Nexumair's True Face

Well, here it is everyone. The last chapter before the sequel to this story. I also want to thank those who reviewed! I apologize in advance for the length.

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8:43 A.M The next day

A hoard of Dusks stood atop the walls of the Great Maw. The white creatures were looking down at the Brawler Nobodies that walked in and out of the canyon. A whoosh of darkness appeared behind them, followed by another one.

"Ah, Radiant" said Vexen. "It has been a long time hasn't it?" he said with nostalgia.

"Why are you acting like that?" asked Larxene. She looked at the place with barely disguised boredom. "First of all, we have no emotions. How can you feel sadness at seeing your homeland if you can't feel it in the first place? Second of all, there isn't anything great about this dump."

Vexen frowned at her. "And there is nothing great about insulting your elders and seniors either" he said. He walked over to the edge of the cliff and looked down at Villain's Vale. "Today we crash Xavier's little party" he said. "And Kingdom Hearts is ours." He looked Larxene. "How do you feel?" he asked. "Now that our goal is inches from our grasp?"

Larxene shrugged. "As much as I can feel anything, I feel good." She pointed at the ruined castle. "I can sense about a hundred different people there. I think after the mission is over, then I might play with a few of them."

"You never know" said Vexen. "Your Other could have been a wondrously charitable woman who would be horrified by your actions."

Larxene put her hands on her hips and looked at him. "Now, do you really believe that?" she asked the Chilly Academic. He sighed.

"Not a word" he finally said.

Larxene laughed and teleported to another location. Vexen smiled a little himself and teleported after her.

They reappeared at the Dark Depths, a cliff directly overlooking the Vale. Vexen pointed. "And there's Sora and his friends" he said, looking at the threesome walk into up to the Vale. "I think that they'll be a perfect match for the Flamboyant Brawler."

"More than a match" Larxene said. "They managed to kill all twelve of us last time, remember?"

"Hmmm…" said Vexen. Then he looked at the Savage Nymph. "I will not report your drunken behavior last night to the Superior. Had you actually killed Sora, then you would be begging to return to the darkness. Sora is our warrior, as he was last time. Ironic isn't it? We needed him to get Kingdom Hearts for us last time, and now we need him again to get it for us. Except this time, in another way."

Larxene giggled. "I can't wait to see the look on Xavier's ugly face when those three come bursting in on him!"

Tine wandered around her room. It was going to be hard to escape, she thought. The door was locked from the outside and she didn't want to break it down, for fear of being heard. There were people in the hallway outside, guarding the exit. "Jeez" Tine said. She hadn't slept a wink last night, she was too busy plotting to escape.

"This is terrible!" Pete said his head in his hands. "What am I gonna do?! I can't leave Maleficent to them!"

"That's really kind of the only way to do it" said Xavier. He was sitting next to Lain and Ernie. The four were in the section of the castle that Xavier had converted into a bar. He called it Bar Sec, short for Bar Section. "You could always stay here. I could use someone like you for messages.

Pete puffed himself up and said in what he thought was his most noble voice: "I'm sorry, but I have already chosen my allegiance."

Lain shrugged. "Well, we can't keep you here forever. Maleficent has to find a way to get out of the grasp of those Nobodies. And she better do it soon, or we'll take Tine for ourselves. Think about how useful she would be if she was in our group!" she said to Xavier. "She could wipe out those stupid Bastion Knights!"

"True" Xavier agreed. "I might have to put some thought into that."

"No!" said Pete, but they both ignored him. "Oh, why is this happening?" he groaned.

Xavier laughed at this and swallowed his drink. "Sorry, man. But I'm not really on anyone's side. As long as I'm paid, I'm happy. I think the only side, I'm flat out against is the Organization, and that's a personal matter."

Pete sighed in dejection. This was all turning out to be a nightmare. He wondered suddenly if he was dreaming all of this. Maybe they were still on the date of the awakening of Roman Numeral Thirteen. Maybe this dream was a warning about not tampering with things that were beyond his understanding.

"Xavier!" said Zane. The little boy was the only one of them that actually seemed human, Pete thought. He realized that Zane was Xavier's adopted son. And it was as if Lain was his "adopted" wife. He didn't have either, but he could pretend. It was probably a Nobody thing.

But right now Zane didn't look happy, or cute. He was panting and he looked terrified. "Xavier! The Keyblade Master! He's here!"

Xavier spit out his drink. All around the bar there were curses and shouts of surprise.

"The Keyblade runt is here?!"

"What's this mean?"

"Has he brought those damned Knights?"

Xavier held up his hands for silence. "What the Keyblade Master is doing here, is not a concern. And, for that matter, neither are the Bastion Knights. They are a foolish bunch that think they can storm the Vale. As long as I am in command, none will break in here!" Xavier wasn't going to allow anything to happen to his group. They were the ones who made him feel like he was…human, not an emotionless shell. He looked at Zane. "Now, Zane. Where is this boy?"

"He's at the Gate" he said. "He and his two friends beat off all the Brawlers!"

Xavier frowned. He didn't like to have to replenish his personal guard of Nobodies. It attracted attention from the darkness and might bring a host of Organization members down on his group. If the Bastion Knights were dangerous to the human bandits, then a member of Organization XIII would be a disaster. They would stand no chance. "Okay people" he said. "I want you to form an attack position. If the Keyblade Master and his lackeys get into the castle itself…kill them." He put his hands on Lain's shoulders. "Lain baby…I want you to lead them."

"Definitely" she said. "I'm not going to let them crash our party." She gestured to a group of men and women. "Get ready guys! Let's give them a fight to remember!"

Sora looked around at Villain's Vale. On the inside, the place was creepy and dark. It wasn't very well lit, and slime dripped on the walls.

"Kinda spooky, isn't it?" asked Goofy.

"Yeah it is" Sora said. He was still getting used to wielding King Mickey's Keyblade. They had come close to being killed by Xavier's Nobodies. Sora now understood that the rumors of Xavier's nature were all too true.

"Hey you! Stop!" said a man with a large ax. He whirled the weapon at Sora. Sora ducked under it and hit the man in the stomach with the Keyblade. He smashed the man in the head with it before he could recover. But the guy kept coming!

"What the---?" Sora asked. Goofy threw his shield and it hit the man, making him go down. He groaned and fell.

"Oh, great" Sora said.

"What is it Sora?" Donald asked. The duck cast a sleeping spell on the man just to make sure that he didn't wake up.

"Is it the Keyblade?" asked Goofy.

"This damn Keyblade" Sora said. "It doesn't have any finishing moves. It just beats people up. It doesn't even come close to killing them. I need my Keyblade back, and fast."

There was no more time for conversation, because more of the bandits were coming up to attack them.

"Blind!" Donald called. Soon thin streams of dark energy flew onto the men who were crowding the entrance way. There were screams of fear as people wandered around, trying to find the intruders. Sora and his team snuck past them as quietly as they could.

Tine looked out of her prison door. She could see through the keyhole that there were no longer any guards in the hall. The ones that were there had run off, shouldering weapons to attack some kind of problem at the main gate. Then she gasped. She felt the distinct scent of Sora's aura. "Oh crap" Tine said. Now she knew she had to escape. If the Keyblade Master found her then she was buttered toast. "Hmmm…if I can just find a way to pry this door off its hinges…" she said to herself. Suddenly, she felt a Dark Corridor open. She whirled to see Xavier, Zane, Ernie, Fate, and Pete step out of it.

"Just where do you think you're going?" Pete asked. He stepped toward Tine. "You can't get away from us." He smiled arrogantly.

"Just what he said" said Xavier. "Now, see we've got a little problem. The thing is that the Keyblade Master is breaking in here as we speak. I could take care of the little brat, but I don't really feel like it right now. It's kind of funny. Well, as much as anything could be funny to something like me. Instead, I want you to fight him and kill him."

"Boss" said Fate. "The Keyblade Master's just reached the Mid-Level where the bar is."

"See?" Xavier said. "He's wreaking havoc with my men."

"I won't fight him" Tine said. "I won't fight him again. I made a…well, I didn't make a promise, but I'm going to try not to fight any more Keybladers. If I go against Sora then my instinct will rise up to kill more of them, and I might kill…him."

"Aw, you're afraid you'll kill your sweetheart?" Ernie snarled in a nasty, mocking voice. He was still in a rage at the experiment for breaking his arm in front of the boss. "Well that's too bad! You'll do what we say, when we say it! Got it?!"

"Don't be too tough Ernie" said Xavier. I think that---" suddenly, his voice broke off. "No…" he said.

"What is it?" asked Zane worriedly.

"It's them" Xavier said. "I can sense them! It's the Bastion Knights! That little brat has brought them to our damn door!"

On the edge of the Dark Depths, an army of Bastion Knights stood, Nexumair and Tifa at their head. "Targets sighted" said one of them, saluting and pointing at Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "What are the orders, sir?"

Nexumair's six swords were strapped across his back in their scabbards. One of them was drawn and he leaned on it, thinking. His green eyes were cold and grim. "These are the orders: protect the Keyblade Master and the duck and dog things. Find and capture these two people: a girl with red hair and any Heartless insignia, and a nineteen year old with blue hair with a feather braided into it."

"What about the rest?" asked the Knight. "Bandits, their wives, children?"

Nexumair gave a small smile. "Oh, the rest? Eliminate them. Don't let any of them escape alive. Is that clear?"

The whole group, including Tifa, saluted that it was clear. "Excellent" said Nexumair. "Then, attack!" the Knights surged down the hill toward the hideout of Xavier's Flyers.

Sora slammed a woman with a mace over the head with Mickey's Keyblade. The stumbled and groaned but didn't fall. It took a thunder spell from Donald to knock her out. This was pathetic, he thought. He was relying on Donald and Goofy to protect him. They had worked out a rough strategy in the heat of battle. Sora would injure a bandit, or several at the same time. Then Goofy or Donald would take them out. Goofy was hit in the back with a sword. He stumbled forward.

"Heal!" Sora screamed and Goofy's wounds were healed. They were fighting in a closely knit group of three in a bar like place in the castle. Glass mugs crashed around Sora and the others. A group of little girls cowered under the bar. Goofy whirled around, knocking people into walls and through windows. A flare spell from Donald obliterated the opposition in front of the exit. Sora kicked in the wooden doors. Children, boys and girls ran screaming before the three warriors whom the assumed were coming to kill them and their parents.

"Where's Xavier!" Donald yelled. The defeated bandits mutely pointed up the stairs. This wasn't a betrayal of their leader, they knew. He could easily dispatch these ignorant fools.

"Thanks!" Goofy said. "We've gotta watch for danger Sora. Xavier's a powerful Nobody."

"He'd have to be if he got into the Organization" agreed Donald.

"Right" said Sora. "But we've got to find him, and Tine." He smiled at his friends. "But this time, we'll deal with it together."

Xavier paced wildly around the room. "Ernie, Fate!" he called. "Go down to the gate with Lain and take care of the Knights. You should be fine." He looked at Pete. "Pete" he said, his voice serious. "I'm sorry about how I've treated you. Listen to me. I'm going to give you a very special job. I want you to take Zane and get out of here."

"Wha---you can't!" the boy yelled. "I'll fight with you against the Keyblade Master!"

"Take him, Pete" Xavier said. "Under the Vale, there's an underground system of caves that lead to the surface. Take him there, until I come and get you. I'll do that after I've kicked that little Keyblade squirt's ass. It'll probably be fine. Most likely it's just a few Knights who saw all the commotion and decided to be heroes. It's not like Captain Nexumair himself is there, right?"

"Who's he?" asked Pete.

Ernie shuddered. "He's a fourteen year old monster. He's a master swordsman. He's already earned the title of Captain of the Knights. It crazy. If he did come here, that would mean the end of the Flyers." Then he smiled evilly. "But let's not talk about stuff like that! Let's go kill us a few stupid law keepers!" he and Fate hurried to the Corridor that Xavier caused.

Tine saw her chance. "Sorry, but I'm out of here!" she cried as she lunged for the Portal. She immediately floated to the ceiling, and stuck there. "What the---?" she cried.

"Gravity, remember?" said Xavier. "Light as a feather. Now why don't you stay there until I---"

The door suddenly crashed down. When the smoke and splinters cleared, Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy stood there, weapons in hand, fierce expressions on their faces.

"Well, if it isn't the Keyblade Master!" cried Xavier. "Get going Pete" he muttered, and pointed the Corridor. It rippled for a moment and then resettled. "It's on its new path" Xavier said. "Now MOVE!!"

"Come on, kid!" Pete said and dragged Zane through the portal. It disappeared.

"Heh" said Xavier. "Now he won't get hurt."

"As if we would hurt children!" Sora said. "What kind of monsters do you think we are?!"

"I don't know" said Xavier. He looked up at the ceiling. "What kind of monsters, are they Tine?"

"Sora!" Tine called.

Sora and Donald and Goofy looked up to see the girl who had caused the Heartless attack on Radiant Garden, the one who had beat Sora to a bloody pulp, the one who had laughingly told them that she was going to kill them all. How different she looked now. It wasn't the clothes either. Tine's eyes looked different. There was no malice and hate in them. They were still wild and untamed, but it was a good wild and untamed look. I'll deal with you after I get him! was on Sora's tongue, but what came out instead after looking at those eyes was: "We'll save you! Don't worry; we just have to beat up this jerk first!"

Tine's mouth opened in surprise. "What did you say?" she asked Sora. But Sora and the others were concentrated on Xavier.

"So" said Xavier. "Before we fight, I have a question for you. What would you be willing to pay for this experiment? Something that would rival Maleficent's reward?"

"Pay you?" Donald asked. "Where would we get that amount of munny?"

Xavier waved his hands at them. "Oh please" he said. "Don't kid around when it come to munny, please! I know you two" he said pointing at Donald and Goofy, "are aristocrats from Disney Castle. Therefore you are automatically loaded. And you Sora, are the King's favorite pawn. He'll grant you any amount of money you grovel for."

Sora backed into the guard position. "We'll pay nothing!" he yelled. "You helped Maleficent, and you hurt my friend Riku! You'll pay for that!"

"It's all business, kid" said Xavier. Then he teleported from where he was, to right in front of Sora. He lashed out with his fist, but it was blocked on Goofy's shield. The metal dented in the shape of the Nobody's knuckles. Sora gulped.

"Take this!!" Sora yelled, he brought the Keyblade crashing down on Xavier's head. The Flamboyant Brawler blocked all of the blows with his hands, almost too fast to follow.

Donald was about to cast a Blind spell, but Xavier kicked him in the chest, knocking him into Tine's bed, smashing it to pieces.

"Waaagghhh!" Donald cried. He slumped, motionless, stars swirling around his head.

"Oh, nuts---" Sora said, but Xavier' s fists slammed into his stomach. It was like being barraged with thousands of meteors of pain. "Aaaahhhhhh!" Sora screamed. Blood gushed out of his mouth.

Xavier grabbed Sora by the hand and slammed him into the wall. "How 'bouts a little spin Keyblade Master" he said as he delivered the crippling blow. "Shouldn't hurt too mu---" he choked off in a bubble of pain and rage as Goofy smashed his face with his shield.

"Get your hands off Sora!" he cried.

"Oh, you think that that was bad?" Xavier said. "I wasn't getting serious yet." His body began to glow with silvery light. Sora began to feel as if his body beginning to slow down.

This could be a problem the Keyblade Master thought.

The battle between the bandits of Xavier's flyers and the Bastion Knights was raging back and fourth. Dead lay everywhere. Some were husbands and wives, and even children of the members of the group. The Knights even entered the children's section, killing all they could find. They had been ordered by Captain Nexumair to kill everyone except the intended targets, and that was what they were going to do.

"Damn it!" Ernie cried. "This is more than just a few Knights! This is a freaking army!"

"Stop talking and focus on fighting!" Fate said. The mage cast a Bio spell on a few Knights who were coming through a hole in the wall, and right in front of Ernie. Ernie rushed forward and cut them down. "See!" he said. "I am paying attention to fighting!"

A large amount of screams echoed as Lain swung her large ax. Her orange and black hair was matted with blood, most of it not hers. "Monsters!" she cried. "They're even trying to kill the children! I've had just about ENOUGH OF THIS!!!" she roared. She swung the ax toward another group of Knights---and was blocked by Tifa Lockhart's fists.

"Men! Disperse and find Xavier! I'll handle this officer of his!" Tifa called.

"I don't think so" snarled Lain. She swung the ax to chop off Tifa's head. The other woman ducked and slammed her fist into Lain's stomach.

"Arrrrgg!" Lain said and fell to her knees. Tifa lowered her fists and was about to say something when Lain's ax slashed her leg. Blood spurted and Tifa screamed.

"Now I'm going to kill you" Lain said.

"Wait" Tifa said. "Seriously, wait a minute. Just give up Tine! If you do, then a lot of lives will be spared."

Lain laughed, and then spit on the floor. "You don't scare me. What can you do from the floor?"

Tifa's eyes blazed. "Captain Nexumair Nevy himself is on this raid! Do you understand me?!"

"There was a deathly silence. "Captain Nexumair…" said Ernie shakily. "He's the most powerful warrior in Radiant Garden! He'll kill us all!" he turned to fate. "Fate, we've got to warn the boss, and tell him…ahhhhhh! Fate!!!"

Fate was staring at Ernie with a pain twisted face. Then her eyes blanked and she fell face down…with an elegant saber sticking out of her back. Nexumair stepped through the hole in the wall.

"What did I say about all the targets I didn't specify, Tifa?" Nexumair said as he walked toward the petrified group.

"Fate!!!" Ernie screamed. "Ahhhh!" he ran toward Nexumair, his sword out. Nexumair merely sidestepped with fluid ease and sliced him in half.

"Nevy!!" Lain roared. She swung her ax at the captain. Nexumair flipped up into the air and made a perfect X slash in Lain's chest. The dead woman fell to the ground, blood dribbling out of her mouth. Nexumair's face was cold and calm.

"My orders were to kill all but the targets I specified" he said coldly.

Tifa found herself unable to look into the eyes of an extremely short fourteen year old. "I…I'm sorry sir" she said.

"Don't let it happen again" Nexumair said and walked past her. He sheathed his bloody swords. "Where's Sora?"

"Upstairs I think" Tifa said. "Fighting Xavier."

"Hmmm" said the captain. "Good luck against him, Keyblade Master."

Sora, Donald and Goofy lay scattered across the room. They all lay around holes in the walls. Then they began to stir. Donald felt around weakly for his staff. Goofy staggered to his feet, clutching his shield. Sora stumbled around, the Keyblade in his hands.

"Ha ha ha! That's right! Little pests should be full of energy!" Xavier shouted from where he was floating. He sounded as if he wasn't sure which emotion to have: happiness that they weren't dead, or anger that they were still alive and able to fight. Considering what Xavier was, that was probably the problem.

"We…we can still fight" Sora said.

"What'll we do against him?" Donald asked, worried. It had been a nightmare. Xavier had somehow managed to make their bodies as heavy as lead. With their reaction time slowed, he had delivered a series of punishing punches and kicks. Then he had slammed them into the walls several times. It turned out that not only could Xavier make people heavier or lighter, he could make objects the same way. He had smashed them around with pieces of Tine's bed that weighed as much as iron girders.

"Sora! Donald! Behind you!" Tine called from the ceiling. The boy and the duck dodged just in time before the Flamboyant Brawler slammed his fist into the floor where they had been a few seconds ago, making a massive crater.

"Gotta beat him somehow" Goofy said, as he threw his shield. Xavier batted it aside as if it were no more than a Frisbee. Xavier teleported in front of the dog thing and punched him across the face.

"Yowch!!" Goofy cried in pain as he was slammed into a wall.

"Sorry" said Xavier. "But I've gotta spilt. I'd love to keep playing around with you guys but I've got things to do and people to see." A blizzard spell bounced off his back, too light to really do a lot of damage. Xavier laughed and grabbed Donald by the neck. "I think he'll be first" the Nobody said, and began to squeeze.

"No, not Donald!" Sora said, and slammed the Keyblade into Xavier's chest. The force sent the Nobody flying back into the wall.

"I just realized something" Sora said. "When someone isn't right in front of you, you can't control their gravity. You're concentrating on keeping Tine on the ceiling and you can't control us nearly as well."

Xavier's eyes widened. "Well, I see Riku's not the only smart Keyblade Master around here" he said. A Dark Corridor opened in the air behind him. "Sorry, but I really don't want to fight you guys anymore" he said. He snapped his fingers and Tine fell from the ceiling into his grasp.

"Sora! Don't worry, I can take care of myself" she said as Xavier dragged her into the portal.

"How?!" Sora yelled as it closed.

Pete had been wandering around the old and dripping caves for hours. He was down to his last torch, and Zane was worried. "Do you even know where you're going?" he asked.

"Not sure" Pete said. "I think it's the surface."

"Hurry up" Zane said. "We've gotta find Xavier. He said it was only a few Knights so why is he taking so long?"

"Don't rush me, kid" said Pete. "We'll be there when we get there."

Suddenly a Dark Corridor opened behind them and Xavier stepped out, carrying Tine who was fighting and struggling. Xavier made her heavy and her struggles stopped, although her curses didn't. "Well, this is a pile of crap" the leader of the Flyers said in anger.

"What do you mean?" Pete asked.

"There's more than I thought, it's a damn army! And Nexumair Nevy is leading them!" he started to pick up Tine. "We've got to get Ms. Dark Heart out of here, before they---"

"I'm afraid not" said a voice near them in the dark. Pete raised his torch to see a fourteen year old boy with silver hair tied back in a spiky ponytail. His green eyes were narrowed at them in a warrior's stare. But he was short! He probably barely came up to Sora's chest.

"Nexumair Nevy?!" asked Xavier. "What's the so called best warrior in Radiant Garden doing here?" how had he gotten here? This place was sealed off. The only way to get there was through a Dark Corridor.

Nexumair drew one of his sabers. "How old are you?" he asked Xavier.

"Wha---?" the Nobody asked.

"I'll be fifteen next year" he said. "When you're really young, and short like I am, people tend not to take you seriously." He began to run forward. "So all I want to do is get this stupid little job done and watch some All-World cable at home."

Xavier raised his hand, silver energy already forming around it. "You should have stayed at home you little bra---" Nexumair slashed his arm, leaving a long cut down it. Dark particles gushed out in a flood.

"Ahhhh!" Xavier cried. Then he grinned a shark's grin. "Ohhh, the little brat's got skillz!" he punched at the boy, but Nexumair ducked under his fists at the same time drawing another sword from his sheaths. He slashed Xavier's other arm, his forehead, and his legs. Then, before the Flamboyant Brawler could react, he was kicked through the crystal walls of the cave and into another chamber.

Th-this is crazy!" Xavier thought. No time to punch…or control gravity! "You!" Xavier cried. "You little snot!!"

Nexumair slammed both swords into the rock, crossing them above Xavier's throat. "You know" he said. "You're actually pretty stupid. When Roxas left the Organization, he at least had the brains to keep a low profile. But here you go, selling your services to different worlds. One would think you would know about the danger." He leaned closer. "I may not be able to control gravity…and I may not be able to use the moon, or the power of wind" he said. "But I have my talents" he said. At the same time he said this, a loud boom! resounded through the cave. A sonic boom. "I would say that the 'Flamboyant Brawler' has just lost to the 'Confident Fencer'" said Nexumair, and Xavier was so surprised that, for once in his life he didn't have a comeback.

Guess what? This is the last chapter. Sorry about the cliff hanger ending, finding out about Nexumair and all. But the sequel "Child of the Heart" will pick up where this left off. Until then!