Chapter 25: To the Garden

Radiant Garden looked the same as when they'd left it, Roxas mused as he and Xion flew over the city. He couldn't have asked for anything more – it was nice to see some stability after the hectic events in the last few worlds; after all, even Destiny Islands had ended up having trouble. Townsfolk went about their business in the marketplace, children played in the water at the fountain court, and families took advantage of the great weather to have picnics in the western garden.

Last time they'd come here they had landed their Keyblade Gliders at the castle postern, but not this time. Roxas and Xion were headed for the upper levels of the Bastion and not Ansem's computer room, which meant going in through the front door. Xion followed Roxas's lead as they brought their Gliders down in an alleyway near the central square; not to keep it secret, but just so they wouldn't get in anyone's way. After dismounting and dismissing their rides, the two emerged from the alley into the hustle and bustle of the city of light.

The Bastion stood tall and proud against the cloudless blue sky, stretching up to a dizzying height. But the bright and sunny weather was a contrast to the moods of the two Keyblade wielders as they walked through the square. How could they match the joyful atmosphere after what had just happened in Neverland? But on the other hand, how could they be dreary and down after receiving the good news about Demyx? Things may not have been the worst they'd ever been, but nor were they the best.

At least with Demyx awake, things are looking up, Roxas thought. Beside Roxas, Xion slipped her hand into his. He gave her a comforting squeeze and then motioned toward the castle gates. "Let's go get some answers."

They ascended the stairs to the front doors of the Bastion, guarded by figures familiar and unfamiliar. No matter that he had already seen them dressed this way before, the sight of Dilan and Aeleus in anything but the Organization's black coat was an alien one to Roxas. Aeleus noticed them first, but Dilan was the one to speak. Things had been awkward between Roxas and Aeleus ever since their first meeting. Roxas rubbed the back of his head; he couldn't feel that bruise anymore, but he could remember how much it smarted when Lexaeus smacked him.

Dilan greeted them with a nod. "Welcome back. You were told the news about Demyx, I take it?"

"Yeah." Roxas returned the gesture. "Were you expecting us?"

"We weren't told to, but I had a feeling you'd be showing up soon."

"Has Demyx said anything about what happened to him?" Xion asked the pair.

Aeleus gave a questioning look to Dilan, who shrugged. Aeleus shook his head. "Not yet. For now he's been resting; just because he's awake doesn't mean he's in perfect health. That may be something you should ask him yourself, since it concerns your mission."

The two large guards stepped to the side as the doors to the Bastion slowly swung open of their own volition. Dilan's spear vanished from his hand in a whirl of wind. "Allow me to show you to him."

Xion held up her hands in a disarming motion. "Oh, we don't want to have you leave your post!"

Dilan snorted a laugh. "Nonsense. Guard duty is just a formality, and Aeleus can handle it for the few minutes this would take." While Aeleus nodded at that, Dilan's eyebrows scrunched up as he looked between Roxas and Xion. "Besides, the two of you have only been in the Bastion's lower levels, haven't you? You don't know your way around the upper floors."

Roxas bashfully rubbed his neck. "Well, you've got us there."

A smirk crossed Dilan's face for only the briefest of moments, then he turned his large back to them and began walking inside. "Come on, then."

Not even a warning before he started to leave them behind! Maybe Xaldin and Dilan weren't so different after all. Roxas and Xion almost tripped over their feet as they hurried after him. "Oh, uh, coming!"

By the time the two teens caught up to Dilan and were able to slow down, they found themselves in a large, well-lit entrance hall. There were some construction and painting supplies scattered about along the walls, like they were still not done renovating the castle from the near-decade it had spent under Maleficent's control.

"I guess Ansem's priority was to finish the city first," Roxas whispered. Xion acknowledged him with a soft "m-hmm", but Dilan didn't say anything.

The group went up a small flight of stairs near the central fountain, then through a door in the far back of the hall. The chamber on the other side was unlike anything Roxas had ever seen before.

"What is this?" Xion asked as she looked up…and up…and up. The chamber they were in was thin and vertical, stretching high up and far down, with different ledges and doors at various heights. Xion stretched her hand out over the open air, only to be stopped by an invisible field. The familiar sight of the interlocking hexagons of a magical barrier briefly flashed where her hand made contact.

"The lift stop." That was all the explanation Dilan gave as he tapped a crystal nearby. It changed colors from red to blue and Roxas and Xion heard mechanical whirring coming from down below. A floating platform riding along a thin beam of blue light rose up, briefly calling to mind the Crooked Ascension back in the Castle That Never Was. Perhaps Xemnas had designed it intentionally after the Bastion?

The hexagons flashed in front of them once again before vanishing into light, and this time when Xion waved her hand over the edge of the floor there was nothing stopping her.

Dilan was already moving onto the lift. "Come on, then."

Roxas and Xion hurried after him, and not a moment too soon. The lift was already starting to move even when Roxas still had one foot on solid ground. He hopped forward on one foot while Xion grabbed his arm to keep him from falling off. Once Roxas was safely inside, he looked up to Dilan.

"This will take us to Demyx's room?"

"Yes, along with near anywhere in the Bastion."

Their ride was silent, both in terms of a lack of conversation and a lack of noise made by the lift. It came to a stop only a few floors up, then Dilan led them down a well-lit carpeted hallway lined with wooden doors on both sides.

"Here we are." Dilan came to a sudden halt with on warning, catching Roxas and Xion both by surprise. The door he stopped at was completely indistinct from any of the others, and yet Dilan seemed certain that he was at the right one. "Demyx is awake, nut he's still recovering. Don't do anything to overwhelm him." He snorted. "Ha, overwhelm Demyx. There's a good one."

Roxas had to chuckle at that. "Sure. Um... Thanks for helping us find him, Dilan."

Dilan turned around, then glanced back over his shoulder. A genuine smile was there even if he was trying to hide it, so unfamiliar coming from the cold man he used to be. "Think nothing of it. Per Lord Ansem's orders, you and the rest of your friends are free to roam the Bastion as you please. Welcome to Radiant Garden." And with that, he made his way back the way he'd come.

Xion looked to Roxas and grabbed the doorknob. "Shall we?"

"Yeah."

The door creaked open to reveal a surprisingly comfortable room, a large bed against the far wall and right next to an open window which the sun was filtering through. Even without the black coat, no one could mistake the man in the bed as anyone but Demyx – that hair was way too distinctive. But he wasn't alone. As Demyx turned his head to look at the newcomers, so too did a familiar girl who was sitting in a chair at his bedside.

"Roxas? Xion!"

"Wha– Naminé?"

The pale blonde girl grinned as brightly as the sun when she caught sight of Roxas and Xion in the doorway. For their part, the two Keyblade wielders were left agape at the sight. When had Naminé arrived in Radiant Garden? For that matter, how had she arrived in Radiant Garden? Roxas collected his scattered thoughts and was about to ask when Demyx grunted from the bed. He was trying to sit up, only to end up falling back down onto his back. Naminé gasped and hurriedly turned back to him while grabbing a wet towel from a bucket that sat by her feet.

"Oh no you don't, Demyx. No moving from this spot." She draped the towel over his forehead while he grumbled.

"Roooxaaas, your sister is killing meee!" Demyx whined.

"Well, good to see you're the same as ever," Roxas deadpanned. He and Xion made their way inside the small, comfortable room and shut the door behind him. With the shock worn off, Roxas took in the sight in front of him a second time. Naminé still had her hair tied into a ponytail with that blue ribbon same as the last time he'd seen her, though she'd swapped out the Destiny Islands school uniform in favor of her white sundress. It was hard to tell with Demyx under the sheets, but it seemed he was wearing a bathrobe.

"You doing okay, Demyx?" Xion asked.

Naminé answered before he could. "He has a fever. I've been taking care of him."

"Yeah, um, not that we aren't happy to see you Naminé, but why are you here?"

"Um, well…" Naminé scratched the side of her cheek and tapped her heels together. "Terra picked me up from the islands. I offered to help dig through whatever memories of Terra-Xehanort might linger in his heart, to help him, Ienzo, and Tron in their search. But they've been so preoccupied with the computer instead, so I've been making myself useful up here."

"Making yourself useful smothering me," Demyx groaned. "I'm fine, I'm just a little tired!"

"You were unconscious for days, Demyx! No one is just 'fine' from that!"

Days… So much had happened in a short time. Roxas wasn't really keeping track but it had to be only like two weeks at most, right? If even that long. "Hey, Demyx." Demyx looked up from his back and forth with Naminé. "Do you remember what happened? When you got…tossed into the Keyhole, I mean."

The mood in the room dampened quickly. Seeing Demyx suddenly turn somber was practically unheard of, but here he was, wearing a serious expression after that question. "…Yeah. I remember, alright. That's why you're here?"

"Right," Xion said. "I don't know how much you've been told, but Roxas and I have been going to different worlds to fight the Flood of Light that almost took Radiant Garden. So anything you can tell us about how you ended up there could help."

Demyx nodded once and then looked them in the eyes. "Alright. Listen up…"

x-x-x

In the lower reaches of the Bastion, far, far underground, is a long-forgotten hall lined with cages…

"Snrkr…hrrmgm...huh? Oh crap! I wasn't sleeping!"

Sitting in a cheap lawn chair just outside the Chamber of Repose, Demyx snapped awake to the sound of a door opening. Aeleus was at the far end of the hall, stepping outside on his phone. Sheesh, the big guy was leaving his station while on guard duty? Demyx stifled a yawn. "What a–" Yaaaawwwwn… "What a bad guard."

"Oh well, it's not like anything happens around here anyway," Demyx mused as he leaned back in his seat, his arms behind his head. He had been staying at Radiant Garden since the second Keyblade War ended, and that meant earning his keep, which meant guard duty – which he was all too happy to comply with. Nothing bad had happened at Radiant Garden ever since, well, since last time he was here during that big fight between Organization XIII and Maleficent.

"Guarding somewhere that's this peaceful? Sign me up." Demyx yawned again as he started to drift back into sleep. As his heavy eyelids fell over his eyes, he blinked to try and stay awake, but fighting it didn't last. His vision and his mind began to fade once again…

Until he heard a familiar sound.

The telltale swoosh of a corridor of darkness snapped Demyx to his senses. As his eyes snapped open he found himself staring at a dreadfully familiar pair of black boots, followed by a dreadfully familiar black coat when he raised his gaze up at the newcomer. The most dreadfully familiar part of all though, was this intruder's face.

"Hello there, Demyx."

"Marly?!"

Demyx fell to the ground, knocking his chair to the side as he flailed in surprise. Its loud clattering echoed across the hall, but it sounded distant to Demyx with all of his attention focused on the pink-haired man in front of him. "Marluxia, what are you doing here?! Or… Wait, are you Marluxia, or…?"

He had faded away, right? So he should have been recompleted. But then why was he still wearing that coat? He didn't have much more time to ponder before Marluxia grabbed Demyx by the forearm and forced him up onto his feet. "Ow! Hey, watch it!"

"I'm glad I caught you alone, Demyx."

"Huh?"

Demyx looked to Marluxia's free hand, where a translucent χ floating above his palm showed an image of the two of them in the hallway. Wait… Had Marluxia been spying on him with the Recusant's Sigil? Had he waited until Aeleus was gone before–

"Ow! I said watch it!" Demyx grunted as Marluxia slammed him into the door that led to the Chamber of Repose. He was being very abrasive, that was for sure. "What are you doing, Marluxia? We were Organization buddies together!"

"This has nothing to do with the Organization." Marluxia pressed Demyx against the door again, and this time it slid open. Having been pushed against the door only a moment before, Demyx now tumbled to the cold metal floor of the chamber while Marluxia stepped past him. "A door that only opens for Xehanort and his vessels…it's a good thing the old man chose you after all, Demyx."

Demyx rubbed his golden eyes. "Marly, seriously, what are you do…ing…" He trailed off as he looked up, his attention caught by a glow on the far wall of the chamber. It was faint, but there was no mistaking the starlight pouring out of Radiant Garden's Keyhole. "What…is that?" Demyx asked.

"My ark." Marluxia's voice was distant as he spoke, his eyes locked on the glimmering stars. "And your cell."

"Huh?"

Marluxia turned on Demyx, bright blue eyes reflecting the light that began to flood the room. "Only Nobodies can stop the Flood of Light, and I can't have you helping those children. You need to disappear."

"Disappear?!" Demyx jumped up to his feet. He didn't know what Marluxia was talking about, but he sure didn't like the sound of that. Water rose from the floor and swirled around his feet, spiraled up his torso, coalesced in his hand. The instant Demyx's sitar manifested in his grip, Marluxia's scythe was already swinging at him. Demyx barely had time to bring up his weapon to block the blow, but the force still knocked him back.

As Demyx struggled against Marluxia's scythe, black vines made of shadowy magic burst out of the floor and wrapped themselves around his legs. Grunting, Demyx quickly strummed his sitar and summoned a trio of water figures, but before they had even finished forming they were slain by the scythes of two Reapers who appeared at Marluxia's side.

"So even the Nobodies are on your side… What are you doing, Marluxia?"

"You should be thanking me, Demyx." Marluxia and the Reapers all swung as one, knocking Demyx's sitar out of his hands and slamming him against the wall. The shadow vines grew more, enveloping his arms as well and suspending him above the floor. "After all – in the process of getting you out of the way, the Flood of Light will also purge Xehanort's darkness from your heart."

"What are you–"

A dark corridor opened behind Marluxia. As he stepped into the shadows, the light from the Keyhole grew brighter and brighter until Demyx's vision and mind went blank.

x-x-x

"…and the next thing I know, I'm waking up in this bed."

The silence in the room after Demyx finished his story was deafening. No one knew what to even think, let alone what to say. It sounded insane, and yet, Roxas realized, it fit. That would explain why the hooded man they'd encountered was hiding his voice with magic: they would have recognized Marluxia's voice. But still…

"Are you sure you're remembering right?" Xion asked. "Because Marluxia should have been recompleted. So why would he attack you?"

Demyx shook his head, his shoulders slumping. "I don't know, but I swear it's what happened!"

Beside him, Naminé nodded. "I looked through his memories when he first told us. It was definitely Marluxia. Though…" Her fingers tightly gripped the fabric of her dress. "I can't imagine why."

"I can't figure out 'why' a lot of this." Roxas let out a groan as he tapped his knuckles against the side of his head. "Not just why attack Demyx, but why try to send worlds into sleep? And if the hooded man we've fought was Marluxia, then the Pirate Queen from Neverland must have been Larxene, right?"

"It would fit, the Pirate Queen did attack us with lightning," Xion agreed.

"I don't know about that, I never saw Larxene. And thank goodness! She'd probably have beaten me up even more than Marluxia did." Demyx shuddered and gripped the side of his head. "Oof…feeling woozy all of a sudden."

"You've probably been talking too much. Try to get some rest." Naminé put a hand on his arm and a soft lilac-white glow passed from her to Demyx. As the glow faded, Roxas thought he could hear the quiet 'baa' of a sheep. A Sleep spell. Demyx's eyelids drooped, and soon enough he was snoring away. Naminé slowly removed her hand and stood up.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Xion asked. She looked at Demyx with concern. Though he seemed fine, magical sleep was still…

"Don't worry, I made sure to use the weakest version of the spell, he'll only be out about an hour or so. But he needs it, he's been too antsy no matter how many times Even and I tell him to stay still."

"If you say so…" After giving Demyx one last look, Xion turned to Roxas. "What now? Should we go looking for Marluxia, do you think? Or maybe keep our eyes out for more former Organization members?" She paused and bit her lip. "If former is even the right word?"

"No, I think former is right. Marluxia isn't doing this for Organization XIII." Naminé and Xion gave him curious looks, and so Roxas continued. "Well he told us that himself in Enchanted Dominion. But even if we think maybe he was lying about that, Demyx said that Marluxia knew full well the Flood of Light would cleanse Demyx of Xehanort's darkness – he even said Demyx should thank him for it."

Xion crossed her arms in thought. "It's true that when we found Demyx his eyes had returned to their old color..."

"Right. So if this was something that Marluxia was doing for Xehanort, he wouldn't have gotten rid of the only piece of Xehanort left. But he did."

"But then why stop us from stopping the Flood of Light? Why send worlds to sleep, and hurt so many people?"

"I don't know. We just don't have enough information… Oh!" Roxas snapped his fingers. Information. There was another reason they had come to Radiant Garden, after all. "Maybe Tron and the others have learned something about the data Marluxia's Nobodies stole from Ansem's computer."

Xion gasped. "Right! I forgot, that could be our lead!"

Naminé cleared her throat and shyly raised her hand. "Well, if you need to speak to the others, I can lead you down to Ansem's study."

Despite the mood, Roxas couldn't help but grin. "That'd be great. Thanks, Naminé."

x-x-x

They hadn't gone back outside the Bastion to reach the computer room. Instead, once they reached the lift stop, Naminé led Roxas and Xion in a completely different direction from the front doors. The elevator went down further than the ground floor where they'd boarded with Dilan, until it eventually stopped outside a very familiar red hallway.

"I had no idea the basement halls were connected to this lift too," Xion said as they stepped off the platform. "Well, I guess it makes sense to not need to go out to the postern every time."

"Terra showed me the lift when I first got here," Naminé explained as she led them down the twisting corridors toward Ansem's study. "He showed me around a lot of the Bastion. He's been very helpful since I arrived."

Xion smiled and locked her arm together with Naminé's. "I'm glad to hear that you've had a friend while you've been here."

Eventually Roxas started recognizing the turns they were making, and Naminé didn't need to guide them anymore. The two girls started chatting about some store or another they'd seen in Radiant Garden's marketplace; Roxas wasn't paying attention, but it was nice to have noise to fill the dead air. Soon enough they came upon Ansem's study, and from there the cold and metallic Heartless Manufactory.

The first person they saw as they rounded the corner into the computer room was Ienzo. He didn't even notice their arrival, being completely focused on typing away at the computer instead. Concern was obvious on his face, and – though it might have been a trick of the light from the screen – Roxas even thought he could see uncharacteristic sweat coating his brow.

"Tron, how is it progressing?" Ienzo spoke to the console as he continued to furiously type.

Tron's voice came through speakers along the walls of the computer room. "I've put up a firewall around the Dataspace and surrounding area, but I doubt it can hold them back for long. Ienzo, if they reach the I/O Tower the entire system will be compromised."

Ienzo slammed his fist on the desk. "I'm well aware!" he snapped, surprising the three Nobodies. Roxas didn't know Ienzo well, but he'd still never seen him lose his composure like this. Ienzo ran a hand through his hair and then leaned forward, his face in his hands. "We may need to resort to more physical means of dealing with them."

"I agree, which is why I've already begun the startup program for the digitalization system. It's booting up as we speak."

"Good… Good. Thank you, Tron." Ienzo paused to take a breath, and only then did he notice the guests standing awkwardly in the doorway. He gave a halfhearted smile. "Roxas, Xion, I'm glad you made it. Please come in." He waved them over.

"Uh… I have to say, Ienzo, this isn't what I was expecting to see." Roxas looked at the multitude of error messages popping up across the computer's screen. "Is this related to what Demyx said about Marluxia?"

"Oh good, you've spoken to him. But no, this isn't about that. Marluxia does concern me, but I haven't had much time to worry about it with what's been going on here."

"What do you mean?"

Ienzo crossed his arms and motioned toward the computer. "The DTD has been corrupted by some sort of bug. We have no idea where it's coming from, but it's been spreading throughout the system the last few days no matter what we try." He rubbed his face again, and now Roxas could see dark bags under his eyes. He hadn't been sleeping well.

"Bugs?!" Xion hurried over to Ienzo's side and watched him closely as he went back to typing. "What happened, exactly?"

"Terra found a report Braig wrote some years ago which led us to a file in the DTD. We're pretty sure it's the file that the Nobodies stole a copy of, but all we were able to make out were the words 'power of waking' before the bugs started spreading through the system."

Naminé sharply inhaled through her teeth. "The power of waking? You're absolutely sure?"

"Mostly sure." The response came from Tron, his voice coming from all around them as he spoke through the speakers. "I don't know what Marluxia could want Xehanort's research on that power for. We'd need to see the full file to know – those are the only words we have. The bugs started spreading before anything else could be analyzed."

Xion chewed on her lip while her eyes moved a mile a minute reading all the error messages on the screen. "Do you think the Nobodies left a virus behind in the file after they made their copy?"

"Terra thought so too, but no." They couldn't see Tron's face, but from his tone they could practically hear him shaking his head. "The file wasn't the source of the bugs, it was a victim. This broken data is coming from somewhere else. And unless we can find and isolate the source then we're not going to be able to stop the spread before the entire system is corrupted."

"That sounds bad," was all Roxas was able to manage. He knew it sounded stupid to say, but he didn't get computers so didn't have any idea what he could do to help. He watched how Xion observed Ienzo closely, but even if she had a better handle on computers than he did she also wasn't even close to being an expert.

Hurried footsteps came from behind them as someone else entered the lab. "Oh good, there you guys are!"

Beside Roxas, Naminé turned around with a wide smile. "Terra!"

Roxas looked up as Terra came in, breathing heavily as if he had ran all the way here. He held out his hand and Naminé did a small bounce to give him a high-five. "Thanks for helping them out, Naminé. Hey there Roxas, Xion. I take it Ienzo has caught you up?"

"Yeah. It's pretty frightening." Xion only now turned from watching Ienzo at the computer. "Who knows what would happen if the system was taken down? At bare minimum the city's defenses would go offline, so if any Heartless attacked…"

Ienzo gave a sound of agreement. "Right. That's why I was hoping you Keyblade wielders could help us out."

"Um…" Roxas glanced at Terra, who looked back at him with a shrug. "Xion may be able to help you Ienzo, but I'm useless with computers."

"I'm not much better," Terra agreed. "I thought that was why I was looking through the physical reports while you and Tron handled the electronic stuff."

Despite the situation, Ienzo wore a slight smile. "Don't worry about that. You won't have to do anything you don't know how to. What we need right now is your combat experience."

Terra rested one hand on his hip while he scratched my head. "Not sure I get it."

Ienzo looked back to the screen. "Tron, is it ready?"

"Perfect timing, it just finished starting up! Running the program now!"

The lights flickered, and Roxas heard a hum that was somehow simultaneously quiet yet imposing. The whirring of machinery grew louder, until the large machine against the back wall of the computer room sprung to life. Its lights flickered on, especially the large red circular one in the center. Naminé took a nervous step back from it, moving between Roxas and Terra.

Tron spoke over the humming machine. "All systems are at maximum efficiency. Ienzo, input the commands whenever you're ready."

"Alright…" Ienzo looked from his computer to Xion, then from Xion to Roxas and Terra, and lastly at the device against the wall. What in the world was he planning? "Are the three of you ready to be our antivirus?"