Entering the World That Never Was, they found themselves in a pitch-black city. Yuki and X stopped looking around with wide eyes. The place was crawling with Heartless, though none were visible at the moment. The group walked through the city, eventually catching sight of the castle and the heart-shaped moon that was the cause of all this chaos.
"Axel said Kairi's in the dungeon," Sora said looking at the castle. A low roll of thunder sounded somewhere in the distance.
"Then we better find a way to get to that castle!" Mickey said.
"Do you guys know the way?" Sora asked turning to the two Heartless. Yuki shook her head.
"Never been here," she said. She glanced over at X.
"I was transported right to the castle the last time I was here. Never set foot in this city," X said with a shrug. He glanced over his shoulder nervously, and Yuki followed his gaze. The Heartless were causing too much trouble.
"We can probably keep the Heartless off our backs though. Can't do much about Nobodies," she said. She flashed her eyes yellow as a warning before looking back at Sora. Whatever was behind them backed away.
Sora took the lead of the group, walking through twists and turns and being the first to attack when a group of Nobodies got in their way.
"Yuki," Sora said after a moment.
"Hm?" Yuki asked, turning to look at him after taking out the last Nobody in that area.
"You knew Axel really well, right?" Sora asked.
"I wouldn't say that. But, he was a friend. One of my best friends," Yuki said. She looked down at the ground, a pain starting in her chest. She didn't want to admit Axel was gone.
"So, those things he said. About you having a heart, and X, as," Sora trailed off and Yuki got the sense he didn't really want an answer.
"My knight?" Yuki asked softly. Sora nodded. "Why is that anyways?" Yuki asked looking over at X. He only shrugged.
"Not a clue, just what I am. Someone has to watch the Queen," he said calmly.
"Queen of what?" Sora asked in confusion.
"Heartless," Yuki answered. Sora stared at her with his mouth hanging open. Yuki flushed red and looked away from him with a frown. "Please don't stare like that. I already feel bad enough."
"But you, you're just like us!" Sora said. Yuki sighed and looked back at him. He still looked shocked. She supposed it wasn't something he had considered. One of his friends lacking a heart.
"Sora, I know you might not have really seen it yet, but in the end, elites like us are just like you guys. X, Y, me, and the ten other elite Heartless left, we aren't so different from people," she said. It felt strange to admit that. She had tried so hard in her mind to separate herself from the others. But they weren't. The only difference was what they had left.
"Does Riku know?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, he knows," Yuki confirmed. "Kairi doesn't, I'll have to tell her when we get her back home."
While they had been walking they had made their way to a skyscraper that marked the middle of the city. Sora was a few steps ahead of the group, lost in thought. Before any of the others could catch up to him, a group of samurai Nobodies cut them off.
"Sora!" Donald yelled. Sora turned around and drew his keyblade, glaring at the Nobodies.
"Donald! Goofy! X! Yuki!"
As soon as the words left his mouth he vanished into thin air. The group remaining was forced to take out the Nobodies, which wasn't much of a challenge. After the Nobodies were gone the group all stood in confusion. Yuki tried not to flinch. There were hearts locked in a battle. She could feel it. And looking over at X, she suspected he could too.
"Roxas," Yuki whispered as she looked up to the sky.
Moments later Sora reappeared like nothing had happened. He stood not far from them, looking down at the ground.
"You make a good other," Sora said. Yuki could feel her entire body tense.
"Are you ok?" Donald asked.
"What, just happened?" Sora asked. He looked up and at the group, his eyes searching them for some kind of explanation. Yuki looked at X. He was frowning, his arms crossed.
"Gawrsh, I dunno. You just disappeared. Then we had to fight some Nobodies," Goofy explained.
"Your heart was at war, we could feel it," Yuki said softly. She hoped she was wrong. If Sora was here after the fight, then it would mean. She scolded herself mentally. She couldn't go thinking like that.
"He said, he defeated Riku," Sora said. Yuki felt her heart sink.
"Who said that?" Donald asked.
"That guy. In the black coat," Sora said, looking at the group. Yuki pressed her lips into a thin line.
"But nobody could defeat Riku," Donald said in confusion. Yuki doubted that. Riku was tough, but not unbeatable.
"Y-Yeah, you're right," Sora said.
"A black coat means Organization XIII. He musta been tryin' to trick ya," Goofy suggested.
"Yeah, that must be why we didn't see him!" Donald added.
"Huh?" Sora asked in confusion.
"You must be tired, Sora," Donald said, crossing his arms.
"C'mon, let's just find a way to get into that castle!" Goofy said, taking the lead and heading toward the castle. Taking a moment to glance around, Yuki realized they had lost the King somewhere along the way.
They reached the edge of a cliff. The castle was in front of them, floating in mid-air with no clear path to it. Mickey was waiting for them, looking up at the castle with a frown.
"Dead end?" Sora asked as they stopped beside the castle.
"There's gotta be a path somewhere," Mickey said, looking around desperately. Sora looked at the castle for a moment before his keyblade glowed. He pointed it toward the castle forming a new path.
"Kairi," Sora said. "We're almost there."
They had hardly entered the castle when Sora tried to get ahead of them, looking around frantically.
"Kairi! Where are you?" he yelled. Mickey jumped in front of him, holding out his arm.
"Shhhh! Remember where we are! This is their stronghold!" Mickey warned. Just those words were enough to cause Yuki's stomach to tighten into knots. They were really about to do this.
"Which probably means they already know we're here," X said. The tension Yuki felt only grew. X was right of course. There was no way they couldn't know. Mickey hesitated for a moment then took off running. Yuki had no idea where he was going, but she didn't want to risk chasing after him. There was no time.
"Wait! Your Majesty!" Donald yelled.
"Be careful! I think we got company!" Goofy said, summoning his shield. He wasn't wrong, as the others summoned their weapons to their hands they were surrounded by Nobodies. For the most part, it was only Dusks. But it was still proving to be a challenge to make their way through the castle.
*<3*
Y flipped her hair over her shoulder, panting heavily. She and Riku had managed to clear the path. Now they just had to find Naminé in the chaos that was overtaking this world. Y wondered if Xehanort had planned for this, everyone attacking the base at once. If he did it worried her. He would never allow that unless he had another plan.
"Shouldn't you be with DiZ?" Riku asked from where he stood a few feet away.
"It's his revenge. He has it covered," Y said simply. She wasn't going to get involved in that. Not if she could avoid it. "Anyway, helping you doesn't seem like a bad option," she added. Riku nodded slowly, seeming surprised by her simple answer. Y didn't think much on it as they made their way through the castle.
They located Naminé who just as planned had freed Kairi from her cage in the lower levels of the castle. Unfortunately not according to plan, Saix was in front of them, two Berserkers on either side of him like some kind of evil henchmen.
Y and Riku didn't need to exchange words. Y took out one of the Berserkers while Riku took out the other one. Saix turned to face them with his usual impassive face. Y felt her heart clench. What had happened to the Isa she had known?
"You," Saix said ignoring Y entirely. His yellow eyes were focused on Riku. "Didn't Roxas take care of you?"
"You can take it from here, Riku, Y," Naminé said, stepping back from Kairi and seeming to vanish into thin air.
"Riku!?" Kairi said in shock.
Riku ignored Kairi engaging Saix in a fight. Saix didn't stay long, fleeing through a dark corridor moments after the fight had begun. Riku was about to step through the dark corridor but stopped as Kairi grabbed onto his wrist.
"Wait! Riku...you're really here," Kairi said. She took off Riku's hood, having to reach up quite a bit to do so. She didn't seem surprised to see someone who didn't look anything like Riku. "What happened?" she asked.
"I think, we don't have enough time for that story. And since Sora is going to have to hear it too, let's save Riku the trouble of explaining more than once and just go find Sora and his friends," Y said, as she stepped forward. Kairi looked over at her with her head tilted to the side. She was looking at Y with a hint of recognition, but Y was certain she couldn't place it.
"And who are you?" Kairi asked.
"I'm Y. Nice to meet you again," Y said giving a bright smile.
"Again?" Kairi asked.
"Yup, now, let's get going," Y said, not taking the time to explain.
*<3*
Yuki looked around the castle as they ran through. They had gotten lost some time ago. They had no idea where they were going, and even X couldn't tell them. All they knew was they were going up. Yuki figured that was probably their best bet anyway. But the closer they got to the top, the stronger the pressure from the heart-shaped moon was.
"Sora. You've done well."
They all froze turning quickly to find Saix was standing on a ledge above them. He looked down at them with a sort of disdain, anger filling his gaze.
"Where's Kairi?" Sora yelled.
"Who knows? I expect she's catching up with a friend from the darkness," Saix said calmly. Yuki frowned. Riku had found Kairi then. Before Sora had.
"What do you mean!?" Sora asked.
"She doesn't need you anymore," Saix said.
"I'm supposed to believe that?" Sora asked. Yuki was glad for his stubbornness. It made things easier for the good guys, and harder for the bad guys to shake his beliefs.
"Well, you don't have to. But you can believe this. Organization XIII has no further use for you, or any other wielder. Just look there," Saix said. He pointed upward to the moon above them. Yuki's breath caught once again. Power pulsed from the moon. It was almost complete. "Our Kingdom Hearts. Thanks to you, we've collected countless hearts. Can you hear their euphoria? Now, all they need is one more helping from the keybearers!"
He summoned a mass of Heartless and Yuki didn't have to try to control them to know she had no power over them. Saix was right, though should wouldn't call it euphoria. More mad with power or something along those lines.
"X, Yuki!" Sora cried, blocking the Heartless's attacks trying not to give in to Saix's goal.
"We can't do anything!" X snapped, killing a few of the Heartless in front of him. His eyes were glowing yellow as if he was trying to hold them all back. Yuki supposed her own eyes were glowing similarly.
"We're too close to the Realm of Darkness. Add that to Kingdom Hearts, there's no way they'd take an order that told them to stop," Yuki said, her last word a command. It held for only a moment before the Heartless began to move again. Just as she thought.
"What's the point of being a high ranking Heartless if they can just ignore you?" Sora asked.
"I ask that a lot," Yuki replied as she swung her keys, sending the Heartless flying back from her.
"We gotta fight!" Donald said.
"But-- Kingdom Hearts!" Sora yelled.
"Sora!"
Yuki froze turning to see Kairi up on the ledge above them. Y wasn't far back from her, seeming to be fighting off just as many Heartless as they were. Yuki couldn't see him, but she assumed Riku wasn't far away.
"Sora! It's really you!" Kairi yelled.
"Kairi!" Sora said happily, just before he was overtaken by a swarm of Heartless.
"You leave Sora alone!" Kairi yelled before jumping over the railing and rushing toward Sora. It wasn't long until she was similarly overtaken by Heartless. "Sora--!"
In a flash of light, Riku and Y were in front of her. Y was holding out a keyblade to her, one made of flowers so it seemed. It had been a pain to get a hold of another keyblade, but she had managed after a while. It was Y's responsibility to help Kairi anyway.
"Take it," Riku said.
"You're gonna need it," Y added. Kairi took the keyblade from her and looked at it for a moment.
"This time, I'll fight. You know Sora's completely hopeless without us! C'mon, Riku!" Kairi said. She flashed a smile before running into the fray. She clearly had no idea what she was doing, but Y gave her an A for effort. She shook her head before following after the redhead.
Below them, Sora was fighting off the remaining Heartless.
"Get off!" Sora yelled. He looked up long enough to see Kairi fight with Y and Riku, confusion quickly enveloping his face. "What's going on!?"
Before they could make a move toward Kairi, several crystal shots landed around them, killing the remainder of the Heartless. Yuki tightened her grip on her keyblades.
"Have you been a good boy?" A teasing voice asked. Yuki heard X groan somewhere behind her.
"Show yourself!" Sora yelled.
One of the Organization appeared, standing over the rest of them. He had long dark hair, streaked with silver and an eye patch over one of his eyes. Scars traced his face and his remaining eye was bright yellow. Yuki shuddered just being near him. Something was off about him. Something wasn't right.
"Oh, it sounds like you haven't. Sora! Roxas!" the man yelled. Yuki flinched back from the second name.
"Roxas? Hey, did he just call me Roxas?" Sora asked looking to his companions in confusion. Donald nodded.
"You've really put Organization XIII in a pickle. I guess that must be why the Kayblade chose you. But man, did it pick a dud this time. You don't look like you're half the hero the others were," the man said. Yuki frowned in confusion, glancing at the group with her. What other ones. She was surprised to see X glaring at him, his eyes still glowing bright yellow.
"Are you done rambling?" Sora asked.
"Rambling? As if! All I'm trying to tell you, traitor, is that your time is up!" the man yelled. He suddenly disappeared and reappeared on the same field. The group all jumped toward him but were surprised to find he was gone by the time they reached him.
Yuki hissed in pain as she felt an arrow graze her side. She turned to find the man across the field again. In the blink of an eye, he was gone.
"Xigbar commands the Sniper Nobodies," X said. "He can teleport just like them. Spread out and hit him if he gets near you."
It was a hard fight, but X's directions had helped. It was harder for Xigbar to find a safe place to teleport to with the group spread out. It wasn't long until Sora delivered the final blow.
"I lost? Me?" Xigbar said as he stumbled back, falling to his knees.
"Why did you call me Roxas?" Sora demanded.
"Wouldn't you like to know," Xigbar said with a snicker, looking at the two Heartless as he faded away.
"Hey! Hold on!" Sora objected, but it was too late.
"Sora! It's Kairi!" Donald said. Sora quickly forgot about Xigbar's strange actions.
"Kairi, we're on our way!"