Days: Fateful Meeting

Roxas found that the days following the battle for Olympus, in which he and his friends were joined by Sombra's allies to take down an army of Heartless, offered no real answers to some of the questions he had, like why was he the special one that had two Keyblades, or why Sombra was so interested in hearts, or the others that were in his head. The fact that he had the power to summon and wield two different Keyblades had been a shock to the rest of the Organization, since the rest of his friends had also assumed that he, like every other wielder, could only summon one at a time. Roxas suspected that this ability was why Xemnas had labeled him as the 'Keyblade's Chosen One', a chosen warrior of the Light, like the element he had called upon during the war, whose power and abilities were different than the other wielders that existed. Even with that in mind he really had no idea what was going on, though he knew that it was unwise to ask questions since Saix was the one who usually got in his way and he knew that the Nobody in question didn't like to answer questions.

With that in mind Roxas decided that he needed some time to cool his head for a time and headed to Twilight Town, as Saix just so happened to have a scouting mission available and this was perfect for him, causing the boy to reach the train area of the town before he moved to the roofs to watch over everything.

As he wondered how he would eventually be punished, because of the hearts that were part of the Heartless army they had only been able to obtain a hundred and fifty hearts, which was partly due to the fact that some of the enemies were the Purebloods, who didn't have hearts to offer upon their defeat. With that in mind he knew the about of foes without hearts had been a hundred, or at least that was what Saix had claimed from their readings, which meant that Sombra had stolen seven hundred and fifty hearts over the course of the battle. It infuriated him when he thought about it, because all of those hearts could have gone to forming their own Kingdom Hearts and granting the Organization's wish, but right now it looked like that was a far off dream that might never become a reality. The only thing he didn't understand was why Sombra had such a fondness for hearts, especially since she wasn't a Heartless, or at least Roxas assumed she wasn't, even though her actions were directly harming her friends by crippling their changes to become real people.

While he considered all of that, however, Roxas felt the air shift as Sombra, in the flesh, appeared on the streets below him, where Roxas watched as she headed into the forest without any concern for potential enemies that might be looking for her, something that caused him to draw his Keyblades before rushing at his chosen foe... who waited until she was outside the town to turn around and grab his face, allowing her to put his back to the ground.

"Hello Roxas, it is nice to finally meet you, face to face." Sombra said, where she let go of the boy's face and backed up just a few steps, finding that the Nobody in question glared at her as he got up, something she understood given that she was an enemy of the Organization, hence why she held a hand up to stop him from lashing out at her, "Hold, I do not wish to fight you... if I did, you would not be standing right now. I simply wish to speak with you... you are seeking answers, are you not? Why not get them from the one your boss wants to bring down?"

"Yeah, but how will I know you're telling the truth? You could easily lie to me!" Roxas stated, though as he readied both of his Keyblades two things happened, the first being that two of the silver coat wearers from the battlefield appeared behind the figure that he was focused on, while at the same time discovering that the second was that Sombra created a dark barrier around the area they were in, "What are you doing?"

"Keeping a secret from the Organization, until it is time to reveal it to them." one of the figures said, where Roxas faltered for a moment as he heard it, because it was impossible for the person in question to be here, after Sombra's forces took out everyone but Axel during her time in Castle Oblivion, but that didn't change the reality that Marluxia was in front of him, with Larxene standing beside him, "Roxas, it is good to see you again."

"I... what... Marluxia? Larxene? What's going on?!" Roxas asked, because now he was confused, as he knew that both of Seras' friends had been terminated during Sombra's assault on the other castle, though as he said that there was a knock on the barrier and the dark figure opened it a little, allowing Seras, Axel, and a surprised Xion to join them, "Did you guys know about this?!"

"Seras and I knew... Sombra asked us not to tell you, not until she was sure you were ready." Axel replied, where Roxas could tell that he wasn't happy about keeping this whole thing a secret from one of his best friends, much less two since Xion had no idea what was going on, though she did join them as the barrier was sealed once more and Sombra opened a Dark Corridor of her own, "Roxas, there is a lot more going on than you or Xion could possibly know... Sombra can tell you about everything that's going on, if you give her the chance to do so."

"She won't force you to follow her, rather you are free to follow or stay behind." Larxene added, though in the following moment she and Marluxia followed Sombra through the portal, something that was followed by Seras stepping through it as well while Axel and Xion, the latter thinking about it for a few moments, did the same thing, eventually leaving Roxas as the last one on this side of the portal.

Roxas stood there for a few seconds before deciding to follow the others, where he stepped through the portal and found that he appeared in what appeared to be a ship of some kind, before following the others down to what appeared to be a living area of sorts, passing by doors that had names on them to indicate whose bedroom they belonged to. While Sombra brought them to a large rest area, which seemed to expand to fit the maximum number of people who were in the ship, it was easy for Roxas to see that both Marluxia and Larxene pulled off their new silver coats and revealed their new attire to their friends, like they had fully abandoned the Organization. In addition to that Roxas was able to see a few other people that happened to be in the area, such as another pony girl called Radiant Hope and an old man who seemed to be more of a researcher, before he spotted a boy that seemed to be about his age standing off to the side with a pair of animal creatures. Part of him was sure that he had seen the boy before, or knew of him from somewhere, and was surprised to learn that this was Sora, his original body to be exact, which utterly confused him since Xigbar had mentioned that all of their kind were half of someone, so since he was still around Sora's existence confused him greatly.

As such it was the first thing he asked about when Sombra called for him and the others to sit around the living area while she worked in part of the kitchen, something Larxene told him he'd enjoy once she was done, so it was worth putting up with her doing this while they had such an important talk.

"There are several Nobodies in Twilight Town, but they have no idea where we went." another voice said, where Roxas found that another girl joined them, one who paused as she entered the room and noticed him sitting there, as if he was more important than anyone else at the moment, "Ven?"

"Um... who? I'm Roxas." Roxas replied, though this was a first for him, that someone was confusing him with someone he didn't know about, where the girl simply stared at him for a few more seconds before glancing at Sombra, who knew that it was time to get the conversation rolling.

Sombra explained the circumstances revolving around Roxas' creation, as he was Sora's Nobody, but Sora, thanks to the aid of Kairi, had freed himself from being a Heartless and formed a new body, the one he was using right now, which was why Roxas had started more zombie like than the other Nobodies, since his creation was different from the rest of his kind. Given the nature of his creation, and why he looked nothing like Sora, Sombra reasoned that it was due to the third heart that had been deeper inside Sora's body, far deeper than his or even Kairi's during the time hers had been inside his body, which she suspected was actually Ventus' heart. Aqua, of course, was surprised by that statement and Sombra told her that it was the only thing that made sense, both due to the fact that, by her own admission, Roxas looked like Ventus, and the fact that Roxas likely drew on a bit of Ventus' lingering power to be able to wield two Keyblades at the same time, but she admitted the latter was just a guess. Sombra even told Roxas that, if he was willing to aid them, they could return him to Sora for a time, therefore recompleting the boy and putting Ventus' heart back where it ended up a long time ago, and Aqua could bring them right to where Ventus was resting, meaning they could bring him back.

In addition to that Sombra said that once they were done with that she should be able to bring Roxas back as well, as in safely separating his heart from Sora's body without harming the boy, and when asked about that Sombra simply turned and smiled to them as if she had the answer for everything.

"Replicas, which can take the form of anyone... according to Vexen's notes, which Ansem and I have confirmed after days of study, placing a heart in one allows the vessel to take the form of the heart." Sombra said, where she walked out into the living area and placed some items on the table with her magic, drinks and snacks that she had been working on, and her smile widened a bit as she found a look of surprise appearing on Roxas and Xion's faces, "Don't worry, everyone has that same reaction to my food. Anyway, Vexen originally created the Replica Program in case the Organization failed to find even a single Keyblade wielder, meaning they intended to make their own... Xion, to be exact, but you turned out to be far more than even Vexen realized, because you are no longer an empty shell. You, Xion, are your own person with your own heart... sure, you have a very small piece of Sora's memories inside you, but everything else is purely your own, and Namine knows how to help you without undoing your very existence."

"So... does this mean that you'll put Roxas' heart into a 'replica' to reform him?" Xion asked, though she was surprised by this information, something she knew had to be true since Larxene and Marluxia had been nodding their heads during that part of the conversation, which caused her to think about something else that was important, "Seras! If you could do this for Roxas, then can you do it for her... or even the rest of the Organization?"

Sombra confirmed that such a thing was possible, since they also knew where Fluttershy, Seras' original self, was located, her Heartless was currently being protected by the animals she had befriended in the world that was linked to their ship, a fact that they had to confirm for them. Roxas looked at the little unusual Shadow and asked Sombra why she was going so far to do such things for him and his friends, where she told them the whole truth, that the Organization was nothing more than puppets dancing to Master Xehanort's dark plans. Each member was just a pawn in the grand scheme that the figure had created, and right now the person in question was also somewhere else, as Sombra and Ansem had confirmed that his heart had formed the Seeker of Darkness, who had been knocked out, while his body became Xemnas. This was where things got interesting, as Sombra told them that, in the beginning, Xemnas didn't seem to remember much, due to what Ansem had told him previously since he had encountered the figure before being exiled, but now, after everything they had been through, she was sure Xemnas might have a heart of his own.

Roxas realized what Sombra was talking about, their leader had been acting weird lately and it was hard to imagine that someone who had seen them as disposable pawns might now see them as treasured friends, but even then he knew the truth, Sombra was going to screw over Xehanort's plans and was a train that wouldn't be stopped no matter what anyone else tried to do.

"I will admit that this is a lot to take in, but... for some reason I believe you." Roxas admitted, because with the pieces of information Sombra had presented to them, and there were papers and notes, along with tales from everyone, that just made it hard for him to believe anything else, causing him to sigh as he wondered something else, "So, assuming this whole thing works, what will you do next?"

"Keep working Xemnas for some time... I think waiting until a year has passed since Maleficent's defeat might be the best thing right now." Sombra replied, which was due to the fact that it would torment Donald some more, in fact the duck had an annoyed look on his face when he realized part of her reason for saying that, before Sora returned from the controls of the ship, as he had moved some time ago, and beckoned for them to join him, "After that we'll disable the rest of his plans for whatever worlds the Organization is interested in... from there, ruin Master Xehanort's final plan."

Roxas simply nodded his head as his group followed the others in using the Gummi Ship's systems to warp down to the world that Sora had stopped at, which happened to be Castle Oblivion, though that was when Aqua stepped forward and stopped a few steps in front of the main door. She stood there for a few seconds, having raised her hand to her right hand in front of her chest for that time, before calling out her other Keyblade, the metallic one, and quickly raised it towards the door, forming a magical lock in front of it that instantly reacted to what she was doing. It was like she was releasing a burst of energy that was like a gale, and when she fired a beam into it the pressure kicked up as Sombra surrounded those not involved with this in a barrier, allowing them to watch as he undid what she had done to the structure. Once the lock was gone a new image appeared over the entire castle and they were sure a tune was playing as the entire castle started to change before their eyes, pieces shifting and moving as a new curved castle appeared in front of them as the sky turned to light, like Castle Oblivion had been hiding an entirely different realm the entire time.

Once everything was done Aqua stepped into the castle and Sombra followed her, prompting the others to follow as well, allowing them to enter a large hallway that brought them to the other end of the structure, to a pair of stairs that went up to a whole new level, where three thrones rested with the middle one having a slumbering boy that was the spitting image of Roxas.

"No way... he DOES look like me!" Roxas said, as he could see that he and Ventus really did look like twins, like this was his true original self and not Sora, meaning that Sombra had to be right about everything related to this particular topic, all while Aqua carefully collected Ventus' body and returned to them.

Sombra made sure that this realm was hidden from the Organization, since there might be more things for them to find in the future, and she was sure Namine would do something to make Xemnas' crowd not care about Castle Oblivion, before they returned to the Gummi Ship. She then showed them to the lab she and Ansem had set up, where Roxas and Xion found that there were eighteen Replicas sitting in another portion of the massive area, where Sombra had Aqua place her friend on the main table as she turned to Roxas and Sora. Namine joined them for a moment as Xion felt lightheaded for a few seconds, something that disappeared as the casual Nobody reported that the fragment of Sora's memories had been returned to his Chain of Memories, something that caused Roxas to close his eyes and focus for a moment before turning into a surge of light that wrapped around Sora. Sombra waited for a few moments before discovering that it was a total success, Sora was back at one hundred percent, before she raised her hand and focused on her heart power, because she had gained a new way to use her ability, allowing her to carefully draw out Ventus' heart, as it felt different thank both his and Roxas' hearts, before sending it into Ventus' body.

At first everyone was surprised by this turn of events, but Aqua was overjoyed when Ventus opened his eyes and sat up for the first time since his battle with Vanitas, in fact she hugged him while he was sitting there confused, causing her to tell him that there was so much she had to tell him about. With Ventus back on his feet, and in desperate need to learn about what had happened since he was struck down, Aqua carefully helped him off the table before Sombra moved one of the Replicas onto the table, causing Sora to nod his head for a moment. Sombra did the same as she extracted Roxas' heart, where the others found that a surge of energy wrapped around the figure before it was enveloped in light, before the light faded and Roxas, wearing the Organization coat still, took form, but they were sure they could find something for him to wear in terms of casual gear. Sombra and Ansem checked him for a few moments before declaring that this was a success, he was a full person, just like he had been before rejoining Sora for a short period of time, causing Seras to vanish for a moment as she returned with Fluttershy's Shadow.

Sombra held a hand out as the two transformed into spirals of energy, one pink and one blood red, where both merged into a single form, a heart and body becoming one, though at the same time she readied one of the remaining Replicas as the pair worked their magic. Sure enough she and the others watched as Fluttershy, in all of her glory, took form before their eyes, in fact the girl in question seemed surprised when she opened her eyes and realized that she was no longer a Shadow, before she glanced at Sombra and braced herself. There was no pain for her as Sombra withdrew Seras' heart and placed it inside the Replica, where they watched as it, too, transformed before their eyes, with Seras reforming into a body that was fully her own, causing her and Fluttershy to share a hug as Larxene and Marluxia joined them. Sombra was pleased with this turn of events, though she made sure finding Kairi was next on their list of things to do, to reunite her with Namine and then let her Nobody have her own body as well.

At the same time she smiled as she imagined the look on Xemnas' face when he realized what had happened, as he was in for quite the shock, and she was going to enjoy every moment of it, which caused her to look forward to whatever the future had in store for her and the others.

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Xalok

Xalok #1 · March 17th · 3 · ·

I do wonder how Xigbar feels about all this, for nothing is going as the book says it will, he must be so damn confused.

Black--Soul

Black--Soul #2 · March 17th · · ·

I would say Sombras hobby is screwing over wanne be rivals and making allies along the way.

Ze1a7in

Ze1a7in #3 · March 17th · · ·

11852823
And if Xiggy confronts the MoM about it, he'll potentially learn the MoM already had a discussion with Sombra.

Xarmar13

Xarmar13 #4 · March 17th · 1 · ·

11852823
Or maybe it was written in the Book of Prophecies...this universe's version at least. Xigbar's role is still that of an observer and the No Name blade is still recording the events to be written into the book so Prexus probably already knew these things were going to happen. The Foretellers probably already know about Sombra, Fluttershy and Radiant and their involvement in the future events.

Also, Xigbar was never given a copy of the book, only his fellow masters had one so he wouldn't know about any future events.

11852850
Unless Roxas, Xion and Seras return to resume their undercover work, I'd say Xemnas and the others are going to be in quite a bind which would be the position they were in at the start of KH2 anyway.

Xalok