Chapter 9 - Shattered Soul

Everything around Sora fell completely silent. His Final Form faded back to normal, and his Keyblade of Darkness disappeared from his grasp as he hung limply on the Blade of Xaphire's Sword. His face was completely white, his eyes widened and his whole body just stopped moving. His sight began to lose its focus of the area around him. He eyes slowly shifted towards Riku’s position. He noticed that Riku was paralyzed in his lying position, staring at Sora in horror; it seemed as though he was screaming out to Sora ... but Sora couldn't hear his voice. He then struggled as he gazed up weakly towards the towering Xaphire, who had been grimly smiling as if he didn't have a care in the world. Sora suddenly dropped his head to limply face the floor and slowly began to close his eyes, inhaling his last breath. In his mind he remembered the time he last saw Kairi, before he was swept into the vortex. Then the area around her suddenly engulfed in pitch black darkness. Sora at that moment noticed her and Riku appear standing in front of him, smiling cheerfully. Sora caught notice a tear rolling down Kairi's cheek, and they disappeared. Sora gave out one last thought...
"Kairi … Riku ... I promise ... I will come back for you ..."

Xaphire grasped Sora by the neck and forcefully drew his Blade out of Sora's body. He threw the lifeless body aside like it was garbage. Sora’s body rolled across the platform, making no reaction whatsoever. Riku watched as the body was thrown carelessly across the platform. His whole body was still in agony but he didn’t care. He had to go to Sora. He painfully pushed himself to his feet and limped his way to Sora’s position. He dropped to his knees beside the body and gazed with lifeless eyes.
“Sora?” Riku quietly called to him.
No answer.
“Sora.” Riku slightly raised his voice, shaking the lifeless body.
No answer.
“Sora!?” Riku then shouted to the body, shaking more violently.
No answer.
Riku was refusing to believe that Sora was gone; his own body shaking in agony while still trying to wake up Sora. But after so long of trying, he realised Sora was gone forever. Riku’s head dipped, hiding his face from the world behind the long silver hair. His body shook violently. Xaphire gazed at him with a bored expression, feeling this situation was becoming a drag.
"I’ll kill you … I’LL KILL YOU!!!" He screamed in fury at Xaphire.
“Haven’t you been trying to do that for the past few hours?” Xaphire teased.
“I’ve had enough of your provoking … I’ve had enough of YOU!” Riku roared.
"Is that so? Well, it's not long now anyway." Xaphire sighed; his tone of voice went even darker than ever.
"It’s not long till WHAT!?" Riku furiously shouted out.
"Sora’s heart will plunge into the darkness ... and no one, not even you, will be able to stop him from creating the End of the Universe!" He explained, showing off his fake smile.
"End of the ... but Sora would never do that!" Riku argued loudly, his body still shaking.
"Yeah, that is true ... but, what about his Heartless?" Xaphire asked back.
At that moment, a dark black aura engulfed Sora's whole body. Riku swiftly leapt back in retaliation, but fell to the floor as agonising pain surged through the wound on his back. He then gazed horrifically as Sora’s lifeless body hovered to its feet while it took form of Anti-Sora. As it opened its eyes, they became completely shrouded in darkness with the pupils turning to a golden yellow colour. Out of nowhere, the Keyblade of Darkness suddenly appeared in its grasp.
"This form that you see before you is not Sora’s Anti-Form, in fact it has never been ever since you two entered this dark Castle … this is Sora’s Heartless, longing to control the body as its own." Xaphire began to explain, his eyes stabbing into Riku’s mind. "And now that Sora is forever dead, the Heartless shall take full control of his body."
"DON’T SAY THAT!" Riku bellowed in objection, his fists clenched to the point of them burning white. "Sora … was a Heartless in the past, in Hollow Bastion Castle when he destroyed my Keyblade of Darkness. He was able to release the Hearts of the Princesses from the Keyblade, but in turn caused him to lose his own heart. But he was able survived … because of his strong will and the help of his friends. So, if he survived it then, he can be brought back now!"
"No … not this time. My Blade went right through his heart ... destroying it completely!" Xaphire confirmed, "I made sure of it!"
Riku's eyes widened in disbelief, "I-impossible!" He shouted out, "No one can destroy a heart!"
"What a shame … because that is one of the advantages about my Great-Swords; once one pierces the body, it instantly destroys the heart. And another speciality ... is that it can forever control the Heartless of the victim it stabbed!" Xaphire laughed.
Suddenly, Sora's Heartless grasped Riku by the neck and lifted him off the floor; Sora's Heartless showed no emotion in its face at all. Riku screamed in agony due to the stain being caused on the wound of his back. He tried to free himself from Sora's Heartless' grasp but there was no point; the strength was overwhelming! Riku started to choke as the grip tightened; his body swayed around and his legs kicking frantically, trying to do everything to release the grip ... but no luck.
"Sora had a chance to accept the darkness; this is what happens when he rejects it." Xaphire stated as Sora's Heartless tightened its grip even more.
Riku tried to think fast. Then... reluctantly, he grasped his Keyblade and struck across Sora's Heartless. The Heartless stumbled back, taken out by surprise. It then instantly recovered and swiftly stuck at Riku. Riku parried in time as the Keyblade of Darkness almost collided into him. Riku then struck back in retaliation, but the Heartless reacted instantly. It swiftly slid around clockwise behind Riku and struck with a devastating diagonal uppercut. Riku leapt forward in time as he noticed the strike and span to land facing the Heartless. He braced himself for the Heartless to make the next move. But as he blinked ... the Heartless disappeared! Within the next second, Riku was suddenly kicked in the back by the Heartless from the side. Riku flew and rolled across the floor. Riku yelled in anguish due to the Heartless had struck the back wound. As he rolled to lie on his back, the Heartless suddenly appeared above him, pointing its Keyblade towards Riku's neck. Xaphire appeared from behind the Heartless, showing his dark, eerie, fake smile.
“Sora’s Heartless demonstrated the true essence of a Keyblade wielder.”Xaphire stated pleasantly, “With this unique power … the Destruction of the Universe is in sight.”
"Why!? What do you hope to accomplish from something so horrid!?" Riku yelled furiously, trying to raise his head, only to be pinned down by the Heartless.
Xaphire’s expression suddenly turned straight from pleasant to serious; he then began to explain, feeling it was necessary.
"It’s because it bores me. Every life is weak and worthless. Seeing those emotions on their pathetic faces disgusts me to the core. I never cared for any of them. Xemnas’ idea of us Nobodies becoming whole beings by creating Kingdom Hearts … I knew it would fail from the start. "
"What about your true self? Did he not care about the lives of others?" Riku asked bitterly but curiously.
"Unfortunately, he was the complete opposite. He was always happy, emotional ... too emotional. I hated everything about him ... about myself. Just the thought of it makes my blood boil!” Xaphire raised his voice in anger; it seemed to be a subject that affected him dearly.
“I don’t get you at all.” Riku murmured hesitantly.
“Thankfully, you don’t have to.” Xaphire answered back.
Xaphire shut his eyes and turned his back on Riku. As he did this, he raised his arms and clicked his fingers. Sora's Heartless began to raise his Keyblade into the air. As he swooped down; Riku suddenly retaliated by parrying the attack with his Keyblade, causing the Heartless to lose balance. He then swiped his leg across to trip the Heartless up, but the Heartless leapt back into the distance before Riku’s foot was able to make contact. Riku leapt to his feet, in agonizing pain, and braced for the Heartless’ next strike. Unexpectedly, Xaphire appear in front of him and swung both his Blades for a combo-strike. Riku parried the attack as best as he could, but after Xaphire finished his clash, he swiftly disappeared and Sora's Heartless was seen diving towards him. From an upside down position, the Heartless span swiftly upright and instantly struck Riku with an uppercut. Riku swiftly parried the strike but the force of the attack was strong enough to send him flying towards the wall outside the platform. Riku placed his feet against the wall in time so it won't collide against his back wound. Riku then leaped off the wall to return to on the platform. Once again, Xaphire appeared out of nowhere in front of him, his left Sword gone. He grabbed Riku by the collar and launched him towards the platform. Riku collided onto the floor of the platform and rolled across, almost falling off the edge of the other side of the platform. Riku, in unbearable pain, weakly pushed himself to his feet. But as he did so, Sora's Heartless appeared in a flash and, with no hesitation, struck with a second uppercut ... this time the strike collided into him. Riku was thrown into the air and crash landed on the floor. He was in so much pain; he was close to completely losing unconscious. He examined his chest; another open wound, like the one on his back, was horrifyingly deep and ran across his chest. He was lying on his back, gasping for enough air to fill his lungs.
Riku wondered in his mind, “How long left could I survive against them? It's impossible to even make a mark on them, and EVEN avoid them!”
Just then, Xaphire appeared standing over the side of Riku’s body; both Blades by his sides. Xaphire span his right-handed Blade till it landed backhand. He then lifted it above of Riku close so the tip of the sword's blade was pointing at Riku's chest. Riku couldn't move at all. Nothing could stop Xaphire from delivering the final strike. Xaphire raised his Blade further into the air and swiftly lunged for the finishing strike. Riku closed his eyes tight shut and turned his head away as Xaphire made his move. Riku tried his best to escape his demise but it was no use, the pain from both his back and front caused his whole body to be paralyzed to the spot. He waited for the blade to enter through his body ... but nothing happened. Then a clash of blades was heard close above him. Riku slowly opened his right eye to see why Xaphire hadn’t taken his life. Suddenly, both his eyes opened wide in disbelief of what had happened. A boy wearing the organization’s cloak, hood over his head so his identity couldn’t be seen, had interrupted the strike. The boy was holding not one ... but TWO Keyblades, Oblivion being held in the right hand and Oathkeeper in the other, using them to clash with Xaphire's Blades. Riku gazed as Xaphire jumped back and pointed his right Blade at the hooded being, his expressionless face fixed.
"Reveal yourself." Xaphire commanded; the sound of annoyance in his voice.
The hooded being let go of both his Keyblades as they disappeared from view, and reached to uncover the hood of the cloak to reveal his face. This took a sudden shock to Riku ... and even Xaphire. The beings hair was mild blonde; it was spiked up mainly on the right side with the rest flowing towards it. His eyes were a bright shade of blue and skin fairly pale. The boy had a strong, confident expression on him as seen with many Keyblade wielders. His body tensing up.
"I am the Nobody of Sora; the Organization's Number XIII ... Roxas!" The boy answered with confidence.

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment