"This is not happening. This can't be happening."
For the second time in his life, Sora uttered these words to himself. He stood up carefully and took a look at his surroundings. He blinked slowly to stop the blood pouring into his eye from a cut on his forehead. Everything had looked like it was going so well, but then like someone flipped a switch the odds had gone against them. Sora and his friends had finally had their final clash with Xehanort. Everyone was confident they would pull through with no causalities. After all, light always won didn't it…?
Slowly he peeled his eyes off his fallen comrades and looked to his best friend Riku. He didn't want to see his friends like that. It was too harsh to think that those would be the last sights he saw of them. He wanted to remember as they were before, smiling happily and laughing together. Suddenly the sky that had always seemed so bright had turned into a monotone gray. They were gone, and no magic Sora had could save them.
"Sora, are you okay?" Sora looked at his best friend that was standing up slowly. He could tell that he was injured based on how he was favoring his right leg.
"I… I think so…" His companion looked him in the eye and grimaced. Riku could see right through him, he always could.
"Sora… I know. But first we have to finish this. Finish it once and for all." Hesitantly Sora looked away and nodded. Now wasn't the time to reminisce in his better days. Silently he steeled himself and said his prayers to his friends laying behind him. He lost everyone, but he still had Riku. Riku would always be with him as long as they protected each other.
The best friends then heard a laugh in the distance. It wasn't a cheery laugh however, it was one filled with anger and hate. "I see that final blast did those pitiful excuse for Keyblade wielders in. About time they got out of my hair."
Sora grit his teeth and clenched his hands. He could feel the pain from the nails digging into his hands, his gloves had long since been turned into ripped shreds hanging off of his wrists. For the first time in his life, he hated something. Not disliked or annoyed like he felt with the heartless. This time he felt complete hate for the man standing in front of him. Not only had he managed to kill off his precious friends, but he had the audacity to mock their deaths.
He stared at the man and hissed out his name with venom in his voice. "Xehanort…"
The man in question looked at him with a seemingly bored look. The face he wore now was one that was many years younger than the old man he had seen before. Yet oddly enough he wasn't the young teen he had met either. He was a handsome young man that looked to be the age of 20. Terra had long since been forcibly split from him, but for some reason it was as if he had kept the youth of the man. It made Sora hate him even more.
The man wearing his younger body then shook his head at him. "Boy… all of that anger. All of that hate would have done you some good had you just allowed me to take over your heart like I did that man laying dead behind you. Maybe then you would have actually had the power to change something. Ah, but what am I saying. Even if you had done so, I would have murdered them using your hands. In the end no matter what road you took, you couldn't change anything. A fitting end for such a ordinary, dull boy."
"Just shut the hell up!" Sora head Riku yell from next to him. "You don't know anything about him! Sora may not have been chosen by the Keyblade, but he EARNED it. That is a testament to the strength of his heart. Can you say the same Xehanort?!"
The last time Sora had heard Riku this mad was when his Nobody Roxas had forced Riku to open up to the darkness in his heart. Well… he didn't hear it exactly. He had lived it through Roxas's memories. Roxas was Roxas and no one else, that is how Sora will always see it.
Xehanort's ever mocking laugh then returned and snapped his thoughts back to the present. It wasn't like him to be so clutter minded during a fight, but Sora was tired and reaching his limits. Meanwhile the man in front of him seemed like he had just went through a light warm up. It irked him further.
"Fool… I see still you have learned nothing. Those who know nothing can understand nothing. Have you forgotten these words? I was sure to engrave them in your heart when my heartless possessed your body. What that boy did was nothing worthy of being praised. He merely stole something that wasn't his to begin with. Only those chosen should ever have the right to wield. Not some child who wanted to play hero." Xehanort calmly said to Riku.
Then he tilted his head and stared at them. It was like he was looking at pieces of trash on the side of the road. No emotion was inside his eyes. "I suppose it's about time I get rid of the final nuisances."
Sora's eyes widened, no sooner had heard the words than did Xehanort disappear. On instinct he jumped back as hard as he could. As he did he saw Riku do the same much to his relief. As soon as he did that the ground where he was standing before exploded into gravel. Xehanort stood there crouched with his Keyblade in hand. Whatever he did to get this younger body gave him a massive power up. It was almost like a final boss in a crappily designed RPG game. The kind where the villain is just powered up because they could make him that way.
"You foiled my plans to forge the X-blade once again. I let you live time and time again because I was sure my next plan would snare you easily." Xehanort stood up and spook in an angered tone. His face was now twisted into rage. "This time I will not make that same mistake. It will take many more years of careful planning, but I will pass on the Keyblade to a new set of youth and teach them as their master. Then when the time is right I will set the stage for yet another Keyblade war. I will not fail then, so you brats are no longer needed. Do me a favor and die."
Sora landed on his feet and dashed over to his best friend, if they wanted to survive this and win, they would need to put everything they had together. Sora was out of magic, and he had no energy to use his Drive forms. He slid to a stop next to his best friend and summoned his Kingdom Key to his hand. Offering a hand to Riku and pulling him up, his mouth formed a thin line. Riku was bleeding steadily from his left hip. With his movement impaired, this fight would be even harder than he even wanted to think about.
He took in a deep breath to calm himself in slipped into his familiar makeshift battle pose. "You ready to take this sucker down Riku?" He called out to his childhood friend.
Riku chuckled slightly bringing a smile to Sora's face. "Yeah… let's show him what the power of light can do."
That was all the encouragement Sora needed before they ran at their enemy together, all the while matching his wounded friend's pace. Going in first Sora let out a battle cry and brought down his weapon with all that he could for an overhead swing at Xehanort. This was a distraction for Riku so that he could swipe him from the side. It should have worked by all reasoning, but Xehanort was just too fast.
He felt his sword hit Xehanort's Keyblade with enough force to cause a small shockwave, and smiled thinking that he had him pinned down for Riku. He watched his best friend go in for a swipe to his right side, but suddenly the silver haired teen was gone. It took Sora a few seconds to register that he had been kicked aside with such power that he had all but disappeared from sight.
Furious, Sora yelled his best friend's name and pushed down harder onto Xehanort's weapon hoping to at least keep him pinned until Riku could jump back in. Sadly, Sora was weaker than normal. They had been fighting for two consecutive days. His strength was only a sliver left of his rested self.
As much as he hated to admit it, he was blown away like a bug in a hurricane. His body slammed against the floor over and over again as he bounced away from the impact. His back then slammed into a rock wall hard enough to take his eyesight away for a few moments. Shakily, he stood up and leaned against the wall for support.
"Riku! We need to regroup!" He yelled to his friend who was kneeling down a few yards away from him clutching his wound.
Riku looked at him and gave a small frown before saying "Sora, I don't think I'm going to make it. Do me a favor, get out of here. I can at least hold him off for you to run a good distance away."
Sora's eyes widened out of shock and disbelief. "What are you saying Riku!? We have to do this together! What happened to the confidence you had a few seconds ago?! The Riku I know would never give up! Besides… I can't lose you too…"
He saw Riku stiffen up at that last part, and thought he had won him over. "I'm sorry Sora… He got me good. He kicked me right where my gash is. He shattered half my hip bone, I can barely stand and my vision is getting blurry. I'm going to bleed out soon. Please, don't sacrifice us both. Go, get out of here. Heal up and prepare, then come back and kick this stuck up narcissists behind one day. Let me repay you for saving me so many times. Let me be your best friend. Please Sora."
Riku looked into his best friends eyes and pleaded to him. He knew it was a long shot. Sora would never be one to leave anyone behind. This was one time he needed to listen to reason though. He was dying, and Sora was the only one who could potentially fix this later on. He was okay with dying if he knew he could leave the future in Sora's hands. He couldn't think of anyone better to leave it to. He soon saw his hopes vanish as Sora blinked and showed a new resolve.
"I'm sorry Riku… I can't leave you. So instead of saying all that, sit there and watch. I'll save you and beat him down right now. I promise I won't let you die. I'm not going to lose you too." Sora looked away from him and started walking to Xehanort who was waiting patiently for them to finish their chat.
"Oh? You intend to fight me alone? How noble… if you weren't so foolish. Your friend there is doing everything to give you a longer life, even if it was merely seconds more. I would hunt you down quickly." Xehanort's yellow eyes looked down at him with a hint of amusement.
"Sora don't! RUN SORA!" Riku yelled, but it fell upon deaf ears.
The shorter of the two friends gripped his weapon tighter and launched himself at the man in front of him. Seething with hatred he hissed "I am going to defeat you!"
He grounded his feet into the floor in front of the taller man and carried his momentum into his arms. "TAKE THIS!" he yelled and swung his sword as hard as he could attempting to slice his opponent. Xehanort not expecting such a straightforward attack again hastily brought up his weapon to block the strike and was shocked by how much power the boy still managed to use.
Sliding back a few feet he dodged and blocked attacks that the brown haired boy threw at him. To his surprise the child was speeding up instead of slowing down like he should have. He was getting faster. Xehanort didn't understand it, and he disliked things he couldn't understand.
Sora was getting more tired, yet he was moving faster. He didn't understand it himself, every time he felt on the verge of collapsing and was pushed to his limit, something kept his body moving. He at first guessed it was Roxas, but Roxas had given him a shake of his head down inside him before going back into his slumber. Whatever power this was, Sora was glad to have it and didn't need an explanation to use it. He was doing it! He was getting the upper hand on Xehanort!
The man in front of him quickly grew a scowl and said "Enough." The air got cold and the hair on Sora's neck stood up. Something was coming and he didn't like any of it. The silver haired man then became shrouded in a deep darkness that covered his silhouette. It was as if the darkness had become his shadow itself.
"This is the end for you."
Izuku Midoriya was a 15 year old boy attending UA high. He lived in a fantastic world where everyone had "quirks". Midoriya was born without them however, and was fortunate enough to have a chance encounter with his idol, the greatest hero All Might. Through some miracle from the heavens, All Might had chosen him to be his successor and take up the mantle as the symbol of peace. Midoriya had been quick to accept the offer and ended up passing one of the hardest exams for schools and got into his dream academy. Today had been the sports festival from the school and he had fought his friend Todoroki.
Sadly, he lost and failed to stand out like All Might had wanted him to. However he had managed to save his friend from his internal struggle, and if had the option he would have taken the same path again. After all, he just wanted to save people. It didn't matter what status or powers they had. Midoriya would go out of his way to help anyone if he could.
So here he sat down next to his close friend Uraraka Ochako and watched the award ceremony being held. His childhood friend Katsuki Bakugou (nicknamed Kacchan) was currently fighting with All Might while being tied down to a stake. He was upset about how his opponent hadn't given his all so he felt he didn't earn the medal.
He laughed half-heartedly and said "Kacchan never changes haha…."
Uraraka nodded to his declaration and gave a verbal "Nmph!" to show her agreement with him. Izuku silently wondered how she could be so cute but not realize it.
Just as soon as All Might finally hung the medal in the open mouth of Kacchan, something else happened that would once again change his life forever.
Sora didn't even have time to react. All he felt was a hand pushing him out of the way roughly. When he landed he noticed he was laying face down on concrete. He silently wondered for a few seconds where that came from until it clicked into his mind what had just happened. Riku had pushed him out of harms way. He opened up a portal and shoved him through it. Riku was in trouble. He quickly forced his bloody and bruised body to sit up and look around. There in front of him was the portal. He looked around briefly and took in a bit of his surroundings. He didn't recognize this place at all. He seemed to be in the middle of a stadium. There was a crowd watching, and a ridiculously buff man staring at him along with a few teenagers.
On the other side he could make out what seemed to be a female lady in a costume as well as a man made out of concrete. He didn't think much of it, he had seen weirder things in his travels. Besides, none of that really mattered right now. He needed to get back to Riku before Xehan-
"AGH!"
Sora's blood ran cold. That was Riku's voice. He looked in the portal and felt sick to his stomach. There on the other side of the portal laid Riku on the floor. On top of him stood Xehanort. There was a sickening squelch that Sora identified to be the source of Riku's pain. Xehanort was trying to pull his Keyblade out of Riku's chest.
Naturally Sora did the first thing he could think of. He screamed "RIKU!" and tried to stand up and run to is best friend's side only to fall flat on his face. His right leg wasn't responding to him. He looked down and saw in horror that there was a clean slice through the back of his leg. Riku had made sure he wouldn't run back in to save him.
Sora clenched his fists and bit his lips trying to hold back tears. His vision watered as he heard the labored breath of Riku. "Sora… it's.. it's okay…" He watched Riku go into a coughing fit and the tears he was holding back spilled out of his eyes.
"No… Riku no… Why? We.. we are best friends right? Why? How is it going to be okay?! We were supposed to make it through together. You promised me before that you wouldn't die!" Sora all but yelled at his best friend.
Riku smiled at him and felt his strength leaving, he had to make this quick. "Sora…. You are the key… you are the one who.. who will stop Xehanort. I know you will… You have a strength none of us did… Your heart Sora… Your heart and the connections it has to others make you the strongest of all of us." Riku coughed once more and felt his eye lids grow heavy. "Remember Sora… where ever you go, I'm always with you. We all are…"
His hand slipped and dropped onto the floor releasing Xehanort's Keyblade from his grasp. Xehanort pulled it out without any care for grace and stared out of the portal. He would let the boy go for now. He was reaching his limit in this new body and always had time to kill him another time. He would find him and end him before he started his new plans.
Unbeknownst to Sora or Xehanort, the world Sora had fell into was full of heroes who protected. The strongest of them all had just watched this unfold from 50 feet away, and he was not happy. This man had murdered a child, and severely wounded another. He would not let this slide. Especially since the whole Arena had just heard what was going on and seen it themselves.
"Villain…" He said in a low grumbling voice that caught Xehanort's attention. "What have you done?" He would give the Villain a chance to explain himself at least. Sadly the response the man gave him was all but what he wanted to hear.
"What did I do? I destroyed a bug that was in my way." The man said coldly as he lightly kicked the dead body of the teen on the floor.
That was all All Might needed to hear. "VILLIAN, HOW DARE YOU!" He shouted in anger and was about to run into the portal to face him.
Just before he could a bright light blinded him for a few seconds that stopped him in his tracks. The other boy that flew out of the portal was… shining? No, that wasn't right. He was definitely giving off a blinding amount of light, but the light also felt warm. As if it was alive.
Slowly the boy shined even brighter as he pulled himself up to his feet. He heard Young Todoroki mutter "What kind of quirk is this…?" but he had no answer for him.
The boy then stood up completely and looked into the portal with an almost emotionless face. Something was off with his clothes though, they seemed to be mending itself. As the light shined brighter, the clothes began separating into different color schemes. Each leg and arm had a different color. He could spot red, blue, gold, and silver that were all separated by a thin line of light.
Without saying a word the boy held out his hand and something flashed to it. It looked like a giant key, kind of like the one the man in the other side of the portal had. It was much simpler and less intimidating though, being just gold at the hilt and silver for the handle. The boy then pointed the tip at the man on the other side. The end of the strange item started glowing even brighter than the boy, it looked like a mini sun.
The Villain visibly panicked and tried to move out of the way, but it was too late to dodge it completely. The beam shot out faster than All Might could probably move himself. He recognized the scream of agony that he heard as the Villain's voice. When he could finally see again, the man was on the floor clutching his shoulder in pain. He was about to use this as a chance to apprehend him, but the portal began closing. All Might couldn't risk getting stranded somewhere so he unhappily let it close.
With that out of the way he stared at the boy again and watched as the light faded from him. He was surprised when he saw him pass out slowly and hit the concrete like bag of bricks.
"Hey boy! Are you okay?!" was the last thing Sora heard before he closed his eyes and went into a dark dreamless sleep.
