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The 14th: Chapter 7 (cont'd)
Written by: Kanemaki Tomoco
Original Plan: Nomura Tetsuya and Nojima Kazushige
Illustration: Amano Shiro
Copyrighted by Disney, Square Enix and Touchstone Pictures
Translations: gold_panner
Criticism, suggestions, questions and comments of all kind are always welcome!
Chapter 7: Friends (continued)
It’s no good.
I don’t know what to do.
Xion sat in the forest on the outskirts of town, hugging her knees. It was chilly in the forest, the air damp.
No matter how many times I wish, the Keyblade won’t come to me.
I can’t use the Keyblade. I can get on to some degree with magic, but I can’t report back if I defeat huge Heartless and a heart doesn’t come out. I’ll expose to Saïx that I can’t use the Keyblade.
And… maybe I’ll be annihilated.
What will I do? What should I…
At that moment, Xion heard a familiar voice, and she looked up.
“Around here?”
It was Roxas’ voice.
It’s not strange for Roxas to be in Twilight Town.
Next to him is… a redheaded member of the Organisation. It must be Axel, Roxas’ friend.
The two of them were looking up into the trees.
Hidden in those trees was a huge Heartless—Vanish Lizard.
Shaped like a chameleon, it was a Heartless that could become invisible in a transparent state and hide itself.
Xion has fought it just once with magic, and then fled.
The trees shook.
“Heheh… looks like we hit a winner.”
A large presence slipped out of the forest, running towards the haunted mansion.
“Let’s go Roxas, no losing time now.”
“I know that!”
Roxas and Axel sprinted after it.
Xion took a determined breath, stood up, and followed after the two.
xxx
In front of the haunted mansion, the whole of the huge Heartless—the Vanish Lizard—was obvious.
Roxas readied his Keyblade. “So this is Xion’s target?”
“Probably. I guess it vanished and hid in the forest,” said Axel, also gripping a chakram in each hand.
“And Xion is?”
“Well, seeing what it can do, I’d say she’s probably still looking for it.”
Axel wrapped himself in flames.
“What’ll we do?”
“Do I even have to say!” He shot fire at the Vanish Lizard.
“Got it!”
Roxas ran at the Vanish Lizard too, Keyblade in hand, and both of their attacks exploded at about the same time.
Just then.
A shadow rushed into the area—someone wearing the black coat of the Organisation.
“Xion!” Roxas yelled.
That’s Xion… I guess? Axel couldn’t tell whether that person, hood still up, was Xion or not.
But, it seemed to him that Roxas could tell it was Xion, even with the hood up.
“Roxas!” Preoccupied with them she was left open for a moment, and the Vanish Lizard sent her flying with its tail.
At that time, Axel heard Xion’s voice for the first time. It was the voice of a little girl.
“Xion!” Roxas went to run to Xion, but Axel grabbed him by the shoulder.
“Roxas—defeating that thing comes first for now!”
“…Yeah.” No sooner than he’d answered, Roxas turned back, and brought his Keyblade down on the Vanish Lizard.
I thought the same thing when we went on a mission together the day before yesterday or whenever it was, but Roxas has gotten strong.
It’s different from normal growth… I wanna suspect something else, something more has happened. Maybe it’s got something to do with Sora.
Axel went to give Roxas cover, throwing a chakram at the Vanish Lizard.
“Let’s go!” Roxas leapt, and the blow that connected wounded the Vanish Lizard mortally.
Its body disappeared wrapped in light, and just the heart floated up.
Not even indulging in the significance of defeating a huge Heartless, Roxas ran to Xion, and helped her stand.
“Xion, are you okay?”
“…Roxas…”
Her hood still up, Axel couldn’t tell what her expression was at all.
“Are you injured?”
“Thank you… I’m okay… but…” The voice coming from under the hood was small and thin.
First of all, it’d be better to move somewhere else.
“We’ll get into the details later. First of all, let’s move. You guys go ahead to the clock tower,” said Axel and he started walking.
xxx
Axel bought three ice creams from the usual shop, and walked slowly towards the clock tower.
I wanted a bit of time to think. Time to think about these things I can’t understand.
Why would Roxas get so worried over Xion…?
I can’t think anyone could trust someone who hides their face, their expression unknowable.
It’s funny to speak of trust and reliance between Nobodies, members of the Organisation, in the first place, but even so, I’m not satisfied with that.
We promised to eat ice cream together, the three of us.
How did Xion get Roxas’ trust so far as to make that promise?
I’d have a rough time trying to explain how I got his trust, but I was his very first mentor, and I was the one who made contact with Roxas, and I meant to look after him in my own way.
But Xion is different.
What on earth happened while I was at Castle Oblivion… Axel thought, as he climbed the stairs up the clock tower.
“Well, I can think all I want, but it can’t be helped,” he muttered quietly, and walked up to where Roxas and Xion sat side by side. “Were you waiting?” Axel called. He walked behind them, and sat on the very end, giving Roxas and Xion and ice cream each.
“Here ya go.”
“Thank you…”
That was the first conversation Axel and Xion had ever had. Her face was, as always, hidden deep in her hood and shrouded in darkness, so that he could not see her expression.
Roxas started gnawing on his ice cream right away, but Xion just sat there, holding it.
“Your ice cream’ll melt,” Roxas told her.
“…Yeah,” Xion nodded, but she still didn’t move.
“What’s up? Hurry up and eat it.”
At least, I can tell from her voice that she’s female. But, I don’t know a single thing other than that.
And, I don’t really like hanging out with girls. Press the wrong button, and women fly into a bad mood.
Roxas looked into Xion’s face. “Did something happen?”
It’s like he can see her expression, but he shouldn’t be able to.
Xion stayed silent.
With no other choice, Axel opened his mouth. “If you’ve got troubles, you tell them to your friends… right? Roxas.”
Roxas nodded, and said, “We’re… friends, right?”
“At those words, Xion finally spoke. “I can’t… use the Keyblade anymore.”
Keyblade? What does she mean? Does that mean Xion can wield the Keyblade too? I hadn’t heard that. If Xion is a Keyblade Wielder, I can sort of accept that as the reason why Roxas would let her in.
“If I can’t use the Keyblade, I can’t complete missions.” Even under the hood, they could see that her shoulders were trembling.
“What on earth happened?” asked Roxas.
Xion shook her head. “I don’t know… But, if I don’t destroy Heartless with the Keyblade, even if I free the heart from it, it will only go and turn into a Heartless again. All I can do is make them stop existing for a while.” They could hear a slight shake in her voice, too. “I have to collect hearts. And so, if I can’t use the Keyblade… I… am useless.” Xion hung her head. Her melting ice cream dampened her hand.
“Can’t something be done, Axel?” Roxas begged, but Axel shrugged.
“Something…? There’s nothing we can do. Without a Keyblade, she can’t collect hearts.” I didn’t even know until just now that she ever was a Keyblade Wielder.
“Like this… I… will get turned into a dusk…”
I’m no good at listening to a girl who sounds like she’s about to cry.
“We’ll never let that happen.” Roxas’ tone was just a little strong.
The words ‘if you’re going to say something like that, then do something yourself,’ got as far as Axel’s throat, but he swallowed them.
Roxas is the only one who can wield the Keyblade. It’s not like she could take his.
“So we can’t let that… wait.” Axel glanced at Roxas.
“Did you think of a way?” Roxas asked, happily. Beside him, Xion stayed silent, face hidden in her hood.
“Roxas, you should just do your best.”
“Huh?” Xion said, just as Roxas asked “…What do you mean?”
This is the first time I’ve felt Xion look at me, thought Axel. “Until you can use the Keyblade again, Xion, you two should make sure to always stick together. That way, no one will figure out that you can’t use your Keyblade.”
“I see…!” Roxas smiled.
“But, you’d have to try twice as hard from now on, Roxas.”
“I’ll do my best,” said Roxas giving a strong nod.
But, Xion looked worried. “…Is that okay?”
“Of course it’s okay!”
“But…” Xion cast her eyes down again. The ice cream in her hand was mostly melted.
“When you’re in trouble, you can count on your friends, right, Roxas?” Axel said, and Roxas smiled, looking at Xion.
“Friends… Axel… are you my friend, too?” Xion asked, in a feeble voice, and Axel unconsciously turned his gaze away, to look at the sunset. He was at a loss as to what he should tell her.
I don’t know why. But, maybe the reason is, Xion is Roxas’ friend now. I can’t see Xion’s face… but, it makes me think that there’s something special about Xion. I didn’t get that impression at all when I first saw her.
“If you’re a friend of Roxas’… you’re a friend of mine,” Axel answered, looking back over at Xion.
What?
For a second, his breath was knocked out of him.
The raven-haired girl, hood off, was looking right at Axel.
When did she take it off? While I was watching the sunset just now? And that face… looks just like Naminé.
What does this mean? Whose Nobody is Xion?
“Thank you… Roxas, Axel.”
“It’s fine, so hurry up and eat your ice cream,” Axel replied, covering that he was shaken, and Xion finally began to eat her melting ice cream.
The setting sun shone on the three of them.
xxx
The next day… was the 75th day since Roxas joined the Organisation.
“Morning, Roxas,” Xion called, as he entered the lobby.
Her voice is cheery.
Axel was also there, in a corner of the lobby.
“Morning,” greeted Roxas, a smile surfacing on his face.
“Thank you, you know.”
“Yeah.”
Both of them looked at Saïx.
If they couldn’t get his permission to go on missions together, they wouldn’t even get to start.
But… we discussed that, too, yesterday with Axel.
Axel, standing in the corner with an innocent face, winked at him.
“Let’s go,” said Roxas, and Xion nodded, and the two of them walked over to Saïx together.
“Saïx.”
“Huh, Roxas.” Saïx ran his eyes over the information in his hand. “Today, your mission is…”
“Before that, I have a request. Could you please let me and Xion go on missions together?”
Saïx raised his brows.
“I think it’s… no good…” said Xion, in a small voice.
“I wonder what would make you think that at a time like this, when we already don’t have enough hands…”
Axel cut off Saïx’s scolding. “It’s okay, isn’t it? Working together, these two newbies could finally work at least as much as one person, right?”
Saïx turned to Axel with a sour look on his face.
“If we can go together, I think we’d even be able to handle harder missions,” Roxas added, immediately.
Saïx shook his head slightly.
So it’s no good after all. Roxas looked at the floor. But, the answer was unexpected.
“…I see. Okay.”
Roxas and Xion suppressed their joy, and nodded.
xxx
After watching Roxas and Xion leave, Saïx turned to Axel, standing behind him.
“What did you intend to do.”
“What did I intend to do? Offer some friendly help?” Axel replied, and grinned at Saïx.
“Whatever… maybe it will be convenient after all.” Saïx forced his mouth to relax.
“…What do you mean?”
“Now that you’ve made contact with Xion, what are your impressions?”
Returning my question with a question. Saïx never answers me at times like this. “I don’t have any impressions or… it’s nothing… it’s just how it looks, right?” Even if I ask about Xion now, I don’t imagine Saïx would answer.
“Heh heh… that’s right, it’s just how it looks, isn’t it,” Saïx laughed. “You have to hurry up and head off on your mission, too. You’re investigating a new world.”
“Roger that,” Axel answered, opening a dark corridor straight away, and stepping inside.
The dark corridor isn’t pure darkness; it’s dimly lit.
Axel stopped walking.
Just how it looks…
I’m pretty sure Saïx shouldn’t have met Naminé before, but he probably knows what she looks like from data. That would mean that whatever Xion is, it’s just how she looks.
Those two look awfully similar.
Xion is a Nobody with a relation to Naminé. Actually, if I were to take a guess based on how she looks, she’s probably a Nobody born at the same time as Naminé. The special Nobodies known as Xion and Naminé must have been born in some kind of shape from a Princess –Kairi—who had no darkness in her heart.
That’s just how it looks… the answer is that the two who look similar are connected.
The same bond between Sora and Kairi has probably become the bond between Roxas and Xion. That’s why Roxas was drawn to Xion like that, not even knowing what she looked like.
And, maybe there’s something ‘convenient’ about Roxas and Xion working together.
Axel started walking again.
Even so… I wonder why I care about those two like this.
Is that the power of the Keyblade Hero?
xxx
The mission with Xion was to investigate the cave in Agrabah.
There was an accident that involved barely escaping a cave-in, but they finished the investigation by and by.
“We managed to… escape, didn’t we,” said Xion, heaving a deep sigh of relief.
“Yeah, key word is ‘managed’, though.”
After a brief moment, Xion pointed over Roxas’ shoulder. “R-Roxas… behind you!”
“Huh?” Roxas spun around, and there was… not a human.
That thing, swaying around, was…
“…A carpet?” said Roxas, suspiciously. The carpet rubbed against him, enticingly.
“W-what is this?!”
“Roxas, are you okay?” Xion touched the carpet, uneasily. But, the carpet didn’t seem to hate it in particular.
“Ah, ahh… it doesn’t look like… an enemy…”
“It seems to like you, Roxas…”
Roxas tilted his head. “Why me?”
“I dunno.”
“Uwah?!”
This time, an exceptionally large, blue, bearded man was floating in the air next to Roxas, arms folded. He didn’t seem to have any legs, somehow. He’s not human, is he?
“W-who are you?!” Xion shrieked. Then, fluttering right and left, the mysterious person brought his face up to Xion.
“Who?! Did you just ask who I am?!”
“Ye… yeah.”
That large mouth opened, still in a grin. “Okay! Then let me introduce myself. I, who wants to hide something, was once the genie of the lamp, Genie! And this here is my companion, the magic carpet! Pleased to meet you!” Genie took Roxas’ right hand and shook it, then whizzed around.
“P-pleased to meet you….” I don’t really know what to do, faced with a greeting like that.
“Wait, wait, wait! You have to have more energy! You can’t get happy with a gloomy face like that on, right?” Genie insisted, pushing his face in as close to Roxas’ as possible.
“Y-yeah…” Roxas stepped back, escaping him.
“So, who are you?”
“Uh… um…” I can’t reveal what I really am.
While he was lost thinking for an answer, Genie began to yabber as he pleased. “I was just about to go see how the city’s doing, when Carpet here said ‘there’s an acquaintance here’, and flew off.”
“Acquaintance? Me, and… this Carpet?”
“Yeah! So, I came to see, wondering who it was… and here I find you guys, who I’ve never met!” Genie waved his hand around, and tilted his head. “You wrong, Carpet?”
Carpet shook the upper half of its body… rather, the upper half in denial of Genies words.
“…You said you came to see how the city is doing… are you talking about the city in the middle of the desert?” Roxas asked, and Genie nodded wildly, spinning and treading on steps in the air.
“Yeah, that’s Agrabah, where my number one best friend Al is.”
“Best friend…?” That’s the first time I’ve heard those words.
“The truth is, right now, Genie and Carpet are right in the middle of our much-desired world trip.” Genie, who was speaking so happily, became a little lonely-looking.
“But… I got a bit worried about my biggest and bestest friend Al… so I popped back to see how things are.”
“Worry? So, you worry about best friends?” Roxas asked, and Genie dabbed at his eyes with a white hanky he’d pulled out of somewhere.
“You worry and worry! Are things going well with Jasmine… has the city changed at all… so many things I’m interested in, I can’t contain myself…”
“I don’t know anything about this Al person… but it looked like the city was in the middle of being repaired.”
“Yeah, a sandstorm came. They say it was terrible.”
“What?!” Genie flew high in the air. “For such a terrible thing to happen while I was away! Okay, wait! I’ll fix the town right back the way it was with my magic…” Genie raised both hands high.
“But, the guy called Al said that they wanted to rebuild the city with their own strength, without relying on magic,” said Roxas, repeating the conversation he’d overheard when he’d come to this world recently with Axel.
Genie hung his head, sadly. “Oh… If Al said that, then I don’t have a role…”
“You won’t fix the city?” Roxas asked, tentatively.
“Al said he wouldn’t rely on magic, right? I want to fix it for him, but you gotta respect your friend’s wishes.”
“Your friend’s… wishes…” So, even if you mean for something to be for your friend’s sake, their wishes are still more important?
Roxas looked at Genie, thinking. Just then, something poked him in the back. Xion whispered in his ear, from behind. “Roxas, we have to get back.”
“Ah… yeah,” Roxas nodded, and right before his eyes, Genie and Carpet soared into the sky.
“But, I could still help a little!” Light shot from his fingers, and the sandstorm at the edge of the desert disappeared. “Now the city is safe! Come to think of it… who are you guys?”
But—when Genie turned around, no one was there.
xxx
“So, the mission went without a hitch?”
Xion and Roxas turned back at the same time. They each had an ice cream in their hand.
Twilight Town—on top of the clock tower.
“Yeah, looks like we did okay, somehow… thanks to you, Roxas and Axel.”
“That’s good,” answered Axel, sitting in his usual place, and starting to eat his own ice cream. “Hey, where did you guys go on your mission, anyway?” he asked, after a moment of eating in silence.
Roxas looked puzzled. “You and me went there before, Axel… um…”
“Agrabah, wasn’t it?” Xion answered, from beside him.
“That city in the desert, I see,” Axel added.
The conversation trailed off there.
The three of them ate their ice cream.
By and by, the sound of the distant train reached them, and finally, Xion opened her mouth. “That Genie person seemed very worried about that Al person. And then he said that you have to respect your friend’s wishes.” Xion bit her ice cream, swinging her feet.
Axel leaned his head to one side. “Your friend’s wishes, huh…” It feels like I have heard that before, a long time ago, when I was human.
“Cause Genie said he’s a guy called Al’s number one best friend,” said Roxas, looking at Axel.
“Best friend… that’s different to a friend, isn’t it?” Xion added, also looking at Axel.
“It’s the same kind of thing,” Axel replied, and Roxas and Xion looked at each other.
“…Best friends…” Roxas murmured, and the conversation trailed off again. This time it was Axel, finishing his ice cream, who broke the silence.
“…If I had to, I’d say that it’s like one rank above ‘friend’.”
“Then how is it different to a friend?”
Axel gazed at the sunset, not answering Roxas’ question.
Nobodies can play at being friends, but I don’t think it’s possible to play at being best friends. I don’t know how to answer.
Axel narrowed his eyes against the setting sun, and said, “Well… I don’t have a best friend, so I don’t know.”
“Oh…” Roxas said. Xion didn’t say anything.
The setting sun shone on the three of them.
xxx
The time is ripe…
A great heart has at last appeared before us.
Rage… hatred… sadness, and happiness.
All gathered together are the fruits of the heart… that is Kingdom Hearts.
The world will begin to reform from now.
Gentlemen!
In order to gain more power, and, in order to have hearts of our own…
All gathered together, we Nobodies must not forget our goal.
To gather hearts, to have hearts of our own, to not let the heart mislead us.
xxx
END.
I did it!! Oh my god!! An entire novel!! :DDDD