Chapter 4: Earthshaker

Aqua caught up to the others, and Luneth had pulled out a map, and pointed out what he claimed was the epicenter of the spectral activity (Aqua took it to mean that it was the most common location for sightings of the supposed ghost).

"Right around this chamber," Chime said, looking around.

"All that's left to do is wait, and see if the ghost shows up," Kain said, and with that he sat himself down on the cement with his legs crossed.

They followed his example, each taking a seat on the ground. While the others talked, Aqua made a sphere of light in the palm of her hand, and pulled out the illusion treatise to continue looking over it.

A few pages in, Chime said to Aqua: "Whatcha reading?"

"Um…" Aqua lifted her hand, and let the light hang in midair. "It's a scroll about illusions."

"Like, magic tricks?"

"No, not quite like that. It's like…well, okay, so there's two kinds of illusions somebody can create, there's illusions that exist only in your head, which are harder to disbelieve because your brain can fill in the gaps, and then there's real illusions, which is a really bad way to say it, but it's illusions that are made by bending light and creating artificial sounds. What I'm reading is about the second type," Aqua explained.

Chime nodded. "So the second kind is easier to disbelieve, because you can look at an image and see the imperfections. But if it's not as good, why use the second type? Is it easier to create?"

"Not really. Actually, bending light is pretty difficult, I'm still figuring that out…" Aqua trailed off, mumbling to herself. She shook her head and spoke up. "But it's got upsides too, it can be seen by more than one person at a time. And, some things aren't well affected by mental illusions, like animals—" Or the heartless, she added mentally. "—so you can use the second type to confuse them, at least."

"Huh. Well, has that scroll of yours been helpful at all?"

"Yeah, actually," Aqua said, narrowing her eyes at the treatise. "There's actually this really interesting part in here, about ways of supplementing illusions using other forms of magic, like using that same light to give an illusory body the semblance of a presence."

Chime blinked, and that blank stare from her, Luneth, and Kain gave her the clue that magic was far less prominent on this world than it was in Caeleris or the world of her birth. The idea of giving an illusory body an energy signature was as foreign to them as soda pop was to her.

"Where'd you say you were transferring from, Aqua?" Terra asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

"Town down south of here," Aqua said, trying her best to be as vague as possible. "There was…an old man, his name is Yen Sid, he taught me a lot of what I know about magic, although this and that—" She gestured to the motes of light and the hanging sphere "—is all that I ever learned how to do."

The first part was true, to a degree. Master Yen Sid had indeed taught her about light magic on one of his visits to the Land of Departure. The second half was a complete lie, as she could do far, far more than make some pretty lights, but she didn't want to push the limits on these guys' worldviews.

She was fortunate in that regard, as the source-less shadows crawling up the walls gave the perfect distraction.

Kain was the first to notice the crawling darkness rearing up behind Aqua. He jumped up onto his feet. "The ghost!"

Aqua jumped up and spun around to where he was staring. "That's no ghost…"

The shadow pulled itself away from the wall into a three-dimensional shape the size of a man. Its body was all darker than black, violet veins running across its skin, massive antenna twitching in the air behind its head. Its eyes were twin yellow orbs.

Its head twitched towards Aqua, to look at the glowing orb of light floating in her hand, and raised a clawed hand high into the air.

"Guard!" she shouted, and a honeycomb shield rose in front of her. The monster's claws struck the shield and bounced back, the momentum carrying it back against the wall.

Two more Heartless of the same species appeared behind them, rising from puddles of dark energy. "Run! Now!"

Kain, Chime, and Luneth didn't have to be told twice—they were running screaming when Aqua's shield had come up. But still standing behind her was Terra. Aqua glanced over her shoulder, keeping the shield up.

His eyes were wide with fear, but he had his feet spread and arms up on either side of his face like he was ready to fight hand-to-hand with a Neo-Shadow.

Aqua swept her hand out to the side, and in a flash of blue light the keyblade came to her. Its shape was abstract, the guard curving in an oval from the base of the handle and not fully connecting to the pommel. The blade was formed of an elongated hourglass shape, and the teeth of the keyblade was a simple triangle with a missing edge parallel to the blade, and several teeth jutting out from the other two edges. Its token was a teardrop-shaped blue gemstone. Her Rainfell was adapted to her own style—the keyblade was as light as possible, the handle only fitting one hand, leaving the other free to cast.

With a wordless gesture, the orb of light that Aqua had created flared, and dashed straight for the Neo-shadow as her barrier came down. It cut right through the center of the heartless, and the monster erupted into a cloud of black smoke.

"Terra, you need to get out of here," Aqua said, moving smoothly around him to face the next heartless.

"Huh-uh, I don't know what these things are, but I'm not leaving a friend alone!" Terra shouted. Both of the Neo-shadows leaped at once. Aqua raised her keyblade to parry the strike, while Terra yelled out and ran at the other with his shoulder out, and pushed it back into the wall.

"Thunder!" Bolts of lightning struck first the one in front of Aqua, finishing it off, and she went for the other that Terra had knocked off balance. He moved aside, and she drove the tip of the keyblade right through where its heart would have been.

Three more Neo-Shadows appeared at the other side of the room.

Idiot, he isn't going to leave unless I do, I can't let him get hurt. She remembered just twelve hours ago, the ice-cream woman being robbed of her heart, and her decision was solidified. "Come on, let's go!"

Both took off in the opposite direction of the Heartless, back towards the gate. As they made it through the portal, Aqua clenched one fist and said "Wall!" A cloud of mist gathered over the gate and became a wall of ice ten inches thick blocking it.

As they came to the intersection, Aqua slowed down for only a moment to look down to the left.

Waiting in the dim light was a black creature that made Aqua's heart skip a beat. It floated off the ground with small demonic wings, had huge horns coming up from its head, and in one hand, it held a jagged violet broadsword.

"Come on, this way! There's a passage that lets out near Market Street!" Terra shouted, pulling Aqua straight through the intersection.

Aqua's lungs were already starting to burn. Running away from the danger was never part of her training. If there were Heartless or similar monsters, you stand and fight, else they would only continue to hunt you down. All of her physical training had been focused on increasing her magical energy reserves and training her skills. Should make a change to that, she thought.

Two more Heartless appeared ahead of them in the straight passage. "Out of my way!" She leaped forward with a massive gust of wind, her hands surrounded with fire. "Fira!" Twin fireballs erupted from her palms as the Neo-Shadows leaped towards her, each getting torched to ashes and black smoke. She landed, palms out to brace her impact, head bowed toward the ground. Terra caught up with her and she stopped him.

"What, what's the issue?"

"Your arm," she said, examining the scratches along his bicep that were leaking blood and black smoke.

"It's fine, that thing just scratched me a bit when I tackled it," Terra said, brushing it off.

"No, even if it doesn't take your heart, injuries from the Heartless can fester into dark wounds. I'll get it now, instead of later," she said. "Heal." Green light filled the scratches, and white lily petals draped down and turned to dust. He sighed at the relief of the pain.

"So, the Heartless?"

"Creatures of darkness that seek only to destroy the light by stealing people's hearts," she said. "Normally, they can't enter the realm of light, but here they are. My master sent me to find out why they're attacking people."

They started walking again, taking a breather since the Heartless weren't appearing like they had been before. "The Heartless are monsters that work on instinct. The only thing they feel is fear, fear of the light, and of the keyblade. It's the only weapon that can cleanse their heart of darkness, and release it to Kingdom Hearts."

Terra put a hand to the back of his neck. "I can't say that I really understand, Aqua, but if there's any way I can help, just ask, I'm right here with you."

Aqua made a small flame in her hand to see by, as the Branching Lights were already fading. "Let's just get to this exit you mentioned."

As she spoke, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Something was coming. "And quickly, too."

Terra and Aqua headed down the hall, around a left-hand corner, up a sloping incline for a hundred feet, then up a ladder and onto a landing that appeared to be a dead end, the ceiling less than six feet above the landing.

"Come on, it's right here," Terra murmured, feeling around against the ceiling with open palms. Aqua lifted her magic fire, and could barely see a seam running along the ceiling. Terra muttered a thanks as he started to push against the ceiling. "Come on, ha!"

Sunlight streaked in as the seam cracked open. A bit of dirt and grass fell on their faces, and Aqua realized that the hatch had been hidden beneath turf. Terra pulled himself up and out, and Aqua followed with a whisper of "Aerora" that aided her vault.

They came out in a wood that Aqua wouldn't have thought existed in the brick-and-mortar town. Light came down through the trees that was enough to see by, although it would be pitch black in the wood by nightfall.

"I think we're clear," Terra said. "This way." He took a step forward. At the instant his foot touched the ground, Shadows appeared from dark portals and started coming for them. "These things again!"

Aqua cursed, and summoned the Rainfell again. "Ice Spike!" As she brought a closed fist downward, ice crystals formed in the air and crashed down, knocking the Shadows away. "Come on!" she shouted, as she started running to the North, where the tree line thinned. If I can just get into a more open area, I can pull out some real magic and get rid of these things! I've got all the magic in the world but I can't do a thing without line of sight!

"Wait, you're going the wrong way!"

Aqua replied by grabbing Terra's wrist and pulling him along, and they burst into the clearing, which revealed the front gate of a massive, decrepit old mansion. Aqua turned, said "Stay behind me," and got into a position to fight the approaching Heartless.

She wouldn't get the opportunity.

Just as she prepared to release a flurry of fire, ice, and lightning upon the Heartless, a series of shots rang out. Light blue magical bullets struck through the shadows, reducing them to smoke.

"Watch yourselves!" called out a voice from far behind her. Aqua turned, and scanned the roof of the mansion. There, on the right side, she was able to see what looked to be an old man, holding a rifle. "Into the mansion! Quickly!"

"Alright!" She changed the grip on her keyblade, so that the teeth were pointing down. The old man prepared to fire again. Aqua put her second hand over the first, and raised the keyblade's tip toward the heavy black lock on the gate.

"AQUA, BEHIND YOU!"

Time seem to slow down for a moment. Terra launched himself past Aqua, pushing her aside as he went after the heartless that had appeared behind her. Aqua dropped her keyblade in her shock, and it dropped to the ground with a thump.

A spear of white light erupted from Terra's hand, and in it, a long and heavy keyblade made of bronze and copper appeared in his grasp. With a massive swing, he cut at the sword-wielding heartless Aqua had seen in the tunnels, and left a deep cut in its chest.

Aqua could only hear the sound of her own breathing as the Invisible shrieked and struck at Terra with the flat of its sword. He has a keyblade, she thought. He has a KEYBLADE. Her mind went back to the ease with which he'd smashed open the gate, and his non-hesitation at checking a Heartless into a wall. I'm not…alone, anymore?

The Invisible turned back to Aqua, and she carefully picked her keyblade back up. "Don't think just because you could stop him, means you can take me down!" In a flash of light, her armor appeared, and she dove for the Invisible. It swung for her, and the sword moved to quickly for her to parry, and it instead smashed into her side. The chainmail held, but she would have a bruise later.

More importantly, the Heartless was now far too close to avoid her strike. "Firaga!" A fireball the size of her head erupted from her palm and took the Heartless in the stomach. Aqua dropped back a step, and shouted "Waterga!" A geyser of boiling hot water sprung from the tip of her keyblade and struck her opponent.

The Invisible backed away from the water spell and its sword glowed. It vanished, and a trio of black fireballs appeared circling around Aqua.

Instead of running, casting a spell, trying to dissipate the flames, Aqua held still, watching the flames carefully. If I recognize this curse right…seems like a good time to see if Illos knew what he was talking about. The flames started swirling more heavily around Aqua, and moved in closer. Just as the flames disappeared and the Invisible appeared on the spot, Aqua leaped upward, leaving behind an image of herself still in the same place. She had moved quickly enough that the Invisible didn't immediately see the difference, and cut through the illusory image.

"Midnight Shine," she intoned, as light rippled along the surface of her keyblade. Her keyblade crackled with sparks, and deep blue light consumed it, stretching along its length and turning her keyblade into a lance made of light. "Fade into the abyss!" She threw the lance straight down, skewering the heartless right through. It was consumed in the bright light, and faded, as though it had never existed.