Magicians Reversed [Zexion, Sora]

[Axel]

"Friendly" Advice

Finally, Axel saw some very substantial evidence of Zexion's involvement. The images of Marluxia, Maleficent, and Kairi were an excellent accompaniment to his own words. Sora looked like he was at least partially taking the bait. For one, that suspicious look the kid had been giving him was now replaced with one of astonishment and confusion. Mumbling something about memories, Sora's hand brushed over his heart. The Flame had to be careful about keeping the predatory gleam out of his eyes, and he averted his gaze somewhat just in case the look showed through.

Bingo. The kid was agreeing to "help" him. The only stipulation mentioned was that Axel could not be secretly working for the Organization. That, he would have no problem responding to with the truth. "Oh, trust me, kid. There is no love between me and the Organization, especially Xemnas." He made sure to put the emphasis on Xemnas. Working with Zexion didn't count as working with the Organization in Axel's mind. Not when the Schemer was having his own misgivings about the Superior.

Turning to face the stairs leading to higher levels of the castle, the Flame gestured casually with one hand and added some well-intentioned "warnings" for Sora. "I can't say for sure what you'll see the longer we stay here, and since I don't have a heart, you will be the only one seeing anything." He was standing so that Sora couldn't see his face, so he allowed himself a smirk. "Try not to lose your head while we're in here."

But please, by all means, lose your heart.

[Fate]

And In the Darkness Bind Them

Interestingly enough, Sora agreed to Axel's deal to destroy this place that could very well be used by the Organization once more. Though, Zexion doubted the Superior had anything planned for it at this point. Sora only agreed to it on the premise that Axel was indeed not working for the Organization, which he instantly denied. However, he was more specific toward Xemnas; the Schemer was a different case entirely. At this point, no love was lost between the two of them either. They were merely business partners at the moment, nothing more; Zexion would not have it any other way.

The illusionist took a few more invisible steps near Sora before becoming visible, the walls still darkening around him. Though, he was not in his normal form. Instead, he was replaced by a girl with red hair and blue eyes, dawned in pink garments; Kairi. She gave a faint smile at Sora before walking toward the stairs, the darkness completely encasing the room now. The only light came from the door; Axel almost disappeared because of the cloak he wore, Sora as well. 'Kairi' still remained visible as she grew closer to the door, about to open it.

Unfortunately, that door was not about to be opened. By Zexion's command, three Novashadows appeared behind 'her'. 'She' screeched and put her arms out in front of her to shield herself from any possible attacks, the creatures looking at her with greedy yellow eyes. Without a second to spare, they jumped on her and brought her to the ground, only doing so by Zexion's command. Albeit, he imagined the Heartless were a bit confused when told to attack their controller, but they never disobeyed.

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[Castle]

"Don't worry, I won't," he said to Axel, fully confident that it was the truth. He wasn't going to be taken down so easily by a few weird visions, even if they were from his own heart. He could manage it, he was sure.

No sooner had he thought that than another figure appeared next to him. This time, he recognized her on sight, and the recognition startled him greatly.

"Kairi...?"

He watched her smile faintly at him, and then walk ahead, toward the door that Axel was already in front of. Everything was dark now, save for her and the door. Sora blinked and rubbed an eye, but the lighting, or lack thereof, stayed the same. Kairi came closer to the door and moved to open it.

"This isn't real," Sora told himself, but he couldn't take his eyes off of her.

Suddenly, three Novashadows emerged from the darkness, their yellow eyes glowing maliciously in the black. Kairi screamed as they attacked her. At that moment, it became too much for Sora to simply stand there and watch, illusion or not. The Keyblade flashed into his hand as he cried out her name and charged toward the Heartless, swinging at them with all of his might.

[Axel]

I Should Have Been an Actor

When Kairi appeared, Axel knew Zexion had just kicked things up a notch or two. Of course, he couldn't acknowledge that he saw what he assumed was Zexion disguised as Kairi. Otherwise, this whole charade would be shattered. So, he feigned ignorance for the time being. Turning toward Sora, he put on his best confused expression. "Kairi? Where?" He darted his eyes about the room, pretending to search for her.

Sora spoke then, trying to convince himself that none of this was real. He was right about that, but the true source of these unreal visions would continue to remain a secret to him if Axel had anything to say about it. The kid could know this was all illusion as long as he kept thinking this was a reflection of his own heart. There was a large difference between believing you yourself were causing you to see things and believing that someone else was forcing you to see things.

Suddenly, Heartless appeared and attacked "Kairi," to which Axel had to refrain from arching an eyebrow. The Schemer was pulling no punches, so to speak, if he was ordering an attack on himself. But Sora wasted no time in lunging foward, Keyblade in hand, to rescue "her." Perhaps Zexion had counted on that. The kid was hacking and slashing away and doing a pretty good job of taking on three Novashadows at once. If he was not playing a role here, Axel might have helped him out a bit to gain further trust. As things stood, he simply moved out of Sora's way, a look of surprise on his face.

"Woah, woah! Watch where you swing that thing! What are you even doing? Attacking the air?"

[Fate]

Exeunt For the Second Act

No Sora, this was not real. However, his reasons for saying that were not because he knew that an illusionist was present, but because of what Axel told him: this was all a projection of his heart, as it were. However, the Heartless were quite real and not illusions; the Nobodies did have the ability to control the creatures and Zexion was going to temporarily utilize it. He might as well have Sora release a few hearts in this venture anyhow while they tried to persuade him to turn into one of these creatures.

Axel, as he should have, pretended not to see what the Schemer was doing at all. He even went so far as to jump out of the way and wonder what Sora was attacking. While he was attacking them, Zexion stood up as Kairi and backed away from the fight, feigning fear. He backed into the door, which he had the girl look at curiously before opening it and running through to the next room. Instantaneously, he made the walls as dark as the other room as he had Kairi stop in the middle, looking around with a feared look on her face. No Heartless appeared in this room, only darkness.

"Sora!" he cried out in Kairi's voice. Before Sora could even reach the room, he had her disappear. He stepped into the background of the illusion, rendering himself invisible once more as he created the illusion of a heart where he had been standing before. While Sora may or may not have known this was an illusion, that still might strike a blow. When the Keyblade Master did enter the room, the heart would float out of reach and disappear out of sight. It would be the only source of light in the room until it was gone.

For now, this was all the Schemer was going to do. This could give Axel some more to work with. Unlike Riku, Sora's heart was a bit more malleable and easier to work with. They very well may get their Heartless and, in turn, Roxas.

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[Castle]

Sora heard Axel's voice, but distinguished no words as he continued his merciless attack on the Heartless. Kairi managed to get out of the fray and back toward the door. He positioned himself between her and them, sending one of them up in smoke, its heart drifting away to whence it came. He found it hard to believe that this could be an illusion. The Heartless felt and acted as real as ever.

Suddenly, Kairi called his name. He looked over his shoulder and saw her on the other side of the door, surrounded by darkness.

"Kairi! Hang on!" he shouted to her.

He took a few last swings at the Heartless and then, without bothering to see if they were defeated or not, turned sharply and ran into the next room, where Kairi was. However, she was already fading away, and by the time he reached her, she was just a heart drifting out of his reach. He grabbed at it, but it floated upward and away.

Sora slowly lowered his arm, a numb, cold feeling wrapping around his chest. Then, logic broke through, and he tore his gaze away from where her heart had vanished. He shook his head twice.

"No, that wasn't real," he told himself, "That couldn't have been real."

He turned back toward the door. It was hard to see, but he knew Axel was back there.

"Axel! You didn't see any of that, right?" he called back.

[Axel]

Quick Improvisations

Man, Sora was really laying into those Heartless. Of course, it was obvious that this fury was generated by the kid's concern for Kairi. He shouted her name again after Zexion-as-Kairi opened the door at the top of the stairs and walked into the next room. That room, too, grew very dark, with Kairi standing in the center, the only source of light. Axel watched Sora rush into that room after defeating only one of the Novashadows. Staying true to the role he'd taken on, Axel simply brushed past the remaining Heartless. Their hungry eyes never left the kid, anyway.

He arrived on the scene just in time to see Sora reaching for a shining heart that was floating toward the ceiling. "Kairi's" heart, he knew. He almost thought that alone would have been enough to plunge Sora deep into a despair that would leave him open to the darkness. But instead, the Keyblade master turned around to face him after a few tense moments of silence. Had he seen any of that? Yes, and no.

If things continued as they were, unless Sora explained out loud and in detail everything he was seeing, Axel would be unable to use any of these illusions. Sora would certainly grow suspicious if the Flame said he could suddenly "see" everything, even though he was a Nobody, possessing no heart. Further, Axel would have to start claiming to see things that were reflections of his own non-existent heart, not Sora's. However, there were ways around this problem.

Axel put a hand to his chest as a look of confusion settled in his eyes. "For a moment, I thought I saw... You said you saw Kairi, right? Was that...her heart?" He knew the power of Sora's heart, and this explanation would make perfect sense. "You do know that you can have a great influence on other people, don't you? Maybe...maybe because your heart is so strong, I'm starting to see the reflections of your heart, too." The puzzled look would be sticking around for the time being.

"If I saw what I think I saw, would that have been just your heart, or...?" He let the question hang in the air, unspoken just for a moment. Then, in case the kid was too dense to get it, he finished. "Could that have actually been happening somewhere else?"

[Fate]

It's Time for the Third Act
Sad Princesses by Yoko Shimomura.

As Sora attempted to grab the heart and it only floated away, the room dynamic changed a bit once more. Sora knew this wasn't real and knew that "Castle Oblivion" was doing this to him; it was all just an illusion. However, that did not make the pang of it any less. To show this, thunder sounded in the room and lightning clashed on the walls, lighting up the faces of the two visible in the room for the time being. Rain fell in the illusion surrounding Axel and Sora, though did not touch them. Zexion then simply watched as Axel followed suit, seeing what he would do.

His explanation to Sora as to why he could see the illusions now made sense; Sora's heart was strong and could do extraordinary things that others' hearts could not. His suggestion was just vague enough for the Schemer to play with a bit more. Though, the direction he was about to go in wasn't an expected one. He concentrated on himself once more, wrapping himself in yet another illusion. He became visible yet again, though he was now under the guise of Sora's Nobody, Roxas. He wore the Nobody's usual grimace, stepping forward next to Sora.

"It almost felt... real," he said, his words heavy yet laden with a sort of confusion. He looked to Sora. "I could see it too..." He then shifted his gaze to Axel, his voice then falling in tone and his grimace growing stronger. "Axel... didn't think I'd ever see you again. It's been a long time." It sounded as if Roxas was truly making an effort to be strong, but was failing abysmally and still sounding sorrowful. While Zexion was only slightly involved in his previous illusions, this one he was jumping straight into. He wasn't holding back.

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[Castle]

Axel's words came as quite a surprise. His heart was making a Nobody see things? But, more importantly, what about what he, and Axel too, apparently, had just seen of Kairi? The thought put an uncomfortable pressure on his ribs, and he did his best to think straight and follow what he felt beneath that pressure. He closed his eyes for a moment to help himself concentrate. Lightning flashed around them, and rain began to fall, but the drops didn't make contact with their bodies.

Finally, he opened his eyes.
"I... don't think so," he said, lifting his gaze to meet Axel's, "I mean, she was acting kind of weird when I first saw her here, and now that I think about it, seeing her heart float away just didn't seem right. I can't explain it, but something in my heart says that that was just--"

Suddenly, another voice interjected him, and it wasn't Axel's. Sora recognized it immediately and spun halfway around, coming almost face to face with his own Nobody, Roxas.

"Whoa," His exclamation only made it to the level of a murmur, held back by yet another rise of confusion. Roxas kept talking, speaking to Axel. He sounded so... sad, for some reason. Sora's hand strayed to his chest again, but only briefly.

"H-Hey!" he said finally, "What's going on? Are you... being projected from my heart, um, our heart, too...?"

It was just a wild guess, and it barely made sense to hear himself say it, but it was the best he could come up with.

[Axel]

Illusions of Reunification
[This post brought to you by Roxas (Piano Collection Version)]

The room changed once more. The darkness still remained but was temporarily suspended by a flash of lightning. Axel, just for a moment, saw Sora's blue eyes fully illuminated right before the room reverted to its dimmed state. The illusion of rain fell, and even the sound of droplets hitting the stone floor was emulated. Neither of the visible people in the room were drenched, though, and neither, most likely, was Zexion, wherever he had disappeared to again. This rain was for effect and nothing more, a cunningly painted display of the state of Sora's heart.

The Keyblade master was staring at him now. He sounded on the verge of accepting the possibility that perhaps, somewhere else, Kairi had just lost her heart. But then that annoying sense of faith the kid was known for kicked in. The Flame was ready to interject with a counter to Sora's convictions, but he was interrupted before he could draw a breath to speak.

No... Not this.

The achingly familiar form of Roxas appeared next to Sora, and Axel froze. When the sound of that voice echoed softly in the room, the Flame was almost convinced of his own charade. Could this really be a vision of his best friend generated by the influence of Sora's heart? No. This was Zexion in the guise of Roxas. But why? Sora probably never gave a second thought to Roxas. He had to be careful that the anger--at both Zexion's choice of disguise and Sora's disregard for Roxas--which was flaring in his mind didn't translate to his face. But it soon fizzled out the more he sank into his inner thoughts. This only made sense on a partial level. Axel didn't have a heart for "Castle Oblivion" to affect. Did he?

His hand went to his chest again, this time clutching softly at the fabric of his coat. Thoughts were whirling in his head. But he had no time to sort through them all. Not now. His eyes snapped onto Roxas the moment the other Nobody said his name. His friend's voice was so coated with melancholy that Axel no longer needed to act for Sora. The barest twinge of sadness flickered somewhere deep inside him, and it showed completely on his face. Plans and masquerades, be damned. He could understand exactly the reason the Schemer had chosen to go this route, but that didn't mean he appreciated it. He might very well hurt Zexion later for this. But for right now, all he was thinking about was Roxas, even though he knew the Roxas in front of him was not real.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again, either." A layer of anguish was barely contained beneath the surface of his tone. There were many things he wanted to say to Roxas, but he refused to say them knowing it was the Schemer behind those eyes. "It's been far too long."

[Fate]

Give Me Some Light

Axel's reaction to seeing Roxas appear was more intriguing to Zexion than Sora's. The Keyblade Master showed surprise while Axel froze, seemingly showing surprise as well. And then, there was anguish on the Flame's face. He was not particularly pleased with the move that the Schemer had decided to pull, that much was obvious. He had despised it in Traverse Town and had been ready to kill then; if Zexion wasn't careful, this Castle would be his grave once again. He looked at Sora with a look of confusion on his face; it was a reasonable explanation for why Roxas could be here.

"I think so," he said, seemingly puzzled, "This castle reflects what's in people's hearts, and I guess that means who's in someone's heart too." It was a somewhat decent answer and explanation, not nearly as eloquent as how Axel or Zexion would have put it, but Roxas was never particularly eloquent like the two manipulators. Roxas then got a good look around, looking at the darkened walls and listening to the faint rumbles of thunder. "I know this place."

He paused, looking at Axel out of the corner of his eye. "This is where everyone was sent to, by Xemnas. Vexen, Marluxia, Larxene, you... but, didn't they all die? What happened to all of them?" Zexion chose to leave himself and Lexaeus out of the equation there, knowing that Sora never met them; they would not be important. These memories of his were locked by Naminé long ago, the process starting even before Zexion had been killed. If the two of them could bring these memories to the surface somehow, then they could get closer to getting the real Roxas back, not an illusion. He had to admit that he was also a bit curious to see what would happen if they did...

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[Axel]

Just Like Old Times?

Even though he was less than thrilled at this course of action, Axel forced his anger down to a more manageable level. He would just have to do his best to ignore the fact that Zexion was disguised as Roxas. Besides, there was emptiness where his heart should be, so this shouldn't be affecting him that much at all, anyway. There would be plenty of time for "tearful" reunions after they got the real Roxas back. Until then, it would be business as usual.

Roxas reinforced Axel's earlier explanation as to how Castle Oblivion worked and then proceeded to mention how familiar this place was to him. Had this been the real Roxas, that would have been entirely the truth. "Yeah," he said with a slight smirk. "You remember, don't you? We had just started becoming friends, and I got shipped off to this castle. They dumped me straight into another babysitting job." His smirk widened as he relaxed back into a more joking attitude. He wasn't having to work very hard at pretending, which was good for their purposes.

When mention was made of the others, Axel returned his friend's sidelong glance. "I never told you, did I?" His eyes shifted to the darkened wall. It was almost as though Sora wasn't even there anymore, and he was having a conversation with Roxas just like old times. "The reason I came here was to expose a traitorous plot to overthrow the Organization. Marluxia wanted to use Sora to topple Xemnas, and to get the kid to agree, he used... a girl named Naminé to rewrite Sora's memories. She was going to replace Kairi with herself in his heart. And it almost worked. In fact, it probably would have worked." He crossed his arms over his chest and chuckled a bit. "But I wanted some entertainment, so I let Naminé go. And she fixed the kid right up. Well, not all at once."

He paused for a moment. "Sora over there took out Larxene and Marluxia. But Vexen's death... Well, that was me." He grinned, then quickly put on a semi-distressed look. "The things Marluxia made me do to prove my loyalty..." He put a hand to his head and shook it. "I just hated having to sacrifice dear, dear Vexen, but it was for a higher cause, and I think he would have appreciated it. He was, after all, always concerned about the Organization and its established hierarchy." Had the real Roxas been here, he probably would not have been so flippant about his involvement in Vexen's demise. But this was Zexion, and the Flame never failed to take advantage of an opportunity to make him even the slightest bit uncomfortable.

[Castle]

This was getting really weird. First, Axel was back from the dead, along with the rest of the Organization, and he was telling Sora that he'd been to this castle before. Then there were all the weird visions, the worst being the image of losing Kairi, even though he knew it wasn't real. And now, here was Roxas, outside of him again. He and Axel were talking over him like he wasn't even there, and the stuff they were talking about...

Sora listened to all of it, but remembered none of the events mentioned. Had he really been involved in all of that? And Namine... was that really what she had done? Was that why he woke up in that pod, with the only mention of her being a note in Jiminy's journal?

He'd never asked why he needed to thank her. He just knew that he did. Everything happened so fast, he hadn't had much time to think about it.

About a year ago, some things happened-

Sora glanced over his shoulder, thinking he heard someone speak. There was only darkness and rain. He looked back at Roxas and Axel, an uneasy feeling settling inside him.

"Did all of those things really happen?" he murmured during one of Axel's pauses in speech.

Axel went on, talking about a person named Vexen. Sora listened with wavering skepticism, his eyebrows furrowed slightly. Suddenly, a small, sharp pain jabbed at his skull. He winced and put a hand over the spot. At that moment, a blast of fire filled his vision, a dark figure caught in the center. He barely had time to gasp before the image was gone as quickly as it came.

"What?"

Sora, stay sharp, a voice in his heart warned.

Roxas? He glanced over at the person who stood next to him.

You don't seriously believe that's me, do you?

Abruptly, a lot of things added up. Sora's face darkened into a glare as the Keyblade flashed into his hand. He took a step away from "Roxas" and pointed the weapon at him.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

[Fate]

Falling Action

Axel was falling naturally in sync with him in this small conversation as the two did not pay attention to Sora for a moment, just talking as old friends were. The Flame would not have to pretend much on his part, though of course Zexion would. He snickered as Axel spoke of being on babysitting duty in Castle Oblivion, though inwardly he felt the remnant of annoyance. Though, he supposed that he was only referring to babysitting those above ground; Zexion had that sort of duty in the basement, or at least somewhat. He did not let that ever-so-slight annoyance come onto his face, instead keeping a slight smile with Roxas's features.

"No, you didn't," he said, then letting Axel continue into his explanation of the happenings of Castle Oblivion. He glanced over at Sora briefly during this explanation, wondering what sort of effect this was having on him; if he was correct, the Keyblade Master would be horribly confused and left to wonder about why he did not remember any of these events. It could even cause some possible strain on him as well, which could turn out to be interesting.

Axel's explanation contained things he had before; he had been sent to expose Marluxia's plot, which was something the Schemer had known of almost from the very beginning of his stay in Castle Oblivion. He also mentioned how he set the witch free to meddle with Marluxia's plans and, inadvertently, his own; he succeeded on both parts. The added bit about Vexen's death was one that he could do without, though it was not as if he had the ability to care that much for the other Nobody. However, it did remind Zexion exactly who he was around right now; he was around the Nobody that had killed Vexen without a problem and then killed him as well. His trust was quite limited for Axel as it was and now he was wondering how he had let himself trust the other even this far.

"So that's what you did when you were at Castle Oblivion..." he asked rhetorically, trailing off and looking elsewhere with a melancholy tone. "I didn't know you killed off another member Axel, even if it was Vexen." While Zexion doubted Roxas would approve of his friend killing off other members, he would not mind so much that it was Vexen; the Nobody established a rather poor reputation for himself with his flaunting of rank.

Sora's sudden speech caused Zexion to turn sharply toward him, his eyes a bit wide. He didn't seem to be talking to either of them for a moment with his single word utterance, which confused the Schemer. Who could he possibly be saying that to? However, his eyes widened more as Sora summoned his Keyblade and demanded to know who he was. Zexion kept the somewhat surprised look on his face as he answered.

"I'm Roxas, your Nobody Sora," he answered with a bit of harshness in his tone, "What are you doing?" In reality, Zexion knew that his words were unlikely to faze Sora if he had his Keyblade out; an attack would be his next form of action, which meant that this was starting to fail. Well, Sora could attack all he wanted; the illusionist would not yield to him.

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[Castle]

"Don't give me that!" Sora said, still with his Keyblade pointed directly at the false Roxas, "Roxas is a part of me. If you were him, I would feel it."

The daggers in his glare threatened whoever this person was with the consequences of not admitting the truth right now. This was mostly on the surface level, however. Sora would not attack someone without knowing why they were doing what they were doing, unless their actions were harmful in the first place. In a case like this, he would threaten them with the Keyblade, but he wouldn't actually hurt them. Not unless they gave him a reason to, anyway.

It could be theorized that the Roxas he saw now was another illusion, but if that were the case, why would the real Roxas warn him about it? There was definitely something wrong here.

Underneath it all, his physical heart was racing. He wrote it off as adrenaline from the recent revelation that someone, or something, was deceiving him, but there was another flavor under it that was more troubling. It was almost like a warning, a signal that this place was not safe for him. In spite of his, Sora stood his ground. It would take more than a little weirdness to bring him down.