Chapter Text
Twilight Town’s eternal sunset shone down on Central Station, oblivious to the events of the past hour, as it shrouded Xion in the shadow of the clock tower.
A sunset that Xion would never again get to watch with their best friends. They’d never be able to sit on the clock tower with Axel and Roxas, ice cream in their hands, as the three of them laughed or worried or just spent the evening together. And to make things worse, they didn’t know how they’d be able to look back at those moments without them being tainted by what had happened today.
Axel would probably be assigned to hunt them down after this, and Roxas?
Roxas was dead. By their own hand.
It was supposed to be the other way around.
"Stop holding back!" they had said, because if there was any chance of Roxas winning this fight, he couldn’t afford to. Xion, meanwhile, had held back as much as they possibly could to make sure that out of the two of them, Roxas would be the one to walk away from this fight alive.
Roxas had wanted so badly to live, and no matter how much they knew the worlds needed Sora, Xion hadn’t wanted be the one to take that away from him. They’d intended to be the one to return to Sora first in the hopes that they’d buy Roxas enough time to understand.
But Roxas had also not wanted to hurt his best friend, and it showed in the way he fought. He wasn’t pulling his hits—that wasn’t his style—but he was more impulsive. He had missed openings Xion intentionally left for him. He was so focused on trying to get through to Xion that he wasn’t fighting defensively at all, and he hadn’t picked up on the signals they were giving him before every attack. They’d even lowered their guard when they saw Roxas preparing his limit break. It had hurt, but it hadn’t been enough. Xion had been siphoning Roxas's power, after all, and they had taken too much and left him with too little.
"Get ready, Roxas!" they had called out while raising their blades in the hopes that that, at least, would be enough to get Roxas’s attention.
It wasn’t. Roxas was too focused on his own offensive, driven by his emotions more than anything else. Emotions, Xion realized, that could only have come from a heart. But they didn’t have the time to process that revelation because in the same moment, Xion’s attack landed and Roxas let out a cry of pain.
They both knew it was a fatal blow.
As Roxas fell over onto the barrier that currently served as a floor, Xion felt, rather than saw, themself being enveloped in darkness as their armored form began to fade. Despite their best efforts they had played the role Xemnas demanded of them and there was no need for it anymore.
When it finally faded they were left with the sight of Roxas, unmoving, with their own Kingdom Key stuck through his chest.
Then the world shattered, and they both fell.
The walls of their room had never felt so suffocating.
And to think they once called this castle home.
Xion wasn’t sure what brought them back here in the first place. There was nothing here for them anymore, after all. No prized possessions, save for the seashell they kept in their coat pocket; no friend left here who wouldn’t be ordered to put an end to them if they tried anything. Certainly no purpose, or at least not one they wanted any part in anymore.
Against their wishes, Xemnas had made them kill their best friend. Whatever he had planned, it wasn’t worth this. They wouldn’t be a part of it anymore; Xemnas himself had made sure of that when he forced them to destroy Roxas. But they couldn’t just do nothing, because that would still let Xemnas have his way.
They couldn’t let Roxas’s death be in vain.
But what could one replica do against Xemnas? Challenging him directly would just get them killed. Or worse, their mind would be rewritten again for whatever new purpose Xemnas wanted them to do, and they refused to let that happen again.
But it was as good of a reason to exist as any, for now. And maybe, just maybe, they’d live long enough to figure out who Xion was without the Organization’s influence.
Xion’s eyes widened as they realized what had just passed through their mind. When had they stopped wanting to return to Sora?
Riku had told them to find an answer that worked for everyone, and he probably wouldn’t understand. They knew they should return to Sora. It was the right thing to do, and the worlds needed him. But after everything that had happened today, they couldn’t bring themself to care.
The occasional clap of thunder punctuated the downpour of rain that fell across the city, and Xion pulled their hood up as they stepped out of the castle. Their coat could usually protect them from the elements and not just the darkness, but the rain was heavy enough and the wind strong enough that plenty of raindrops found a way under their hood regardless.
They pulled their coat closer against their body and continued on. They didn't have a destination in mind. Although they had resolved to stay alive and make sure Roxas's sacrifice wasn't for nothing, that goal hadn't come with a series of steps for them to follow. It wasn't a plan. It was just a purpose.
They kept walking.
As Xion rounded the corner to Memory’s Skyscraper, pools of darkness began to form on the ground, each one quickly giving way to a neoshadow.
At least this was something they knew how to handle. There was a flash as Xion summoned their keyblade, and moments later one of the heartless exploded into darkness as the black blade cut an arc through them.
Oh. That was new.
Xion looked down at their keyblade, taking in its unfamiliar new form. Instead of the silver coloring they were used to, this one was mostly black, though some silver remained in the handle and at the tip of the keyblade. Two bat wings served as the guard, with a purple gem inlaid where they met at the base of the blade. A chain ran the full length of the blade, which ended with ornate teeth more detailed than the ones on their Kingdom Key.
Somehow, they knew this keyblade was called Oblivion.
A fitting name for a keyblade wielded by someone who wasn’t supposed to still exist.
They raised Oblivion into a familiar battle stance and threw themself into the fray.
As they continued to destroy the seemingly endless horde of neoshadows, Xion saw in their peripheral vision the flash of a black cloak atop the skyscraper itself. Either Xemnas had already sent Axel after them, or Riku was waiting here. Neither option meant anything good, but they hoped it was Riku and not Axel nonetheless. They didn’t want to explain to Axel how they’d killed Roxas.
They weren’t prepared for that.
Xion chanced a glance upwards at their next opportunity and saw silver hair and a blindfold. So it was Riku, then, which meant they were in for only the second-most uncomfortable conversation they could’ve had today.
Quickly returning their attention to the fight, they didn’t see Riku preparing a dark firaga as they turned back to the neoshadow horde. But they did hear the projectiles collide with one of the heartless a moment later.
He was focusing on the heartless rather than on them, and they'd extend the same courtesy for the moment.
The sounds of Oblivion striking heartless and dark firaga finding its mark were as constant as the rain and thunder as Xion and Riku fought back-to-back, up until the moment the last of the neoshadows disintegrated back into darkness. When it did, Riku and Xion jumped apart and shifted their attention to each other. Xion and Riku both made no move to attack, but neither did they want to drop their guard.
Riku spoke up first.
"Xion."
"Riku."
"You’ve made your choice, then?" Riku asked.
"I didn’t choose this," Xion said coldly.
Riku pressed on. "It’s not too late to come back and help us wake Sora up."
Yes it is, they didn’t say. If I give up now and go back to Sora, Roxas died for nothing.
But they knew Riku wouldn’t accept that. He was here for Sora’s memories, the same ones that were part of them now. So they pointed Oblivion at Riku as their answer.
"I don’t want to fight you, Xion," Riku said, unable or unwilling to even pretend he'd meet their eyes if it weren't for his blindfold, and he summoned Soul Eater in a cloud of darkness. "But I need the rest of Sora’s memories."
"And they’re worth more than my life, is that it?" Xion snapped. To Riku’s credit, a hint of guilt lined his face as those words hit him, but Xion barely paid it any mind. "I’m tired of people using me for their own purposes. I’m tired of being seen as just a puppet, or a piece of Sora. I’m more than that."
"I see," Riku said. "You’ve found a new answer."
Xion thought back to their conversation on the Destiny Islands. It felt like a lifetime ago when they’d talked to Riku then, and in a way, it had been.
"Yes," they replied. "I can’t go with you."
"It’s your friends, right?" Riku said, recalling their earlier words. "I guess I understand."
"Do you?" they asked, their voice laced with bitterness.
"It’s not too different… from what I’m doing for Sora," Riku said by way of an answer, but no matter what he thought it wasn’t the same at all. While it may have been true the last time they talked, everything had changed since then.
"This isn’t for my friends. It’s too late for that; Xemnas made sure of it," they said, and even they were surprised at how much venom was in their voice. They hadn’t known they were capable of that. "But I’m finally starting to figure out who "Xion" is, not just who the Organization wanted me to be. I won’t"—I can’t—"throw that away.
"And after what Xemnas made me do to Roxas, I can’t stay," they added.
"…what happened, exactly?" Riku asked.
Xion flinched as they recalled the memory. "Xemnas only wanted one keyblade wielder. He made me fight Roxas. Took control of me, somehow." Riku seemed to recoil at those last few words, though it was slight enough that Xion wasn't sure if they really saw it or not. "I tried to lose, but…"
"But there’s only so much you could do against his control," Riku finished, lowering Soul Eater and relaxing his stance.
They simply nodded.
"And Roxas?" he asked, and Xion went still.
"He’s…" Something tightened within Xion's chest, something that they couldn't place. Roxas was gone. They knew he was gone. But they couldn’t bring themself to say it.
It was enough of an answer. "I'm sorry," Riku said, and Xion wasn't sure how they felt about how he seemed to mean it.
"What will you do now?" he asked.
"I can't let Roxas's..." They stopped, all too aware of what they were about to say, and unwilling to say it out loud. It would be too real if they did. "I can't let it be for nothing. I have to do something. I won't let Xemnas have his way."
"You're going to fight the Organization," Riku said, and Xion saw his eyes widen behind his blindfold as the realization hit him.
"What else can I do, Riku?" Their voice was unsteady, and they felt something wet and warm on their cheek, not the cold of the rain but... was it a tear? Were they crying?
They hadn't realized they could.
"What else can I do?" they repeated. "If I just try to leave, it's only a matter of time until Xemnas sends Axel after me. If I give up..." They trailed off. "Tell me, Riku, what other option do I have that doesn't end with me dying? Because I can't go back, and I won't let you kill me to wake Sora up."
"If you try to fight the Organization, they'll stop at nothing to destroy you. It's not the easy solution you want it to be."
"Do you think I don't know that? But I need to do something, and it's the only thing I can do. I don't want to have to fight you too, but if you try to make me go back to Sora, I will. I'm not your sacrifice to bring your friend back." A flash of light accompanied Xion's last few words as they readied Oblivion, and when it faded, Xion held another keyblade in their hand.
In their left hand.
It wasn’t Xion’s keyblade. That was still in their right hand and once again pointed at Riku. In several ways it was the complement of Xion’s keyblade. While Oblivion had a pair of bat wings, the wings that made up this keyblade’s handguard were feathered. While Oblivion was primarily black, this one was mostly colored a silvery white. And while Oblivion had a single blade, the blade of this new keyblade was split into two.
The name Oathkeeper came to their mind, but Xion barely registered it over the realization that this was Roxas’s keyblade.
It was all they had left of him; a reflection of who he was, one last echo of his—
They let out a pained scream, both keyblades falling to the ground and dematerializing, as the realization from earlier that day finally caught up with them.
Roxas had a heart.
Did that mean they also had a heart of their own? Was that why everything felt so wrong right now?
It would explain the tears, and the constricted feeling in their chest. Roxas was a person by the end, and they probably were, too. How long had that been true? Had they both been real all along, or did something change somewhere along the way?
Their mind was so overwhelmed with questions they didn't know how to process and with revisiting their last memories of Roxas with this new information that they didn't notice themself collapse onto the ground.
Everything was too much.
They weren't sure how much time had passed by the time they started regaining an awareness of their surroundings.
They could hear a voice speaking to them, distorted enough that they couldn't understand the words.
As sensation returned to their body, they felt the constant splash of something cold and wet on their face and the rough solid surface of whatever they were lying on.
"—on?"
As their hearing started to clear up, they were finally able to make out what was being said.
"Xion?"
They blinked, and their vision came back into focus.
The hard surface they were lying on was the pavement of the city below the castle. The wet feeling on their face was the rain continuing to pour down. And the person kneeling down next to them and calling their name was...
"Riku."
Riku stood up, offering a hand to Xion to help them up as well.
"Come back to Twilight Town with me. We'll figure something out," Riku said, slowly taking several steps away as he spoke. "See if Naminé can find another way to wake Sora up, or try to convince DiZ to look for another way..." His last few words weren't audible enough to make out, and Xion wondered if he was trying to persuade himself as much as he was trying to persuade them.
"What if you can't convince him? I won't go with you on just a chance."
"Promise me you'll help us fight the Organization if we can't figure it out, and I promise you'll be free to leave if we do," Riku offered. "I can't promise DiZ won't try to chase you down, but... it's the best I can do."
Xion had to hold back a scream of frustration. Of course it wasn't as simple as Riku guaranteeing their safety. No, here they were, having to bargain for their life on the worst day of it. Having to prove their worth to earn the right to stay alive.
It seemed some things never changed.
"Alright," Xion said, not bothering to hide the bitterness in their voice.
Riku pulled the hood of his coat over his head, reached out his hand, and called a dark corridor into existence.
"Riku?" Xion said before he could step through the portal.
"Yeah?"
"Why... why only make me promise to fight if you can't wake Sora up?" they asked hesitantly, somewhat worried that the question would make Riku reconsider.
"Xion, I don't want to take your life away from you."
"Then why not just let me go?"
"Because if you're going to be fighting the Organization," Riku said, turning to face them, "you shouldn't be fighting them alone." Before Xion could process that, he stepped into the dark corridor.
And in what they would later recognize as one of the most fateful decisions of their life, they followed.