2Those two events symbolized a lot for everyone involved in that battle. For the group of friends—plus Demyx and Axel—it was a sign that they were losing…terribly. For Lionel, it was a sign that he was winning. For four certain Nobodies, Nori's precarious situation was the beginning of the plan.
Xemnas suddenly suggested, "Let's go across and finish them off. Vexen, you know what to do. Number III, stay here and guard Sora. We wouldn't want that denizen of light to escape again."
"How shall we get across?" Lionel wondered, knowing he couldn't jump across the canyon.
"Leave this to us, Sir," Vexen stated. Holding his hands out in front of him, he began using his ice powers to build a bridge across the Bottomless Pits of Doom.
At first, the friends didn't notice it. They were preoccupied by saving Nori. All three of them tried to attack Zexion from the back at once, but he instantly had Vexen's shield in his free hand. Their attacks were completely worthless. Axel was the one who actually saw the quickly growing ice bridge. He rushed to the edge of the canyon and, forming his chackrams in his hands, began to throw balls of fire at the bridge to stop it.
Demyx hurried after him, noting, "Oh, so now you're helping."
"Yeah, well if they get over here, we're all dead," Axel responded, throwing another flame.
Warren realized what was happening, so he stopped worthlessly attacking Zexion to help stop the bridge from growing. By that time, it was a quarter of the way across the canyon (since a few fireballs from Axel couldn't hold it off entirely). With Warren around, the two of their powers could bring the bridge to a virtual standstill. Vexen just put a little more effort into it, and was overcoming their power again.
Demyx stood there, head turned to the side. It was obvious he was thinking of an idea, but it wasn't fully developed yet. Slightly added into that idea was what he knew of Xemnas's plan. One could easily tell when he finally figured out how everything would work. Immediately afterwards, he shot up a geyser of water from the ice bridge.
Axel noticed and barely mentioned, "Thanks," thinking it had been a hot geyser like before. Then, he realized the water was not melting the ice bridge, but instead, making it grow even faster—especially with an added cold breeze from Xaldin. Sarcastically, Axel continued, "Way to go."
"No, you don't understand," Demyx explained. Quietly, he whispered his plan into Axel's ear, explaining why he'd made the bridge grow faster, and what he thought Xemnas's plan might be. Then, he stepped back and finished, "But you can't let them know you know. Keep pretending like you're putting up a fight, all right?"
Axel seemed confused, but he did halfheartedly continue melting away the ice bridge. Warren had no idea what the plan had been, but he still lessened his force a little. Demyx spent the whole time staring across the canyon to Xemnas, looking for a signal as to when to begin. Xemnas seemed slightly confused by Demyx's actions, but, understanding, Vexen smiled. When Xemnas saw Vexen smile, he understood too.
When the bridge was only a couple feet from the edge of the canyon, Lionel brushed past Xemnas, beginning to cross to the other side. Nori looked up nervously at the approaching end. Kairi and Chiyo stopped to look too. After all, Axel or Warren were the only ones who could stop him from coming across, and neither were doing anything.
Warren too was beginning to get nervous, wondering, "What are we doing?"
Axel just stared at Lionel as he drew ever nearer.
As Lionel approached the halfway point, Demyx suggested, "Now Axel."
Still Axel just watched as if he were part of a staring contest.
A moment later, Zexion shouted, "Now Axel!"
Everyone looked to Zexion in shock, including Lionel, but not Axel. Taking Zexion's advice, he quickly built a wall of fire under the bridge. Lionel desperately looked beneath him as the ice began to crack, but from the middle of the canyon, he couldn't get to either side quick enough to escape his tragic fate. The ice broke, and Lionel fell into the Bottomless Pits of Doom.
Kairi and Chiyo raced to the edge to watch him fall, still in disbelief that it had actually happened. Confused, Nori looked up at Zexion, but the Keyblade had disappeared from Zexion's hand. In fact, Zexion didn't appear to be threatening at all, so Nori crawled over to edge too. Lionel quickly faded into the darkness of a never ending fall.
Warren marched over to Zexion demanding, "What just happened?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Zexion responded, "We just helped you win."
"Yes, but what do you get from it? You couldn't have just done this from the kindness of your heart."
"Always the cynical one," Xemnas noted.
"That's why we're all still alive," Warren mentioned.
"In that case," Xemnas continued, "the kingdom."
"What?" Nori demanded, horrified.
"You have your lives, and your precious Tia Dalma back," Xemnas explained, "but what do we get for years of putting up with that man? If it doesn't happen this way, nothing. Not even a slight thank you for being the ones to actually have killed him. You don't want to be king anyways. This way, you can have the light…you can have the glory. All we ask back is to take the position of the man we destroyed. It's not too much to ask is it?"
Nori thought for a very long time before eventually Warren suggested, "Let it go Nori. We can't beat them now. If we need to, we'll do it later."
Zexion formed a portal to their home behind the friends, and Warren turned to walk through it when suddenly Kairi remembered, "What about Roxas?"
"That's right," Nori agreed. "You give him back!"
Warren countered, "Keep him."
Horrified, and surprised, the whole group turned to Warren, so he explained, "You're the only ones who know how to fix him anyways. If you want the kingdom, put him back together, and then let him choose. Let that be your test, to see if you're worthy to rule this land."
The whole organization exchanged glances long enough for Xemnas to agree, "You have a deal," forming his own portal. "Now we go our separate ways." He grabbed a semi-conscious Sora from the ground by his arm and exited the scene.
The group of friends called after them, "Wait! Sora!" It was too late, however; they were gone. Then, all of them glared to Axel and Demyx, who just shrugged and followed Zexion's gesture to another portal.
"Let's go home," Warren suggested, picking Nehemiah up in his arms and heading toward their portal. "We've got a new adventure to plan."
"What now?" Axel demanded, as they found themselves in the meeting room, surrounded by all the remaining members of Organization XIII.
Xemnas simply smiled. "So what did you think?"
"Evil joke," Axel responded, crossing his arms in frustration.
"I suppose we'll have to let you live…Too many of us have died by now. However…I think that showed you enough what it means to cross us. Don't ever do it again. Got it memorized?"
Axel didn't answer, but he looked down, clearly apologetic, as Xemnas continued, "As for you Demyx…You knew the plan from the beginning, so that wasn't really a punishment, now was it? And as far as allowing to choose your own supervision…well, we see where that led. In which case, I decided to assign Lexaeus charge over you, and you the job of refilling Kingdom Hearts." Thus ended their brief meeting.
Axel mocked, "At least we're not dead right?"
Demyx just rolled his eyes.
Sora looked up in shock, suddenly finding himself in a completely empty white room. He immediately ran to the wall, trying to find a way out, but there didn't seem to be one. Frantically, he ran around to random sections of wall, almost like he had a small case of Closter phobia. He was surprisingly thankful to see a portal in the corner reveal Marluxia. Someone was better than nothing. At least, that's what he thought until he tried to summon his Keyblade and nothing happened. Sora fell to his knees, terrified.
Suddenly, he began pleading, "L-let me go. Please."
"Why should we?" Marluxia questioned with a laugh. "You're the one boy we've always wanted to capture…We let you go, and all our plans are just washed away." He gestured to the side.
After thinking for a while, Sora scooted closer to Marluxia, still on his knees, and stated, "I have something to exchange." Out of his pocket, he pulled the jar of Saix, handing it to Marluxia who examined it for quite some time. "All five of them," Sora added.
"Where did you get this?" Marluxia questioned.
Just like that, Sora was set free, in a random city street someplace in Fiction-Land he had never visited before. Marluxia must have just figured they could catch him again some other time, especially if they could find a way to bring back the five lost members using their remains. By that point, Sora didn't care what they did with the five jars. He just wanted to be home. Unexpectedly, he had the sensation that someone was following him. He turned around to look behind him but saw nothing. The feeling continued for almost a minute before Eris appeared before him.
"Come with me," she ordered smoothly, grabbing his arm.
"What?" He demanded, clearly confused as he tried to shake her off, "Why?"
"Where are my five jars?" She answered with a smile that meant, I can't believe you didn't remember.
"Nuh-uh," Sora said dumbly as he finally realized why she was there, "you gave those to me! I was going to leave them there."
"So you don't want to come back then? Then, you owe me five bodies," she mentioned, stroking his chin. "And just so you won't forget…" She held out one finger, and Sora's body returned to the awkward stage from the year before, clothes and all. Smiling as he looked down in confusion, she finished, "Bring me my bodies."
Somewhere clear across Fiction-Land, a giant claw reached out of a deep, dark canyon.
THE END!
Don't worry, there will be a sequel. :)