CHAPTER 10 THE CHAOTIC WORLD
WITH THE FALLEN RIKU IN HIS ARMS, SORA GLARED AT Naminé. “What did you do? What did you do to him?!”
It must have been something she did. He couldn’t see any other possibility. What kind of power did she have…?
Naminé stood there as if Sora’s glare pinned her to the spot.
Another voice rang out instead. Startled, she turned.
It was Larxene. “Broke his heart. More like she smashed it, really.”
Broke his heart? thought Sora. What does that mean?
He laid Riku gently down on the floor. “Then—then, what’s gonna happen to him?!” he demanded aloud.
“Ha-ha! You’re so much fun to watch! If it’s Riku you’re worried about—well, no need for that. Riku was never really here, you see.”
“What d’you mean?!”
Of course Riku’s here. No matter how many memories I’ve lost, there’s no way I could mistake someone else for him. Glowering, Sora held the Keyblade ready.
Larxene giggled at him. “Oh, you think I’m just gonna tell you? That’s too easy! My, my, what to do!”
“Enough with the games!” Unable to stand it anymore, he attacked, but she easily sidestepped.
He had a terrible feeling about this…
“All right, fine, have it your way. I know it’ll just kill you to hear this…but I can live with that.” Larxene turned completely serious and took a step closer. “That thing lying there is just a puppet Vexen made as an experiment. No more than a toy. It’s laughable, really. It called you an impostor, but it was the fake all along.”
“Not Riku? A fake?!”
Riku had seemed strange from the start here—that was true. But a fake…?
But Riku knew about the promise. Nobody else besides Riku could know that.
Wait… Who’s the most special to me?
Didn’t Riku say something about a promise somewhere?
When we closed that door, I promised him something.
“Take care of her, Sora.”
Of whom? Who was that about?
I don’t know. I can’t remember.
“A fake in every possible way! It was only finished recently. How could it remember anything? It doesn’t have a past! Get it? Its memories with Naminé were just planted, not real. Meaning all this time, it’s been picking fights with you over memories—counterfeit, trumped-up, completely bogus memories! Isn’t that the truth, Naminé?” Grinning, Larxene turned to her. “So cute, and you do such awful things!”
Naminé hung her head. Sora murmured her name, but she didn’t reply.
“You’re so stupid,” Larxene sighed. “Haven’t you caught up yet? That’s what Naminé’s powers are! She can go into people’s hearts, rearrange their memories—even make up new ones of things that never happened at all! The girl you’ve been trying to protect all this time is really a witch who shackles people’s hearts to fake memories!”
Naminé, the girl who was always drawing. Who watched Riku and me fighting with a smile on her face.
The night of the meteor shower…I did make that promise to her, I did.
Sora swallowed. “Then…my memories…are all…”
“Oh, you do get it!” Larxene crowed. “Lies, lies, all lies! Just Naminé’s illusions! The perfect trap to bind you with the chains of memory!”
No… My memories with Naminé are all lies?
“It makes me tingle to think how easily you were duped! So close—we were almost there. This was our only chance to turn the Keyblade master into our puppet! But that—that jerk Axel—he used Naminé and betrayed us!” Larxene spat viciously and stalked toward Sora.
Everyone’s just been getting in the way, she thought. The Keyblade master, Axel, Naminé—they’re all just getting in our way. Why do they want to screw up all our plans?
Larxene showed her knives between her fingers.
“Don’t!” Naminé moved in front of her, arms spread wide.
“Oh?” Larxene raised her eyebrows and stared close into Naminé’s face. “Why, it’s a little late for the witch to be growing a conscience. Last I checked, you’re the one who messed around with his memories and brought him here!”
“I know—but—”
“I should tell you, I’m in a very foul mood. Thanks to you, all our plans are ruined!” A high slap echoed in the hall, and Naminé went tumbling to the floor.
Holding her cheek, she glared up at Larxene.
“Naminé!” Sora cried.
Larxene looked down her nose at him and took another step closer. “What’s this? Are you upset? You don’t even actually know her!”
“Maybe not. But still… I made a promise.” Sora adjusted his grip on the Keyblade and stared right back. “I promised Naminé that I’d keep her safe! And even if my memories are fake, the promise is real to me. That’s why…I’m going to keep it.”
The Keyblade glowed in his hands.
“You’re such an idiot. There is no promise and there never was! You’re just delusional!”
“That doesn’t matter. I’m still keeping my promise to Naminé!”
“Insisting on playing the hero? Whatever. If that’s the way you want it…then you’re going down alone!” Larxene shouted, poised to attack. But just as she raised her hands to strike, someone jumped into the way, knocking her back.
Two someones.
“Not if we have anything to say about it!”
There was no mistaking that voice. “Donald?!”
Sora had left them behind back on the previous floor—but Donald and Goofy were here.
“You’re not goin’ anywhere alone!”
“Goofy! You guys found me!” Sora ran in between them and grinned for what felt like the first time in a while.
“’Course we did! We were worried about ya,” said Goofy with a glare at Larxene.
“And we promised, too! We promised we’d protect you!” Donald held his wand high.
“Right, and we wouldn’t leave you alone. It’s always been the three of us, and we’re stickin’ together!” Goofy turned to wink at Sora. Sora smiled back, just a little.
They may have had a fight, but it wasn’t enough to drive them apart. No matter what, the three of them would always stick together.
“Fine with me! The more pain, the merrier!” Larxene’s knives sliced through the air toward the trio.
“Naminé! Get back!” Donald shouted, and beside him Goofy knocked aside the knives with his shield.
“Take care of Riku!” Sora told her.
“Right!” Naminé did her best to drag Riku out of the way to the corner of the hall.
After seeing they were safe, Sora brandished the Keyblade at Larxene. “Okay, now!”
“Doesn’t matter how many of you there are. You’ll never beat me!” She seemed to glide on the air, dancing weightless around the hall.
“Sora!” Goofy called.
“Got it!” Sora leaped after her and swung the Keyblade, and—“Where’d she go?!”
Larxene had vanished right in front of his eyes.
“Waaak!” At the same time across the room, Donald quacked in alarm.
“Donald?!” Sora turned to see Donald running in circles, dodging a barrage of knives.
Goofy leaped in and the knives bounced off his shield. “Over here!” he yelled, only for Larxene to smirk and vanish again.
“Wak! Now where is she?!” Donald glanced all around—but behind him in a corner, Larxene raised her hands.
“I’ll have you all charred to a crisp! Thunder!”
And bolts of lightning blazed throughout the room.
“…Ngh!” Between the thunderbolts, Sora rushed at Larxene, batting knives away with the Keyblade.
“Hmph. Well I’ve got plenty of knives!” She tossed more, and one sliced Sora’s cheek.
“Sora! Ya can’t beat her that way!” cried Goofy.
“But…what do we do?” said Sora.
“Same as we always do!” Donald replied.
The same as always…? What do we always do? How have we been fighting all this time? I can’t remember—
“You really think I’d lose to a bunch of brats like you?” Larxene raised her hands once more.
“SORA!” Donald and Goofy both shouted and ran in opposite directions.
Just like we always do—fighting together!
“Donald! Goofy! Here we go!” In the next breath, Sora dashed in under Larxene’s guard.
“You just don’t learn, do you?” She tossed more knives at him and disappeared.
“Blizzaga!” Donald shouted from behind him.
Larxene’s shriek echoed in the hall.
“We’re not gonna get knocked around forever!” Goofy ran up behind Larxene and butted her with his shield. She let out a short cry and went flying.
“Take this!” Sora was there to bring the Keyblade down on her. “See? If we’re standing apart but fighting together, there’s nowhere for you to go!”
Larxene fell to her knees. “This…can’t be happening…”
“It sure is!” Donald ran to Sora’s side.
Goofy followed. “We’ve been fightin’ all sorts of bad guys like this—together!”
“No… No! I refuse to lose to a bunch of losers!” She glared at the faces of the trio surrounding her, one after another. “I’m…I’m fading? No, this isn’t…the way I… I won’t…”
But before she could even finish her sentence, Larxene faded into nothing. The only thing left was a single card.
Sora wordlessly picked it up. Donald and Goofy leaned closer to look at it.
“Hard to tell what’s on it…,” said Donald. The picture didn’t seem to show much besides a white mist.
“Never mind that—Naminé!” Sora exclaimed, exchanging nods with his companions, then went to the corner where Naminé was hiding.
Goofy spoke first. “So you’re Naminé, huh?”
“That’s right.” She nodded with a faint smile.
“Ahyuck. It’s good to meet ya! We’re Sora’s friends—”
“Goofy and Donald,” she finished for him, looking at each one as she said their names.
Donald laughed. “Yeah! But how did you know that?”
Goofy turned to Sora. “Congratulations, Sora! You finally found your friend. We sure are happy for ya!”
Naminé was his friend—but…still…
“What’s the matter, Sora?” asked Donald.
“Naminé…,” said Sora. “Can you tell us what really happened?”
“Okay.” Naminé looked down for a moment, and then up at each one of them in turn, and began. “I took the people and the memories inside Sora’s heart, and little by little…I replaced them with false memories.”
Goofy cocked his head. “Gawrsh, what do you mean?”
“I can rewrite people’s memories. That’s how…” Naminé frowned, uncertain how to go on.
“Then…what about Sora’s promise?” said Donald.
She shook her head. “Made up. It was fake. Sora never really promised me anything. Me being with him on the islands—that was a lie, just like everything else. I was never Sora’s friend…”
She trailed off, and Sora finished her thought. “And you were never the most special to me, either…”
It wasn’t Naminé. Then, who is the one who’s really special to me?
“No. You see, in your true memories, I was never there at all.”
There was a pause, into which Jiminy Cricket hopped from Sora’s pocket. “So, that must mean it’s been your magic making the rest of us lose our memories, too. Is there any way for us to get ’em back?”
Naminé looked at them again. “Not right away…but…if we go to the thirteenth floor, I can fix everything.”
“The thirteenth floor? What floor are we on now?” Donald tapped his head, thinking. “I think…the tenth maybe?”
“Then, we only have to go up three more stories!” said Goofy, trying to cheer them up.
“But Marluxia—he…,” Naminé started.
“Marluxia?” Sora echoed. That was a name he’d heard before.
“He controls everything in Castle Oblivion,” she said glumly.
Jiminy folded his arms. “So, was he the fella who made you tamper with all of our memories?”
“If I didn’t obey, he said, I’d be locked in this castle forever… And I’ve been alone for so long…” Naminé’s eyes shone with tears.
“So, ya did what he said because you were lonesome?” Goofy said, glum with sympathy.
Maybe if you went a long time being lonesome, you’d be glad for any friends you could get…even if they were bad guys. I might do the same thing if I was that lonesome.
When Goofy thought of it that way, he couldn’t blame her at all.
Naminé covered her face. Only a tiny voice came out. “I’m so sorry…”
Donald and Goofy looked at each other, uncertain what they could do.
Beside them, with his eyebrows drawn, Sora reached out and put his hand on Naminé’s shoulder. “Don’t be. Come on, no crying.”
He sounded determined, almost angry. Naminé looked up and wiped at her cheeks. “I know… I don’t really have any right to.”
“That’s not what I meant!” he said louder, taking her by the shoulders with both hands.
“…What?”
“It’s like this… I’m really not happy about you messing with my memories.” He let her go, the strength going out of him. “But, I mean…I can’t really get mad at you for it, either.”
He paused, and quiet fell over them.
I can’t get mad at her—not now. The memory of making that promise to her is still in my heart.
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Even if it was really that other girl in his memories—that red-haired girl who came to him in an illusion on Destiny Island—he still couldn’t blame Naminé.
Not when he remembered their promise so clearly…
“The memories you gave me… In my head, I know they’re lies, but they still feel true. Like that promise I made. I said I would protect you. That promise is still in my heart.”
The night of the meteor shower. The sandy beach. The soft sound of the waves…
“And when you cry, it feels like it must be my fault. So please…don’t cry, don’t apologize. Just smile for me until I get my memories back.”
“Sora…” Her face was still wet with tears, but she gave him a tiny smile. He returned it.
“Oh, brother. This is too much,” said Donald, tapping one webbed foot.
“It’s okay. Sora always gets like this whenever he’s around a girl!” Goofy shrugged and made an exaggerated sigh.
“Aw, cut it out! Can’t you guys forget stuff like that?!” Scowling, Sora turned to them.
“Too bad. Good friends don’t forget the good stuff!” Donald grinned.
“C’mon, guys…” Sora pouted. Then, he heard laughter.
Behind him, Naminé was quietly laughing.
“There! Just like that,” said Sora.
“Huh?” She looked confused now.
“That’s the Naminé I remember! It made me really happy when you smiled. I guess that was only in my fake memories, but…that feeling is real now.”
“Thanks.” She smiled again sweetly.
Getting bashful, Sora turned back to the others and held the Keyblade high. “Okay. Let’s go!”
“Oh, boy! I can’t wait to get our memories back!” Donald jumped.
“If Marluxia is gonna be there, maybe you’d better stay down here, Naminé,” said Goofy.
“Yeah.” Sora nodded. “And will you look after Riku? We’ll come get you when it’s over.”
“Okay,” Naminé agreed.
Jiminy Cricket hopped back into his place in Sora’s pocket.
“All right. Here we go!” Donald ran ahead, waving his wand. Goofy and Sora followed.
“Please be careful, Sora,” Naminé called after him.
He looked back at her. “I’ll be okay—I promise!”
“…If you promise, Sora!”
He gave her a grin and ran up the stairs, holding up the card.
Through the door, a world of strange, bright colors opened up before them.
Donald glanced around and then cocked his head. “Wak! We’ve been here before!”
“I get that feeling, too,” said Sora. The floor felt squishy and unsteady, and Heartless were creeping toward them.
“Thundaga!” With a blast of Donald’s magic, the Heartless vanished all at once. He puffed his chest out. “Heh. That takes care of that!”
“Let’s keep going!” Goofy ran to the next door. The other two were close behind him.
This time, it was a bright sandy beach with a blue ocean washing against it.
“Ahyuck? Gee, I’ve never been to this place.” Goofy stopped short at the entrance.
Up the beach, palm trees swayed in the breeze.
“This…is our island,” Sora murmured.
“Er…what was it called again?” said Donald.
Sora looked sad as he replied, “Destiny Island.”
“Looks like a nice place…,” Goofy said cheerfully. “But we never came here together.”
“Then that means…we’re probably just wandering around in my memories.”
The room before and then this room. Both different worlds. So this floor was made up of a bunch of different worlds jumbled together.
“So we finally get to see your home, Sora!” Donald started to run down the beach.
Sora watched him a moment and took the good luck charm out of his pocket.
It had been a pendant made from a paopu fruit. But now it was different, something made from seashells. And yet the one he remembered Naminé giving him was definitely a paopu fruit…
Goofy peered at the pendant in Sora’s hand. “Huh. Did that lucky charm always look like that?”
“I’m not sure.”
When Sora closed his eyes, the red-haired girl’s face came to him. That girl…the one whose name I can’t remember.
“Who was it? Who’s the most special to me? ……Nothing.” Sora sighed heavily.
“Ya can’t remember?” Goofy asked him anxiously.
“No. I only remember Naminé… Even though it must’ve been the other girl who gave me this. But I can’t remember her.”
Donald came closer, splashing through the shallow waves. “What’s the matter?” he asked, though he seemed to be enjoying himself.
“C’mon, do you guys remember anything at all?” said Sora, practically begging.
“Umm…” Donald frowned, concentrating, then he hung his head. “Nope. Sorry, Sora.”
“We’re supposed to be lookin’ for a friend who’s real important to us, too,” Goofy added. “But I just can’t remember.”
“Oh…”
There are memories Donald and Goofy lost, too…the memories of our friends. The important things we came to find.
“Actually, I’m getting kinda scared,” Donald admitted very quietly. The sound of the waves rushed on between them in the stillness.
“Then, we really should make a promise!” said Goofy, trying to break the dismal mood.
“Huh?” Sora looked up.
“What you said back there, it kinda got my brain a-thinkin’. When you make a promise, and you decide you’re gonna keep it no matter what…maybe it gives you the courage to face the scary stuff!”
“Courage…?” Sora mumbled.
My promise to Naminé… My promise to that girl… I made it this far because I’ve been trying to keep my promise.
“Yeah! Good thinkin’!” said Donald with a jump. “But what should we promise?”
“Ahyuck. That’s easy! Even if we get scared, or we’re in trouble, or even if we get split up… Or even if we sorta forget each other…” Smiling, Goofy held out his hand.
Looking up at him, Sora nodded and put his hand over Goofy’s. “Whatever happens, we’re friends.”
Donald added his hand, too. “All for one and one for all!”
No matter what happens…even if we get separated, even if we can never see each other again…we’re friends forever.
“Even if one of us gets lost… So the three of us will always be together.”
“Huh?” Sora heard that voice from somewhere. He looked around—but there was no one else to be seen besides Donald and Goofy.
Maybe it was just the waves…
The blue sea lapped at the shore.
“What’s wrong, Sora?” asked Donald.
“It’s nothing. C’mon, guys, let’s go!” Sora ran across the beach.
Back in the hall, Naminé softly sat down beside Riku, who was still lying on the floor, and touched his hair.
A fake Riku made by us, the fakes…
His memories written and rewritten so many times. A poor puppet only made to be used.
Maybe we’re still better off compared to him…
“Naminé.”
She looked up. “…Marluxia.”
It was him—the one in charge of Castle Oblivion.
“Come along, Naminé.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.
“But—but Riku…”
“Don’t you worry about that worthless puppet.” Marluxia barely glanced at Riku before leaving, still holding Naminé by the arm.
The trio went farther, easily fighting their way through the Heartless that appeared. The next room was the deck of a ship and the one after that a forest of big green lily pads—all definitely worlds that they had visited inside the castle.
But the memories of those places were faded and vague. They could hardly remember at all.
All they knew was that in each place, they’d made friends. And even if they lost those memories, their friends would still be their friends.
Just knowing that made it all right. They could keep going.
“Hyah!” Sora swung the Keyblade down on a Heartless.
It’s okay—my friends are still here, even though I’m losing my memories. That’s why we’ll be all right.
Marluxia walked up through the stories, dragging Naminé with him. There was the big room that served as the entrance hall to the twelfth floor.
She’d left her sketchbook in the room with the crystal ball. She closed her eyes and imagined a scene.
I wonder where Sora is now?
All the worlds inside Castle Oblivion—I lost control of them and they’re getting jumbled together. I hope he doesn’t get lost…
But if he isn’t lost, then he has to be coming to this hall soon… The thought made Naminé’s face cloud over with worry. And if he can’t defeat Marluxia, he won’t be able to get his real memories back…
“How’ve you been, Marluxia?”
Hearing the new voice, Naminé opened her eyes again. Axel stood there smirking.
“You have some nerve to show your treasonous face around here.” Marluxia let go of Naminé to give him a deadly glare. “Some nerve!”
“Treasonous? Whatever do you mean?” Axel replied breezily.
“Why would you let Naminé go?! If it weren’t for you and your needless meddling, the Keyblade master would already be ours to command!” Marluxia shook a fist at him.
“Oh, right, your big plan. Use Naminé’s powers to rewrite Sora’s memories little by little and make him into Naminé’s lapdog, so you’re controlling Sora through her. And then, along with Larxene, you take over the organization. Am I right? I’ve got news for you, Marluxia—that makes you the traitor.”
Just as Axel said, Marluxia had been scheming to betray the organization.
Organization XIII. A bunch of Nobodies.
“But you—you destroyed Vexen!” cried Marluxia, flinging his arm out in a wild gesture.
“Yeah, I got rid of him. What about it? All I did was eliminate one of us who failed to serve the organization’s purpose. Oh, and I had to make you trust me.”
Axel grinned, but his eyes glinted with a viciously cold light.
“So, this whole time, your only goal was to gain proof of our plot… Is that it, then?” Marluxia sounded resigned.
“Well…you did give that order yourself. ‘You must eliminate the traitor.’” Axel spread his arms—and then, in each hand, he held a round spiked chakram. “And I always follow orders, Marluxia.”
“Hmph. If only that were true,” Marluxia sniffed.
“Larxene paid the price for her disloyalty. And so will you. In the name of the organization, I will annihilate you.”
“You can try!” Marluxia snarled and took Naminé by the arm once more, dragging her in front of him.
“Is that your shield? Won’t do you much good. I don’t mind eliminating her as well.” Axel brandished his chakrams. “Ready for real oblivion, Marluxia?”
“Hmph… We’ll see about that. Are you listening, Sora?”
Naminé stood taller, trying to see—and it was Sora and his friends who came dashing in.
“Oh?” Axel lowered his weapons.
“Axel says he’s willing to harm Naminé to get to me,” Marluxia shouted. “But you won’t let that happen, will you?!”
“…Axel!” Holding the Keyblade ready, Sora glared.
“Oh, come on now. You’re Marluxia’s puppet already?” Axel turned to face him, unhurried, with a mocking shrug.
“You think so? After I finish you, he’s next!”
“Heh… Look, Sora, we’ve got more of a connection than you might think. I’d rather not fight you, but…I can’t let myself look bad here!”
Axel raised his chakrams again and leaped into the air, and Sora blocked his strike with the Keyblade.
“Blizzaga!” Donald flung a spell at him, but Axel jumped back to avoid the blast of ice by a hair’s breadth.
“Why don’t you just take care of one another, then…” Still holding Naminé, Marluxia disappeared with her.
Axel raised one eyebrow. “Tch… He got away. —Well, Sora, let’s see what you can do!”
He moved toward Sora in slow, even steps, as if trying to lure him to rush in.
“You don’t have to tell me!” Sora jumped up. Behind him, Donald had his wand ready.
The impact clanged through the Keyblade up Sora’s arms.
“Hmm? Is that all?” Axel knocked him aside.
“Here goes!” Spinning around, Goofy moved in.
“Oh, you’ll burn!” Axel shot out flames, and a wall of fire rushed toward Goofy.
Donald was there to counter it. “Blizzaga!” Great chunks of ice launched at the wall of fire—but didn’t douse it.
“Aaah-hoooey! Ow-ow-ow!” The fire seemed to chase Goofy around.
“Donald! You help Goofy!” Sora shouted and hurtled through the flames to get in range of Axel.
“You’ve got a ways to go…” Blocking Sora’s attack, Axel gave him a cocky grin. “It’s funny. You really have nothing on him.”
“Him…?” Sora echoed.
Axel pushed him aside and laughed. “There’s plenty more up my sleeves for you! Take this!”
The chakrams were wreathed in fire as he flung them at the trio.
“I know! Donald!” Sora ran to him and whispered in his ear.
“Wak?”
“We did it when we beat Vexen, didn’t we?” Sora raised the Keyblade high. “Here goes, Donald!”
“All right!”
Sora threw the Keyblade like a boomerang.
“Blizzaga!” Donald flung the spell at the spinning Keyblade, surrounding it in ice crystals.
“Ya-hoooey! Here I come!” Goofy hurled himself after the Keyblade.
“Oh?” Axel held the chakrams ready out in front of him to block, but the ice-covered Keyblade spun and knocked them from his hands. In the next instant, Goofy was there to crash into him with his shield.
“…Ngh!”
“Axel—!” The Keyblade returned to his grasp and Sora jumped at him.
Stunned by the blow, Axel fell to his knees. “…Not so bad after all.”
“We did it!” Donald pounced on Sora.
“Well, you’re better than I thought. It was worth saving you after all.” Axel smirked even as he slumped to the floor.
“Saving me? What d’you mean?”
“Sorry, I’d hate to kill the suspense.”
“Axel!” Sora shouted, but he was already fading—though the smile on his face didn’t.
Then Axel was gone, leaving only a single card behind.
“…Saving me?” Sora repeated as he picked up the card.
How did Axel save me?
What connection do I have with that guy?
And who else was he talking about?
Axel only kept saying things that made no sense…
“C’mon, let’s keep movin’,” said Goofy, while Sora was lost in thought.
“We gotta help Naminé!” Donald waved his wand around for emphasis.
“Oh. Right… We better go.”
I have to save Naminé…and get my memories back.
The image on the card was this very castle itself. Sora climbed the stairs and held the card up to the door.