Sorry: it seems I have slipped back into time slippage mode. I was filling my iTunes library with songs, album art, album names, etc. But that is no excuse, so again, sorry.
Thank you for your most unwarranted praise of my writing skills. I appreciate your continued patronage of my stories. And now, without further ado, I present to you the next chapter.
-*2*-
XII/XIII
Miltuxhi wiped his brow with his black gloved hand. He took off his green glasses and rubbed them clean with a small handkerchief on the table. So far, the only outcome of combining a heart with sulfuric acid was a large amount of smoke;the thermal properties of his lab made it much better for a sauna than a practical experimental facility, but it had the best view of the ever growing heart shaped moon of Kingdom Hearts.
The World That Never Was had been rediscovered five year earlier by the Neo-Organization, sailing through the worlds on the Dusk Serpent. After the defeat of Xemnas, the world was completely lost to the darkness, and the Dusks were overrun by the multitude of Shadows. The city was still standing, deserted as usual, and the castle was still hovering above the Brink of Despair, just as it had in Sora's days. When the Neo-Organization stumbled upon the fortress, they quickly destroyed all of the Heartless that occupied the castle, leaving the rest to slink through the dark city streets to prey on any unsuspecting visitor. No sign of the former Heartless queen and her henchman were ever found. After exploring and remapping the world in the darkness, the nobodies found that the Betwixt and Between nexus was still a functioning passage to Twilight Town. As it had for the original Organization, it would make the perfect base for the Neo-Organization.
After a month or so of living in darkness, they began to notice a pale light in their empty realm. Upon further inquiries into the source of the light, it was discovered that the light was being created by hearts. Miltuxhi remembered one of Sora's journals where Xemnas was quoted: "They [hearts] gather in Darkness, master-less and free, until they weave together to form Kingdom Hearts." It seemed that the solution to their Nobody problem was imminent. But this was not to be, for the hearts were so tightly woven together that they could not be separated by mere touch or force. So, they turned to Miltuxhi, their leader and resident chemist, who turned to science to solve their dilemma. So far, his quest for an answer had gone nowhere.
Tired after a day of being cooped up in his laboratory, furiously working for a cure, Miltuxhi took off his white lab coat and hung it on a wall rack. He turned off the burners, placed the chemicals and tools in their proper places, and placed a congealed mass of corrupted hearts back in a container. These had come from unlucky emblem heartless; hearts lost to darkness were useless, hearts lost in darkness were not. He turned off the lights, walked out of the lab, turned off the fluorescent lights, and shut the door behind them. He turned right and headed down the sterile white hallway. Every few feet, a Nobody crest appeared on the floor, a newly added feature in the castle. He passed by several rooms and offshoot halls, twisting and turning through the labyrinthine halls, until he arrived at the Hall of Empty Melodies. As of now, the hall was just empty. The arena like space was the same as it had been in Xemnas's days.
Miltuxhi headed out into the middle of the space, humming to himself, and crossed to the other side and out into Naught's Skyway. Not desiring to take the long way to the top of the castle, Miltuxhi harnessed his power over metal and summoned a stairway into existence. Small silver spheres appeared and congealed together, forming a spiral staircase to the Altar of Naught. Pleased with his creation, he ascended the staircase. The journey upwards took him a minute or two, but he arrived at the top quicker than he would have if he had continued through the castle. Once he reached the apex of the castle, he dissolved the staircase, allowing the atoms to return to their original hosts.
"Taking a break for fresh air?"
Miltuxhi looked at Xermoch for a moment, then responded. "Aye. The lab is like a cage sometimes. I just need to stretch my legs and breathe."
Xermoch nodded. "How goes the experiments, Miltuxhi?"
The Steeled Scientist sighed. "Not well. So far, I've managed to singe, burn, freeze, shatter, and vaporize a mass of hearts. But no successful separation has occurred."
"Do you think we can gain access to the hearts without violating the sanctity of Kingdom Hearts?"
"There are still many more options I have at my disposal. We may even be able to encode Kingdom Hearts, using its data to create a single heart."
The Chromatic Knight was unsure. "Last time any recorded encoding of hearts occurred was Ansem's attempt at this very castle. And we all know how that ended."
"True," Miltuxhi replied, "his encoding did not work. But that does not mean the concept is impossible."
Xermoch nodded. "So it would seem. Why don't you call a meeting? A quorum of the twelve members should help redirect the efforts at harnessing hearts."
"Agreed. We shall meet in five minutes."
Miltuxhi summoned a dark portal to the throne room and entered it. Xermoch stayed behind to send out the message. He quickly snapped his fingers, and just like that, all of the light in the world vanished from sight.
(^`^~~~^`^) (^`^~~~^`^) (^`^~~~^`^)
In less than a minute, all twelve members of the Neo-Organization were seated at their thrones, all of which were now at the same level to make a statement of equality. Next to the door into the throne room on the left was an empty that would have been Sidrix's, then Xynox, Honcrox Jexson, Vaxyd, Xermoch, Miltuxhi, Niox, Nuxsod, Xie, Ulmox, Rasceax, and Edox. They all knew that Xermoch's monochromatic summons meant. Each one was seated, waiting impatiently for their superior's report. As usual, he was playing his cello, a prized possession that made him feel more normal. After a brief run through of one of his favorite's, he summoned a dark portal and placed the stringed instrument in. Once the music ended, he began his report.
"As you all know, I have been working to solve the puzzle that is causing us so much problems: why can we not unweave hearts? Unfortunately, we do not possess a cosmic needle that undo the work that Kingdom Hearts has done. So, I have experimented with a plethora of ways by which we could possibly separate one heart from another after they have formed into one large heart. After countless trials, complications have arisen, ensued, and have not been overcome: there has been no successful separation of one heart from another.
"Now, there are still many options available, but the most likely success should come from encoding the data of Kingdom Hearts." At this, there were murmurs through the small group assembled. He glared at them with his icy blue eyes behind his green glasses, and the whispers were quickly silenced. "If we can encode Kingdom Hearts, we should be able to create an algorithm or formula that will allow us to produce a clone of just one heart out of the whole of Kingdom Hearts. Yes, the endeavor is risky; encoding life is no easy feat. But I believe that this is our greatest hope."
He sat down, opening the floor to questions. Vaxyd stood up immediately.
"So, there is no possible way other than encoding?"
Miltuxhi shook his head, his long silver hair waving behind him. "No, this is not true. There are other methods, but most cannot achieve success without-."
"The violation of Kingdom Hearts?" Vaxyd finished.
"Yes. If we try to contact Kingdom Hearts directly, then this world will be overrun by darkness again and we will be destroyed by the profusion of Heartless."
"What about Helios?"
Miltuxhi paled some at the mention of the albino. " What
about Helios?"
"He has control of Darkness. He-"
"No one can control Darkness anymore than they can control hearts. The two go hand in hand."
Vaxyd was unfazed. "If we were to manipulate Kingdom Hearts to regain hearts, then he could stave off the 'profusion of Heartless', as you call it. Helios is the answer to our problems."
Miltuxhi arose," Helios cannot be trusted. His wiles will end up destroying us all if we allow him to control our security."
Jexson stood up next to his former captain. "Vaxyd brings up a good point. Helios can control the Heartless for his own purposes, we get hearts for ours, and both sides are happy."
"Helios cannot be trusted!" he fired back. "Now, are there any
other suggestions for how to get our hearts?"
No one moved. Silence fell over the room for a moment, but Miltuxhi quickly ended it. "Well then, his meeting is adjourned." With that, everyone quickly disappeared into dark portals, save for Miltuxhi and Xermoch.
"Well, that was unexpected," Xermoch stated flatly.
"Yes. It seems that just like our predecessor, our organization has a tear." Miltuxhi replied. "It is only a matter of time before it falls apart."