Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Xion glances at the words in the corner of the world, and then back at the yellow-hair person who is Roxas. The words are something █▌already knew this time.

"Let's go," Roxas says, and then he starts walking off. Xion follows.

Then, things appear in flashes of light, and Xion narrows █▌eyes and reaches for █▌weapon.

Xion's weapon doesn't appear in █▌hand, and the weapon Roxas is holding looks like Xion's weapon, but that's not important, because Xion has to fight. █▌remembers the thing █▌uses for fighting that isn't the weapon is magic, so █▌holds out █▌hand and shouts "Fire!" and something warm and strong flows through █▌arm and surges forward into one of the things the words called Heartless in a flash, and that Heartless burns up, and Xion steps to the side to let one of the Heartless's attacks fly past▐█, and then █▌pulls on █▌power again and says "Fire!" again, and magic shoots out and burns up another Heartless, and the last Heartless explodes as Roxas hits it with his weapon again, and all that's left of the Heartless is some black mist and a pink thing floating into the sky.

A pink Heart floating into the sky, apparently. The words know a lot.

When Xion looks away from the words and the disappearing Heart, and back to Roxas, █▌notices that Roxas is staring at▐█. █▌wonders why… There's not anything very interesting about▐█.

Then, Roxas turns away and starts walking off the yellow onto the red between the buildings.

Xion follows. █▌wonders why the ground here is yellow and red, instead of white and grey like in the Castle? There's other colors too, here, like brown and pink and green, that aren't in the Castle except for on the people in it sometimes. Xion thinks it would be nicer if all these colors were in the castle too, cause if the words didn't tell █▌things about where █▌was supposed to go, █▌would probably get lost a lot, cause everything looks the same. Maybe █▌could—

Xion's eyes narrow, and █▌looks at where the words are pointing, and sees more of the short Heartless and another flower Heartless. █▌gathers up power again, more than before, and shout "Fire!" and █▌swings her hand and spins the power around █▌like a glowing ring as █▌leaps into the middle of the Heartless and the magic burns up one of them and sets the other two on fire before it goes away, and then █▌goes to swing at the little one that's still there, and then █▌remembers █▌doesn't have █▌weapon, so █▌just hits it with █▌hand instead, which hurts, and then █▌jumps back again. █▌feels kinda tired already, even though it hasn't been much time…

Oh, Xion's running out of magic. Already. █▌leans to the side to let more of the flower Heartless's green ball thing go past, and think about doing more magic, but then █▌doesn't. █▌knows in The Fight █▌used a lot more, but █▌doesn't have █▌weapon either… and how is █▌supposed to hit things, when █▌doesn't have █▌weapon and hitting with █▌hand hurts?

Xion frowns. The words not knowing something is weird, but they're probably right about that, but how is █▌supposed to fight if using magic is harder than it should be and █▌can't hit things?

Xion looks at what the words are pointing at this time, ducking one of the little Heartless charging without thinking about it, and looking at it makes █▌frown even more than █▌was before, even though █▌doesn't know why, but █▌sees what the words mean, so █▌dives for the piece of wood and snatches it up from the ground in the middle of █▌roll, and then █▌spins and hits the only little Heartless that's left, which sends it flying but doesn't hurt it, but it does make the thing so Xion can pull magic out of it, and █▌feels a little less tired. Then, Roxas hits that Heartless with his weapon and it explodes into another Heart, which is a bit of a shame since that means Xion won't be able to get more magic from it, but there'll be more later, so it's fine.

And Roxas stares at █▌again. █▌wonders why he keeps doing that?

Xion thinks back to the bits▐█'s seen of Roxas swinging his weapon, and █▌understand why the words say that.

"…Why do you have a stick?" Roxas asks.

Xion tilts █▌head.▐█… doesn't know how to talk. Fighting's the only thing █▌knows how to do, really…

…Ah, █▌supposes that █▌does, so maybe █▌actually does know… █▌opens █▌mouth. "…Ma-gic," █▌says, and █▌thinks █▌has the words mostly right.

"You were doing magic before, though," Roxas says. He's still staring pretty hard.

"…To… get magic back," █▌says, and the words are easier than they were before.

Xion smiles. █▌likes when the words say▐█'s good.

Roxas blinks a few times and then looks down at his weapon. "How does a stick help get magic back, though?"

Xion shrugs. █▌says, "Recover magic more quickly by hitting things," cause that's what the words told ▐█.

"…Huh," Roxas says. He looks down at his weapon in his hand, frowning. Then he looks back up, and turns back to the way he was leading █▌before. "Let's go."

Xion does. █▌follows Roxas's lead.

The fight against the Heartless that Xion and Roxas were actually sent out to kill doesn't end up being that hard, since even though Xion's way slower than █▌was in The Fight, the poison flower Heartless is even slower, and fire is also really strong against it, and Xion only has to push Roxas out of the way of a few green balls that would've hit him before the Heartless explodes into a Heart like all the others Roxas kills.

"You're good at this," Roxas says as the Heart fades away in the air above them. His voice sounds… odd. Xion feels like █▌should do something.

"…You're strong," Xion says after a moment, though █▌doesn't really understand why the words think it'll help. "Just need practice."

And then Roxas smiles, instead of frowning like he was, and Xion is thankful for the millionth time that the words are there to help▐█. "Thanks, Xion," he says in a more normal voice.

Xion nods. █▌feels like █▌did another good thing.

When █▌gets to the portal thing that goes back to the Castle, Roxas stops and looks over at Xion.

"…Go ahead and RTC without me," Roxas says quietly. "I've got someplace to be."

Xion looks at him for a moment. █▌wonders what he's doing, if he has another mission…? But █▌guesses it's not something █▌should worry about. So, █▌nods, and start walking towards the portal thing again.

▐█'ll see him tomorrow anyway.

When she wakes up the next day, Xion knows something's different. She doesn't know what's different, but there's this… feeling, inside her, like something's shifted. Lying on her bed staring at the ceiling hasn't helped her figure out what it is, though…

Xion nods. The words are right, she is supposed to go to that grey place every day. So, she sits up, swings her legs over the edge of the bed, stands up, grabs her stick off the table, and walks out of the room.

Xion nods again. She knew that one, but the directions are nice to have.

A few hallways in, Xion passes a wiggly thing

a Dusk using some things on a stick to hit the ground kind of, and she doesn't understand what they're doing, but they're doing whatever it is with a stick, so they must be dedicated. She nods at them, and hopes both she and they will have their own weapons soon.

Xion doesn't really know what cleaning is, since it's not fighting and fighting is the only thing she knows how to do, but she nods at the words anyway, cause they're usually right.

The Castle is just as boring as usual the rest of the way there, and Xion thinks she would have gotten lost at least twice without the words helping her, and then Xion walks out into the grey place, and most of the usual colors are there, but not all of them. She looks up at the words, hoping they know what changed.

Well, Xion doesn't know where Castle Oblivion is, but that mostly explains things. She nods, and then walks over to blue

Saïx, and waits for him to tell her what to do.

"Xion," Saïx says. Xion looks over at him. "Why do you have a stick?"

"Magic comes back faster by hitting things," she says, and immediately regrets it, because Saïx's unhappy face gets mean, and Xion suddenly feels cold.

"Are you not one of the keyblade's chosen?" he asks, and it doesn't sound like a normal question, it sounds worse somehow. "Or was your recruitment a waste?"

Xion takes half a step back. "I-I'm good at fighting," she says shakily. She can't look away from Saïx's glaring eyes.

"Drop the stick," Saïx orders.

Xion does, and it clatters on the ground.

"Now, summon your keyblade."

Xion reaches out for her weapon, and light flashes in her hand, but her weapon doesn't come.

She tries again. It's always been easy, except it isn't now, and her weapon isn't there. She steps back.

"Now, Number Fourteen," Saïx says in an angry voice.

This is bad, this is bad! Xion can fight without her weapon, but whatever this is isn't fighting, and she can't do this without it, but it won't come! She needs her weapon to come! She needs it to come or she might lose! She might get hurt, oh no what if Saïx attacks her, can she fight him off without her weapon, she might die!

Xion reaches out again, eyes shut tight, wishing desperately for her weapon to answer her call.

And then there's a weight in Xion's hand.

Xion opens her eyes. In her hand, pointed at Saïx's head, is her weapon. It looks just like it should, and just like Roxas's does, and it makes her feel strong. She looks around the rest of the room, at the pale hair and the brown hair, and she doesn't know how they fight, but she's sure she could at least hold them off long enough—

Saïx moves, and Xion steps to the side and brings her weapon to catch whatever he's swinging at her—

He nods. "Good. Now wait for your mission." And then he looks away from her, back to the door, like he's ignoring her.
Xion realizes that she's breathing hard. She still feels cold.

Xion nods quietly. She wants to shut her eyes, and curl up on the ground, but then she wouldn't be safe. She brings her weapon back, and grabs the handle with her other hand, so she can block stronger stuff, and she backs up towards the window so nobody can get behind her.

Xion leans back on the window. She hopes she won't have to wait here much longer. She wishes she knew how to do the portal thing. She wishes she could leave.

She's shivering.