Liberi Fatali
Author: Sakura123
Rated: T
Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama
Summary: During Kingdom Hearts II Leon unwillingly recalls events before and during the Heartless manifestation in Radiant Garden and the loss of his family; Tifa Lockheart returns to Hollow Bastion from a refugee planet; Cloud Strife tries to rekindle the broken friendship between himself and Leonhart; Maleficent returns to the Garden with a plentiful army of nobodies to reclaim the world on orders from Xehanort (Xemnas). Leon finds himself fighting the darkness threatening to overwhelm his heart and his homeland.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and all things related to the franchise are copyright of Disney Interactive and Square Enix: All Rights Reserved. Liberi Fatali, Sairin: Kata Tsubasa no Tenshi, The promised land, and Tenrai Divinity lyrics are copyrighted to Uematsu Nobuo. Storyline and original characters are copyrighted to me, the author. All Rights Reserved.
Author's Note: (My 2nd KH story) Given that there isn't much information on what Hollow Bastion or Raidient Garden looked and functioned like in Kingdom Hearts before its desctruction, my impression of its appearance and state before its destruction is solely based on what I saw and learned from Kingdom Hearts. Recently my sister has started playing Kingdom Hearts II and Raidiant Garden/Hollow Bastion is very different from how I describe it, but that'll change the further I go into this story. You'll have to excuse the problems or innacurate information. No flaming, constructive critism only.
Prelude: Lionheart
So little time . . .
What do you want from me?
So much to explain . . .
Who are you?
The door is closed . . . .
Endshrouded in darkness . . .
Will you be ready . . .?
Why am I remembering this?
The dream was always the same. Squall Leonhart found himself falling through murky gray clouds, no direction in particular. His blue eyes slowly began to open, he was becoming aware of his surroundings. It was all he was able to do anyhow, his body was paralyzed by the cold that managed to seep into his being. Squall's head fell back further his body made contact with the water yet he was barely aware of this transaction. His breathing was quickening now, his eyes opening just a little more. Where was he? Squall continued to drift further down into the water until his entire body tipped back and he was plummeting downward head first. The numbing aura in his being begins to flee, the warmth of blood running through is veins returns and his is able to move his body again.
Squall spins in a fluid motion watching in curiosity as the air bubbles swarmed around his legs and arms, escaping his parted lips. Turning himself upright he lands softly on the bottom of the void sea, he examines his bare feet for a moment then looks up. He knew he wasn't in his bedroom but was unworried by this as he stepped forward. The ground illuminated in an instant and Squall shielded his face as thousands of doves began to converge around him before fleeing into the darkness. Lowering his arms he stares down at the ground, the image of orange painted glass bearing the picture of his mother and another woman younger than his mother laid below him. His eyebrows arch in curiosity as he looks around him. He notices his breathing isn't so labored anymore. The water is gone in its place a blacker void than the sea. He stands on a platform that stretches down into endless darkness. Squall steps forward cautiously wondering how he was going to get back home before his mother found him missing.
Three platforms appeared around him surrounding him in their circle. Squall noted that they're all weapons, things he is familiar with. The one before him is a short sword, the second a shield and the last a staff bearing an orb with two smaller circles atop of it on each side, the center crowned with the face of a lion. Choose wisely, for they will decide your fate in this world. Squall jumped at the sound of the voice that echoed above him through the darkness. "Choose wisely," He says unaware of his voice is absent. Squall examined each weapon carefully, though he could not deny the short sword was the more attracting out of the three items. Quickly he grabbed the sword out of its mid-air suspension, he slashes the air excitedly. The image of his father appears in his head, he grinned widely. Now he could be more like his father in spite of the fact that the man favored a machine gun over a sword. Squall's ears perk up, in the distance the sound of singing could be heard.
Excitate vos e somno, liberi mei
Cunae non sunt
Excitate vos e somno, liberi fatali
Somnus non eat
"Hello? Is anyone there!" He tried to shout. His voice is muted, no sound escapes his mouth no matter how many times he moves his mouth. Squall became worried as he raced out further onto the platform he stood upon. Without warning it began to shatter into a million pieces, the face of his mother destroyed. Squall loses his footing as the ground beneath him gave way and dropped him into the endless darkness. His legs kick furiously at the air as though such a taxing effort would save him from the unknown fate in the darkness. The air that rushed past his face was thick with heat, he coughed as he tried to breathe the air. His blue eyes widened at the sight of another platform spiraling faster and faster toward him. The painted glass was now a deep red bearing wisps of feathers surrounding the silhouette of a male lion's face. Griever. Squall landed loudly on the red surface, his heart thumped wildly in his chest as his head snapped from side to side. His head was throbbing with pain now as his heart beat was becoming louder. The singing continued in the distance wrapping him in its enchanting spell of beauty, Squall fought against the eerie feeling of familiarity as his legs ushered him across the red surface. He wanted to call out to his parents, his sister --anyone at this point--- but his lips were pressed tightly against each other preventing him from speaking. In a mist of dust that sparkled like diamonds a door appeared at the end of the platform. His heart beat was now echoing along with the singing. Once at the end of the platform he grabbed the handle of the door.
A strong tug let him know it was locked, he looked about him before noticing something was wrong with his shadow. He stared down at the ground, his shadow was moving on its own accord pulling itself out of its two-dimensional form and becoming three-dimensional. It stared back at him with glowing yellow eyes then began to increase in size, Squall felt as though it was him shrinking and not shadow growing in side. The shadow disfigured itself from his shape into the shape of a monstrous creature, tentacles wrapped around his face revealing on his glowing yellow eyes; His stomach began to rot away, the hole reconfiguring itself into the shape of a heart. His legs became toned revealing the shape of well toned muscles through its black skin. His arms were the last to reshape themselves to the right size to fit its massive body. It towered over its former owner, a malevolent gleam its yellow eyes. Squall felt the sword appear in his hand and his body fall into a fighting stance, his blue eyes were full of fear but his body brimmed with determination and strength to fight. What am I doing? I can't fight this thing!
Surgite
Inventite hortum veritatis
Ardente veritate
Urite mala mundi
Ardente veritate
Incendite tenebras mundi
Valete, liberi
Diebus fatalibus
The vocals seem to empower the unknown determination that swarmed in his being. His body ignored his frantic thinking, he dodged the shadow's fist as it came down on him. Squall rolled across the painted glass platform and launched himself at the shadow's fist, the short sword its target with blinding speed and perfect aim. Squall looked down at the pool of darkness that now surrounded his former shadow's hand, soon many shadows began to appear around him. His body ignored the fear that enthralled his mind and continued to slashing the shadow's hand until recoiled and it stood upright. Squall jumped away from the smaller shadows and began to attack them individually, they fell to his blade each time barely getting a chance to hit him in rebellion. Excitement soon began to overcome his fear, he slashed at the demi-shadows like a master swordsman and eliminated them until there were none left to fight. His former shadow reeled thrusting his chest out, a surg of energy burst from his stomach scattering into a million points of dark light. Squall did his best to beat them back but he was hit more times than he would care to remember. His legs froze for a brief moment when the dark light hit him in the back, Squall let out a soundless cry of pain as his body was wracked with pain.
The shadow wailed in approval and brought his fist down on the young man. Squall felt his arms rebel against the pain and block the large fist with his blade. He would not let himself be swallowed by the darkness just yet. The shadow pulled its fist away from the young man's blade and prepared for another attack. Squall let out a gasp of surprise as his legs unlocked from their paralysis, he dodged the shadow's fist with ease. Another pool of darkness swirled into existence, the demi-shadows breathed new life crawling out of their imprisonment. Squall sprung forward slashing the shadow's giant fist ruthlessly with dizzying speed, his stomach churned violently with nausea the quicker his moves became. The shadow reeled backward again and shot off more dark light from its stomach, the demi-shadows leapt into the air and swallowed the dark light. They too began to increase in size. Squall's arms suddenly ceased in their attack leaving his body exasperated from the effort of attack. He let out an involuntary gasp of surprise finally noticing the demi-shadows had lengthen considerably. They now bore bodies his length. The former demi-shadows jumped at him with incredible speed barely giving him enough time to block a single head-butt. Squall's arms felt like over-stretched rubber bands but he had no control over what they did, the singing was becoming stronger with ever hit he received. It wouldn't be long before he was overwhelmed by their relentless attacks.
Fithos lusec wecos vinosec
Fithos lusec wecos vinosec
Fithos lusec wecos vinosec
Fithos lusec wecos vinosec
The shadows surrounded him once his guard was down, they sprung forward ready to deal the killing blow. Squall felt his heart burning with anticipation as his body burst with his final bout of his energy, spiritual energy. His short sword illuminated with the power of his soul, it burst into flames transforming itself into the weapon it was destined to become. Squall's cry broke through the deafening chants of the unearthly voices and his sword met his enemy eagerly. The blade sliced through the guts of the shadows destroying them once more, their yellows eyes glowed in disbelief as they vanished. Squall could feel the spark in his soul ebbing with every blow he made to the shadows, he pressed on nonetheless. The shadows howled in pain in response their master's anger, Squall's sword dealt the killing blow the final shadow and clattered to the floor. Squall let out a cry of pain as his body cramped with screams of his soul's ululation he fell to the ground next to his weapon.
This could not be happening to him, he couldn't die just yet! His former shadow lowered itself to the ground, on its knees its hands cupped its master and raised it from the ground. Squall looked on helplessly as the darkness wrapped around his body, seeping into the pores of his skin. His sword seemed to respond to its wielder's call, it stood upright on the tip of its blade and began to spin. It launched itself upward straight into the palm of the shadow's hand that its master was not on. The shadow bellowed in pain dropping Squall, the young man landed on his feet in spite of his own pain. The sword dislodged itself from the shadow's hand and landed in Squall's grasp. For the first time he noticed how different the sword had become. The handle was that of a handle of a gun but instead of a barrel there was a long shimmering blade in its place. On the end of the gun handle resided a chain and pendant the shape of the lion's face he stood upon.
The Gunblade. . . .
A weapon of great and terrible destruction . . .
It will protect your heart and others . . .
The shadow continued to howl in pain, its body quickly disintegrating into nothingness. Squall watched wearily as it vanished into the darkness from whence it came, his shoulders slouched when all became silent. The gunblade vibrated with anxiety from the battle, Squall took a look at his exposed arms. The veins showed more through his skin, but no other signs of irregularities. It hurt to breathe. His eyes stared out into the darkness, a sem-spiral of stairs began to appear behind the door behind him. Turning he grabbed the handle again, his hand shaking with fear. Do not fear the darkness, it cannot claim you lest your forsake all hope . . . Squall felt uneasy when the voice trailed off. Swallowing against his own doubt he pulled on the door, it opened slowly. Blinding white light flooded his vision, his body was pulled through the door and onto the spiral staircase. Squall found himself unable to control his movements and watched helplessly as his body raced up the stairs toward yet another glass painted platform. This time the blue glass bore the image of his father and sister. The blank look in their eyes sent chills up the boy's spine. Squall raised his attention from the picture of family in time to catch sight of a familiar pair of yellow eyes. Squall felt himself back up raising his gunblade in preparation.
The shadow did not move from its place. Its eyes began to burn bright yellow, Squall kept himself ready for attack. Quicker than he could react the shadow's eyes vanished as though they had never been there. Squall's brow creased in confusion, he looked about him cautiously wondering if the shadow was playing tricks on him. The darkness began to enshroud the platform, Squall felt his throat tighten up in panic. The light began to dim. He jumped away from where he stood when the darkness crept up below. Squall landed awkwardly on the edge of the platform, his toes gripped the surface frantically as he tried to pull his weight forward. The giant shadow's fist burst out of the darkness, Squall watched as its long fingers closed themselves around him trapping him in their grasp. Try as he might he could not get loose from the behemoth's grasp, the shadow crawled onto the platform allowing itself to be pulled into darkness that had overwhelmed the stage. Squall felt himself fall onto the ground, as he pushed himself off his back black vines wrapped around his arms and legs. He was being pulled into the darkness after the shadow. The more he struggled against it the further he sank into nothingness. Squall could feel his breath being strangled from his body as the darkness grabbed him by the neck pulling him further under. The last thing he remembered were the sound of the singing voices.
Burning with the fires of truth
Sear with flame the darkness of the world
Burning with the fires of truth
Kindle to ash the evil of the spirit
Be strong, children,
on that fated day
(TBC)