the Behemoth was attracted to her more than Zexion.

However, the Neoshadows weren't as easily fooled. In Zexion's worry over Xion, he allowed the illusion to weaken, and they turned back towards them. "You miserable creatures... fine. If it's a fight you want, then I'm only too happy to oblige!"

Zexion tore open the Book of Retribution, and began floating. Using his limit break known as Meteor Mirage, the book in his hands began glowing with dark energies, and mortar-like orbs of darkness bombarded the area in front of him, exploding like a carpet bomb. Every single neoshadow in the group was obliterated.

With the heartless dead, Zexion dropped his lexicon and got down on one knee next to Xion. He didn't bring any items, as he didn't think they'd be necessary. He could only stay with her until she regained consciousness... and Zexion, knowing as much as he did about the skill of Riku and Sora, had no doubt that they could handle a Behemoth.

[xwaytothedawnx.livejournal.com]

Well... this certainly beat being stuck in school all day, but maybe math and science weren't all that bad after all... Everything was a little it of a muddle... just who was siding with who? And who were the bad guys right now? The only thing that really mattered was protecting Kairi and Sora (mostly Kairi), the rest he could figure out later.

And protecting Kairi at this very moment in time meant defeating that Behemoth before it could crumple her to death. So, wasting no more time, he all but threw himself at the Behemoth, slashing at it with his keyblade.

[radiant-purity.livejournal.com]

As Xehanort faded away, Sora's keyblade seared through the darkness left behind before it too faded. He looked up and his mouth parted slightly. The giant heartless stomped forward, it's massive clawed feet quaking the ground as it turned itself to face them. Sora began to step backwards as he looked up at the giant beast. When it took another step, the shaking earth caused Sora to fall back so he was suddenly sitting on the ground.

Then a vacuum shook him out of his daze. Riku had just rushed past him, the Way to the Dawn whipping through the air as Riku took on the behemoth in his own fierce manner. This brought Sora to his feet, his keyblade still gripped in his hand, he ran forward to join Riku.

"We can take this thing!" he said to Riku, assuring himself in doing so.

Apparently those words were seen as a direct challenge by the monster as it lowere it's head at Sora, thrusting forward hoping to impale the Keyblade Master on it's horn. Almost having the wind knocked out of him from the sheer power behind it, Sora managed to avoid the attack and hung onto the horn as it raised it's head. Riku must have been doing something right since it reoriented on the silver haired keyblader.

Managing to stand up, Sora swung his keyblade at the horn which caused the beast to stop completely and let out a roar. After which Sora unleashed a series of attacks with his keyblade, contorting his body to continue the momentum he built up from swinging his keyblade around, smacking the horn hard with each swing.

[fullofheart.livejournal.com]

...Well this was not her kind of "ideal" opponent. the Heartless rushing towards her in the method it was now just had her frozen in place, eyes wide and watching the huge being just head towards her direction...

Riku and Sora both passed her swiftly and moved to attack the creature. Looking over her shoulder, she noticed immediately the unconscious girl and pulled the Keyblade along the sand to kill the Shadows lying in wait while she moved to the Schemers' side.

"Go! Please help them out. I'll keep them safe until they wake up." Kairi told him, giving him a small smile. "Its the least I can do for you helping me out..."

[you-see-lies.livejournal.com]

Zexion closed his eyes as Kairi approached. So, she wanted him to assist in destroying the Behemoth? Zexion was hesitant, as because the Behemoth was an Emblem Heartless, if the killing blow was landed by him, it's heart would not join with Kingdom Hearts. But, there were more ways to assist them than actively fighting.

"... Very well," Zexion said. He assumed he could trust Kairi to watch over Xion.

Zexion used his short-range teleportation ability to appear a good ten yards away from the beast, who was currently taking a beating from Sora on its weak spot. Zexion opened his Book of Retribution, and raised his hand. He would begin to engulf the Heartless' feeble mind into an illusion, in which it would see hundreds of false Rikus, Soras, and Zexions, making it nearly impossible for the beast to know which one was real, and which one was false. It would begin stomping on false images, which Zexion would have to keep moving the phantasms sporadically, otherwise the creature would resort to creating shockwaves, which would likely hit all three of the combatants. It was rather exhausting to pay individual attention to all of the different 'clones', but it would distract the beast long enough for Sora or Riku to kill the creature, thus allowing a number of hearts to join Kingdom Hearts.

[xwaytothedawnx.livejournal.com]

Leaving Sora to deal with the horn, Riku focused his attacks on the neck of the beast. It was quite a task to avoid being stomped to death - not really his ideal way to die.

"Hey~ Sora? You doing okay over there?" He was slightly out of breath. It had been awhile since he had done anything more physical than a run in the beach or a little bit of swimming. Combat with a keyblade was far more exhausting.

[radiant-purity.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I think we got it!" Sora said to Riku. Between the confusion given by Zexion and the beating it's been taking from Riku and Sora the beast had been steadily slowing down. With the damage about it's neck done by Riku, it could no longer bull rush anyone, but it could still make some tremors with it's stomps. With both hands on the hilt of his keyblade, Sora raised the silver weapon over his head. With his arms taut and his knuckles white from his grip under his gloves, he gave a shout as he swung downwards.

The horn, already cracked from Sora wailing on it, shattered when struck. The beast let out a roar that shook the ground more than it's feet had done and in a white flash of light the monster vanished leaving dissipating smoke in it's place.

Sora fell from the spot he had been standing on and landed onto his feet. With a smile on his face he held out his fist to Riku for a knuckle bump. "Yeah! We still got it!" EVen though they hadn't seen each other in what felt like forever, Sora treated it like they didn't miss one minute.

After a quick look around, he saw Kairi. He gave a wave to her with a big smile and noticed that the female Organization XIII member was with her. That reminded him. He did want to talk to Zexion. There were a lot of questions.

[fullofheart.livejournal.com]

Kairi still couldn't tell if the person she was currently supporting in a sitting up position was male or female; the way the person was positioned suggested female but she wasn't so sure. A hand dug through her pockets quickly to produce a small potion, and the red-head immediately went to work shifting the person so she could...

Kairi almost dropped the bottle as she took a minute to get a closer look at the face beneath the hood...and it almost looked exactly like her. Her head throbbed slightly and she was fortunate that Sora and Riku were only seeing her back as she flinched a bit from the surprise, biting her lip as she shook her head. Somehow she managed to uncork the bottle, placing it to the unconcious girl's lips and tilting the bottle so its contents went into the others' mouth as she heard the final roar and looked over her shoulder towards Sora who was waving to her. Giving him and Riku one of her warm, happy smiles, she then turned back to her current task.

The...she didn't want to consider the girl 'strange' (she was unique in an eerie sort of way), but she left the girl's hood on as she shifted the other's weight yet again so the unconcious girl was half-lying in the Princess's lap, the latter's hand lightly holding the girl's mouth close but letting her breath through her nose so that--on chance--her body would instinctively swallow the potion and help her heal a bit faster.

There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but many of them seemed to be clouded, almost blocked in a way...and she couldn't help but half-wonder why...

*forgot to notice Xion was still there* o-o;

[xiv-obsession.livejournal.com]

The blow to the head had hit her harder than she thought, she noticed. She was close to fainting, and didn't put up any resistance as the Princess of Heart poured the healing drink into her mouth. The dark-haired girl swallowed on reflex, and immediately let out a little sigh as the potion went to work.

She felt so tired, so she was grateful when she was suddenly allowed to use the girl's lap as a rest for her head. Had she been in her right mind, she would have immediately ran away from Kairi, but at the moment she was completely out of it.

[you-see-lies.livejournal.com]

"Well... that settles that, then." Zexion said, watching the hearts collected within the Behemoth dissipate, joining Kingdom Hearts as it was slain by a Keyblade. Zexion turned away, and used another short-range teleportation spell to reach Xion and Kairi. As he did so, he opened a Corridor of Darkness. He noted the potion in Kairi's hand, and nodded. "I appreciate the gesture, princess, but I'm afraid we must be going.

He reached down, and gathered Xion in his arms. "This will all be explained at a later date... Xion needs medical attention, and a remote island like this isn't exactly adequate." He lied, of course, and he was going to heal her with magic as soon as he returned to the lodge.

Lifting Xion up with her legs slung over his arm and her head against his other arm, he turned towards the portal.

[radiant-purity.livejournal.com]

With that behind them and Xehanort gone, at least for now, Sora walked up to Kairi and looked at the hooded girl on her lap. "She all right?" he asked as he began to crouch down to see for himself. As his knees bent, Zexion appeared and picked up the girl.

"H-hey! Wait!" Sora said as Zexion began walking into the dark portal. "What about th old guy? What about that illusion? Who is she, why can she use a keyblade!?" he yelled in frustration. More than half his questions couldn't even be heard by Zexion for the portal had closed after his first. Sora's arms hanged by his sides as he looked at the spot where the Corridor once was. "I still have no idea what that was all about." he muttered.

Taking a deep breath to help accept all that would have to wait, he turned back to Kairi and Riku. "Not how I pictured us meeting again, but it's better than never, right?" a smile on his face. He held out his hand to help Kairi up from where she was sitting. "Have I been gone long?" he asked uncertainly.

[xwaytothedawnx.livejournal.com]

Once Zexion and Xion disappeared and the Corridor closed, Riku dismissed his Keyblade and flopped down on the sand with a groan. Everything had happened so quickly and Sora wasn't the only one who had no clue what was going on. "Today's been kinda crazy, huh?"

He pushed himself up onto his elbows, watching Sora and Kairi for a long moment before saying anything else. "You've been gone plenty long enough - Kairi was getting worried." Riku had been too, but he wasn't about to admit it. "Where've you been? Off saving worlds without us?"

[fullofheart.livejournal.com]

Kairi did jump a bit from surprise at the sudden appearance of Zexion, and she allowed him to pick the girl up into his arms, her occupied hand tightening a bit on the empty bottle. "...I hope she'll be okay..." the Princess of Heart murmured as he disappeared with his companion; she understood that he was worried, and she hoped that everything would be explained later. Including the reason for that sudden head pain...

...And then Sora was there. It was actually him...and not...she forced herself to mentally shake away the image of Vanitas as she grabbed onto his hand with her own and pulled herself up (She wasn't going to tell Sora about him--she didn't think it was the right time and she didn't want to bring up any of that bad experience from before). "I'm still glad we're together, though. And he was right; I really was worried about you, Sora..." She smiled again at him and then hugged him. Her mind and heart so wanted this to be the real him...didn't want this to be a dream...

...and as she pulled away she wondered how all of this could have been real--it happened so fast..."Oh, Riku! Sora wouldn't do anything like that without us. He promised!" She answered the silver-haired male while looking down towards him. And...thats when she really noticed how much they grew up and..how much her heart really was torn between both of them.

"So...what are we going to do now?" She asked, quickly grabbing one of Sora's hands into hers as she reached out her other hand for Riku to take--so maybe she was a little bit childish on the inside, but for both of them to be there...she felt secure and safe from the darkness that seemed to try and surround her world and her heart.