Chapter 2 - the Graceful Assassin

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Tetsuya Nomura does.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Just letting you all know, I know what the next chapters will contain, but I still don’t know where I’m going with this story. Hopefully some kind of plot will develop along the way XD. Guess who Umarali is the True Name of :D I still have one more Nobody after him, and then we shall get to the good stuff, I promise!

I turned my Xanga into a little journal revolving this story, my thoughts, and other things. You can find it at But please, any comments you have reguarding the story, please post here and not there. Thank you.

Enjoy!

PART 2
'The Graceful Assassin'

I wanted to take a vessel, but Axel insisted on transporting through what I like to call ‘Shadow Doors’. I never really understood what they were, or how they worked, but entering them brought us to a dimension where we could chose where we wanted to end up. We entered this strange realm, and Axel pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket.

“Xemnas gave us coordinates of where he wants us to strike next.” He stated. He put out his hand. “So, according to this, we should end up in some city somewhere.” I nodded, and we walked through to a new shadow door, and entered. There was a bright light that caused me to squint. It was blinding! I had to cover my eyes. Thankfully, Axel grabbed my other hand, otherwise I would have gotten lost. When the light faded, we were in a thick, green jungle. The trees were massive, and extended to the skies. There was lush grass and beautiful pink, orange, and blue flowers all over. It was extremely hot, and wearing heavy, black leather coats didn’t help much.

“Well this is just great!” Axel yelled. “We’re in the middle of a freaking jungle!”

“Calm down. Let me see that sheet.” But before he heard me, he balled the paper up in his hand, and set it ablaze.

“Axel!” I yelled. “What’s the matter with you?! Now, how are we supposed to find this place?!” The heat was already starting to take it’s toll. “Forget it. Let’s look around. Maybe this place is closer than we think.”

We walked for what seemed like days, although it was only a few hours. By this point, we had both taken off our coats. They were too much of a bother to carry, so we left them behind. We could always get new ones. We heard lots of rustling, but it wasn’t coming from us, and there were no animals to be seen.

“Just a little further…” Axel mumbled. His voice was becoming faint. I started to realize he was in trouble. Before I could say anything, he collapsed.

“Axel! Axel!” I cried. I rushed over to him and lifted him up. “Come on, wake up!” He didn’t move. I started to panic. He was burning! What was I supposed to do? I needed to save him, but how? Wait! My sitar! I stood up and concentrated hard. Light blue bubbles began to flow all around me and flowed together in long shape. Then, the bubbles splashed, and popped, revealing my beautiful blue and gold sitar that I love so very much. Grasping it in my hands, I began to play. The humidity began to condense and it started to lightly rain. I knew it! There was so much water in the air, that I was able to make rain! Setting the sitar down, I held out my hands, cupped, and caught a good amount of water. I leaned Axel’s head forward, and began to feed him the water. By this time, it was pouring rain. He was still hot, and I got kind of worried, but then he started to twitch, and stir. He opened his eyes to see me sitting over him.

“What’s going on?” He asked in a weakened voice. “Why is it raining?”

“Are you alright? You scared me half to death!” I shouted. “Next time you think you’re dehydrated, tell me! I can create water, you know!” Axel gave a silly smile.

“I thought I could take the heat,” he laughed. He opened his mouth to say more, but then the rustling came again. This time we both looked to the bushes. Looking harder, I saw two piercing blue eyes behind the massive leaves.

“There!” I shouted. The eyes widened, then disappeared. The rustling turned to shuffling as our visitor was fleeing. “After it!” We both stood and began to chase our unknown visitor. Through the thick grass, and the large trees. It was just a blur of green until we arrived at a small village. In the center of the jungle, no less!

“What is this place?” Axel asked. “Is this the place we were supposed to go?”

“Well, even if it’s not, let’s torch the place anyway.” Axel grinned.

“Bad idea,” I reminded him. “There are trees and plants everywhere. If this place burns, so does everything else. Let’s just ‘look’ first, not ‘kill’ first this time.” Realizing he was defeated, Axel started walking through the bushes. I thought it would be best to befriend these people. We were hot, tired, and needed a good rest. Hopefully whoever lived in this place would let us stay for at least one night. At the sight of us, the villagers quickly entered their huts, and hid away. I didn’t think we were that intimidating, but we were outsiders. The largest hut, I guessed, was where their leader was. Maybe reasoning with him would get us a room for the night.

Two large muscled guards stood at the entrance of the larger hut. Only one of them spoke to us.

“Who are you?”

“We are but simple travelers who have lost our way.” Axel pleaded, innocently. “Please, would you grant us some food, and a place to stay just for one night?” The guard thought on this, then opened the flap to the hut, telling us to enter. It was dark. The only light came from three little candles on the floor. A large, round, bald man sat at the large throne in the center of the little hut. Next to him was a tall young man with silky, black hair, and piercing blue eyes…

“Axel,” I whispered. “That’s the one who was watching us!”

“Speak, travelers!” The fat man roared. “What is your business here in our humble village.”

“Please,” I asked sweetly. “We’ve been traveling for quite some time. We have run out of food, and water. We would like to ask hospitality of you, just for one night. We’ll do anything.” The fat man thought on this for quite some time, every so often leaning to the tall man and whispering something. Axel was beginning to get impatient. He began to tap his foot, and cross his arms. I kept having to elbow him to get him to stop.

Finally, the fat man spoke up.

“Guests, I welcome you to our village. We are a peaceful people. You may stay with us for as long as you need. We just kindly ask that you pull your own weight, as we all do.” We bowed, and thanked him, then he continued. “My name is Drulo. I am mastef of this village. This is my son,” He pointed to the tall man. “Umarali. He will show you around. Unfortunately, we have no extra huts, so you will stay with Umarali.” Umarali stepped forward. He had a kind face, and a serene smile. He led us out of the hut, into the heart of the village.

We were introduced to many people who’s names I’ve long forgotten. They didn’t matter. I needed to get Axel alone so we could talk, but if we were to stay in Umarali’s hut, then we probably wouldn’t have any alone time. I wanted to make sure Axel wasn’t about to blow this place to hell.

“…And that’s the end of our little tour,” Umarali grinned. “I hope you both enjoy your stay.” We smiled, and thanked him. He pointed next to the large hut to one just a tad smaller. “That is my home. That is where you will be staying. Please join my father and I for dinner tonight.” We smiled, and he turned to leave. I looked at Axel.

“It’s really nice here! We should tell Xemnas to move here instead,” I chucked.

“It’s nice, but it’s got to go.” Axel said, monotonous.

“…Excuse me?”

“This whole time I’ve been getting strong vibes from our buddy Umarali. I think he’s the one we’re supposed to bring back. And you know what that means.”

“Axel, no, these people have done nothing to deserve any kind of brutal death.” I protested. “Besides, we can’t burn it, remember? The whole jungle will catch.”

“You think I care about some lousy jungle?”

“Axel!”

“You can’t stop me, Demyx.” He began to walk toward Drulo’s hut.

“Axel, stop!” I chased after him. “You cannot do this! I won’t let you do this!” I jumped in his way. “At least not until we’ve ate, and rested.” He began to calm down. “I know we’ve only spent one day in that new castle, but when’s the next time we’re going to get a chance to spend a night in a beautiful jungle village together?”

“Damn it, Demyx.” He sighed in defeat. “Fine. We’ll stay tonight. But tomorrow…” I smiled.

“Fine, tomorrow. And we’ll bring Umarali back if his heart is as strong as you think it is.” I agreed. The sun was starting to set, so we entered Drulo’s hut for dinner.
---
It was a feast! Goose, boar, and all kinds of vegetables I’ve never heard of, and colors I’ve never seen.

“This meal we have presented here,” Drulo began. “This glorious food, we must thank our glorious Gods.” He sat in the head chair. “Enjoy!”

That was probably the most I’ve ever eaten… Ever. And it was the best meal I’ve ever had ever. I somewhat began to feel guilty. Here these people were, giving us an awesome meal, and a place to sleep, and we were going to kill them.

Later that night, Axel and I were in Umarali’s hut. I was tired, but too ashamed to sleep. I didn’t really want to hurt anyone, especially after all the hospitality they gave. Axel and I talked about it for a long time, and then Umarali entered.

“I’ve prepared beds for you,” He smiled. They weren’t really beds, but cots of straw, and animal hides. I didn’t care though. I was tired.

“Thank you, Umarali” I beamed. “We really appreciate all that you and your father are doing for us.” Umarali closed the flap to the hut, then swiftly spun around to face us. His normal smile, and kind eyes, turned to a look of hatred and disgust.

“As you’ve probably realized by now,” he began. “It was I who spied on you earlier today.” This didn’t sound good, although I wasn’t sure why. We hadn’t done anything wrong. “You are creatures of the dark! I saw that black magic you used to make it rain!” I looked to Axel who was just as clueless. Then his look softened. “You must teach me this magic of yours. Although this jungle is humid, water is hard to come by more and more these days. Please, Demyx,” He got on his knees. “I promise not to reveal your evil ways. Please teach me.” Well, this was new! Now, we were evil black mages? This was too funny. I could see Axel was doing his best not to burst out laughing.

“Uhh, Umarali,” I said, trying so very hard not to even smile. “We’re not black mages. And that wasn’t black magic.” I would have continued, but he wouldn’t have understood. He stood up.

“If it wasn’t dark magic, then what was it?” He asked.

“It’s… Hard to explain,” Axel finally chimed in. “It’s best we go to sleep now. We can better explain it tomorrow, after we sleep.” More bullshoot from Axel. He was right, though. We needed the sleep. Umarali finally backed off, and we all passed out.
---
I just couldn’t sleep. I tried to, but I woke up in frenzy. Although I don’t feel, sometimes I believe I still have a human conscience. Xigbar says it’s because I haven’t given up all my humanity, or something like that. He always says that I haven’t been a Nobody for very long. He’s always telling me that over time, I’ll stop feeling things like guilt.

And I was guilty. A whole generation of people lived here, and today is their day of reckoning. Was it the guilt that kept me awake that night? Maybe. I don’t really know for sure. It could also be the dreams. They were vibrant that night. So real, and I swore I was dead. It was an awful feeling. It was like seeing into the future. Was that how I was destined to die? At the hands of a merciless, key-wielding killer? And why would he take Axel? Was he going to kill the others? I had decided right then I was to tell Xemnas, privately, about these dreams. He’d be the least likely to poke fun, and criticize me. He’d also try to give advice, or his opinion on the meanings. Yes, Xemnas would know.

I left the hut and walked past the village boundaries. It was almost sunrise. It had been too long since I saw the sun rise. I remember it being a beautiful, and awesome sight. Unfortunately I knew that after this peaceful sunrise would come the blazing fires that burnt this poor place to the ground. Didn’t let it bother me, though. I was too entranced by the sun lighting up the morning sky.

That’s when I heard it. The first of the screams. Axel was awake. I feared for these people, yet did nothing to help. I just calmly walked back to the hut. Drulo’s was the first to be set ablaze. The fat man was no where to be seen, so I figured he was dead already. People screaming, burning to death, babies crying. Chaos. And I saw Axel. Axel with his bright red chakram in each hand.

“Come on, Dem, join the fun!” He shouted in a crazed voice. Then he proceeded to slash, and burn. I couldn’t move. I wasn’t afraid, but I was. I wanted to help these people, but I couldn’t, and I wanted to join Axel, but I couldn’t. I was useless.

Suddenly, I felt tugging on my legs, and before I knew it, I was on the ground. Pinning me down was none other than Umarali. And he was pissed.

“How could you!” He yelled in my face. “That man, that MONSTER! Why don’t you stop him? We trusted you! And now..” He let me up. “Now it’s all gone.” And he was right. Nothing but flames now stood where the village once was. Lifeless bodies where everywhere, scorched, and smoldering. From the smoke, Axel’s silhouette was seen, marching toward us.

“You men are demons!” Umarali screamed. “You are not men!”

“No,” Axel grinned, smoke clearing. “We are Nobodies. We are the shadows of men we once were. Empty shells.” A hoard of Heartless materialized at his feet. “And so are you.” Before he could protest, the Heartless were attacking, and had him down. I couldn’t watch. They were consuming his heart. I just could do nothing but look away. When the Heartless dispersed, I saw that Axel was right in his instincts. Umarali indeed had a strong heart, and now, he was a Nobody.

The man out cold was no longer the black-haired beauty, but a light skinned man with mauve locks. It was a most drastic change. I couldn’t believe what I saw. And Axel, of course, said it was normal.

“Let’s get out of here,” I pleaded. I didn’t want to be in the steamy jungle any longer. The pain seemed to great, even though there was no pain at all. Axel grabbed the body, and we left the ruins of the village.
---
We’re not bad people, although by all that’s happened so far, you probably think otherwise. We’ve been rejected by the light, and the darkness. We walk between, you could say. We are not good nor evil. We just are. We do what we think is right whether it really is good or bad. The events of that day made me realize that I was definitely a good person when I was whole. My conscience was screaming my name the whole time, or so I thought. I still felt the pain of guilt. And it hurt.
---
“Are we evil?” I asked after a few minutes.

“Evil? Who knows. We just do what Xemnas tells us to.”

“But what if he’s evil?”

“He’s not evil. He’s a great guy, and a wonderful leader.”

“But what if this is wrong? I feel like this is wrong!”

“Xigbar is right, you need to let go of your conscience.”

“But I can’t! I tried to think differently, but I can’t. It hurts too much. Why can’t I rid myself of this guilt?” We had stopped walking. Axel had placed Umarali’s lifeless body on the ground of the Realm.

“Demyx, you’ve been acting so weird lately. Is everything okay?” No, I wanted to say, I’m not okay. I haven’t been lately. Let’s just leave the Organization. This isn’t right. I can feel it in that empty gap in my chest. I had said nothing. There was a terrible silence between us, and I couldn’t bear it.

“It’s nothing,” I said finally, in a hushed tone. “Let’s just get back to the castle.” Axel sighed, nodded, and we were on our way once more. We entered the Shadow Door that led to our new home.
---
Why was I feeling so emotional? God, I do this every time! Of course I’m not like that now, but I was a whiny dog. Everyone always told me that, and I never believed them, but I sure do now.

My humanity. I felt like I’d never lose it. I felt like I’d never get over these simple feelings that my body pretended to feel. I hated it. I wanted to be indifferent, and apathetic. I didn’t want to feel anymore.

Oh, and by the way, incase you were wondering, dear reader, we did get lost that day. We weren’t supposed to attack a village. We were really supposed to find a city. I think Axel got the coordinates wrong, not like I’d be able to check since he destroyed them. And this proves to be a big issue, but I’ll discuss this much later.
---
When we arrived at the castle, we were greeted by Vexen, Xaldin, and Xigbar. They saw that we had accomplished our mission, and hurried to inform Xemnas. I had a bad feeling about all of this, but I didn’t let it get to me. I was starting to learn to shrug it off. Of course, the one time I shrug of a bad feeling, it comes back to bite me in the @$$.

Xemnas had appeared and we presented Umarali’s body to him. He said nothing. I could sense the confusion in his expression. Something was wrong, and I had a feeling it was our fault.

“This is not the heart I sensed when I sent you two out.” Xemnas said, lowly. “Where did you find this man?”

“Well, sir,” Axel spoke timidly. “We got a little lost, and we stumbled across a small village. This was the only man to survive.” Xemnas was still not pleased.

“Well, I suppose if his heart was strong enough, then he shall join us, too. Did you happen to catch his name?”

“His name was Umarali. He was the prince of the village.”

“There is something amiss here, but we shall not let it ruin our plans. I shall present him when he awakens.” He took the body, and carried him away.

“Axel…” I had that bad feeling again. I tried to shrug it off, but this time it only got worse. “What do you think he meant, ‘amiss’? Does it really matter that much if we get someone different than who we wanted?”

“Xemnas is a perfectionist.” Axel almost laughed. “He chose us because he felt that we were perfect beings. Many people have strong hearts, but are not truly ‘perfect’ or balanced. Umarali’s heart could have been out of balance. You saw that look he gave us when he thought we used magic. He was afraid, yet he wanted it so bad. ” I nodded.

“I was told that when a darkened heart is released, the nobody becomes a vile creature” Xigbar cut in. “A monster almost. They don’t keep their original, human shape. Xemnas doesn’t want to create monsters, at least, not yet. Since that guy you brought in still was human, I guess it’s not all that bad.”

“But what if he’s human now, but becomes a monster later!” I cried. Now, I knew why Xemnas was cautious.

“It doesn’t work that way, kid. Yeah, we can be tainted by darkness, but it’s not likely. The light banished us, and the darkness has no heart to enter. It’ll turn out okay. Xemnas is just paranoid.”
---
Oh crap, I forgot to mention something. Xemnas senses the strong hearts. He doesn’t know exactly where it comes from, but he tries his best to give us a close estimate. In the year I’ve known him, he seemed very careful, and planned everything out. Everything had to be perfect, and he wanted us all to be safe. We weren’t even sure if we could die, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

Nowadays, it’s as if he’s the complete opposite of what he was. He’s willing to sacrifice us all just to get what he wants. And he has. And those monsters Xigbar talked about? Yeah well there’s thousands of them now. And they’re just as dangerous as the Heartless. It proved to me that as time goes on for us, we lose our human selves more and more. Xemnas is a perfect example. But before I go into details about the present, I must finish telling you of the past.

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