I'm giving you this chapter early because Civil War was amazing and I'm feeling generous. You've been waiting for a conclusion to this battle for long enough, anyway.
Again, my heartfelt thanks to fuzzynavaljewelry and Shadow Horizons for their assistance in editing, proof-reading, and being sounding boards for me to bounce things off of.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Final Fantasy, or any other non-original works or characters.
Note: If you remember what happened in the last chapter of the battle, something similar takes place here. Feel free to listen along when you get to it.
-A-D-
Cornerstones
Chapter 3: Radiant Garden III
Lexai grinned as she walked towards the gates, watching as one of the Decimators cut the ice witch's gorilla-thing into oblivion with a single stroke of its massive sword. The army atop the walls was running; running away from her and the Heartless like a flock of frightened sheep. They knew what overwhelming might was coming against them. They knew they couldn't stand against the darkness any longer.
"This will be easy," she told Xarcs as the lion Nobody of Scar walked next to her, eager for the kill. "It's just clean-up time now."
"Yes, I rather enjoy running down frightened rabbits," Xarcs replied.
"Do you mind if I take the gate?" Lexai asked. "It's been annoying me for a while now. First there was that Ajax guy stopping us for an hour and a half, and then it was the crazy midget and the big fat guy."
"Be my guest," Xarcs replied, stopping where he was and sitting down. He lazily licked at his paw, barely paying attention as the twenty Decimators formed a single rank behind him. Lexai smirked and walked ahead of him, cracking her knuckles in her purple fingerless gloves while small flames burst into life on the back of her hand.
The soldiers had all fled the walls by the time she reached the gate. Lexai spent a few seconds just looking at it, solidly closed against her. They'd been trying to get to this thing for hours, and while she'd seen the top of the walls and been pushed off of them, finally she had these dumb gates right where she wanted them. Fire gathered up in her right fist as she pulled her arm back, prepping an attack she was sure would break through them.
"Knock knock!" she called, the power building behind her stroke. "Who's there?" She punched the gate, the built-up fire magic exploding on contact with the thick wooden beams. It didn't matter what they were reinforced with or what else anchored them shut, the doors blew apart, shattering into pieces as if they'd been struck by a missile.
"Me," Lexai declared triumphantly as she strode through the broken gates. The army that had been in a panic atop the walls was fleeing past the second ring of them, but Lexai took note of several who were standing their ground, most notably a small group gathered under a glowing image of a Keyblade she vaguely remembered seeing one of them use a few hours ago when they fought the first Decimator, and a solitary figure only a short distance away, standing beside a piece of wreckage from the gate she'd just busted. The figure was covered in vermilion, white, and gold armour with a greathelm seamlessly attached to protect her pretty little head. A Keyblade that seemed to be made of fire was in the right hand, while her other held a large and broad kite shield that bore a field of bright red, bordered and chief indented in gold, and proudly displaying a white dragon charge in its centre.
"Well now," Lexai called as she slowly advanced towards the woman in armour, "don't you look all nice and fancy? Did somebody get all dressed up for me?"
"I'm going to stop you," said her opponent, raising her fiery sword and pointing it at Lexai. The Nobody recognized the voice, and even if she hadn't, only one of the Keyblade twerps would be wearing that much red and be using a weapon that looked to be made of fire.
"Oh? Are you really, Kairi? You and your army haven't managed to do so yet. The best you could do was delay us from busting through your gate until now. We even nearly overran your walls a couple of times, and if it weren't for those Heroes and your new bunch of Keyblade bearers, we'd have already won."
"But you haven't yet," Kairi answered sternly, "and by the grace of Athena, I'll make sure that this is the farthest you go."
Lexai laughed. "Really? By the grace of Athena!? Calling on your god now to save you? I knew you were a naïve little princess, but this really takes the-"
Lexai found her words interrupted as a fireball exploded around her. She laughed even harder, but grinned wickedly at her opponent. "You idiot! I'm a fire Nobody! Your flames can't hurt me!"
"We'll see," Kairi taunted.
Lexai sneered and rushed out at Kairi, flames covering her fists. "You want fire? I'll show you fire!" She threw a punch at the princess' chest with her right hand while also feigning a strike to her jaw with her left. Kairi blocked both, the first punch with her shield and the feint with the same by smashing it forward into Lexai's fists. Flames burst out of her blocked strikes, directed down to the ground, and Lexai twisted and stepped back to avoid Kairi's countering slash. The annoying, armoured redhead hid herself behind her shield as Lexai launched a few blasts of fire out from her gloves.
"Just give up already!" shouted the copper-haired short woman as she continued to punch blasts of fire out of her gloves at Kairi, keeping her pinned behind her shield. "If all you're going to do is cower behind that shield, then I'm going to beat you in no time, got it memorized?"
"Pitiful," Kairi taunted behind her shield. "Is that really all you have, Flaming Temptress, fifth ranked of the Eximius Septem?"
"Don't look down on me, bitch!" Lexai shouted, calling a column of fire from her hands and blasting it continuously at Kairi, enveloping her in flame. "I'm the fire character now! Not Lea; not you, me! Fire is my portfolio, and I won't let some self-righteous princess tell me otherwise!"
Lexai grinned, not ceasing in her fiery assault. Unlike the last time she had tried this against the princess, Kairi wasn't in that Drive Form that made her all about fire. This time she was just a normal fighter, and Lexai had supreme confidence that she could destroy her. So what if she was a Princess of Heart? Lexai had already critically wounded or killed four Keyblade Wielders. Kairi was nothing!
Maybe Maleficent will give me a huge bonus for eliminating her. Lexai grinned at the thought. Although she couldn't feel anything at the moment, a reward would be nice. Lexai finished her attack, expecting to see a shield turned to ash and a pile of melted metal over the burned remains of her opponent.
What she did not expect was to see Kairi standing there, completely unharmed.
"My turn," Kairi declared. She spoke some words in a language Lexai didn't understand, and then a wave of fire, bright yellow and veering towards blue, rushed for Lexai in a massive cone from the tip of Kairi's fire Keyblade. Lexai grinned at Kairi's foolishness. The last time they'd fought her fire hadn't hurt her; it had only irritated the scrapes Lea's chakrams had inflicted. She was practically unharmed at the moment, so there was nothing to be concerned about.
"You fool! I already told you that fire can't hur- FUCK! OW! FU- BURNS! HOT HOT HOT!"
Lexai ran backwards as quickly as she could to get out of the flames, feeling her body burning at the intense heat. Even more than the pain, her mind was numbed by the shock of the fact that fire was burning her...burning her! She quickly patted out the flames that were still licking at her outfit, now in a state of disarray and making her feel the cold winter air for the first time that day, and turned back to face Kairi with a snarl on her lips.
"Bitch. How did you do that? How did you burn me? TELL ME!"
Kairi stalked towards her, dropping her shield from her left arm as she went. "Simple, really," Kairi replied, her behaviour and tone revealing that which Lexai couldn't see, a dark look and the taller woman glaring down on her like she was vermin. "You're not immune to fire and you don't absorb its energy. You only resist it. I just have to make my flames hot enough!" She shouted another string of words in a strange tongue while swinging her fire Keyblade down towards Lexai, and a ray of white-blue flames streaked from her sword, raging with the roar of their burning. The front of it looked like a dragon's head, neck, and shoulders, howling as it raced for Lexai.
She tried to dodge it, but her feet fumbled as she backed away and the searing flames enveloped her as the 'dragon' 'bit' her. Lexai screamed in endless pain as wisps of darkness joined with the smoke of the fire, burning her Nobody body. She'd no idea that fire could be so hot; that burning to death could be so painful. Her throat was hoarse from her scream as she fell to her knees and looked forward. She saw the perpetrator standing in front of her, fire sword held up in both her hands, ready to carry out an executioner's will. Her body was already starting to break down; nothing could stop it now.
"You killed my best friend," Kairi told her simply. "For that I can never forgive you, but may you find your heart and be reborn to a life of peace, so you may atone for your service to Maleficent."
"When I called you a bitch," started Lexai. "I meant it in a positive way, like how you're strong, and independent, and really fucking terrifying." Fire covered her right hand that clenched into a tight fist. "So I'm going to give you a punch to remember me by!"
Kairi moved faster than Lexai's fading eyes could track. One moment Kairi had been on one side of her, and the next, after she had started her final punch, Kairi was nowhere to be seen. There came one final nauseating sensation of pain, and Lexai's sight went dark.
"My friend's death was enough to remember you."
-A-D-
Yuna was left staring slack-jawed at Kairi's back as Lexai faded away. They'd all worked so hard to push Lexai back from the wall, and Selphie had died and Tidus was wounded doing so, and Kairi eliminated her using the element she resisted just like that! A black cloud emerged from Lexai's disintegrating body and immediately took off into the sky. Kairi didn't seem to act, looking up at it only after it was far out of reach.
"Did you see that?" someone muttered within the group of new Keyblade Wielders Yuna was standing with.
A lion's roar came from beyond the gatehouse and Kairi quickly fell back, her shield flying from where she'd dropped it back to her arm. "Tag out," she said, clapping upraised hands with Sora as they traded places, the Wielder named Shiki and Naminé following Sora several steps behind and beside him on either side.
The ground shuddered, and two Decimator Heartless arrived, one on each side of the gatehouse. Between them was Xarcs, the lion Nobody, slowly advancing.
"You've put out the fire," Xarcs shouted, "but now comes the winter of your discontent, nephew!"
"Come at me then, uncle!" challenged Sora. "You've been a blight on the pride for far too long!"
Yuna saw Sora set himself in a defensive stance behind his tower shield, but before the battle between him and Xarcs could be joined her name was called. Yuna turned her head. Kairi had addressed her. "Yuna," repeated Kairi, "I want you, Paine, and Rikku to switch to your Songstress dresspheres again and to sing a song of inspiration. Yuffie, start playing. Roxas, you're going to join them in singing."
"Got it," Yuffie and Roxas said, nodding.
"Riku, you take command of the Wielders here. Asha, lead the Wolves."
"What about ye?" Melbil enquired.
"I'm taking them out," Kairi answered.
Yuna, though she'd been listening to Kairi's conversation with half an ear, followed what she'd been told immediately for a reason she couldn't quite explain. Perhaps it was something in Kairi's voice, but there was an air of authority about her now that hadn't been there when she'd last seen the redhead. No, authority wasn't quite right. Confidence. She was giving her commands confident in herself and confident that they would be followed.
Now changed into her songstress dressphere, and glad once more for the long winter coat that helped stave off the snowy cold her otherwise revealing outfit would have mercilessly subjected her to, Yuna looked forward to where Sora stood a little ahead of her two other Wielders, Xarcs charging towards him now and backed by both Decimators, and did as Kairi said.
She started to sing, Yuffie began to play a violin that Yuna only now noticed she had, and music came from the instruments Paine and Rikku used from their own dresspheres. Roxas' voice joined hers, creating an impactful melody.
"There's a day when our hearts will be broken;
When a shadow will cast out the light,
And our eyes cry a million tears.
Help won't arrive."
Sora didn't flinch or budge as Xarcs now charged him, many pounds of muscular lion flesh speeding forward on a course to rip and tear him to shreds. There was no fear in his eyes. What charged him now was but a fallen lion, and he was more than that. Sora pressed a button on the handle of Aegis as he planted it into the ground, and reached into a bag of holding he kept at his waist, keeping his hand hidden from Xarcs' view.
"There's a day when our courage collapses;
And our friends turn and leave us behind."
"Creatures of darkness will triumph;
The sun won't rise."
Xarcs snarled and leapt for him, claws outstretched and ready to rake against his armour. He slammed into Sora's shield, ready to bowl him over and begin attacking the prone Keyblade Master; but he could not have anticipated that the shield would not budge, or that Sora wasn't even holding it.
"When we've lost all hope,
And succumb to fear.
And the skies rain blood
And the end draws near."
Sora withdrew his hand from the bag of holding, drawing a sword with a shout. He moved to the right side of his immovable shield and ran his sword into Xarcs' flank, pressing a button on the pommel of the hilt after he'd completely buried it into the Nobody. That sword stayed in place, not responding to any of Xarcs' attempts to thrash about.
Sora quickly crossed to Xarcs' other side with an acrobatic flip, drawing Remembrance from its scabbard while also placing his left hand to the Keyblade's hilt and drawing another sword out of it. Still airborne, he stabbed this one down into Xarcs' back, and clicked the button to activate the immovable rod placed into this one's hilt.
"I may fall."
"But not like this. It won't be by your hand."
"I may fall."
Sora landed as Xarcs lay trapped in front of him, unable to turn, unable to rear; to bring any real strength to bear against him. He held Remembrance up high, shouting, "Roar from beyond the Twilight Veil, Kaze no Raion!"
"Not this place, not today."
"I may fall."
Remembrance's blade melted and flowed back down his arm until it was encased in silver up to his elbow, and the basket hilt that was now coated in the moon-silver and gold metal of the blade morphed into a lion's head with its mouth open wide. It roared and a straight blade of wind emerged from the gaping maw of the lion.
"Bring it all, it's not enough to take me down."
Xarcs was but a lion. Sora was more. He was a proud Fearless Wolf with the strength of his pack in his heart and the power of a lion's pride in his sword.
"I may fall."
Down Sora slashed, the blade of wind smiting Xarcs' head. He howled in despair as the pain flooded him and his body disintegrated. A cloud of darkness emerged from his vanishing form, and Sora lunged at it with his released Keyblade, muttering the words of a spell he'd learned. Radiant sunlight spewed from his weapon as it stabbed into the dark cloud that was Maleficent's essence, and it was obliterated by the light.
"There's a place where we'll stand outnumbered;
Where the wolves and the soul-less will rise.
In the time of our final moments
Every dream dies."
The Decimators now started to move, obeying their instincts to attack now that their local commander directing them was gone. Their swords rose and fell, striking against the centuries old stone walls that had resisted invasion after invasion and even the bombing of the Brotherhood of NOD's Banshee heli bombers. However, even the enchantments that had protected them thus far could not stand against the hulking giants seeking entrance. The gatehouse crumbled beneath the strokes of the two, clearing the way.
"There's a place where our shields will lay shattered,
And the fear's all that's left in our hearts."
"Our strength and our courage have run out.
We fall apart."
"Forgive me, Master Sora, Shiki says insincerely in a confident tone," Shiki said in monotone. "But I am going to steal a technique you stole first in order to deal with these pests, Shiki explains, clarifying her prior statement so her badass boss can understand her."
Naminé snorted. "And permit me to deal with the other one, my lord, before Kairi steals the spotlight from us," Naminé added, still holding the staff form of her Keyblade Sehanine in hand. Both young women chanted words to spells while Shiki reached into a pouch and withdrew a silver piece. The song being sung and the music in their ears gave each of them greater strength.
"When we lose our faith,
And forsake our friends.
When the moon is gone
And we've reached our end."
Their spells completed at the same time, and they attacked. Shiki flicked her silver coin forward with her thumb, and lightning raced with it with terrible power, massively accelerating the coin into a railgun. From Naminé's staff a ray of biting frost magic emerged. Naminé's ray arced over the top of her Decimator's shield while Shiki's railgun went straight through the other's. Naminé's spell blew apart the head in a fearful burst of ice and snow, while Shiki's railgun pierced the vulnerable weak spot in the Decimator's chest. Regardless of the method, the outcome was the same.
"I may fall."
Both Decimators fell.
Sora gulped a potion and his body and equipment rapidly grew until he stood more than double his size. "Now!" Sora yelled, raising Kaze no Raion high above him. "Let's go! To battle!"
High upon the cliffs to the north, Nixion grit his teeth and swept his hand forward, commanding the rest of his force. "Wipe them out!"
"I may fall."
"Bankai!"
"I may fall."
Kairi, who had unleashed Alcezeran while her love and his subordinates handled Xarcs and two of the Decimators, was the one who had loudly said the word.
"I may fall."
At once her body changed, even swifter than Sora's growth so that if one were to blink they would miss it. A massive dragon, with hard scales white as snow, glistening gold-webbed wings, and thick, curved horns of purest gold in colour, stood where Kairi had been. Her majesty dumbed many in a sense of awe, but heightened the aura of courage her mere presence had already been inspiring them with.
"Kírínaz Alcezeran!" Kairi's voice thundered. And like booming thunder her wings beat the air, lifting her into flight.
"She really did become a dragon," Olette whispered amongst the Keyblade Wielders. A magnificent roar from Kairi's mouth split the air, stopping the retreating army and causing them all to turn back around. They'd heard the music, but only now did a thought stronger than 'run from the monsters' enter their heads; a curious enquiry as to where that roar that heartened opposed to terrified them came from.
"Wolves! Forward!" Asha cried, lifting up her flaming greatsword as the angel stood at the front of the company that stood ahead and to the side of the massed fledgling Keyblade Wielders. "The time to hunt is nigh!"
"There's a moment that changes a life when
We do something that no-one else can."
"And the path that we've taken will lead us
One final stand."
The Fearless Wolves, those with Keyblade and without, charged forward behind the dragon that was Kairi, with Sora, Shiki, Naminé, the digimon, Wispy and Plato still ahead of them. Riku addressed those left behind under the shining beacon of Cosmos. "Wielders! You've fought with unimaginable courage today, against enemies you never expected would be hunting each and every one of you. I have no right to ask any more of you today, but I'm going to ask…"
"There's a moment we make a decision
Not to cower and crash on the ground."
"The moment we face those demons,
Our courage found."
"...One last effort to turn back the darkness! By being chosen by a Keyblade you have joined an unbreakable brother and sisterhood like none other! Stand with us now and drive them back! My brothers! My sisters! My friends! When we're through this day our sword-arms will ache from overuse!"
"When we stand with friends,
And we won't retreat.
As we stare down death
Then the taste is sweet."
He raised Way to the Dawn high and pointed to the north. "Now, Keyblade Wielders! Onward! To our lord and lady! To Sora! To Kairi! Onward to our victory!"
"I may fall."
"But not like this. It won't be by your hand."
"I may fall."
"Not this place, not today."
Stirred by the mood of the song, the conviction in his voice, the charge of the adventuring company, the feeling of courage countering their fear that Kairi's mere presence was inspiring in them, and the awesome power already displayed against Decimators and members of the Eximius Septem, the new Keyblade Wielders charged forward with Riku at the head, leaving behind only those who were providing support through song that filled their limbs with strength and removed their fatigue.
"I may fall."
"Bring it all, it's not enough to take me down."
Behind them, seeing all that was unfolding, the army that had halted its retreat made an about turn, and charged back towards the wall, filled with new hope and courage. They knew that they could beat the darkness; they knew that they could win.
"I may fall.
I may fall.
I may fall."
"I may… I may fall…"
The first song ended and Roxas joined up with the knights of Disney Castle, running right along with Goofy and Lady Repsy behind King Mickey. His Samurai emerged from whorls of white, bolstering their ranks. Yuffie remained behind, playing her fiddle expertly and leading the Gullwings through another tune, magic being woven through their music to empower everyone.
The floating sphere cams went everywhere as the army flooded out through the broken gates and past the rubble giant Sora had effortlessly cleared on his way out, soldiers mounted on chocobos in the lead followed by a pair of tanks that had finally made their way to the battle, trying to capture everything on film and stream it to Wartime Battlewatch and the networks that had arranged to get the footage.
Kairi tackled a Decimator to the ground, its sword striking at her side and crushing a few scales, but not managing to cut into her. She roared, goring its head with her horns before bathing it in a torrent of white fire, all while tearing at its body with her claws. Another Decimator struck at her back from behind, but its stroke was blocked by an individual who suddenly appeared there, holding a tower shield made of solarium in the sword's path.
Though he blocked the strike, Kairi still felt Sora's weight and the pressure from his enlarged feet on her back. She turned her long neck to view the massive Char Heartless, glaring at it with contempt. She snorted flame in an annoyed huff and, without moving her body's overall position, her front claws ripped apart the chest of the Decimator she was on while she struck out with her tail, knocking out the legs of the Heartless from beneath it. Sora leapt from her back as the Decimator she was on disintegrated, a large crystalline heart floating into the sky, and Kairi angled her tail so he could use it as a springboard, which Sora did. The prone Heartless managed to get its own shield into Sora's path to block him, so Sora slashed at the shield instead with all the strength he could bring to bear. The blade of swirling wind did what hadn't been achieved before by any cutting edge, and sliced through the shield to clear his path. Sora landed on the Decimator's chest and instantly spotted the weak spot. He let Kaze no Raion roar its paralyzing roar, stopping his enemy before it could roll over or do anything to prevent his next action, and then stabbed deep into the Heartless' chest, infusing his attack with a burst of Twilight energy that raced through its insides. MaltaOhtarmon arrived then at the head, and struck it between the eyes with his lance, dealing the finishing blow.
Four Decimators down, sixteen to go.
"Sora!" Asha shouted as the Fearless Wolves arrived on scene before the enemy horde reached them, though the other Decimators were still very close. "What would you have us do?"
"Break into teams and work with us to bring these big guys down, or work with the others to handle that mess!" Sora said, indicating the quickly advancing foes. "Stay light on your feet and watch yourselves. The Decimators are deceptively fast and incredibly strong!"
"And do not cast magic against their shields!" Kairi added. "They will absorb the energy and launch it back as a terrifyingly strong arcane cannon!"
As soon as she completed her warning, Kairi launched herself back into the air and out of reach of the Decimators, choosing now to make grand swooping attacks and burning them with intense white fire from her mouth.
The two tanks that had arrived now began firing at the Decimators, their ordinance not conventional explosives but blasts of charged arcane energies. One was shooting beams of energy from its cannon, while the other launched powerful arcane blasts that arced in accordance with gravity. Their concentrated fire was successful both in harming and keeping one pinned down behind its shield, part of their barrage getting absorbed into the Heartless emblem in the shield's centre. The actions were enough, keeping it stuck in place long enough for Thorondomon to get into position behind it and unleash her Holy Smite. The Keyblade Wielders weren't the only ones to have grown stronger, and Thorondomon's attack easily overcame the Decimator's resistance, the twelve rays of light piercing right through its body. Despite the Heartless' thirty metre height, the attack brought it down to one knee, opening it up for more blasts from the tanks and other attacks until Riku flew in on his Sun Skates and ripped a mortal gash in its side with a liberal use of his Sunblade technique.
The moment that Decimator fell was when the two charging armies reached one another, one still vastly larger than the other, and the chaos of battle resumed.
-A-D-
Marlene watched the screen from within the 7th Heaven, scarcely able to believe her eyes as one by one the Decimators went down, any and all of their attacks being stopped or misdirected by the efforts of Sora's group and keeping the regular army safe from them. Two of the Decimators went down due to the village of indomitable Gauls, hopped up on their druid's magic potion to give the drinker superhuman strength. Another fell by the hands of the Flame Alchemist, his alchemy incinerating it to oblivion.
But every time they showed Kairi, her eyes were glued to the screen in awe. She was a beautiful dragon, and though the Decimator Heartless were thirty metres tall, Kairi was even bigger. Her torso was more than twice as big, measuring at eighty metres in length, and including her neck and tail she was four times their height in length and was even slightly taller at her shoulder. It was no wonder that she would be taking on two or three of them at once, and winning, before an ally appeared to assist; her torso alone was over twice as big as an adult blue whale!
But all too soon, those monstrous Decimators were gone, and with their attentions switched to the regular boss level Heartless and weaker ones Sora's group was the clear focus for the spherecam feeds. Nothing stood in their path. Kairi razed whole battalions of Heartless in the spans of single breaths of her white fire, and the others were unstoppable. Tismetrx returned to the battle to fight, but he was met almost immediately by Roxas, whom he had once defeated, and was utterly annihilated by the dual wielding Keyblade Master in under a half minute.
At one point a ship that had been fighting against the Heartless above the world crashed to the ground into the midst of the Heartless and Marlene had for a moment feared for the crew, but Kairi reached them first and guarded the downed ship, prowling outside it and roasting or tearing apart any that got close.
The battle couldn't have lasted for more than a half hour after the last Decimator fell before flights of fighter and bomber gummis, accompanied by a few of the larger gunships, swooped down, escorting GDI Titan walkers and personnel carriers being carried by helicopters. The hastily built GDI fleet had finally arrived and brought about victory above. Only minutes later, after the shells of the Titans' cannons began falling into the masses of enemies, the entire force retreated through corridors of darkness.
Victory was theirs, and the whole bar and whole city began celebrating, but the cameras never witnessed the final duel of the fighting.
-A-D-
Sora had reverted from the transformation the potion of enlarge person had caused, normal sized once again as he now held the unsealed form of Cosmos in his hand opposed to Kaze no Raion, which he'd sealed once more and placed in the sheath on his right hip. Garda was on the ground behind him, recovering from his fight while Naminé cast healing magic on him. Nobody else was around, Naminé using Sehanine's power to cast a mind compelling illusion over the immediate area to keep everyone else, and most importantly the spherecams, out.
Garda had met up again on the field of battle with the Death Knight Morgana, so-called Champion of the Underworld, and for the second time he was dealt a defeat at the hands of the greatsword-wielding woman armoured in black and blue plate. Sora and Naminé had arrived in time to stop her from delivering the death blow to him, but they were too late to save a dozen Guardians and soldiers of the Ascalon Vanguard that had already fallen to her blade.
Sora stared into her eyes, bright blue orbs that glowed with blue fire and oozed magic, and found them wrong. "I remember you," he said. "It was at the Zeus Cup. You were trying to take away Kairi." He was looking physically down at her when before their gazes had been almost level.
"You've grown taller, and your voice has deepened," Morgana returned behind her tusked greathelm, her own voice hollow and paired with a chilling echo.
"You'll find I'm full of surprises," Sora told her, and launched himself at his opponent. Morgana raised a hand, and tendrils of purple energy leapt forth and snatched Sora in their grasp, yanking him towards her. Morgana quickly slashed at Sora with her greatsword, the blue runes down its length emanating with an icy chill, but her stroke was blocked by Sora's shield. The youth countered, even though his footing was slightly suspect from his unexpected shift in position, stabbing at Morgana's chest.
He scored the first hit. Though his weapon did not have the strength behind the blow to cut into the armour, as he did not aim for her unarmoured midriff but instead for where her armour protected her, he did succeed in pushing her back a step. Morgana thrust her left arm out, hurling a spell made of frost at him, and beneath his armour Sora broke out in a sudden sweat, feeling the onset of an immediate fever as his skin chilled.
With Sora confused by the sudden emergence of the affliction, Morgana had a moment to breathe, and used it to continue the pressure she was placing on Aegis and shove Sora back. She attacked again, switching sides and aiming for Sora's unshielded right. Cosmos glowed gold, and three shining Keyblades appeared directly in the path of her strike and parried the attack. She fell back a step to regain her balance, swinging her rebuffed sword around to make it positioned above her head so that she could bring it down at him in an overhead chop.
Sora stepped back, moving himself away from Morgana while also directing the three glowing Keyblades summoned by Cosmos' power to intercept her strike. Her attack was stopped cold against the three Keyblades that angled themselves into a tripod to catch her move, and Sora dropped Aegis from his hand, now darting out to the right of Morgana, drawing Remembrance from the sheath on his right hip and slashing at Morgana in a wide backhanded arc.
The Death Knight dodged it, pulling back on her sword and leaping away from Sora and the three glowing Keyblades he'd summoned. She raised her hand, and a petulant yellow-green skull shot towards Sora and struck his armoured side. Though his armour protected him from most of it, he still couldn't repress a shudder at the type of energy he'd felt strike him. That was unholy shadow magic; powers of death and darkness.
He needed to stop this woman now.
"Thundaja!" Sora shouted, pointing both of his Keyblades at Morgana and unleashing a blinding torrent of lightning bolts at her, while at the same time having the three Keyblades Cosmos summoned fire concentrated beams of light at the death knight. Morgana's reaction was just as swift, speaking a word and suddenly being surrounded by a shell of purple light. His spells struck her own, but instead of smashing through it were absorbed into it. Morgana waved her hand as it became covered with a frosty chill, and Sora hissed as he felt the cold fever in his veins intensify suddenly, and around his ankles he felt an unnatural cold. Glancing down, he saw shackles of ice chaining him to the blue stone ground.
Morgana lifted her greatsword again, it now glowing with crimson light, and the light shot into the sky before dropping down in a wide circle around Sora, and again he felt the presence of that unholy power seeping through the protection of his armour, itching his skin. She dropped her sword and raised her arm, purple tendrils surrounding it. "You were correct, Sora," she said, "You were surprising; surprisingly easy to defeat."
The bodies of the fallen Guardians and Ascalon Vanguard rose and picked up their weapons, their flesh rapidly decaying until it was half rotting. Risen from the dead with the hatred of those still living instilled in their lifeless corpses, they charged at Sora, screaming wordless unintelligible cries of fury.
Sora burned with fury himself: fury that Morgana would force him to fight against his countrymen and allies, fury that she would defile them like this, and fury that she thought he would be defeated so easily!
"You think I'm done already!?" Sora shouted, bearing his Keyblades. The three he controlled through telepathy cut apart the ghouls with blinding speed, severing limbs and striking them with radiant energy that broke the unholy curse that returned them from the grave. The fever infesting him? He ignored it. The unholy energy clawing at his life? He repulsed it with a burst of Light from Cosmos and Remembrance, sanctifying the ground beneath him and negating the terrible power. The shackles binding him? He broke them apart as he used Flash Step to advance right at Morgana, unleashing two powerful attacks simultaneously.
Morgana's sword flew out of her hands and stabbed into the ground, and her helmet was ripped off her head as Remembrance caught one of the tusks and tore metal as it yanked it up. Her head snapped back at the sudden force, and when it returned to a level position the face Sora saw froze his heart more than all of what she'd done had.
Her eyes were filled with blue flame. Her long chestnut hair was stained with grey, but the face was one Sora would have known his entire life, and one he'd thought to never see again in life.
"Mom?" he asked, his Keyblades falling to the ground from slack fingers. He took off his helmet, his unruly trademark spikes still as prominent on his head as they'd been since he was a child. "Mom? Is it you?"
Morgana's face showed no recognition. Instead there was a small hint of confusion. "I am Lady Morgana, and I serve Maleficent!" The confusion was replaced by anger, and she blasted Sora in the chest with another skull-shaped burst of unholy magic. He staggered backwards at the hit, more out of shock than anything else. The voice was cold and hollow and had a reverberating chill to it that slightly grated on his ears, but its base he recognized despite not hearing it in over three years. That was his mother's voice.
Morgana dashed to the side towards her fallen sword and snatched up the large greatsword with bright blue runes etched down the blade that emanated with a deathly chill. She turned, swinging it as she went, ready to cleave Sora in two if she could, and found her sword stopped cold by a young woman's staff.
"And I am Lady Naminé Talerith," said the fully armoured woman from beneath her face-concealing greathelm, "Princess of Radiant Garden, and I serve my lord, Sora!"
A small girl made of air slammed into Morgana's side, distracting her enough for Naminé to swing her staff and strike Morgana in the chest, pushing her back a step.
Morgana twitched her head as if hearing something that the other two could not, and pulled back. She quickly placed her greatsword back in its baldric upon her back while scooping up her broken helmet, her hands glowing purple the whole while and emitting a faint mist. A tent of purple-glowing mist appeared beneath a black horned skull as she thrust her hands up, and the mist blanketed her.
"We will meet again," Morgana declared, and then she and the coiling mists vanished without a trace. All around, the Heartless, Nobodies, orcs, ammo-less soldiers and vehicles of NOD, and the dwarves and minotaurs the White Witch of Narnia had sent were retreating through corridors of darkness.
They didn't notice, only staring at the spot where the death knight had disappeared. "I only heard about it," Garda said slowly, rising to his feet and coming over to them, "but your mother died that night the Heartless attacked our island."
"She did," Sora said, the words coming out from his mouth brimming with the undertones of his pain as Wispy hugged him.
"But that was her, wasn't it?"
"It was," Naminé confirmed.
They had won the day, but in that moment, Sora and Naminé didn't feel like they'd won at all.
-A-D-
There was a point in time when 'I' asked the characters if they knew what Pyrrhic Victory meant…
Here's your answer to that. Some of you probably saw it from a mile away, some of you were probably blindsided by it, but now it's out in the open.
In other news, on the Facebook group I made a post asking for questions for the Town Hall interview session that's going to be happening later, with a June 15th deadline for submitting your questions that I'll have the characters answer. For those of you who are not sure of the proceedings, this is a Town Hall style session, wherein those people that Kairi listed last chapter will be available for questions to be asked by all of those who attend, which means both reporters and the general public. No question is off-limits to ask, but not all of them may be answered, due to characters perhaps not wanting to reveal the answer to a question for personal reasons. Questions can be posed to individual characters or to the group as a whole. You can either submit questions in that thread on the FB group, in a new post in the group, in a review to this chapter, or in a PM to me. Just to remind you who these characters are, some of whom you've met and some you really haven't and this could be a good opportunity to get me to have them introduce themselves to you, here's that list again:
Sora - duh
Kairi - derp
Riku - who?
Yuffie - um…?
Naminé - uh-huh
Roxas - yup
Shina - former Imperial Princess of Nalthalass, Roxas' wife and mother of Iroviel
Iroviel - Roxas' and Shina's daughter, born outside of wedlock. Turns 2 in a little over a month; unavailable for questions (SHE'S ONLY 22 MONTHS OLD!)
Jenny - you've met her; she's the wizard girl
Melbil - dwarf princess of Crafthall, tagged along to help kill Ixenmiirik and stayed with them after that
Jastra - elf thief who was caught stealing in Crafthall and got her leg mangled by a trained grizzly bear working with the guards; was then helped by Yuffie and went to rescue her to pay back her debt. Stayed on after due to bonds of friendship
Jared Watcher - was part of their escort group from Lensar; later graduated and became a knight and decided to join the Fearless Wolves company
Asha Solamnus - female Deva, another name for Angels (yes, she's an angel); circumstances of her joining currently unknown
Kal Tusslewick - male halfling and former member of the Three Swords Alliance adventuring company; why he's now a Fearless Wolf is a mystery
Lotte Harpon - female halfling and former serving girl of The Boar's Tusk; left the inn to join the Three Swords Alliance as Kal had captured her heart and swept her off her feet. How she came to be a Fearless Wolf is unknown
Sylla Padfoot - female halfling; unknown background
Beth Martin - twenty-two year old young woman; was the eldest of the farmgirls rescued from Ixenmiirik
Rosaline (Rose) Pike - twenty year old young woman; also rescued from Ixenmiirik
Louise Foster - eighteen year old young woman; also rescued from Ixenmiirik
Alisha Gardner - seventeen year old young woman; the youngest of the four rescued from the dragon
Until next time!
May the Grace of the Valar Protect You
Shire Folk