Xion [AU] (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
whereibelong) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
allwhowander2012-04-12 05:11 am
whereibelong) wrote in allwhowander2012-04-12 05:11 am
Bad News
((Chronologically, this takes place around 9 or so months before Sora wakes up, around a year and three months after the events of 358/2 Days would have ended))
It really had only been a matter of time. The familiarity of reaching out for pieces of memory that had been there scant moments ago, only to find them missing, was such that she knew instantly what was going on. She merely had to reach out a little further with her powers, touch the heart she'd spent so long untangling, to confirm her suspicion.
As soon as she had, she broke her concentration, feeling her power fade, until she was in her workroom once more. She sat back with a sigh, putting a hand to her forehead. The process she'd used to isolate Xion's memories – so that none could slip in or out without her direction – was a one-time occurrence. She could try again, but... the chances of it succeeding were slim, and the chances that it would last nearly as long even slimmer. They'd fought so hard to get to this point, sacrificed so much. There was still time before things became unfixable, but she couldn't help but worry...
After the progress they'd made, such a short time ago... was everything that they worked for going to be undone?
Taking a rest at Disney Castle was always such a relief. The Cornerstone of Light meant the Heartless weren't even a problem they needed to worry about. They couldn't stay for long – they never did, not wanting to make the place an obvious target – but it still was nice, while it lasted.
Xion herself just liked being able to step out into the sunshine in the Courtyard, see the hedges around them cut into the shape of some sort of marching band (or so she was told – she'd never seen a marching band herself). It was a bright and lively place, and one of the few places she felt safe, anymore. She used to feel that way around Twilight Town, but... well, Twilight Town wasn't a haven for them anymore. Hadn't been since they'd first deserted over a year ago.
“Man, I could use a nap,” Axel sighed behind her, the dark portal closing behind him.
“You always say that,” she teased, throwing a grin over her shoulder.
“I dunno, for once I kind of agree with him,” Roxas said, running a hand through his hair, “Is it just me, or has there been a lot more stuff going on lately?”
Xion bit her lip. Frankly, she'd been wondering the same thing, though she'd been reluctant to voice it yet.
“There have been a lot more worlds in their fair share of trouble than normal, I'll give you that,” Axel replied.
“You're back!” a voice interrupted the three's discussion, making them turn towards the pathway leading into the castle proper, where two people were running towards them – or, well, one person and one mouse.
“Kairi! Your Majesty!” Xion called with a faint smile, turning to meet the king and her double. Kairi's presence was always welcome, and it wasn't often that they actually got to see King Mickey himself anymore – at least not here, given that often he was out trying to stave off the Organization the same as they were.
“So what do we owe this honor?” Axel commented, a hint of irony in his voice.
“Well, we saw the portal and knew you guys musta just gotten back,” Mickey said, “We wanted ta make sure everything was all right.”
Axel raised an eyebrow, but was spared commenting by Roxas asking, “So what news is there?”
"Actually, we got some great news for ya," Mickey said, "We have Sora and Donald and Goofy!"
"What?!" Xion yelped, "You got him?"
"Uh-huh! Not too long ago!"
"Is he here?" Roxas asked, eyes wide.
Mickey answered Roxas as best as he could as the boy started bombarding the king with questions, and Xion could tell that, despite Roxas' comments about his somebody in the past, he was excited as her.
There was a hand on her shoulder and Xion turned to see Kairi, “Xion, Namine said she wanted to see you as soon as you got back.” There was something in the way Kairi said it, or maybe it was the look on her face, or the fact that Namine actually wanted to talk to her as soon as possible, rather than just catching each other during meals, or whenever there was downtime, that made Xion uneasy. She had a feeling she might know what this was about.
“I see,” she said quietly, “Should... should I go now?”
“You can probably take a little while to rest. You only just got here, after all,” Kairi said, watching her sympathetically.
“It's fine,” Xion shook her head. “It... it shouldn't take too long, right?"
“Xion, you okay?”
She blinked and turned to see Roxas, Axel and King Mickey all watching her. Ugh... nearly two years old and she still couldn't keep herself from being obvious when something was worrying her. They were supposed to be celebrating - getting Sora back was such a huge deal... She smiled a smile that hopefully looked a lot more confident than she'd felt.
“I'll be fine,” she said, “I'll be right back, okay?"
Without waiting for an answer, she turned and headed inside. The path to Namine's workroom was one she knew well, by now. Her earlier excitement evaporated. She knew she'd been having dreams again lately, the way she had over a year ago. It was hard to push certain worries from her mind, possibilities that seemed all too likely...
She got to Namine's workroom, and knocked quietly on the door. Namine called out to tell the visitor to come in, and Xion opened the door, peeking inside.
Namine looked up, her eyes softening when she saw who it was. “Xion. How are you?”
Xion stepped forward and took a seat at the table across from the blonde girl. It wasn't as wide as it'd been, that time, over a year ago, but the feeling was still familiar. “I'm fine... The King said we got Sora back.”
"Yes," Namine smiled, relief evident in her face, "DiZ finally contacted us just a little while ago about it."
"That's good..." Xion looked down, smiling wistfully. "... Kairi said you wanted to speak to me."
Namine's face fell slightly. “I'm sorry,” she said quietly, and Xion felt her stomach sink. Never a good sign.
“I've been working to put together the pieces of Sora's memory I've managed to gather,” Namine explained, “Only lately, some of them have gone missing.”
Xion sucked in a breath, eyes clenching shut. “It's happening again, isn't it? I've... I've been dreaming of things. The way I was last time.”
“Yes,” Namine sighed, “What I did wasn't meant to last forever. Frankly, I didn't even expect it to last this long. But Xion... it's not something I can do again. It won't work nearly as well, if it even works at all.”
“I know,” she remembered the warnings Namine had given her the first time. “I know but...”
“You haven't been able to find anything, have you?”
“No,” Xion's voice shook, “Nothing. We- and we've looked everywhere... We even went back to Castle Oblivion, but...” She shook her head. “What... what about Roxas?”
Namine took a deep breath. Xion knew she hated being the bearer of bad news, as she too often was forced to be. “He'll probably be affected, as he was last time.”
Just like last time. So essentially, they were back to square one, with her absorbing Sora's memories and Roxas' powers, keeping one asleep and killing the other. “What... What are we going to do? Am I... Am I going to have to-?” She couldn't, please no. Not after she'd gained so much, not after all they'd gone through. What was the point of stopping herself last time if this was what it came to, leaving Sora a mess to wake up to and the possibility of him finding out someone had died to wake him..
“Hey,” Namine's voice broke into her downward spiral, and Xion looked up to find Namine had gotten up, and was now kneeling on the ground next to her, hesitating for a moment before putting one hand on her shoulder, “Xion, we still have some time to figure this out. You may be getting Sora's memories, but... so long as you don't claim them, so long as they stay separate, I can take them out without too much trouble.”
“But I don't know how to stop that!” Xion said, her voice shaking worse than ever, “I don't... I didn't even know what I was doing! And if I can't... Namine I can't watch Roxas die. I can't.”
Another hesitation, then arms wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug. Xion buried her head in the other girl's shoulder.
“I know,” Namine replied quietly, “I know. Xion, we're going to do everything we can. For both of you.”
Xion took a shuddering breath and nodded against Namine's shoulder. A few deep breaths later, and she lifted her head again, and pushed herself to her feet.
“I... probably should tell the others,” she said uncertainly. She hated burdening them, hated bringing this up again, wished so much she could fix this somehow herself, but... it wasn't happening, was it... “They'll... they'll be able to tell something's wrong.” Besides, if Roxas started losing strength again...
Namine nodded. “I'll come with you to help,” she smiled faintly, “You don't have to do this on your own, you know.”
Axel swore under his breath quietly as Xion finally broke down and explained why she'd been called away so suddenly. It'd taken a while, to work out all the bits and pieces, given how upset she was, but Namine had helped, whenever Xion had gotten too worked up to speak. Xion was sitting down on one of the couches now, clinging to Roxas as she quietly cried herself out, Kairi on her other side.
Roxas looked from her to Namine – who stood nearby – to Axel himself, face set. “What are we going to do?”
Axel sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. They'd caught it early this time, but that didn't make it any easier to say.
“I don't know,” he said finally, “If there's no way to stop the memories, the only thing we can do is try to stop Xion from absorbing them in the first place. But...” That wasn't an option.
“What's wrong?” Kairi asked, “If we have a way, then why can't we do it?”
Axel sighed. “It's not that simple. Vexen was the one who made Xion. He's the only one who really knows how and why replicas work the way they do.” The Riku Replica had been able to absorb the powers of others too.
“Didn't he have any research notes, or something?” Roxas asked.
Axel shook his head. “I cleaned the place out myself. ” Multiple times, actually. Once on Saix's orders, to keep Riku – the Organization imposter – from getting their hands on the research there, and later himself, trying to find anything to prevent this very thing from happening. “There's nothing left there that we can use.”
“There isn't anyone else who might know what to do?” Kairi's expression was grim.
“Not really, unless you fancy talking to Xemnas about it,” Axel replied.
Xion flinched. Roxas tightened his grip around her shoulders. Kairi's face hardened, and Namine's settled into a light frown as she folded her hands. No. Xemnas was not an option, not by a long shot.
"Isn't there anyone else?" Roxas asked, a quiet note of desperation in his voice.
"Actually, there is."
Everyone turned to the door to see who had spoken. Riku strode into the room, finally coming to a halt beside Namine. King Mickey followed, though he took a place closer to the couch where Xion, Roxas and Kairi sat. Somehow it didn't surprise Axel that Riku already knew exactly what was going on. However... "You have someone in mind?"
"Yeah, the problem is getting him to agree," the teen replied.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Xion sniffled, wiping at her eyes.
"The first six members of Organization XIII were all apprentices of an old pal of mine named Ansem the Wise," Mickey explained.
"Ansem?" Kairi frowned, "Wasn't that the one who Sora..."
Mickey shook his head, "That guy was an imposter, one of those six apprentices. His real name was Xehanort."
"Xemnas," Axel said, "The heartless Sora defeated was the heartless of the Organization's Superior."
"Exactly."
Roxas looked from Axel to King Mickey, "Okay, but what does this have to do with Xion?"
"Ansem's six apprentices betrayed him, and left him in the World of Darkness. When he finally got out, he wanted revenge. It wasn't until just recently that he gave up on that plan to do the right thing," Mickey concluded.
Riku folded his arms. "It's DiZ. DiZ is Ansem the Wise, and as both Xehanort and Vexen's former master, he has the best chance of any of us of being able to fix Xion's programming for good."
Roxas's face flashed with anger, an his grip on Xion's shoulders tightened again, enough that she made a quiet noise of protest. "DiZ, but he's the one who wanted to destroy her! He wanted to destroy all of us!" It didn't take a genius to guess what was going through his mind. Thinking about the time he'd trapped them in the fake Twilight Town still pissed Axel off too. As much as he wanted to snap at the very suggestion though, he could see the point RIku was driving at: if it came down to DiZ or Xemnas, DiZ was definitely the lesser of two evils.
"I don't think he'll try anything while we're all here. The problem is getting him to agree to do something that would save Xion," Riku said, "He may have turned Sora, Donald and Goofy over to us, but he wasn't happy about it, and I doubt he'll be happy about this either."
"We have to try though, right?" Kairi asked, "We can't just leave it like this!"
"That all really depends on one person here," Riku replied, glancing over at Xion.
Everyone followed his gaze. Xion stiffened a little, though after a moment she sat up straighter, and wiped at her eyes as she extricated herself from Roxas's grip. "I-I'll ask him. ... where is he?"
"Absolutely not. That puppet has no right to exist in the first place," DiZ refused to even turn from the balcony railing from which he was surveying the ground below.
"She's right behind you, you know," Roxas commented scathingly.
"I have no concern for the meaningless words of a Nobody," came the cold reply.
"DiZ, enough," Riku snapped, "We've been through this already. They're our friends and we're going to help them get through this. It's what Sora would have wanted."
"Riku, I believe I made my position on this matter quite clear the last time we spoke. They have no right to exist and words and useless feelings will not change that, matter what Sora 'would have wanted.' This is for the good of the worlds."
"Ansem..." Mickey said hesitantly, "I really think you oughta consider-"
"Mickey, my old friend, it saddens me that you would encourage whatever sentimental feelings you all possess to place the worlds in danger for things such as these. Enough. I will hear no more."
Xion hadn't said anything, besides her first attempt to ask DiZ for help. Since then, she'd maintained a sort of numb silence as her friends - who'd come with her for support - argued and defended her. She knew it was a long shot, but all the same... the flat out rejection, the refusal to treat her as anything more than an object.
It was familiar. In a way she hadn't felt in a long time.
There was a long silence before Riku said, coldly, "Well, I guess that's that, then."
Behind her, she heard the others turn to leave. She didn't move.
"Xion?" she turned and saw Axel and Roxas watching her. She stared at them for a moment, then shook her head, turning. She moved forward, until she stood at the balcony's railing herself.
DiZ didn't even twitch. "I have nothing to say to you, puppet."
"My name is Xion," she said flatly, and paused, taking a deep breath before she turned to face him. "... You don't see me at all, do you? You don't now and you didn't then."
"And what in the world do you mean by that?"
"When you look at me, you don't see anything. Just a doll. A broken thing," she spat the word distastefully.
DiZ didn't answer.
"The creature is broken. Defective."
"You were a mistake we never should have made."
Her chest tightened. At first she was quiet, but the more she spoke, the louder her voice rose. "You. You're just like them. You act like you're this great person, but you're just as bad! You think you can just decide what has the right to exist or not, act like you can treat us however you want!" Her hands clenched into fists. "You're no better than the Organization!"
For a moment, silence reigned. "You dare compare me to that lot of nothings?" DiZ said finally, his voice icy.
"Xion..." Someone - Roxas or Axel, she couldn't tell which - said cautiously. She ignored them.
"Yes, I do. There's only one other person I know who can't see my face!" it was practically a shout.
For the first time, DiZ actually turned and looked at her their eyes meeting for one long moment. "And what," he said, voice stiff with anger, "does that have to do with anything?"
Xion glared. "If you don't know, there's no point in explaining." And with that, she turned to leave, Axel and Roxas trailing silently behind her. Once she was out of his room though, she slumped against the wall, feeling drained.
"Xion!" Roxas was at her side in a second, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine..." she said, shaking her head "But what are we going to do? This was..."
"I've talked with Namine. She said we have some time before things really start becoming a problem," Axel said, "Remember that time you were asleep for a while, and couldn't wake up?"
She nodded.
'That's our point of no return, so to speak," Axel said, "We'll figure something out by then."
Xion nodded, pushing herself off the wall to head back to their rooms. "I hope so."
It really had only been a matter of time. The familiarity of reaching out for pieces of memory that had been there scant moments ago, only to find them missing, was such that she knew instantly what was going on. She merely had to reach out a little further with her powers, touch the heart she'd spent so long untangling, to confirm her suspicion.
As soon as she had, she broke her concentration, feeling her power fade, until she was in her workroom once more. She sat back with a sigh, putting a hand to her forehead. The process she'd used to isolate Xion's memories – so that none could slip in or out without her direction – was a one-time occurrence. She could try again, but... the chances of it succeeding were slim, and the chances that it would last nearly as long even slimmer. They'd fought so hard to get to this point, sacrificed so much. There was still time before things became unfixable, but she couldn't help but worry...
After the progress they'd made, such a short time ago... was everything that they worked for going to be undone?
Taking a rest at Disney Castle was always such a relief. The Cornerstone of Light meant the Heartless weren't even a problem they needed to worry about. They couldn't stay for long – they never did, not wanting to make the place an obvious target – but it still was nice, while it lasted.
Xion herself just liked being able to step out into the sunshine in the Courtyard, see the hedges around them cut into the shape of some sort of marching band (or so she was told – she'd never seen a marching band herself). It was a bright and lively place, and one of the few places she felt safe, anymore. She used to feel that way around Twilight Town, but... well, Twilight Town wasn't a haven for them anymore. Hadn't been since they'd first deserted over a year ago.
“Man, I could use a nap,” Axel sighed behind her, the dark portal closing behind him.
“You always say that,” she teased, throwing a grin over her shoulder.
“I dunno, for once I kind of agree with him,” Roxas said, running a hand through his hair, “Is it just me, or has there been a lot more stuff going on lately?”
Xion bit her lip. Frankly, she'd been wondering the same thing, though she'd been reluctant to voice it yet.
“There have been a lot more worlds in their fair share of trouble than normal, I'll give you that,” Axel replied.
“You're back!” a voice interrupted the three's discussion, making them turn towards the pathway leading into the castle proper, where two people were running towards them – or, well, one person and one mouse.
“Kairi! Your Majesty!” Xion called with a faint smile, turning to meet the king and her double. Kairi's presence was always welcome, and it wasn't often that they actually got to see King Mickey himself anymore – at least not here, given that often he was out trying to stave off the Organization the same as they were.
“So what do we owe this honor?” Axel commented, a hint of irony in his voice.
“Well, we saw the portal and knew you guys musta just gotten back,” Mickey said, “We wanted ta make sure everything was all right.”
Axel raised an eyebrow, but was spared commenting by Roxas asking, “So what news is there?”
"Actually, we got some great news for ya," Mickey said, "We have Sora and Donald and Goofy!"
"What?!" Xion yelped, "You got him?"
"Uh-huh! Not too long ago!"
"Is he here?" Roxas asked, eyes wide.
Mickey answered Roxas as best as he could as the boy started bombarding the king with questions, and Xion could tell that, despite Roxas' comments about his somebody in the past, he was excited as her.
There was a hand on her shoulder and Xion turned to see Kairi, “Xion, Namine said she wanted to see you as soon as you got back.” There was something in the way Kairi said it, or maybe it was the look on her face, or the fact that Namine actually wanted to talk to her as soon as possible, rather than just catching each other during meals, or whenever there was downtime, that made Xion uneasy. She had a feeling she might know what this was about.
“I see,” she said quietly, “Should... should I go now?”
“You can probably take a little while to rest. You only just got here, after all,” Kairi said, watching her sympathetically.
“It's fine,” Xion shook her head. “It... it shouldn't take too long, right?"
“Xion, you okay?”
She blinked and turned to see Roxas, Axel and King Mickey all watching her. Ugh... nearly two years old and she still couldn't keep herself from being obvious when something was worrying her. They were supposed to be celebrating - getting Sora back was such a huge deal... She smiled a smile that hopefully looked a lot more confident than she'd felt.
“I'll be fine,” she said, “I'll be right back, okay?"
Without waiting for an answer, she turned and headed inside. The path to Namine's workroom was one she knew well, by now. Her earlier excitement evaporated. She knew she'd been having dreams again lately, the way she had over a year ago. It was hard to push certain worries from her mind, possibilities that seemed all too likely...
She got to Namine's workroom, and knocked quietly on the door. Namine called out to tell the visitor to come in, and Xion opened the door, peeking inside.
Namine looked up, her eyes softening when she saw who it was. “Xion. How are you?”
Xion stepped forward and took a seat at the table across from the blonde girl. It wasn't as wide as it'd been, that time, over a year ago, but the feeling was still familiar. “I'm fine... The King said we got Sora back.”
"Yes," Namine smiled, relief evident in her face, "DiZ finally contacted us just a little while ago about it."
"That's good..." Xion looked down, smiling wistfully. "... Kairi said you wanted to speak to me."
Namine's face fell slightly. “I'm sorry,” she said quietly, and Xion felt her stomach sink. Never a good sign.
“I've been working to put together the pieces of Sora's memory I've managed to gather,” Namine explained, “Only lately, some of them have gone missing.”
Xion sucked in a breath, eyes clenching shut. “It's happening again, isn't it? I've... I've been dreaming of things. The way I was last time.”
“Yes,” Namine sighed, “What I did wasn't meant to last forever. Frankly, I didn't even expect it to last this long. But Xion... it's not something I can do again. It won't work nearly as well, if it even works at all.”
“I know,” she remembered the warnings Namine had given her the first time. “I know but...”
“You haven't been able to find anything, have you?”
“No,” Xion's voice shook, “Nothing. We- and we've looked everywhere... We even went back to Castle Oblivion, but...” She shook her head. “What... what about Roxas?”
Namine took a deep breath. Xion knew she hated being the bearer of bad news, as she too often was forced to be. “He'll probably be affected, as he was last time.”
Just like last time. So essentially, they were back to square one, with her absorbing Sora's memories and Roxas' powers, keeping one asleep and killing the other. “What... What are we going to do? Am I... Am I going to have to-?” She couldn't, please no. Not after she'd gained so much, not after all they'd gone through. What was the point of stopping herself last time if this was what it came to, leaving Sora a mess to wake up to and the possibility of him finding out someone had died to wake him..
“Hey,” Namine's voice broke into her downward spiral, and Xion looked up to find Namine had gotten up, and was now kneeling on the ground next to her, hesitating for a moment before putting one hand on her shoulder, “Xion, we still have some time to figure this out. You may be getting Sora's memories, but... so long as you don't claim them, so long as they stay separate, I can take them out without too much trouble.”
“But I don't know how to stop that!” Xion said, her voice shaking worse than ever, “I don't... I didn't even know what I was doing! And if I can't... Namine I can't watch Roxas die. I can't.”
Another hesitation, then arms wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug. Xion buried her head in the other girl's shoulder.
“I know,” Namine replied quietly, “I know. Xion, we're going to do everything we can. For both of you.”
Xion took a shuddering breath and nodded against Namine's shoulder. A few deep breaths later, and she lifted her head again, and pushed herself to her feet.
“I... probably should tell the others,” she said uncertainly. She hated burdening them, hated bringing this up again, wished so much she could fix this somehow herself, but... it wasn't happening, was it... “They'll... they'll be able to tell something's wrong.” Besides, if Roxas started losing strength again...
Namine nodded. “I'll come with you to help,” she smiled faintly, “You don't have to do this on your own, you know.”
Axel swore under his breath quietly as Xion finally broke down and explained why she'd been called away so suddenly. It'd taken a while, to work out all the bits and pieces, given how upset she was, but Namine had helped, whenever Xion had gotten too worked up to speak. Xion was sitting down on one of the couches now, clinging to Roxas as she quietly cried herself out, Kairi on her other side.
Roxas looked from her to Namine – who stood nearby – to Axel himself, face set. “What are we going to do?”
Axel sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. They'd caught it early this time, but that didn't make it any easier to say.
“I don't know,” he said finally, “If there's no way to stop the memories, the only thing we can do is try to stop Xion from absorbing them in the first place. But...” That wasn't an option.
“What's wrong?” Kairi asked, “If we have a way, then why can't we do it?”
Axel sighed. “It's not that simple. Vexen was the one who made Xion. He's the only one who really knows how and why replicas work the way they do.” The Riku Replica had been able to absorb the powers of others too.
“Didn't he have any research notes, or something?” Roxas asked.
Axel shook his head. “I cleaned the place out myself. ” Multiple times, actually. Once on Saix's orders, to keep Riku – the Organization imposter – from getting their hands on the research there, and later himself, trying to find anything to prevent this very thing from happening. “There's nothing left there that we can use.”
“There isn't anyone else who might know what to do?” Kairi's expression was grim.
“Not really, unless you fancy talking to Xemnas about it,” Axel replied.
Xion flinched. Roxas tightened his grip around her shoulders. Kairi's face hardened, and Namine's settled into a light frown as she folded her hands. No. Xemnas was not an option, not by a long shot.
"Isn't there anyone else?" Roxas asked, a quiet note of desperation in his voice.
"Actually, there is."
Everyone turned to the door to see who had spoken. Riku strode into the room, finally coming to a halt beside Namine. King Mickey followed, though he took a place closer to the couch where Xion, Roxas and Kairi sat. Somehow it didn't surprise Axel that Riku already knew exactly what was going on. However... "You have someone in mind?"
"Yeah, the problem is getting him to agree," the teen replied.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Xion sniffled, wiping at her eyes.
"The first six members of Organization XIII were all apprentices of an old pal of mine named Ansem the Wise," Mickey explained.
"Ansem?" Kairi frowned, "Wasn't that the one who Sora..."
Mickey shook his head, "That guy was an imposter, one of those six apprentices. His real name was Xehanort."
"Xemnas," Axel said, "The heartless Sora defeated was the heartless of the Organization's Superior."
"Exactly."
Roxas looked from Axel to King Mickey, "Okay, but what does this have to do with Xion?"
"Ansem's six apprentices betrayed him, and left him in the World of Darkness. When he finally got out, he wanted revenge. It wasn't until just recently that he gave up on that plan to do the right thing," Mickey concluded.
Riku folded his arms. "It's DiZ. DiZ is Ansem the Wise, and as both Xehanort and Vexen's former master, he has the best chance of any of us of being able to fix Xion's programming for good."
Roxas's face flashed with anger, an his grip on Xion's shoulders tightened again, enough that she made a quiet noise of protest. "DiZ, but he's the one who wanted to destroy her! He wanted to destroy all of us!" It didn't take a genius to guess what was going through his mind. Thinking about the time he'd trapped them in the fake Twilight Town still pissed Axel off too. As much as he wanted to snap at the very suggestion though, he could see the point RIku was driving at: if it came down to DiZ or Xemnas, DiZ was definitely the lesser of two evils.
"I don't think he'll try anything while we're all here. The problem is getting him to agree to do something that would save Xion," Riku said, "He may have turned Sora, Donald and Goofy over to us, but he wasn't happy about it, and I doubt he'll be happy about this either."
"We have to try though, right?" Kairi asked, "We can't just leave it like this!"
"That all really depends on one person here," Riku replied, glancing over at Xion.
Everyone followed his gaze. Xion stiffened a little, though after a moment she sat up straighter, and wiped at her eyes as she extricated herself from Roxas's grip. "I-I'll ask him. ... where is he?"
"Absolutely not. That puppet has no right to exist in the first place," DiZ refused to even turn from the balcony railing from which he was surveying the ground below.
"She's right behind you, you know," Roxas commented scathingly.
"I have no concern for the meaningless words of a Nobody," came the cold reply.
"DiZ, enough," Riku snapped, "We've been through this already. They're our friends and we're going to help them get through this. It's what Sora would have wanted."
"Riku, I believe I made my position on this matter quite clear the last time we spoke. They have no right to exist and words and useless feelings will not change that, matter what Sora 'would have wanted.' This is for the good of the worlds."
"Ansem..." Mickey said hesitantly, "I really think you oughta consider-"
"Mickey, my old friend, it saddens me that you would encourage whatever sentimental feelings you all possess to place the worlds in danger for things such as these. Enough. I will hear no more."
Xion hadn't said anything, besides her first attempt to ask DiZ for help. Since then, she'd maintained a sort of numb silence as her friends - who'd come with her for support - argued and defended her. She knew it was a long shot, but all the same... the flat out rejection, the refusal to treat her as anything more than an object.
It was familiar. In a way she hadn't felt in a long time.
There was a long silence before Riku said, coldly, "Well, I guess that's that, then."
Behind her, she heard the others turn to leave. She didn't move.
"Xion?" she turned and saw Axel and Roxas watching her. She stared at them for a moment, then shook her head, turning. She moved forward, until she stood at the balcony's railing herself.
DiZ didn't even twitch. "I have nothing to say to you, puppet."
"My name is Xion," she said flatly, and paused, taking a deep breath before she turned to face him. "... You don't see me at all, do you? You don't now and you didn't then."
"And what in the world do you mean by that?"
"When you look at me, you don't see anything. Just a doll. A broken thing," she spat the word distastefully.
DiZ didn't answer.
"The creature is broken. Defective."
"You were a mistake we never should have made."
Her chest tightened. At first she was quiet, but the more she spoke, the louder her voice rose. "You. You're just like them. You act like you're this great person, but you're just as bad! You think you can just decide what has the right to exist or not, act like you can treat us however you want!" Her hands clenched into fists. "You're no better than the Organization!"
For a moment, silence reigned. "You dare compare me to that lot of nothings?" DiZ said finally, his voice icy.
"Xion..." Someone - Roxas or Axel, she couldn't tell which - said cautiously. She ignored them.
"Yes, I do. There's only one other person I know who can't see my face!" it was practically a shout.
For the first time, DiZ actually turned and looked at her their eyes meeting for one long moment. "And what," he said, voice stiff with anger, "does that have to do with anything?"
Xion glared. "If you don't know, there's no point in explaining." And with that, she turned to leave, Axel and Roxas trailing silently behind her. Once she was out of his room though, she slumped against the wall, feeling drained.
"Xion!" Roxas was at her side in a second, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine..." she said, shaking her head "But what are we going to do? This was..."
"I've talked with Namine. She said we have some time before things really start becoming a problem," Axel said, "Remember that time you were asleep for a while, and couldn't wake up?"
She nodded.
'That's our point of no return, so to speak," Axel said, "We'll figure something out by then."
Xion nodded, pushing herself off the wall to head back to their rooms. "I hope so."