Luminary Uprise 3

A Kingdom Hearts II fan fiction with some special guests from other aspects of fan fiction

3: The Neo-Organization

“Maleficent.”
Maleficent looked Xehanort up and down, sensing his new magical abilities and sizing them up.
“I have a very interesting proposition for you,” Xehanort offered.
“You seem to have stolen a fortress from me,” Maleficent growled, “one which I had so rightly claimed after your downfall.”
“Take this offer, and you will once more have a place in the Castle That Never Was.”
“I don’t want a place. I want ownership.”
“Consider the sheer volume of the multiverse, Maleficent. Come with me and my fellows, and a portion of it…a very, very large portion…will in fact be under your ownership.”
Maleficent grinned. “Now I am listening.”

“AAAAHHHH! IT BURNS!”
Axel responded to Myed’s pained screams by turning his radio up louder. All Axel had wanted to do was lie on the beach and work on his tan while listening to some of his favorite music…but Myed had other ideas.
“WHAT IS THIS HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE NOISE?” Myed screeched, clutching his ears.
“This is called RAP,” said Axel. “Get used to it.”
“Change it. Now.”
“No.”
“I saved your life…you owe me!”
“I’ll pay you back in a different way. Now I came out here to listen to my music, I want to listen to my music, and you are not changing my music.”
The two were interrupted by the appearance of a portal, from which came Xaldin.
Axel leapt up to face him.
“Axel,” said Xaldin, “the rest of the Organization has found a place to hide. We thought we would show you, Myed, and Sora…where is Sora now?”
“Out gathering allies,” said Axel.
“Fair enough. We shall show him later. Come with me.”
The radio suddenly blared “My Sharona,” causing Axel to wince.
“What…is…THAT?”
“This is called MUSIC,” said Demyx, hand still on the radio dial.
“I will get you back for that,” Axel threatened.
“Hey! You still owe me your life!”
Xaldin rolled his eyes at the juvenility.

“Long story short,” said Mickey, “that’s why we’re out to save the multiverse!”
“I see,” said Jack Sparrow. “So…why does this involve the dog and the duck thing monkeying around with my ship?”
“Well,” said Sora, “we’re picking up a few more friends on the way back…and they won’t all fit in OUR ship…so we’re fixing up the Black Pearl with some gummis so it can fly between the worlds!”
A giant KABOOM sounded from down below, accompanied by Goofy’s trademark “EEEEYAAAAHH-HOO-HOO-HOOEEEEEE!”
Sora started forward as if to save them from some unknown danger, but Mickey held up a hand to stop him. “He’s fine,” the mouse assured him. “This happens back at Disney Castle all the time.”
“Hey, you!” Sparrow yelled down to the innards of the Pearl. “You be careful with my ship!”
“Sorry!” Goofy yelled back. There was then a great CLANG, as though Goofy had dropped a wrench somewhere…most likely on Donald’s foot, as the next sound to come was a “WAAAHAAHAAAHAAAAAKKKKK!” of anger.
Sora smiled. “Heh heh…just a few more minutes, and we’ll be able to take off!”
“Lord help me…” Sparrow mumbled, retreating to a cabin.

“Nice space,” said Axel, looking around the room the Organization had chosen.
“It would be nicer,” Luxord pointed out, “if there was more than one couch…or if certain people would stop hogging it, at least…”
“You’re just jealous,” said Larxene, stretching out her feet as she sat next to Vexen on the sole couch.
“Larxene,” said Xaldin, “I believe I was sitting there before I left…”
“Was your name on it?” Larxene shot back.
The twelve enjoyed small talk and minor arguments for a while before Xigbar suggested a game of “What’s the most awkward moment you’ve ever had while in the Organization?”
“Easy,” said Axel. “The day my twin brother showed up. Didn’t even remember I had a brother until he popped up. Him and his cocky attitude…all ‘Mom asked me to check up on you’ and ‘Mom likes me better’ and ‘My job is cooler than yours’….I swear, if Reno ever dares set foot within fifty feet of me again, FIRE WILL FLY.”
“Okaaaaay…” Xigbar grimaced.
“My most awkward moment…” Myed said quietly. “The day I was walking past that bike rack in the street and my cloak got caught on the bike handle and I tripped and fell on my face.”
“And I wasn’t there to see it?” said Axel.
“Are you sure it wasn’t the time you had too much caffeine?” said Zexion. “You and Axel were in the library, and Axel told a joke, and you fell on the floor laughing…you wouldn’t get up for fifteen minutes. Fifteen. Whole. Minutes. It was rather disturbing, Myed. Then, after Axel left, you finally noticed he was gone and started crying.”
“How do you know that?” snapped Axel. “You weren’t there!”
“I was there,” said Zexion. “You just never saw me because I was in the back corner reading silently.” He grinned mischievously.
“You are too good at that,” Axel grumbled. “Don’t ever try to sneak up on somebody…you might give ‘em a heart attack. Presuming they have a heart, anyway.”
Everyone looked at Myed, who gulped.
“Speaking of Axel and Myed,” said Vexen, “my most awkward moment was when I walked in on them slow dancing. What was that, the tango? The waltz?”
“I told you there was a good explanation for that!” Axel growled.
“Oh really? You never told me what it was.”
“Well,” said Myed, “you see…”
“Myed,” Axel warned.
“He didn’t know how to dance, and he wanted lessons, and since I’m the only one of us who has any skill whatsoever in the art of the dance, I had to teach him various slow dances.”
Axel let out a sigh of relief.
“And why did Axel want dancing lessons in the first place?” Xaldin asked, shooting Larxene another dirty look because of the couch incident.
“In case he ever had the chance to go out dancing with Lar—“
Axel clamped his hand firmly over Myed’s mouth.
Larxene’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Was he about to say…”
“No,” said Axel sternly.
“Right.” Larxene didn’t look convinced.
Saïx, who had been quiet thus far, piped up unexpectedly. “I have one.”
“Shoot,” said Xigbar, aware that whenever he uttered that phrase it became an instant pun.
“Well, one day I walked past the Superior’s room, and I saw him…” Saïx broke off to giggle lightly.
“Saw him what? Don’t leave us hangin’!” Marluxia coaxed.
“He was kissing…” Saïx seemed unable to finish.
“WHO? Kissing WHO?” Larxene leaned forward, excited to hear what came next.
“…his mirror.”
After a two second pause, the Organization erupted into uncontrollable laughter.
“I always knew…he was a narcissist…” Larxene wheezed between laughs, “but…I never knew…it was THAT…BAD…”
“Why…” Axel gasped, “am I not…surprised?”
This made them all laugh harder.
After a while, an awkward silence settled.
“I never thought I would say this,” said Xaldin, “but I missed the days when we could actually stand each other.”
“XALDIN SAID SOMETHING SENTIMENTAL!” Axel crowed.
“IT’S THE FIRST SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE!” Myed added.
“Perhaps we truly are changing…” Zexion mused.
“Yeah,” Axel added. “Maybe you all weren’t so bad.”
“What, for all of your ‘Roxas, you were the only one I ever liked’ talk?” Myed challenged.
“Hey! How did you know about that?”
“The night Roxas left?”
“Yeah. You were supposed to meet us.”
“I was a bit late, but when I got there, I overheard you two talking about how much you’d miss each other and the rest of the Organization was just jerks.”
Axel suddenly did something very surprising. He adopted a facial expression…of regret and sympathy.
“Myed,” said Axel, “if you’re thinking…we didn’t mean you. Er, we didn’t mean Demyx.”
“Really?”
“Well…okay, we did mean you. But when you didn’t show up, we thought you were ratting Roxas out to the Superior. I…I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Roxas said he would’ve missed you if you hadn’t turned on him…we didn’t know you were just late. I guess you must’ve showed up after he said that. I’m really sorry, Myed.”
Myed smiled. “So you really didn’t hate me?”
“Hate’s a strong word.”
“Thanks.”
“Gosh, why has everyone gone SAPPY?” Larxene complained.
Vexen shot a glance at Saïx in the corner. “Say, Saïx, you all right?”
“Yes. Why?”
“It’s just that you haven’t said anything before or since that mirror story…you’ve been quieter than Lexaeus. And he’s supposed to be the Silent Hero.”
“It’s nothing.”
But Saïx’s mind was churning with the thoughts he had before he was under Xemnas’ control…the things he used to think about before his focus changed to getting his heart back…there was someone from his past who had dealt him a great wrong, and revenge flickered in the remnants of his soul. Who was it? He couldn’t remember. If he ever did get his heart back, he would remember, and the revenge would blaze within him…and revenge he would get…but he had no heart, no memory. It would drive him insane, he thought, unless he had a way to come up with the name…
The gate outside opened, and the curtain door opened.
“Hey!” said a teenage boy. “What are you doing in our usual spot?”
“Wait a second,” said a girl, one of two companions who stood behind the angry boy. “Isn’t that Axel?”
Axel stood, followed by Myed. “Olette! Hayner! Pence!” they called in greeting.
“So this is your spot?” Zexion asked.
“Usually,” said Hayner. “That’s why we call it the usual spot.”
“I don’t get it,” said Vexen. “Even the three of them still have to figure out a way to share the couch.”
“These people are with us,” said Axel. “They’re just trying to hide for a while because there’s a madman after us…it’s a long story.”
“A madman after you?” Olette asked.
“Like I said, long story.”
“Wait…” Hayner and his friends had visited the Destiny Islands multiple times; thus, they were well acquainted with Axel and Myed. “If there’s somebody after you, what about Sora?”
“After him too,” Myed moaned.
“WHAT?” Hayner screamed. “Thanks a lot for telling us, Sora!” he yelled to the ceiling.
“You’d think he would at least have written us,” Olette growled.
“I think this warrants a visit to the islands,” said Pence. “He obviously needs our help.”
“He obviously doesn’t WANT our help,” Hayner growled.
“Well, let’s at least go see what’s up,” said Olette.
The three turned to make their way to the nearest gummi ship they could find. Hayner called over his shoulder on the way out, “You can stay in the hangout, but don’t touch my darts!”
“I should get going,” said Myed. “Gotta meet KaiKai so we can work on our project.”
“This nickname thing you and Kairi have going on with each other is starting to get sick and wrong,” said Axel. His comment went unnoticed, however, for Myed was already gone.

Belowdecks, in the dining room of the Black Pearl, heroes from many different worlds were experiencing an awkward silence.
Sora went down to check on them. “Hey,” he said, “why so quiet? Maybe you all want to mingle or something.”
He left to check on Donald, Goofy, and Mickey, who were in charge of piloting the ship.
“Okay, then,” Mulan muttered. “I suppose I’ll go first.” She walked over to Hercules. “My name’s Mulan.”
“I’m Hercules. So what’s your story?”
“I assisted with a war back in my home world, and managed to secure the victory.”
“Oh, really? That’s a big thing to do for a…” Hercules realized what he was about to say, then closed his mouth.
“Were you about to say a girl?” Mulan asked, frustrated.
“I’m sorry, I really am…”
Mulan stormed off in a huff.
“Well, this is going to go well,” Simba sighed.
“What’s this?” Jack Skellington crept up to the lion. “A talking lion! I’ve never seen one before! Except in Santa’s toy shop…perhaps this is a giant toy…” He began rifling through Simba’s mane, looking for a wind-up key.
“Hey! HEY!” Simba protested. “You’re messing up my mane!”
The Prince formerly known as the Beast stared out the window of the ship, already missing his precious Belle.
“So I hear you’ve been transformed from a different shape too,” said Ariel, who had given in to Donald’s magic and let herself become a human.
“Please,” said the Prince, “I don’t want to talk about it.” All of his thoughts were focused on his faraway love.
“Fine,” said Ariel, “if you’re going to be rude.”
Jack Sparrow smirked when he looked at Aladdin. The Arabian prince had come on board his ship wearing a spectacularly wrought gold armband from the palace in Agrabah, and Jack had thought himself so kind as to liberate Aladdin of the extra weight on his arm when he wasn’t looking. Jack thought of all the goods he could buy with that one armband in his pocket…
“HEY!” he screamed, having been poked in the back with a wooden dagger. He spun around to face the wily Peter Pan. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Giving you your just desserts, Codfish!” crowed Peter. “I’ve taken on hundreds of pirates before!”
“Oh yeah?” Sparrow drew his sword, and the two went off in a duel. Despite his toy weapon, Peter seemed to be winning. Sparrow looked across the room to see Aladdin smirking at him. “Fine,” he called out, “go ahead and laugh at my misfortune!”
Aladdin wasn’t smiling because of the duel…he was smiling because unbeknownst to Jack, he had managed to transfer the armband from Jack’s pocket to his own.
“ENOUGH!” Leon knocked both swords from the fighters’ hands with the Gunblade.
A curious Tarzan loped over to the Gunblade to see what it was.
“Is everyone here going to be rude to us because we’re women?” Ariel asked.
“We can only hope not…” Mulan sighed.
“GET OFF!” Simba yelled for the last time.
“Oh, that’s shiny!” Skellington joined Tarzan in the inspection of the Gunblade.
“You guys wanna leave that alone?” Leon jerked his weapon away.
Abovedecks, Sora thanked Mickey for helping him to convince the others to join the cause.
“No problem, Sora!” said Mickey.
“I just hope they can get along…”
A large KABOOM came from belowdecks.
“I didn’t do it this time!” Goofy swore.
“Oh, no…” Donald hit his head with his wing.

Kairi waited on the cove. She heard rapidly approaching footsteps, and looked up with glee. “MyMy!”
“Hey, KaiKai.” Myed stood at her side. “Ready?”
“Yeah…you know, MyMy, I think I want to do it tonight.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. I mean, we’ve practically perfected it…”
“Then we’ll pull it off tonight.”

“HEY, EVERYBODY!” Sora called.
The many heroes gathered on the deck of the Black Pearl.
“Look!” Sora cried. He pointed out toward the Destiny Islands. “That’s where our base is! You’ll all love it there. Ariel, Sparrow, it’s kind of like both your worlds…”
Suddenly, Sora heard the sound of thirteen malevolent laughs…laughs that chilled him to the bone.
Thirteen people, cloaked in black, appeared on the deck of the Pearl.
“Hey! Who are you?” Donald quacked.
The first figure removed his hood. Even though Sora had never seen this particular man before, he was easy to recognize.
“Xehanort,” he hissed.
“How very observant,” Xehanort replied. “I see you have gathered many friends in order to face me.”
“You’d never take us all down at once,” Sora said, suddenly not so sure of himself as he surveyed the other hooded figures.
“Exactly,” said Xehanort, “which is why I have rebuilt my Organization.”
“REBUILT THE ORGANIZATION?” Mickey, Donald, and Goofy cried in unison.
“Allow me to introduce the Neo-Organization.”
As each member removed his or her hood, Xehanort announced their name and title.
“Number II: Maleficent: the Mistress of All Evil.”
“Number III: Sephiroth: the One Winged Angel.”
“Number IV: Darth Vader: the Destructive Father.”
“Number V: Christopher Carrion: the Nightmare Cultivator.”
“Number VI: Ganondorf: the Divine Beast.”
“Number VII: Voldemort: the Flight From Death.”
“Number VIII: Saint Dane: the Shifting Traveler.”
“Number IX: Aro: the Eternal Telepath.”
“Number X: Sauron: the Lord of the Rings.”
“Number XI: Redd Heart: the Poisonous Rose.”
“Number XII: Light Yagami: the Nameless Killer.”
“Number XIII: Count Olaf: the Illiterate Pyromaniac.”
The heroes were frightened. These people looked ten times tougher than the original Organization.
“I’m afraid your trip ends here,” said Maleficent.
All of the members of the Neo-Organization put their hands together, and with a radiant flash, they sent destruction through the ship.

“What was that?” Axel asked Riku.
“I don’t know,” said Riku, “but it sounded bad.”
The two looked out to sea, where a cloud of smoke was visible in the distance.
“Oh, not Sora,” Riku mumbled. “Please, not Sora. Nothing happened to Sora…”
A figure was visible paddling toward shore. Riku squinted, then let out a large breath. It was Sora.
Sora was soon accompanied by several others, all making a break for the shore. They all hit the beach at about the same time. “Everyone okay?” Sora called out.
A roll was taken: Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Hercules, Tarzan, Aladdin, Ariel, Skellington, Peter, the Prince, Mulan, Sparrow, Simba, and Leon were all accounted for.
“Good,” said Sora.
“Ahem!” came a voice from behind him. Sora turned to see…
“Olette?”
“Yeah,” said Hayner, “and me and Pence too.”
“Sora,” said Pence, “if you were in trouble, why didn’t you come tell us?”
“I…I didn’t want you to get involved! This is serious stuff! You could get hurt!”
“Yeah, right,” said Hayner. “More like you forgot about us.”
“Well, I won’t forget about you again,” said Sora. “Welcome to the team.”
“That’s more like it,” said Hayner.
“Now we have to work out even MORE sleeping arrangements,” said Riku. He sighed. “I suppose I can take Jack.”
“Which one?” Axel asked.
“Oh, right. I’ve gotta use last initials. I’ll take Jack S.”
“Again: which one?”
“The undead one.”
“Riku…you really have to come up with some better discernments…”
“Okay, then, I’ll take Sparrow!” Riku suddenly looked at the heroes Sora had brought, then at the Twilight Town trio, then at Axel. He thought about Myed and the rest of the Organization.
“Sora,” he said, “you are a magnet for weird people.”

Sora lay in his bed, almost asleep. He had several guests sprawled about the house; the bedroom was solely Sora’s for the time being.
A rock bounced off his window.
“Wha…?” Sora sat up and opened the window. He was nearly hit in the face by the second rock.
“Sorry!” Kairi called up from below his window.
“Kairi!” Sora yelled, not so much bothered from being jerked out of sleep than he was excited to see his beautiful friend. “What are you doing here?” He smiled widely.
“Sora,” she said, “there’s something I want you to hear. I’ve been practicing this for a long time.”
She cleared her throat, and began to sing:

“When you walk away,
You don’t here me say,
Please, oh baby, don’t go!”

From behind a bush, Sora could hear the dulcet tones of a sitar accompanying Kairi’s voice…but oh, that voice…it could outsing the sirens.

“You give me…too many things lately…
You’re all I need, you smiled at me and said:
Don’t get me wrong, I love you…”

Sora smiled, leaning forward so far that he almost fell out the window.

“When we are older you’ll understand
It’s enough
When I say so,
And maybe, some things are that simple…”

The more Kairi crooned, the more Sora fell in love with her, over and over again.
When she finished, he called, “I’ll be right down!” and closed the window.
Myed came out from behind his bush. “You think he liked it?”
“I know he did,” said Kairi with a smile.
Sora ran out to meet Kairi. “Thank you,” he said, “so much. I loved it. In fact…Kairi…I never got the chance to tell you this, but I love you.”
Kairi blushed. “I love you too, Sora.”
The two stood there awkwardly for a moment, before Kairi decided to take a chance.
“You know, Sora…we’ve been through a lot together, and we’re going to be through a lot more. I realized that when this Xehanort business began. Our destinies are going to be long and twisted, and we may not always be together.”
“But I want to be together…”
“As do I. If you really feel that way…that you want our destinies to be intertwined, always…”
She rummaged through the bag she kept at her side and pulled out a paopu fruit.
“But only if you’re sure,” she said.
Sora placed a hand on the fruit. “I’m sure,” he said.
They held the fruit up between them, each leaning forward to take a bite…
They both stopped. Two pairs of eyes were fixed on Myed, who was watching the lovers with wide eyes and the goofy grin of an overemotional person viewing a romance film.
“Erm…Myed?” Sora asked. “Could you…erm…give us a minute?”
“Oh. Sure. Sorry.” Myed turned and walked away.
When they were sure he had gone, Sora and Kairi each took a bite of the paopu…
And thus their fates were aligned forever.