The Underworld, First Visit:
In Which Some Are Gone, But Not Forgotten
It shouldn't have been Sora. Couldn't have been.
The people who were in the Underworld were dead. People who had died -- or been killed -- or devoured by Heartless. And Sora wasn't any of those things. His light had never, ever faltered, not in all that had happened to him. He was still alive: Roxas could feel him, his warmth. Roxas had seen and spoken to him.
He was still alive. Still alive.
But here he was, clearly visible despite the dimness of the cavern, rubbing the back of his neck a little, almost sheepish. Roxas stared, hearing Namine gasp behind him without really grasping the significance of it.
How could he be here?
What does it mean?
"Why did you follow me?" Sora asked after a few moments of awkward silence, still with that smile. He was slowly starting to retrace his steps, moving back in their direction.
Roxas almost choked before he managed to retort, "Because-- Because you're here! I just saw you, we just saw you, and you didn't say anything about being in the Underworld!"
Oh god, Sora was dead.
"Why did you run?" he demanded, ignoring the way his chest ached, like a vise was closing around him, caging the wild beat of his heart in his ears.
"Aw, c'mon." Sora made a rueful face. "It's obvious, isn't it?"
Roxas stiffened slightly, his brain shutting down almost before it could start running through the possible reasons. "No," he said distantly.
"I ran because I didn't want you to follow me," Sora said, his voice soft. Regret was written on his face, clearer the closer he drew.
There was no good reason. "But why?" he blurted out anyway. "We're-- We're all happy to be able to see you, even if it's just here! Everyone will be happy, Riku, and..." Roxas glanced back over to Namine. It was a happy thing, right? But Namine was standing paralyzed, unresponsive to his glance. She looked like she wasn't sure whether to cry or be sick.
He sort of sympathized.
"Sorry," Sora murmured, glancing away from Roxas. There was a tension in his shoulders that Roxas wasn't sure he'd ever see there before. He was... unhappy. "It's just -- harder to talk to you here."
Don't ask, he told himself. The certainty was an uneasy knot in his stomach. You don't want to know and he doesn't want to tell you.
And still he said, numbly, "It's. It's easier in a crisis?"
"No... No, it's not about that, Roxas." Sora shook his head, and this time he really did just look in another direction. "It's -- easier to put on a happy face there."
It was the unhappiest blow he'd ever been dealt in his whole life. Roxas felt himself stop breathing. He'd known since the beginning that Sora would probably hate him for what he'd done, for the choice he'd made, and it wasn't until right now that he finally realized how important it had been that Sora hadn't hated him.
"You don't mean that," Roxas said slowly.
Sora continued unhappily, "I can tell just what you're feeling, there, and you... can't tell what I'm feeling. But it's harder here, since you can see -- my real face."
An hour, two hours ago, it had been such a completely different story. Roxas sucked in a breath and snapped without heat, "You hypocrite! You just got done telling Namine to stop lying about how she feels!" He wasn't looking at her, but he could hear Namine suck in a startled little gasp at being mentioned.
"I'm sorry," Sora repeated, his gaze fixed firmly on his sneakers. He wouldn't look at Namine, either. "You really weren't supposed to know. Can't you just -- leave? Pretend you didn't see me here?" He glanced up hopefully.
It all felt so wrong. Like maybe part of him was withering away, or dying, or burning up. "I don't know," Roxas murmured. "Can I just... walk away and leave things like this...?"
"This is what being a Nobody is, right? I'm just the part of you that exists without you." Sora smiled a little, still reluctant. He was so close that Roxas could reach out and touch him. And he was -- real, tangible, maybe in a way that he hadn't been in the Station of Calling. "But I only get to live on the inside. Can't speak, or touch, or taste..."
It was a cruel thing to say, much less reserved and reluctant than his previous statements, and it hit harder. Roxas managed, "That's--" and then he ran out of words to say. It felt like that hatred was finally slipping out.
He wanted to make this better. He hadn't expected that he would hate it like this.
"I really am sorry, Roxas," Sora murmured. He was close enough to cry on.
He heard himself say, "You're -- not the one who should be sorry."
"Of course I'm sorry." Sora smiled, a little lopsided. A little twisted. "I liked it better when I was the only one hurting."
Roxas grimaced. As selfish as it was... "...I'd be lying if I said I didn't prefer it that way, too."
They stood there like that for a moment, and then, slowly, Sora relaxed. "Maybe it's not too late to change that," he murmured, and reached out to take Roxas's hand.
Axel dragged Roxas back a step before he could think of how to respond. Irritated at having the decision made for him, Roxas turned to stare at you. "What are you-- Sora's--!"
"Don't be an idiot," Axel said. His eyes had gone wide. "That's not Sora."
The realization came a split second too late. Sora's hand snaked out and fastened in a punishing grip on Roxas's forearm, pulling him that last inch closer, and the cave walls started to twist around them. Roxas recoiled, trying to reclaim his arm without summoning his keyblades, but Sora's grip was so strong.
"Soft," the brunet murmured. "I don't think you'd have fallen for that before. Is this what it means to have a heart?" His lips twisted into a smirk, almost a sneer, bizarre and out of place on Sora's familiar features. "If only we'd known."
"We were just wondering where you were," Axel said, casual, but when Roxas darted a glance at him he was already hunched, chakrams in his hands.
"And I was wondering where you were. You don't seem to have been all there." Sora smiled at him over Roxas's shoulder, without quite taking his gaze off the blond. "Daydreaming? It certainly took you long enough to scent me."
Roxas stilled discreetly, waiting for the opportunity as he recovered. Sooner or later, 'Sora' was going to make a move, or be distracted, and Roxas would be ready for it.
Conveniently, Axel had decided to be distracting. "I had a few other things on my mind! So where's Lexaeus? Did Hercules get in a few good hits?"
Something in Sora's face shifted, but he only sounded amused when he said, "What makes you think a pathetic 'hero' like that could ever hurt him?"
"Well." Axel laughed shortly. "Riku managed it, didn't he?"
Now Sora's gaze snapped to Axel, lip curling. He made a sharp movement in Axel's direction and instantly Roxas seized the opportunity, keyblades in his hands and swinging hard at 'Sora', eyes narrowed. The strike connected with brutal force, and Sora hopped awkwardly back, one arm wrapped around his ribs. The illusion faded around the edges, first fringes of black, and then for a moment it was just Sora, clad in Organization black coat, before it fell away entirely.
Zexion straightened again, tossing his hair back confidently, as if he'd meant to do precisely that. "You'll have to try harder than that, Roxas," he said.
"I intend to," Roxas said grimly, securing his grip on the keyblades and readying himself. He was angry -- as angry as he'd ever been.
How dare he.
Just as he began to lunge he heard Namine cry, "Roxas, look out!" and Axel's hissed, "He's not alone--" but there wasn't enough time to twist his lunge into a dodge before an immense crash came from behind him. The ground rose up beneath his feet like an impossible shockwave, sending the stone floor shooting up in a broad curve of spikes, knocking Roxas off his feet and off-balance. He yelped as his hip crashed into a rising pillar and he tumbled off into thin air.
Inches away from the ground a sudden gust of wind caught him, boosted him back up so that he could use his momentum to roll back to his feet. Roxas tossed a quick grateful smile at Namine as he landed, Axel a beat behind him, before his head whipped around to watch Lexaeus and Zexion warily. His anger had faded away into alarm.
We're screwed, he thought.
Zexion slid into place behind Lexaeus, the big man taking half a step forward to subtly present himself as the enemy in Zexion's place. "Couldn't you have cut in a few seconds earlier?"
"Close combat is not your forte," Lexaeus rumbled, almost amused. "You know that. Next time, stay back."
"It's not as much fun from further away," Zexion said, half sulking.
Zexion was the physically weak link, but his illusions were nothing to take lightly. He would be much easier to take down than Lexaeus, who true to form looked completely untouched from his earlier confrontation with Hercules, but it was clear from their unified stance that Lexaeus had no intentions of letting them touch Zexion without going through him first.
"Is this supposed to be a fair fight?" Roxas asked tersely, trying to think, play against Lexaeus's nature. Why was he even here.
"In the interests of fairness, we have allowed you to fight three against two," Lexaeus said, impassive.
As if numbers had anything to do with it. Lexaeus was absolutely undefeated in the Organization, and although Zexion's track record was not quite so impressive, the full range of his abilities as a support tool were terrifying. Roxas had seen the two of them take down worlds without even involving their servants. Either one of them would be an intimidating opponent, but together...
"Two against two might be more fair," Axel said, and Roxas glanced at him. Axel was facing them, tense, but his gaze was on Roxas.
"You've been given your handicap. If you don't care for it, by all means, throw it away." Lexaeus darkened almost visibly, drinking in power in a terrifying display that distorted the very atmosphere around him. Zexion stepped back away from him and into the air, vanishing. "Just prepare yourself!"
Lexaeus sprang forward, surprisingly nimble, and his axe-sword plunged into the ground where Roxas had been only a heartbeat before. The one advantage he had over the giant was speed; he had to keep moving, strike hard but fleeting blows, and pray that his stamina outlasted Lexaeus's endurance.
Or maybe the power of the Drive would be enough to overcome Lexaeus, too.
He thought of and dismissed his options in a heartbeat, the urgency of the moment making his mind work dizzyingly fast, and then braced himself against the wall and propelled himself toward Axel.
The moment he got in range he felt it; it came over him like a ripple, shivering over his skin cleanly and leaving behind the altered state. Seeking Form, he thought, feeling its power licking through his veins. Axel's Drive.
He made a leap straight up into the air, drawing his legs up high against his chest to avoid the massive swing of Lexaeus's axe-sword. Lexaeus narrowed his eyes, taking in Roxas's new appearance -- the energy crackling around him, the darker clothes, the flame licking now at his keyblade.
"What's that?" Zexion's voice came out of nowhere, curious.
Lexaeus struck the ground instead, and it gave way beneath him, but Roxas was too fast now, touched the rock and then propelled himself away with hardly a breath of pause. He swung his keyblades, sending curls of fire out to strike at Lexaeus, who shook them off as if he needn't even bother deflecting them. "Not the scent that defeated Larxene," he rumbled. "But similar."
"Axel."
And Lexaeus looked; it was like they were in a Drive of their own, their senses and reactions tangled together in a very dangerous way. Axel was pale, unfocused, swaying; he must have looked like a very compelling target.
Roxas took advantage of his distraction, darting in with a satisfied smirk and striking hard at Lexaeus's head with both blades. Lexaeus grunted and spun around, the blunt balance of his weapon crashing so hard into Roxas's side that it sent him crashing into the wall, leaving an impact crater when he finally stumbled loose and fell to his knees.
Lexaeus did not follow up. He was rocketing across the floor to Axel, raising his axe-sword to strike a crushing blow that never landed: it passed harmlessly through the unsteady image of Axel. Lexaeus staggered and straightened, looking around as if for another Axel.
"An illusion?" Zexion's voice mused. "Or just part of this transformation, maybe. Very interesting."
Another gust of wind wrapped around Roxas, discreet and gentle, bolstering his defense so that the Lexaeus's blows would be somewhat softened when they landed. Thank god, he thought, although he didn't bother to look around for Namine. He just forced himself dizzily to his feet and then back into motion, speeding over the ground and blasting a column of fire from his spread hands. Lexaeus flinched from the attack, turning and bringing his axe-sword around to deflect it.
"Oh, Roxas. If it comes to that, I'll look forward to dissecting you," Zexion's voice murmured, and then the room went pitch black.
Roxas stopped running, looking around warily. There was nothing -- no walls, no floor beneath his feet, nothing but himself and the shadow of Axel and Namine, turning in a slow circle with her eyes huge.
"Neat trick. Do you do birthdays, too?" he said with a cocky confidence he didn't actually feel at all, and tripped over the nothing. Beneath this darkness was still the shattered cave floor that Lexaeus had broken up -- and Lexaeus himself, somewhere. Anywhere.
He closed his eyes, just for a moment, the better to feel the flicker of flames somewhere at his fingertips, and then let it all out, pulsing outward from his body in a fierce wall of fire. He heard Lexaeus grunt again and quickly banished the fire before it struck Namine, zeroing in on the sound and hurling twin fiery keyblades towards it. They made satisfying contact, but his satisfaction was quickly robbed when he heard Namine cry out sharply behind him.
Roxas whipped around, looking for her, but there was nothing but darkness where she had been, and a single scrap of paper fluttering to the ground. He darted over, using the speed of his Drive to keep his unsteady footing, and snapped, "Namine! Where are you, say something!"
There was only silence when he halted, and turned around, futilely seeking any context in the darkness. For a moment he thought he was just hearing things when the fluttering of paper reached his ears, but he was quickly distrcted as a massive weight slammed into his back viciously, and he went flying, tumbling to the floor.
He kept rolling when he landed, even though he was coughing, something wet on his lips that he couldn't see and could only barely feel through the tingling of the Drive form. This isn't working, he thought faintly. He had to do something to keep the situation from getting any worse.
When Roxas felt the smash of the axe-sword into the space where he had been, he hopped back to his feet, ignoring the angry protesting of the pain in his side. Now there was much more to see, a whirlwind of books and fluttering pages around him. Roxas wiped at his mouth and backed away slowly, summoning a keyblade and smacking the nearest book in the same gesture. It shivered and parted its pages, twisting out of existence.
An illusion, crumbling.
He needed to get Namine free. And he needed to do it fast, before the Drive ended and he lost what advantage he had. And he needed to Cure himself. But first he needed to do something about this darkness that was keeping him from seeing where his opponents were.
Roxas steeled himself and reached deep, past the crackling fire and energy, into the still white core of himself.
The light came with the stunning ease of something that lived in his blood. It illuminated the darkness, a pillar that revealed the hidden textures in the black, the textures of the floor and shape of the cave walls, and the blackened figures of Zexion and Lexaeus. He heard their cries dimly, sensitive to the light the way that many of the Nobodies were -- maybe more sensitive than most. He smirked grimly, sending the pillar of light zooming for the two taller figures, and took advantage of the pause to heal himself.
There was only one book left when the light -- and the illusions -- faded away. Roxas darted for it and struck it hard. Namine dropped out of it, landing on the floor with a squeak and scrambling to her feet, wild-eyed.
"Things are coming together again," he said, smug, and shot across the floor towards Lexaeus. His connection to the dark had been one of the strongest in the Organization, but he still managed to recover quickly enough to block Roxas's blow, though his gaze was unfocused.
A frisson went down his spine as he went out of Drive without so much as a twitch, but Lexaeus reacted with some surprise, his dark eyes taking in the change in his clothing and posture. It's okay, he told himself. I'm just getting my second wind.
"And that's not the only thing coming together," he heard Zexion say.
Roxas skidded to a halt and whipped around to face him -- he was behind Axel, a fist tangled in the redhead's jacket. Axel still seemed stunned from the Drive, but he was making a flailing, half-hearted attempt to twist away.
Shit!
Before Roxas could spin around Lexaeus had teleported in front of them, and they surrounded Axel like a team of executioners. Lexaeus raised his massive axe-sword to strike, Namine's hastily-summoned whirlwind of ice not fazing him in the slightest, only serving to make Axel crumple more.
A dark blur rushed past Roxas as he started moving, and a wall rose up sharply between Lexaeus and Axel. Roxas froze, briefly forgetting the crisis as he processed what he was seeing.
Riku.
It was Riku, looking like himself again, all bright green eyes and cropped silver hair and Soul-Eater in his right hand, calm and grim and expectant.
"Riku?!"
But that means--
And Zexion was doubling over, his grip on Axel's clothing faltering as he started to fold slowly to his knees, gasping suddenly like he might be drowning. Lexaeus shoved Axel roughly out of the way and carved a giant chunk out of the rock, sending it flying straight for Riku's head. The slim young man put up another shield, but it shuddered, almost failing despite his determination to hold it up.
"Oh, you've come to our reunion," Axel said, ragged but as light-hearted as ever, shoving himself gingerly upright.
"Shut up," Riku said coolly. "I didn't come here for you."
Lexaeus was waiting, poised tensely between Zexion and the others, axe-sword held in front of him. It was plain that any movement closer to them would be met with immediate violence, but he didn't seem inclined to come any closer voluntarily -- he was clearly looming protectively over Zexion, whose labored breathing was now compounded by an eerie sort of flickering.
"What are you all waiting for?" Riku said, almost snapping. "If you want to hurt him, then now's your chance."
"No--" Namine stepped forward, shaking her head. She glanced at Zexion, shaken, but her gaze was clear when she looked at Riku, and then the others. "Let's just hurry and get out!"
Axel gave Riku a lingering glance, but he also just said mildly, "Sounds good to me. Glad to be tangentially rescued."
It was like absolutely no one was interested in how Riku had come to be here. In the Underworld. Reverted to his true form.
Dead.
Roxas couldn't pry his gaze from the silver-haired youth. "But... What happened to you? How did you end up here?"
Riku glanced at him expectantly as Axel and Namine started to run past him. He pointed out, "Really not the time."
But you're dead. Had the Organization killed him? DiZ? Just Heartless, or Nobodies?
But he was right; the danger posed by Lexaeus and Zexion was too great to linger. He would ask when they were safe, even though his heart -- his chest -- felt so tight when he thought about the answers he might get.
Another beat passed, and then Roxas forced himself to turn and run after the others.
"What's going on?" he asked them tensely.
"We're being rescued," Axel said, "tangentially."
"You said that before, but... Riku--"
"Roxas," Namine interrupted. Her voice was thin and strained, as if she couldn't breathe, and he glanced at her; she was running at a breakneck speed to keep up to them, and she was limping a little as if she'd been hurt by his strike at the book. "Can we -- talk about this when -- we're not moving?"
He ducked his head and murmured, "Yeah. Sorry."
They came quickly back to the area with the scientists. Leon was the only one still there, and he stood up as they came into sight, frowning. "We secured a boat-- Why are you running? And who's that?" Which was Roxas's first clue that Riku was still with them.
"Never mind, where's the boat?" Axel said curtly, not stopping.
He got the picture from their urgency and started running a heartbeat before they reached him. "This way."
Roxas tried to sneak another glance at Riku as they ran. He'd seen the other boy just a few days ago, and he'd seemed -- healthy, although Roxas knew better than anyone that you didn't have to be unhealthy to die. He didn't look quite the same as he had the last time Roxas had seen him in his own body, but... Things had been very different, back then.
The passage opened out onto a small stone platform, overlooking eerie black water. Two boats were tied to a rock, one already loaded with their other friends, who were making alarmed protests as Yuffie stood up and rocked the boat to wave at them.
"Sit down, you crazy-- Hey, slowpokes! Get in. I wanna get out of this literal hellhole, and these puppies can take us right to the entrance."
Leon climbed quickly into the second boat, nodding curtly for the others to follow. Axel was quick to do the same, but Roxas held back for a moment. "Can -- you come with us?" he asked Riku, although he was pretty sure he knew what the answer would be. He just had to ask.
"Roxas..."
"Get in the boat, Roxas," Riku told him, glancing away.
"But this doesn't explain anything," he said angrily, his hands curling into fists, but Namine stepped between them.
She said, very soft, "Axel and I can explain it, Roxas," and Axel astonishingly agreed, "But not here." Roxas stared at them, stunned. They knew what had happened to Riku, and he didn't?
Riku only smirked at him a little over Namine's head. "Are you going to get in the boat, or do I have to try and kick your ass?"
In spite of himself, Roxas chuckled -- just a moment's slip, and then he turned toward the boat to cover it. "Fine. But only because... you asked so nicely."
"I'm a nice guy," Riku said behind him.
Namine was the last one to climb into the boat, and she stayed facing the shore, watching him as Leon pushed them out onto the water. "Thank you," she murmured.
Riku looked down at his boots rather than meet her eyes. "...Any time you're in my neck of the woods."
"Yeah, really looking forward to coming back," Axe muttered.
Riku shifted his weight and added, louder, "But if you could leave him at home next time, I think you'd have a better time."
"I will," she assured him, laughing. "Next time."
"And..." The silver-haired boy twisted his lips. "Tell him -- that he was right. But don't make too big a deal out of it? Wouldn't want him getting a swollen head." He laughed a little, already turning to head back into the caverns.
Roxas watched him go and then glanced back into the boat, silent for a long moment as they rowed their way across the river. "...What's going on?"
"That's not Riku," Axel said simply. "It is, but it isn't."
"He's a replica of Riku that Vexen made," Namine said, smiling back at the Underworld before turning around to face them again.
Axel's eyes were on him, he could tell, but he didn't look up. "Sora met him in Castle Oblivion. You might not remember that part."
Roxas shook his head. He remembered meeting Riku, but... Nothing about replicas. Just heartache, fuzzy and unclear but real. He had seemed so much like Riku, both in the memories and here.
"The reason why Zexion reacted that way when he arrived is probably because he... kind of ate the guy." Axel shrugged. He didn't seem too concerned by that statement.
It was strange, Roxas thought. He wouldn't have imagined that an artificial lifeform like a replica would be able to go to the Underworld. But, then again, he hadn't thought that Nobodies would go there, either. "I guess everyone winds up here," he murmured. Even Nobodies, and replicas, and...
"Yeah. Seems like," Axel said dully.
They sat in silence, watching the rocky shore of the Underworld slowly fade into the distance.
NEXT >>> Hollow Bastion, Fourth Visit (Part 1)