The Girl That Never Was

by Onomonopia

Dark Memories

With a twirl and a yell Xion spun in the air and fired a blast of fire from the end of her keyblade, before she hit the ground in a role and shot up to her feet. She took aim at a target to her left and unleashed a blizzard upon the target, freezing it solid a moment later. She had no time to look at her handiwork, as when she looked up she saw aerial targets circling in on her.

"Thunder," she whispered to herself before hoisting her keyblade into the air, summoning down numerous bolts of lightning down on the aerial targets. The moment those targets were down spikes made of darkness erupted from the ground, forcing her to slam the tip of her keyblade into the ground and create a barrier of magic around her to halt their attack.

"Limit break," Xion said before she thrust her arms to the side, shattering the barrier in a flash of light. The shards of the barrier flew around her and tore through the darkness, but even as those spikes of darkness fell more shot out of the ground to take their place. Xion swung her light covered keyblade, cleaving through each of the spikes as they got close to her. Which each swing their was a flash of light, and some confetti, until all of the spikes had been destroyed by her blade. She then twirled the blade around in her hand before lowering it in front of her face, letting out a small sigh before it vanished from her grasp.

"How was that?" she asked before turning to look at the horn that rested alone on a rock, smiling proudly at her work. The horn moved around to look at her work (and once again made the puppet wonder how he was able to do anything in his state) before he let out a disappointed sigh. "What?! What did I do wrong? I destroyed all of the targets and didn't take a single hit?! You're blind, you no eyes horn!"

'The point of the exercise wasn't to see how accurate you are or test your ability to avoid being hit. I don't doubt your abilities there. What we were testing was how well you could resonate with the darkness within in order to strengthen your magical attacks. There is where you failed miserably,' Sombra informed the teenager, who growled slightly before sitting down on a rock.

"So I'm no good at using the darkness when I'm not fighting in battle, cut me some slack," Xion grumbled, only to hear the sound of Sombra sighing in frustration.

'Puppet, you finished the trial by using a light based attack. Light, for the love of all that is holy! Never before have I ever dealt with somepony who can do so poorly with directions! Are you sure you don't have a flaw in your programming?' Sombra nagged Xion. Xion let out a snarl before she rose to her feet and stomped over to where Sombra's horn rested. 'Wait a moment Xion, I was just messing around I didn't mean to-'

Xion grabbed the horn and chucked it as hard as she could off into the forest, her rage allowing her to ignore the screams of Sombra until he had sailed out of view. For another minute she seethed in place before she let out a sigh, following after where she had chucked the horn of the unicorn.

'Maybe Sombra's right. Maybe I do have emotions now. I've definitely got a temper,' Xion thought to herself as she summoned her keyblade and used the blade to cut through the underbrush, trying to ignore the confetti that came flying out of her keyblade with each swing. 'But if I have rage in me now, is that because I've finally got emotions of my own...or did the Maestro do something else to me when he reformed my body? There's a scary thought.'

Even though the trees and bushes did their best to obstruct her path, Xion made it through the forest with little effort. She had expected at some point to hear the sounds of Sombra screaming either for her or at her, but to her surprise, and rising concern, the forest remained eerily silent.

'No sounds of birds, no hisses or snarls...something isn't right,' she thought to herself as she held her keyblade in a defensive position, waiting for the first sign of a Heartless to attack her. 'I hope it's not another member of Organization Thirteen. I really don't want to mess with Xaldin or Luxord. I will, however, not pass up the chance for a crack at Saix. There's one I wouldn't mind-'

'Ow.'

Xion looked down at her foot to see that she had stepped on Sombra's horn, which was now imbedded in the mud and sunk about halfway down. Xion let out a small laugh as she reached down and pulled Sombra out of the mud, turning him over in her hand to see that he was covered in filth.

'I am the king of an empire. I should not be treated this way,' Sombra grumbled in an angry tone.

"Well hello there your highness, you're looking awfully muddy today," Xion said with a laugh to Sombra, who let out a string of curses in response to Xion's words. "Now now, that's no way for a king to talk. You should be better behaved than that."

'I swear if I didn't need your help...'

"Well you do, so just suck it up and learn not to be so mean," Xion replied in a stern tone as she wiped Sombra off with a leaf, before pocketing the king of darkness once more. "Now come on, we're still a day away from the next city. Are you sure that this...what did you call it again, is there?"

'The Dragon's Fire. And no, this is not the kind of fire that dragons breath. It is a different fire and I know it is there,' Sombra barked in reply. 'But I must say, I'm surprised at this new attitude of yours. You're normally so withdrawn and feeling sorry for yourself that I'm not used to seeing you with a spine. Vexen really mess you up that badly?'

"Of course he did. How would you feel if the very being who created you, who you thought was dead, showed up in a reality completely different from your own and tried to place you under their control once more?" Xion asked Sombra, who said nothing in reply. "I thought I had left all of that stuff behind me. I thought that when I surrendered to Roxas that I would finally find peace. But there is no peace for one who wields the keyblade. There is only suffering."

Xion sat down on the ground after she said her peace and placed her head in her hands, sighing occasionally through her fingers. Sombra watched her mope for a few minutes, trying to think of an insult or remark that would snap her out of her funk. But when none of those ideas bore fruit, he decided to take a different approach.

'So, Vexen was a member of Organization Thirteen, huh?' Sombra asked, getting Xion to lift her head from her hands and pull Sombra out of her pocket. 'And you were one of them as well, yet the number on your key is for fourteen. Either the organization doesn't know how to count or you were never considered a part of their ranks. Care to fill me in?'

"Yeah, Vexen is...was a member of the organization. And I guess, technically, I was too," Xion began. "I was the fourteenth member, but I was never really...accepted by the other members of the organization. Saix treated me like the puppet I was, the other members treated me like I was a ghost and Xigbar...well, he saw more than he would ever let on. Only Roxas and Axel were ever nice to me. And Demyx too, I guess."

'Do all of the fools in the organization have X's in their names?' Sombra asked, scoffing when Xion nodded. 'Even you, huh? Always assumed your name was spelled with a Z, but whatever. So you had some you like and some you don't. Care to tell me which of the organization you're not looking forward to meeting on our little journey?'

"What are you implying?"

'Think about it. You ticked off the Maestro. In return, he brings Vexen, the very being that created you, to this world to fight you. If he did it once, he'll definitely do it again,' Sombra pointed out. 'He's already brought the Heartless and now a member of the organization. At this point I'm just beginning to wonder what other surprises he'll have in store for you.'

"It doesn't matter what he sends after me. We'll get your body reforged and then we'll get me to the beach," Xion said with determination, clenching her hands together and squeezing Sombra's horn.

'Alright. Then what?' Sombra asked. Xion blinked a few times before she looked down at the horn, which was still waiting for a response. 'After we get you to the beach, then what are we going to do? The Heartless will still be here along with the Maestro. We'll have to deal with the both of them eventually.'

"I don't know. I haven't thought that far ahead," Xion replied.

'Fine. I get it. Just like all the other times Sombra will have to figure out what to do. Lucky for you that you found me when you first came to Equestria. Can you imagine if you had been found by Luna and Celestia? Either your brain would have stopped working due to how stupid they are or they would have obliterated you on the spot. For somepony with such a...confusion backstory, you've got a decent amount of luck on your side.'

"Yeah. But is it good or bad luck?"

'Some intelligence shines through. Yes, what kind of luck do you have? There is only one way to find out, isn't there?' Sombra chuckled before his horn glowed and created a map of the land for Xion to look at. 'Alright puppet, if you're done talking with me, then we best get moving. This path will be the fastest to the city, so-'

In a blur of motion Xion summoned her keyblade and swung the weapon around behind her, just in time to block the attack of a being that had tried to take them from behind. Xion's eyes narrowed as she recognized what she was trying to prevent from killing her, a silverfish dragon like creature wielding a spear made of the wind. She pushed the creature back before swinging her blade low, catching the creature between the legs.

'Ooh, that hurt to watch,' Sombra muttered before Xion went for a horizontal slash, cleaving the being clean in two. The creature let out a shriek before it vanished into nothingness, leaving Xion to glare at where it had been standing with narrowed eyes before she turned and began to walk away. 'Okay, clearly you knew what that was. Care to share?'

"That's a Nobody. That's what it's called, so no smart remarks," Xion snapped at Sombra before he could say anything in retort. "Nobodies are the shells left behind when a being loses their heart. There are different variations, ranging from Dusks to the ones that made up the Organization. I believe that one is called a Dragoon and it is loyal to Xaldin. Great."

'That was an info dump. Is it related to the Heartless at all?'

"Didn't you hear a word I said? They are what's left behind when a being loses their heart, most likely to the Heartless," Xion snarled. "But unlike the Heartless they are not mindless. They can follow orders and think for themselves."

'And you mentioned Xaldin, who, since he has an X in his name, is another member of the organization,' Sombra deduced, getting Xion to look down at him with some surprise. 'If these creatures only follow his commands, that means he must be here as well. Was he was of your friends on the organization and what was his number?'

"3. And pretty sure he hated me."

'Excellent, well now I don't have to worry about saving him. Let's find your former teammate and send him back into oblivion!' Sombra ordered and for the first time in a while, Xion felt inclined to agree with Sombra. 'And if I were a betting pony, I'd wager that he'll be exactly where we're heading. The universe is funny like that. Are you prepared to fight him if we do find him?'

"Of course I am."

'Okay, let me rephrase that? What I mean is are you able to defeat him if we run into him?' Sombra asked as Xion ran. 'Because if he's number three, that mean's he should be pretty powerful. Can you take him in a fight?'

"I guess I'll have to. I'm not going to let my second chance at life end with him," Xion replied with confidence, but internally she felt doubt creeping at her very being. 'But Sombra's right. I don't have a good track record against the other members. Both Axel and Roxas have defeated me. My only real win is over Demyx and that was training. Can I beat him at my current state?'

Xion wasn't able to continue her train of thought, for as she and Sombra ran over the edge of a hill she found herself face to face with a familiar sight. A group of Heartless were battling with numerous Nobodies, most of which were of the Dusk variety. But the moment the two groups sensed the keyblade wielder, they ceased their fighting and turn their attention to her.

"Alright, let's do this," Xion growled as she summoned her cupcake keyblade. The moment the blade was within her grasp, the Shadows leapt forward with murder in their eyes. Xion slashed vertically at the approaching Heartless, cleaving through the both of them in a single strike. The two vanished back into the darkness, but three Soldiers appeared behind Xion and spun towards her with legs outstretched.

"ARGH!" Xion yelled as she was struck in the back with a series of kicks, sending her sprawling into the dirt. She gritted her teeth and rose back to her feet, just in time to see the Dusks walking towards her on thin air. "Fire!" she roared as a ball of fire erupted from the end of her keyblade, blasting through one of the Dusks and returning it back to nothingness. The other two were on her a moment later, forcing her to slam the tip of her blade into the ground to create a barrier around her.

'Xion, what's going on?' Sombra asked Xion as the Dusks attacked the barrier, causing cracks to form in the barrier. 'These guys are nothing to you! You should be able to cleave through them with no effort!'

"These ones are stronger than the ones that we fought previously," Xion snarled right before her barrier shattered, forcing the girl to leap back to avoid being struck. As she landed two Soldiers appeared out of the darkness, slashing at her with their claws. Xion ducked underneath of the attack and slashed the both of them, but instead of vanishing all they did was stagger back from the blow.

The Dusks resumed their attack on Xion from behind and to avoid being struck Xion leapt into the air. Once she was airborne, a bolt of lightning burst of out of the blue and struck her in the back. Xion let out a scream of pain as she was sent crashing into the ground, where she pushed herself up far slower than before.

"Curse it all...these guys are way stronger than I remember," Xion panted heavily as she watched the Heartless and Nobodies advanced towards her, each of them wanting the pair of hearts that stood before them. "Sombra, I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but I don't know if I can fend these guys off."

'What's the matter with you? I've seen you fight bigger and badder creatures and cut them down like they were nothing! You slayed Vexen, for the love of Faust!' Sombra roared at Xion, who pushed herself back to her feet and took up her fighting stance once more.

"These aren't like the Heartless that we've fought before. Even Vexen felt...different. But these guys are way stronger," Xion replied before she was forced to lift her blade to deflect an attack, before she rolled out of the way to avoid being hit from a Dusk. She rolled to her feet and hurled the keyblade at the Dusk, cleaving it in two and causing it to vanish in a flash of confetti.

Another bolt of lightning struck right next to her, getting her to glance to her side to see a floating, yellow Heartless dancing around near the back of the group of darkness. Xion narrowed her eyes at the Heartless before one of the Shadows leapt on her from behind, slashing at her back. Xion grabbed the Heartless's arm and flung it off of her, slamming it onto the ground before she drove the keyblade through the head of the Heartless. But when she looked up, she found that she was still horribly outnumbered.

"Sombra, if you've got any tricks up your proverbial sleeve, then I could really use it right about now," Xion panted in a weak voice, shaking her head as the exhaustion started to take over.

'Unfortunately I have no tricks left. Used all of my dark powers on the targets you were slaying earlier,' Sombra replied with a bitter laugh, before the weight of what was about to happen sunk in on him. 'This isn't good. These creatures are going to slay Xion and I can't let that happen. I need to somehow get her to fight, but how? Negative emotions don't work with her...but maybe...'

'Well, looks like our journey ends here,' Sombra said to Xion, who looked down at him as if he was crazy, which he was. For he was betting on a crazy plan. 'It's been a nice ride. My only regret is that I couldn't balance the light and darkness of this land. Oh, and I guess all of the Organization members that will be running around this land.'

Xion narrowed her eyes as she thought about what Sombra was saying, slowly realizing that the ponies would be in trouble against the Organization.

'I mean, they'll probably make a base here and steal all of the hearts of the ponies. All those innocent will lose their hearts and the ones that get to keep them will be enslaved,' Sombra said in as pitiful a voice as he could muster. 'Who knows, maybe they'll try to make a puppet version of a pony, only this one has no will of its own. It just lives to serve them.

Xion gritted her teeth at those words, thinking about the likes of Pinkie or Fluttershy being forced to serve the Orgnaization.

'Or maybe they'll finally get Roxas to obey them? That would be their end game most likely. Maybe this time they'll erase his memories to keep him under their control. That's what I would do.'

Xion's eyes widened as she thought of Roxas as a slave to the Organization, without his laugh, his smile...anything that made him...him.

'Maybe he'll even forget his promise. The promise of the beach.'

"NO!" Xion roared with a fury that caused the Heartless and Nobodies to back away from the key wielder, who was shaking with rage as a black aura surrounded her. Her mind was raging with all of the terrible things the Organization had done to her, how they had tried to use her as a weapon to kill her closest friend. The Maestro's seal broke and all of her painful memories came flooding back to her. All of her darkest memories.

"Dark Firaga!" Xion bellowed as she pointed her blade at the center of the Heartless and Nobodies, unleashing a ball of fire made of darkness into the center of the group. The ball detonated in the center in an eruption of darkness and flame consumed the beings within. The Heartless and Nobodies let out a silent scream as their essence was burned away, leaving only a circle of scorched earth to show where they once stood. Xion glared at the spot while breathing heavily for a few moments, before she blinked her eyes and stared down at her key.

"Did...did I do that?" she asked with amazement.

'It seems you did. You finally combined your magic with the darkness within,' Sombra said, laughing in a way that sounded an awful lot like Vexen's. 'I made an error with you, puppet. I thought your darkness was tied to your emotions. But it turns out your darkness comes from your memories, all the pain and darkness you had to go through. That is where your power lies.'

Xion looked down at her key, able to feel the darkness in the back of her mind. And along with that feeling was the memories she had of the Organization, but only the painful ones. When she closed her eyes and thought of Axel and Roxas, she felt the darkness fade away. She opened her eyes once more and gripped her weapon tight.

'That's good to know. Now I know how to both channel and avoid the darkness,' Xion thought to herself before she looked up to see that the Yellow Opera was floating at the edge of the circle. The Heartless looked from the circle to Xion, before it vanished in a ball of darkness. Xion smirked at the action, before she turned and continued her run towards her next destination, feeling stronger than she had in a long time.

Comments

[rikusorasephiroth]

She needs an ally who's had similar experiences to her situation.

I recommend the Riku-Replica from Chain of Memories, but from the universe where the Maestro killed her friends.

He's basically the prototype to what she is, and because the sword he uses, Soul Eater, is actually an incomplete keyblade, you can build him up until it undergoes its ascension to The Way To The Dawn.

[Reishin Amara]

8179300 smart...too bad riku obeys old people so much...

[SkyiteGaming]

8179339
Maybe namine?
She also someone who was not supposed to exist.
And from what I remember they did't have bad blood between them and the dark girl with the child of light is going to make an interesting story.

[Animefan608]

Jeez, Imagine if she had to fight Xemnas.

[Reishin Amara]

8179399 great...now I'm imagining if Xion beat roxas in a kingdom hearts Fanfic and turning it into a Xion x Namine/Kairi fic.. (instead of roxas replacing sora,Xion does,but still has feelings for Kairi.lol)

[SkyiteGaming]

8179410
I would pay to read that story.

[Reishin Amara]

8179433 another idea...axle beats roaxas by accident in Twilight Town mansion basement...and after fox as disappears,Axel awakens the keyblade instead of far later as Lea. He decides the keyboard is Roxas's will,and turns on the organization. Sora wakes up with Roxas defeat ironically and they team up.Axel fills in a lot blanks for Sora resulting in a much different routine...

[the other sans]

before she hit the ground in a role and shot up to her feet
Which each swing their was a flash of light
And no, this is not the kind of fire that dragons breath
For somepony with such a...confusion backstory, you've got

1. Roll.
2. There.
3. Breathe.
4. Confusing.

[Warrior Kitten]

8179437
This comment was painful to read.

[Reishin Amara]

8179887 spell check is cruel...sorry.

Corrected:

Axle beats Roxas by accident in Twilight Town mansion basement...and after Roxas disappears,Axle awakens the keyblade instead of far later as Lea. He decides the keyblade is Roxas's will,and turns on the organization. Sora wakes up when Roxas is defeated ironically and Soda and Axle team up. Axle fills in a lot blanks for Sora resulting in a much different routine...

[rikusorasephiroth]

8179339 Riku, yes. The Riku-replica was meant to follow the Organisations orders, and Zexion was using it to hinder Sora's progress through Castle Oblivion, but Axel ordered it to make itself unique, so it killed Zexion and went after Riku with the intent to kill him as well, because it felt that with Riku still around it could never truly have its own identity, but was ultimately defeated.

[fractalman]

8179898

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