I'm beginning posting this a year after I begun the Intermission, which really says a lot. I spent about 8 months on Part 1, which amounted to 40 or so chapters, yet spent 365 days on a much much shorter story. You guys must hate me.
Part 2, as the title suggests, is going to have a lot of similarities to the original Part 2 and some of the ideas that were going to be implemented into the remakes. Otherwise, a chunk of it will be original, as will become evident about half way through. I hope that the old-time veterans of the series will appreciate their characters appearing, because I feel no obligation to not write for 30+ characters at the same time. I also hold no desire to not kill off the majority of them by the end of this story.
Part 2, as the title suggests, is going to have a lot of similarities to the original Part 2 and some of the ideas that were going to be implemented into the remakes. Otherwise, a chunk of it will be original, as will become evident about half way through. I hope that the old-time veterans of the series will appreciate their characters appearing, because I feel no obligation to not write for 30+ characters at the same time. I also hold no desire to not kill off the majority of them by the end of this story.
Spoiler Show
The World That Never Was, black and abysmal, the dark city skyscrapers contrasted against a stark white castle hovering above them all. Each blackened tower, almost trying to reach up to the inhumanly geometric architecture, stood in silence. There was lack of sound, lack of time. There were only the Heartless, strange beings acting on instinct, blindly looking for hearts they would not find in such a place. Streets lit up with lamp posts and glowing windows housed no populous. Nothing about the world seemed real, and was like something out of a dream, or perhaps a false reality.
It was one of those odd days in the world, when the bizarre atmosphere allowed for a thunderstorm. Lightning flashed, but there was no sound to follow. Erie, alien weather. Even the rain, as it created puddles on the grey concrete streets, collecting at the curbs and flowing to storm drains, made but an inaudible hissing as it made contact with the ground. It poured like little waterfalls into the sewer system below, probably making the loudest noise that would dare echo across the world for a good while-
Bzzzzzzzaaaaapppp
Or not.
Underground, a system of spacious sewers crawled around city blocks and weaved between buildings. They were normally very silent, the sewage drifting without any noise, and maybe some moonlight or neon signs shedding some light down below. This night, however, the tunnels were illuminated by epileptic purple lights, phosphorescence that was in fact concentrated and amplified and super-heated. In other words, laser beams, lots of them, being fired upon two people in black cloaks. They ran, with the female of the two, Xana, in the lead. She could see a faint column of light in the distance; a manhole cover that had been lifted off when they descended earlier. This was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission, but somehow their presence had been discovered.
There was another flash, and Xana could see her shadow bolder on the ground as the attack homed in. She lurched forward, struggling to keep her pace; something hot had hit her arm. She could smell the burning leather of her cloak. Infuriated and eager to make a final stand, she turned swiftly mid-step, and swept her arm out as more shots were fired in her direction. The speed of the laser barrage gave her little opportunity to react, but once they were in her sight they stopped mid-air, locked in their own frozen pocket of time. Her abilities gave her temporal control. Xana smirked, feeling confident in her strength. The Nobody who was running alongside her stopped as well. A blue javelin appeared in his hands in an icy mist.
Xana huffed, and after focusing, sent the lasers back to their sender. The attacker crossed his weapons, two bulky, intimidating gatling guns that were attached to his arms with a series of belts and clamps, and stood his ground against the reversed offensive. Xana’s companion, Cyolx, sent a flurry of sharp hailstones at his opponent while he was vulnerable. However, their enemy refused to brace anything more and shot wildly at the ice chunks, vaporizing them. Xana realized the difficulty in attacking from afar and decided to try and one-up their opponent in physical combat. She rushed in. While it was questionable whether or not fighting a large-bodied man with armored biceps in close-quarters was wise, Cyolx liked her idea, and followed after, covering his partner with icy suppressing fire.
But it was nowhere near enough; the firepower from a single arm was enough to knock the meager distraction aside, and the hulking Nobody flexed the other arm as if he was prepared to take on the small girl with it alone. He raised his fist threateningly, but before he had a chance to exchange blows, Xana disappeared instantaneously. Distracted by surprise, he did not notice her appear behind him. Her fist slammed into the back of his neck.
Xynras, their now bumbling enemy, whacked blindly behind him, flailing in an attempt to catch her, but she had vanished and appeared once more in front of him. Another crippling punch bored into his ribcage. Xynras went to grab her, but she was gone in a flash, and just as soon his head snapped to the side when her fist hit him in the cheek. Xana continued blinking in and out of space around her pursuer, dealing damage to every week point she was aware of. It was enough of a distraction to allow Cyolx to inch closer, grasping his lance tight. After Xynras was discombobulated enough, he heaved forward and ran his lance through his gut. The large man roared in pain, gagging on his own blood, and collapsed, fading away in a blaze of luminescent purple and black. It was a wonderful light show to celebrate their victory over the nuisance of an assailant. When it cleared, they made their way back to their insertion point.
The rain, coming through a nearby drain, drowned out their footsteps.
Not as if it had anything else to drown out, though. They were the only two people in that sewer, and no one had any intentions of joining them. No unexpected assassinations; no agendas of power-mad beings had to be filled. All that the very-alive Xana and Cyolx had to do was return home at the blind spot they had entered through, and avoid catching a cold in the weather. The mission, while cut short, was overall a success.
~~~~~
The Nobodies in the castle that towered above the city knew of that, though they were not yet going to act on it.
A handful of them sat in a circular room. The Nobody that sat in one of the tallest chairs stared blankly into space, his eyes wide and gray. He had the gift of advanced foresight, and through magical means, had seen the fight in the sewers play out. After seeing the flashy passing of a former comrade, he sighed, mostly out of an expression of boredom and disappointment.
His irises flickered, turning from gray to pink.
He then looked to his superior, seated next to him on a white throne only a little higher than his own. She had a calm smile on her face, and was making small talk with the white-haired girl to her right. The second-in-command interrupted their conversation to inform his leader of the incident, which barely seemed to trouble her. There was a certain blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl to the second’s left that wanted action, however. The Superior dismissed her initiative, and instead wanted to hear the pink-eyed Nobody’s perspective. After a moment’s thought, he rolled his head back and reclined in his chair.
“I’ll tell Kaxsra to get the device ready.”
~~~~
Xana and Cyolx returned to their base in Twilight Town not to uproarious applause or gratitude that they survived, but to simple acknowledgment that a pair of new voices was around to take sides in an argument. There was a constant atmosphere of tension in the old mansion. When Kurix and Xoje were not silently glaring, they were debating strategies and rallying the rest of the Organization to their defense. It was not uncommon to have trouble getting to sleep because of the shouting.
Xana and Cyolx split up right away; they were not really on the greatest of terms. Xana found Kurix in the meeting room, participating in some squabble with Xenjin. Neither of them looked very pleased with the other. The red-haired girl was complaining that she needed proper instructions if she was ever going to work the tracking machines in the basement, which Xoje said he needed her to do. Kurix, sick of Xoje assigning inexperienced people to such key roles, retorted that he would not be against educating her if she was not being so insufferable to begin with. They went at it like no one else. Xenjin absolutely hated the silver-haired one and regarded his methods of leadership with contempt. When the in-fighting began, Xana felt assured that Xenjin was overjoyed to have the chance to justify her disgruntlement towards Kurix.
The Organization needed a leader who was both respected and competent, a combination of features that the two prospective superiors lacked. Their original leader, the one that Xana had only known for a short time, left without a trace one day. This was only after Cinollex went missing, though. Xana was sad when she left, since she always seemed cool. After that day, bad things began to happen. The Organization started to tear at its seams from the inside. Kurix claimed he should be appointed leader in the absence of Xemnas, and Xoje disagreed, arguing that he was never part of the group and was just relying on a relationship that meant nothing now. Xoje had been the appointed second-in-command. Xana was behind him on that one-hundred percent.
Her best friend in the Organization, Jynx, joined her on that too, as well as Xenjin, who supported Xoje’s leadership. Though, it may have had more to do with opposing Kurix. Meanwhile, Xanele, Brixan, Charxai, and Cyolx put their faith in what they believed Xemnas would really want; someone in charge who knew the wise old man best.
And… yep, the covered everyone left in the Organization. No more, no less.
The nine of them were on the verge of splitting apart.
Xana was often bothered by the fact that the entire ordeal could have been avoided. Xoje told her that the day they went out to recruit her, the tracking devices used to detect the masses of darkness surrounding the birth of a humanoid Nobody sensed two candidates. Apparently, she was the only one of the two they knew that if they found her, there would be no opposition from the enemy Organization. At the time, numbers were low, and there was no need to get into any dangerous fights.
He said “you were a guaranteed success.” He said “we were lucky to have known you were there.” He said they made the “right choice,” he thinks; that the “consequences were well worth it.” Xana was still paranoid, and self-conscious that the turmoil was her fault.
Xoje left, later, to see if the other Nobody had been found. When he returned, he was battered and bloodied. He reported to Xemnas that she had not been found, that she must have been taken by the others first, but he had killed one of the enemy Nobodies that stayed behind. The strong one, he said. Xana just wondered how he knew it was a girl.
Then Cino left soon after, and… all of that bad stuff went down. At least she had a few people that would still speak to her.
She spent most of her time with Jynx. Being around the same age and wide-eyed about the world in which they lived, it was easy for them to relate to each other. There was some kind of youth solidarity going on. She liked his Keyblade powers most of all, and thought it made them tighter friends. He was special, and so was she, with her time powers. Xoje always stressed how invaluable she was to them all. He put immense amounts of hope into her. Xoje knew that with the odds they were against, they needed someone powerful like Xana to turn the tides of the war. He said she was their secret weapon, and while the high expectations were frightening, she worked hard and trained to be an asset to the team.
That was why she took up physical combat. Xoje said that they had similar powers, in that they could never really use them to fight directly, like making armor out of ice or shooting lasers. He said they needed to set themselves to a higher standard, and fight like a person without magic could. That way they could use their powers to support them and dominate anyone. Xana thought it was good logic, and it worked out greatly when she fought Xynras. So, she trained with him often, and while she was always bested by his fighting prowess, she was constantly complimented. He said she did not have to be as strong as him, never had to beat him, and if that guy he fought was the strongest their enemies could offer, they would both have no problem taking down more of them. He said she alone could do it!
It was a fantastic confidence boost whenever he went on like that. Xana respected him more than anyone else. It was why she thought he would make the best leader, if only the other half of the team could see. She had no idea what would happen if he were gone, and they were left in the hands of someone like Kurix.
Xana walked back down to the lobby and sat on the steps, covering her ears to muffle out the yelling. She saw Xanele walk in and lean against a wall and fiddle with a music player, not paying any attention to the girl a few feet away. The stairs shook, and she turned around to see Charxai walk past without a single word. Charxai used to be much nicer, but loyalty won out over his personality. Same went for Xanele, who would typically be so upbeat and cheerful. She was much quieter nowadays, and Xana missed the old persona. Even Brixan had grown cold. At least she had a bit of a friendship with Xenjin. Once when they were joking around, Xana called her “girl’s best friend,” a pun which she was convinced was genius. Because diamonds, right?
Jynx walked in from the basement, probably fresh from a shift on the computers. Xana smiled and waved, and he looked delighted to see her as well. It was hard to think that even he could hold a grudge. There was a time when Jynx, being a Keyblade wielder, acted as protégé to Kurix as Xana did for Xoje. For whatever reason, there was a lot that Kurix had to offer Jynx when it came to teaching, but ultimately Jynx took Xoje’s side when the divide came into place. Charxai ended up learning whatever Kurix had to offer in regards to swordplay.
Xana felt someone else stepping down from behind her, and turned to see Xoje, looking none too happy; though that was hard to say with the wide visor he wore all the time. She always thought it looked pretty cool. He was looking up at the balcony where Kurix and Cyolx were standing. God that ice freak would always cling to his side like it was his job. It never occurred to her that she could hate somebody with the passion that she hated him. Xana’s fists were clenched; she heard Xoje sigh above, and whisper something to her that sounded like a morose apology. There was a rare, relieving, warm feeling her chest. That little bit of empathy brightened up the dark foyer for a moment. Maybe he really did make the best decision-
A flash of lightning pierced the roof dyed the room blue, heating it like an oven. The wall above the front door exploded, sending charred splinters everywhere. Leaning on the wreckage, looking down at the Organization with a malevolent smile, was a member of the enemy group of Nobodies. His hair was light brown and slicked back, and his eyes were vibrant and azure. Everyone recognized Kaxsra, the fanatic of the supernatural. On his own, he posed little threat to the group. However, hovering behind him was the monstrosity that had damaged the mansion, radiating blue like a small sun and humming like an alien machine. It was the weapon Kaxsra had somehow constructed, and was a dread they all shared. Twice they had seen it in action, and twice it spelled doom.
It was possible to see a human figure at its center, suspended like a cybernetic crucifix. A suit of armor, or perhaps, a strait jacket, kept someone or something strapped in place. It barely looked alive or conscious, and it was hard to tell if it was powering the machine or if it was augmented by it. It had to have some sentience, though, because it obeyed Kaxsra like it was his pet. Ironically enough, it looked angelic, with its haunting blue glow and a pair of wide, mechanical wings that seemed to only function as aesthetics. There was no heavenly chord to accompany its arrival, though, just buzzing and that crackle of lightning; it struck into them pure fear that they should, by all means, have no ability to feel.
The hum abruptly increased to a sharp shriek and another bolt tore into the air, destroying the staircase on the other side of the room. Xana gulped; had Xanele been standing there, or- she felt one side of her face get hot; another beam of intense fire flew by and incinerated what she could see of the second floor. Flames erupted from what was still intact, red contrasting blue, and Xana saw Kurix and Cyolx summon their weapons. Kaxsra laughed at the futility of defending themselves. Another tendril of lightning spiraled towards them, but before Xana could see the result, arcs of blue energy decimated almost all of the first floor. She and Xoje were thrown aside in the blasts.
“It” floated into the mansion that was quickly becoming a smoldering crater, and Xana shuddered at the sensation that it was staring right at her. Did it even have eyes? She was frozen in fear, staring where its face should be. All she saw was depth; endless heat and fire and noise and fear. Her insides tightened, she was sure she was going to die. Everything slowed down, and she could not tell if it was her own doing. She blinked, which felt like it took five minutes. When her eyes opened, she saw something new on the crucifix, face. It had obvious features; sad ones drained of energy, with empty blue eyes. Whatever was not covered by wires and metal looked soft and feminine, if not haggard, and there was a barely-visible veil of pink hair sticking out from a sparking helmet.
No, she was becoming too transfixed and had to escape. Xoje grabbed her shoulder and tried to pull her off the ground. One side of his visor was cracked, and blood was on his cheek. He was yelling something, but she was too deafened by the explosions to hear the words. Over them both, the doom-bringing angel charged up another murderous burst of energy. Xana saw everything turn blue, and she closed her eyes for what felt like an hour. When they opened, she was on her back. Time was moving at its normal pace, and her hearing had returned, though there was barely anything to listen to. Her head hurt. Her nose was filled with smoke, the first floor of her home reduced to smoldering ash.
Xana stumbled to her feet, nauseas and lightheaded. Virtually nothing was left of the mansion. She walked around unsteadily, arms crossed, hugging herself, somehow cold even though she was surrounded by what used to be a wild inferno. Some of the setting sun broke through the billowing gray clouds of smog and glinted off something on the ground. Xana kneeled down and picked up a familiar piece of eyewear, cracked on the right side. When she wiped the black dust off of them, she noticed how much her fingers were trembling.
She considered going to the basement for safety or something, but there was no doorway in sight. It had most likely been buried under the remains of the mansion and the others- oh no. Her grasp on the visor tightened. The confusion was gone, and she knew exactly what happened and what the fate was of everyone else. The truth weighed down on her and dropped her to her knees; she did not deserve to exist. She messed everything up just being there. She was the wrong choice.
As the thought stood in her mind, there was a loud snap followed by a crack. Xana tilted her heavy head upwards to see that the air a few feet in front of her was twisting and distorting. It was bizarre and could have been a threat, but she did not care at that point. The crackling turned to a hum, which made her jump. What at first looked like a Corridor of Darkness opened in front of her, except it was blue, and more circular than ovular. There were rings revolving about the orb of azure, and little lines danced and whirled, like clock hands going in all directions. The portal receded, leaving someone in its place.
Standing before Xana was someone fully-dressed in red and gold armor, a cape flowing down to their ankles. They offered their hand.
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