Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ KHII: Turn Back To Origins ❯ Your Enemies Closer ( Chapter 3 )

Materia fell onto a cold, white tiled floor. Her star fruit slipped from her hands and slid away from her. She scrambled to get it back when another man in black picked it up. He examined it for a minute, decided he didn’t care, and threw it back. Materia caught it and looked up to speak to the man, stopping to examine the room. She looked around the room she had fallen into. There were strangely shaped doors in rows lining either side of the pathway she was still standing on. Axel stepped out the door of darkness and waved at the other man.

“Hey, Larxene.” He said. Larxene, a girl, looked up at Axel, “Huh? All the way through? Sheesh. Guess everyone should be on their toes then, huh?”

Larxene turned away and went into one of the nearby doors. Axel chuckled quietly and shook his head, making some comment about being talkative. He looked down at Materia and made an ‘oh, right. You’re here’ look. He scratched his head again and looked around for something to keep her entertained.

“You’re not planning on just leaving me here, are you?”

“I sure am.”

“Don’t.”

“Why?” He looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. She was clutching her fruit close to her chest and emitting a faint dark blue glow, “Hn?”

“I only trust you” Her voice was somber and serious, “because I thought you and I had a similar goal. We are going to find our friends together, or else.” She looked up at him, her eyes glowing red behind a curtain of black bangs. Axel smirked.

“Okay, don’t need to get all defensive about it.” Materia’s glow vanished and she fainted into his arms, dropping her fruit in the process. Axel caught and picked her up, setting the fruit on her stomach, “Weird kid.”

*~*~*

“Uhn..” Sora opened his eyes and looked around. He was laying in a bed, in a simple little room whose interior was much like the rest of the Maison Lunes. Rolling onto his side he saw that Riku wasn’t in the room with him. He panicked and sat up, throwing the sheets off himself. Where was Riku?! Another door, opposite him, opened and released a billowing cloud of steam. Sora panicked again and summoned his keyblade. However, instead of anyone evil entering the room, Riku entered. He was drying his hair and holding a towel around his waist, “Uh.. Riku?”

“Hm? Oh, you’re awake.”

“What were you doing showering?!” Sora scowled, “We were attacked!”

“Oh, yeah. That.” Riku took the towel off his head and tossed on the bed next to Sora’s, “It’s alright. The professor was merely trying to protect his daughter.”

“He wa-? OH! I knew that!” Sora pouted. Riku laughed and sat on the bed.

“Anyways, when he realized what he had done, he had Zyke bring us up here. I’m sure he’ll be back any moment now.” And just then, Zyke and the professor entered the room. The professor was smiling very warmly, while Zyke kept the same stoic glare as before.

“Good, you’re both awake.” Professor said, “Please let me apologize for my earlier actions. As I’m sure you have already realized, the girl in the tank you saw was my daughter, Umbria. I lost her some time ago and I’m not taking it very well.” The professor cleared his throat and Zyke took over.

“The professor and I research the soul. The genetic possiblity and mental structure of it and all that.” Sora stared at him blankly, “…” Zyke sighed, “We’re just trying to figure it out. Well, during one of our experiments to recreate a soul, a piece of equipment Umbria was monitering malfunctioned and exploded, killing her. Professor knew, however, that so long as we repaired her body in a certain length of time, the soul would stay attached to it. Mm… but things didn’t exactly go as we had planned.

“We rebuilt her body and even reattached her soul… but some how, we managed to attach a second soul to her which is now wreaking havoc in Umbria’s body. We don’t know how to separate the evil soul, over even identify which soul is which. Which only proves we know less about the soul than we first thought. Right now, it seems that the only way to keep both souls in check is bound her the way we have her now. But even that is starting to prove to be ineffective.” Zyke fixed his glasses, “I’m actually quite happy you two crossed over at this time, we need a few more hands to help us with the transfer.”

“Crossed over? Transfer?” Sora echoed as Riku went back into the bathroom briefly to change back into his, which he had now discovered were becoming too small for his growing body, “I’m confused.”

“Well, we’re not sure of the specifics ourselves, but from what we can tell… you’re not from our city, our planet.. not even our time period.” Zyke stepped up to Sora, examining the boy’s clothing, “Definitely not like us.”

“With all that finally cleared up.” Professor chimed in, “Let us get the experiments ready for the transfer.”

Zyke nodded and motioned for Riku and Sora to follow as he continued to explain. As it turned out, the dark soul inhabiting Umbria was effecting the other replicated souls in the house. A prime example of this was Zyke’s replicate. Professor led the three boys down the gazebo elevator. The lab below had completely transformed. It was much bigger now, with the computers pushed further away, and dotted with cages of the replicated ‘soul dolls’ as Zyke called them. The one Sora and Riku had seen upstairs was there, clawing at the floor just beyond his bars.

“Watch your hands.” Zyke warned as he gestured for the two to help him move the cages towards a giant tube. Professor was reconfiguring a computer next to the tube. He was only paying attention to the screen before him and his daughter beside him. The three boys set two cages into the tube and stepped back as Professor sent the soul dolls away in a flash of white and blue lights. The four of them continued this process, two cages, flash, two cages, flash, until it they came up to Zyke’s soul doll and Umbria. Sora looked over at the girl’s enclosure. She had settled down to the bottom, her head against one of the walls. The young key-wielder couldn’t help but feel for her, dead, possessed by an evil spirit, and unable to fight back. He walked over to her and put a hand on against the glass behind her back, “Sora-?!”

He was rushed with thousands of emotions all at once. Joy, fear, lust, love, terror, confusion. One right after the other. Then everything fell silent, followed by the soft sound of someone walking walking towards him. He was in a black room, the only light coming from him and the bandaged girl approaching him. The girl had short black hair and both of her eyes were covered, one with bandages and the other with bangs. Sora’s mind went back to Materia for a moment and a comment Lasara had made when they first met her.

‘In fact you remind me of my daughter, such a sweet girl..’

“Umbria…” Sora said softly. The girl continued walking up to her. As she got closer, Sora noticed that she was soaking wet.

There is a World that will not die…

“What?” Umbria was speaking to him but her mouth did not move.

A world of false immortality…

Umbria put her hand to her chest, which began to bleed and burn on contact. Sora’s eyes widen in surprise and he reached out to pull her hand away, but an invisible force kept his arm just beyond her.

That world lives here… and rules through here…

She looked up at him, the bandage falling from her eye and bangs moving to reveal one red eye and one blue eye.

Sora… Riku…

“Sora! Sora!” The brunette snapped awake, back in the laboratory. The place was a wreck, the gazebo-elevator was blown to bits and in its wake stood Death, Despair, and a man clad in a white baboon’s fur. Zyke and Riku were standing before Sora and Professor. Professor was still working feverishly at his computer and Umbria was fidgeting restlessly. Then man in the baboon suit stepped forward.

“I’m here for the World. It’s all I need.” He reached out from beneath the suit with a clawed hand, “Give the girl here and we’ll be on our way.”

“I won’t give you Umbria!” Professor shouted, “I will never let you have my little girl!” With that, Professor released Umbria from her tank. The girl fell out and Professor caught her. He ran over to the transferring tube and got in.

“Professor L-!”

“Sssh.” The professor hushed his apprentice, “The walls have ears….” The group watched him disappear in the white and blue flash. Zyke watched in horror as his only teacher, probably the only person he ever knew growing up, disappeared forever. He gritted his teeth and turned to their attackers.

“Nephbin! Btopon!” Zyke called, speaking to the chortling Death and Despair. They were each carrying several documents under either arm, “What do you think you’re doing? Stand down!”

“Shut up.” Despair laughed, “A little boy like you has no right to be talking to a powerful being like myself.”

“Powerful being?” Zyke echoed, “Nonesense, you’re soul dolls. Barely capable of reasoning and acting upon your own free will.”

“It looks like your wrong again, pretty boy.” Despair sneered. Zyke growled and clenched his fists. How dare those experiments talk to him in such a manner! He was beginning to see red, “Awh, is poor Zyke’s feelings hurt?”

“Sh-… shut… shut up!” Zyke launched himself at Despair. She smiled, dropped the files, and unsheathed a sword. She struck Zyke several times before piercing him through the stomach with the silver blade. Zyke coughed and put his hands on the sword, trying to pull it out. Despair laughed again and put her hand to his chest. An energy surge exploded from her hand, sending Zyke into an opposite wall. Sora ran over to him as Riku engaged Despair and Death. Zyke’s glasses were shattered and his face and body covered in scars. His breathing was becoming very shallow. He looked up at Sora with determination still lingering in his blue eyes, “We have to get out here… take me to the computer.”

“How do we get out? The elevator’s destroyed!”

“Take me to the computer.” Zyke demanded. Sora reluctantly carried the injured boy over to the computer. Zyke shakily typed in a code, then told Sora to get him and Riku to the tube. Sora set Zyke in the tube and turned to see Riku holding his on against both Death and Despair. He called to his friend, who came immediately. Once inside, they were surrounded by white and blue light. They vanished from inside the tube to out on the path before the mansion.

“What did you do, Zyke?” Riku asked, sheathing his Dark-Blade.

“Self-destruct.”

*~*within the mansion*~*

“Dammit! Let’s go after them, Nephbin.” Despair growled.

“Alright, Btopon”

“No need to.” The man in the baboon fur said.

“But they’re our only way to get to Umbria!”

“Why go after something we already have?” The man moved his baboon fur aside to reveal the bandaged Umbria beneath his arm. The two cronies smiled viciously, but stopped curiously. Umbria was still had a film of blue liquid around her which should have already come all off when her tube was drained. They dismissed this as the laboratory began to shake.

“Damn brat. He set off the self-destruct.” Death hissed.

“Then let us be on our way.” The four disappeared in a cloud of black and purple miasma. The mansion rumbled and roared as it collapsed on itself. Sora, Riku, and Zyke watched from the path as Maison Lunes fell. Zyke, now being held up by Riku, threw his broken glasses down and cursed.

“Damn it all…” He growled, “All that research… it’s gone… and my home… is… gone…” He coughed and slumped more, the loss of blood getting to him, “There’s a town not far from here… let’s go there. I need to rest.”

“Rest nothing.” Riku said, picking Zyke up completely.

*~*fin*~*

Iris: Riku/Zyke? Mmmm…

Arekussu: Iris, put your pants back on.

Iris: I dun wanna.