Y was out of breath as she ran through Twilight Town. There was no more time. It was rather sudden, they were supposed to have one more day. But DiZ had decided they didn't need that time. Sora was ready to wake up. All they needed was Roxas.
But it seemed luck wasn't on their side. Axel had broken into the system again. He was closer to Roxas's location, Y was hoping she wouldn't run into a fight. She wasn't sure she'd be able to stop Axel. He had to be desperate by now. As desperate as DiZ was. He'd be willing to do almost anything to get Roxas back. Or destroy him.
As Y reached the usual place she skidded to a stop. Axel was raising his chakram preparing to throw it at Roxas. Y was just about to summon her keyblade and attack when Axel froze in place. She muttered a quick praise under her breath. She had no idea how DiZ managed it, but he had stopped Axel on time.
"Roxas, to the mansion! The time has come!" DiZ's voice rung out through the town. Roxas looked up at the sky with an almost blank expression.
"Hayner! Pence! Olette!" Roxas called out to the sky. Y smiled softly as she walked to where Roxas was and tugged on his arm. He looked toward her quickly, his eyes widening with shock as he saw Y beside him.
"Come on. He's not going to stay frozen long. He's not data, we can't control him." Y said pulling Roxas's arm, trying to get him to move. His feet seemed to move without him having control. He followed Y who carefully wove around Axel into the empty town.
"Y? What's going on?" Roxas asked. Y looked around cautiously and sped up her pace a bit. Roxas stayed close on her tail hoping to hear her answer.
"We don't have time. Just follow me." Y said. She could explain it to him. But that would slow them down and Axel might be able to catch up and Y would rather avoid a fight today.
"No, what's going on!?" Roxas demanded. Y heard his footfalls stop and she sighed heavily. She turned to face him with a look of annoyance. This was hard enough without him making it harder on her.
"Follow me to the manor. It'll become clear there." Y said simply. Roxas looked at her for a moment considering her words. He finally looked away with a frown.
"Fine." He agreed. Y sighed heavily and set off at her brisk pace again. Roxas followed though he was clearly not pleased.
"Do I really know those people? Axel and Yuki?" Roxas asked as they walked. Y laughed to herself. It would be too much to ask that he be quiet the entire way there. It was too much to ask that he didn't ask any hard questions. He did deserve to know, but Y didn't think now was the time to relive old memories.
"Yeah. It was always the five of us. We were all best friends." Y answered softly. Roxas frowned as he thought about her words.
"Just like Naminé said." He said softly to himself. "Who was the fifth?" He asked.
"My brother. He's decided to let this town be. But that's not important." Y answered quickly. They were almost to the forest now. That didn't leave much more time for questions.
"And the keyblade?" Roxas asked.
"There are a lot of them. Each one is different." Y answered. She glanced over her shoulder. They weren't being followed, which was good. But it was only a matter of time.
"And this town? All the weird stuff that's been happening?" Roxas asked. Y looked at him for a brief moment before looking away again. She blinked back the tears that had begun to accumulate in her eyes.
"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you earlier Roxas. This town is a digital rendering of a real world. It was meant to contain you until the time was right." Y explained, her voice beginning to crack. She swallowed nervously. She didn't want to cry yet. She had cried enough and it never did anything to help.
"Time was right for what?" Roxas asked. Y shook her head.
"I'm sorry. I wish I had more time. I could have stopped it." Y said. Her voice was strained as she tried her best not to cry. They were in the forest now, the mansion in sight.
"Y?" Roxas asked. Y didn't respond as they reached the gates to the mansion. The gates were locked. Behind Roxas and Y there was a sound that signaled the arrival of Dusks. Y turned to face the Dusks while Roxas tried to figure out how to open the gate.
"Don't call me here and then lock me out." Roxas griped. Y rolled her eyes as she summoned her keyblade. Behind her Y heard the sound of the gate unlocking, which she assumed he figured out how to use the keyblade to unlock the door.
Y focused on the Dusks. They seemed to just keep swarming the gates. Y took them out easily as they were hardly a problem. Dusks were the least problematic of the Nobodies.
Y stopped, panting heavily as she looked around. The Dusks had stopped coming. That didn't bode well with her, but it was what it was. The end of this town.
"I guess that means it's done. He's gone." Y said to herself.
Y left the digital Twilight Town to the real one. She had no clear goal as she found herself sitting on top of the clock tower. She watched down below as a short figure in a black cloak talk to Sora and his two companions. Y vaguely recognized them as two she had seen with Yen Sid when she and Aqua had returned Mickey to his master.
Soon Sora was gone on a ghost train that would lead him where he needed to go. Y sighed and stood up stretching. She would have to return to DiZ. He wasn't done yet, and Y was curious to see what he had in store.
"Guess it's up to you now little brother." Y said softly watching the train take Sora on to the next step of his journey.
*<3*
Yuki sat beside Naminé on a bench on sunset hill. Naminé was looking down at the sketchbook that sat on her lap. Axel was standing not far away leaning against a railing as he watched the train that was taking Sora away from town. There was a hooded man standing watching the three of them. Naminé had identified him as Ansem, but Yuki was pretty sure Ansem was dead according to all records she had seen. Even more, he didn't feel like another Heartless.
"Guess that's that." Axel said with a heavy sigh. Yuki nodded and frowned.
"Let's go." The hooded man said. Axel looked over his shoulder at him.
"Go where? It's not like we have homes to return to. We don't exist, remember?" Axel said in annoyance as he stood upright. He turned to look at Ansem with almost disbelief. The hooded man showed no reaction to the redhead's words.
"Yes, it's true. We may not have homes. But, there is someplace I want to go. And someone I want to see." Naminé said clutching her sketch pad closer to her. The picture was of Sora and Roxas holding hands. Yuki assumed it was some symbology of how they were connected.
"Same here." Axel agreed, looking to Naminé.
"Don't we all?" Yuki asked softly. She glanced up at Ansem, allowing her eyes to turn yellow. There was something off about him she couldn't shake. It was a surprise when she saw his heart. Light and darkness swirled together to look like a dawn sky.
"So, you think you might let us go? I know you're here to get rid of us, but..." Axel said, looking to Ansem.
"DiZ wants to get rid of me?" Naminé said slowly. Yuki narrowed her eyes at the thought of the man. He used Naminé and now decided she could be ridded of now that he didn't need her. It was disgusting to her.
"Go," Ansem said. Axel looked at him warily, not trusting the one who had been his enemy not even minutes before.
"You sure about this?" Axel asked. Ansem looked between the three of them, his eyes stopping on Yuki. She couldn't see his gaze, but she could feel it.
"I owe you all." He said simply.
"For what?" Naminé asked.
"Castle Oblivion. You helped us." Ansem said simply.
"Heh, you don't have to tell me twice." Axel said. He opened a dark corridor and motioned to Naminé to allow her through first. She stood and gave a bow of thanks to Ansem before running through. Axel followed her seconds later, casting a glance toward Yuki who was yet to move.
"You know Riku. You don't owe me anything." Yuki said after a pause. Ansem, or Riku as Yuki knew him to be, stepped back in surprise. Yuki supposed no one had figured out his grand disguise yet. It was rather convincing.
"How did you know?" Riku asked. Yuki smiled as she stood up and looked at the dark corridor Axel had left open for her.
"Yeah, you look different. But your heart, it's still the same." Yuki explained. Riku nodded slowly. Yuki sighed and looked over her shoulder at her friend. "You remember when we were kids, and all we wanted to do was get off that island?" She asked softly. Riku nodded with a small laugh.
"Yeah." He said. That seemed like ages ago before everything had changed. Before Yuki had been taken and their world swallowed by darkness. Before keyblades and Heartless.
"I would give anything to be able to go back now." Yuki said wistfully.
"Why can't you?" Riku asked stepping toward her. Yuki chuckled.
"I'm not human. Anyway, I have another little sister to watch over now. Can't trust Axel with kids." Yuki said with a smile. She laughed a little to herself, thinking of the times they all had spent with Axel. He was always their guide. "He's bad at babysitting." She said. Riku chuckled a little at her words. Despite her being a Heartless, one he knew was dangerous, he couldn't see anything more than the girl he had known since he was a child.
"Good luck Yuki." Riku said. Yuki smiled at him.
"You too Riku. Don't go falling into my domain again, ok?" She warned. She smiled once last time before entering the dark corridor that closed behind her.