Xer: Wow, three in a day, huh?
Vanitas: Shut up and get going. He doesn't own KH or FF, but he does own the plot and the OC's, which finally appear. And no, Necron isn't one of them.
Necron: SILENCE, WORM!
Xer: Moving on...
Riding The Path To Twilight
Ch. 4
New Allies, New Enemies
"So, let me wrap my head around this. You called us together to fight a god?" Lightning was pissed off.
"It would seem." Xehanort was pretty calm, considering what had happened.
"Well, count me out." She dropped off of the rooftop the Keyblade Masters had found. After the scare at the Cornerstone, Xehanort had activated a Dark Corridor to Radiant Garden. Terra, Ven, and Aqua were going to help Mickey find all the records they could on Necron. Any help would be good.
"Lightning, wait.", Riku jumped down and followed her. Sora was about to go after them both, but a hand fell on his shoulder.
"Come on, Sora. It's Riku. If anyone will get Lightning back, it'll be him." The smiling face of Kairi made him feel better.
"Good point. Thanks, Kairi."
"Even so, I still need to talk with them." Xehanort formed another Corridor. "I'll go see them. You two will be fine on your own?"
"Duh. I did save the universe twice, you know."
"Fair enough." Stepping into the shadowy portal, he was gone with a chuckle.
"Feels weird being helped by a Xehanort, huh?" Sora asked.
"Totally. It almost feels dirty." Kairi added. There was an awkward pause.
"Say, Kairi, you know about the legend of the paopu fruit, right?"
"Yes. Who doesn't?" Kairi saw the great hero fidget where he sat. It was cute.
"Well, I wanted to ask..."
There was a long pause. She waited as he tripped over numerous attempts to ask, until, finally:
"... when we get back to the Island, do you want to share one?"
"How long were you planning to put this off?" Sora was already nervous. She couldn't help but mess with him some more.
"Well, umm..."
"Hmmm?"
"Uhhhh..."
"Perhaps he was going to take it to his grave?" This came from a new voice. It sounded a little older than them, but much more sinister.
The two keybladers turned around to see a boy dressed in black leather. His short silver hair hung beside his face quite straight. His eyes, however, were what made Sora draw the Kingdom Key. His eyes were the exact same as Sephiroth's. Kairi drew Destiny's Place only because of Sora's reaction.
"Who are you?", the hero demanded.
"My name is Kadaj. I'm what you may call 'a remnant of a greater being'. Or perhaps you'd prefer 'a son of a Calamity'."
"Calamity..." Kairi thought. "You don't mean Jenova, do you?" One of the voices from before had been chanting ' the Calamity Jenova returns!'.
"Yes. Mother has been given such a cruel title, hasn't she? Oh, well. One I find her, my brothers and I shall learn who the heir of her legacy is, and they shall release Father from his unrightful enprisonment."
"What? Necron's your DAD?" Sora found it hard to wrap his head around these things.
"Yes. Now, where's Mother?"
"No clue."
"Oh, really? Perhaps you do know, and I'll have to take it from her corpse." The boy drew his sword and pointed it at Kairi.
Battle Theme: Awkward Justice – Tales of the Abyss
"Leave her alone!"
Sora dashed at Kadaj, swinging as he charged. The two blades clanked as they collided. Sora was launched into the air by the force Kadaj threw into his swing. His strength was inhuman. Kadaj chuckled as he used his katana to juggle Sora in midair as the boy was forced to guard.
"Come now, you can't think you'll beat me with that effort."
"No, but this should the trick. LIGHT!" A blast of light emitted from Sora's location, and as it died down, Sora landed on the ground in Limit Form. Immediately, he launched into Sonic Rave, only to be parried with each attack.
This even worked on Sephiroth. Why not him?
Strike Raid failed. Ars Arcanum failed. Ragnarok failed, even with the energy bursts. Sora kept attacking, with nothing working. He then dropped out of Limit Form.
"My turn."
Kadaj leaped at Sora, trying to stab him. Sora parried and wedged his blade between the edges of Kadaj's strange sword, but was knocked down as Kadaj spun low and used the extra momentum to kick Sora in the chest. As he fell back, Kadaj twisted his blade, and flung the captured keyblade out of Sora's hands and into the alley behind Kadaj. He walked casually toward the hero, preparing to continue the beatdown, when a fireball flew at his head.
"Keep away from him."
Kairi stood defiantly, keyblade towards Kadaj. Kadaj started laughing.
"Little girl, do you really have what it takes to kill me?" As he said this, his right hand glowed.
"I can try."
"Then die trying." He swung his hand at her, and a hail of blue projectiles flew at Kairi.
"NO!" Sora screamed.
Back with Lightning and Riku.
"Wait up."
"Hell no. I thought there'd be some fun adventuring, things to laugh about with Serah back home-"
"You have a sister?"
"- and maybe some interesting little attempt to take over a kingdom that we would foil, but NO! My life just keeps getting fucked up more each day, first with Dad's murder, then with Blazefire, and now with this."
"Wait, your father was murdered?"
"Ah, yes, a fond day to be remembered." Another voice chimed in, sultry and snide. Another deep voice could be heard laughing.
Both keybladers stood at full attention, blades drawn.
Two men, both decked out in full black leather, stepped out of the shadows. One with long flowing hair and a gun in hand, the other with short spiky hair and a menacing device on his left arm. Both had sky blue eyes and silver hair.
"Who are you?"
"We'll ask the questions-"
"No, Loz. Let us introduce ourselves. My name is Yazoo." The long-haired man bowed shortly. "This is Loz. We are here to find Mother."
"Who?", the pink-haired warrior asked.
"Lightning!"
"Mother, Jenova, so many names. Where is she?" Yazoo leveled his gun at Lightning's head.
Battle Theme: Bloody Destiny – Persona PSP
"That voice... No."
"Hmm? Lightning?"
"It can't be... No." Lightning smiled. "Life is too lucky some days." She ran at Yazoo, blocking the bullet that flew at her head.
"You're the one who killed my father!" She swung at his head. Yazoo parried her blade, and kicked her away. She flipped back up. As she landed, Loz punched her in the gut, and fired his gauntlet. The pulse of electricity and force of the punch sent her flying.
"Bastards!" Riku fired a hail of Dark Aura spells at Loz. It looked like they hit. Yazoo fired off a few rounds, which were blocked, but before Riku could retaliate, he heard a scream from Lightning. He turned to see Loz kicking her as she lay on the ground. He ran after him, but saw a glowing blur of blue hit him in the face, dropping him in a second. He couldn't see anything but white, but he heard Lightning get dragged over to him.
He heard the brothers laugh.
He heard the sliding of a gun being drawn from it's holster.
He heard the hammers on two guns pull back.
"GETSUGA TENSHOU!"
He heard an explosion near his feet. He shook his head to reorient himself, and saw two people standing between him and the enemy. He felt worry as his vision returned when he saw the black robes with hoods.
"The Organization?"
"Here to save the day, apparently.", came a voice to the right. The man there held two gleaming longswords, one designed like a falchion and crimson like fire, one like a longsword and light blue like ice.
"And just in time!", said the other one. He held a long, black katana in his hand, that swirled with reddish-black energy.
"Get out of our way.", the long-haired boy demanded.
"Meanies!", the spiky-haired one whined.
"Now why would we do that? Can you think of why, Xancel?"
"No, Vrilgix. No clue." Both men drew their blades into battle poses. The others prepared to attack.
"Yazoo, Loz, we're leaving.", came a commanding yell.
Kadaj was leaping over rooftops, evading bolts of light from a third Organization member, this one wielding a long, blue sword that was quite oddly designed. It looked like a weaponized tuning fork. A Dark Corridor opened, and the three men ran through. As the Corridor closed, the last Org. Member dropped down to the ground. Riku tried to hear what they were saying, but he lost himself to darkness.
Disney Castle
3 days later
Sora awoke in a bed. Scanning the surroundings, he saw three other beds, each with its own keyblade wielder in it. They were all asleep.
As he looked around more, he saw four people standing around. One was unmistakenly Xehanort, and one was most definitely Aqua, but the other two were different. One was a tall, black-haired man in a black shirt and poofy beige pants. The last was a dead perfect copy of Roxas.
"Master, Sora's awake.", 'Roxas' said.
"Very good! Thank you, Ventus."
"WHAT?" Sora screamed, making Riku, Kairi, and Lightning shoot up in their beds, keyblades drawn.
"HE"S NOT FAKE?", the hero hollered.
"Why would I be fake?"
"Because you look like my Nobody. The Nobody I fused with a while back."
"I'm sorry, Sora. I can't explain why Roxas and Ventus here look similar. Perhaps we'll find out while training."
"Hold on, Master.", Riku blurted out. "What happened to the Organization?"
"You mean us?" came a new voice. The door opened, and three men in Org. cloaks walked in. The lead man had medium-length, semi-spiky hair, the next had long, orange hair pulled back into a short ponytail, and the third had sky blue spikes Cloud would be proud of.
"Ah, yes. Everyone, meet Xernuht, Vrilgix, and Xancel. They are top three seated members of the Neo-Organization XIII." Xehanort introduced them in order.
"It was us who pulled you out of those fights with the remnants." Xernuht had a commanding voice. "By the way, we're the only members so far."
"Yeah." Xancel was quiet.
"Good for us, right?" Vrilgix sounded giddy.
"Then shouldn't you be the Neo-Org. III?", Lightning asked, compelled by common sense.
"... we're still builing up the ranks.", Xernuht muttered.
"Well, thanks, anyways." Riku said, a level of depression in his voice. I couldn't protect her...
"Tell me Riku, you wield the power of darkness. Why didn't you use it?", the ancient Master asked him.
"What do you mean, Master? My magic is dark-based."
"Yes, but it isn't Darkness. You know that. What about the power you used on the Nobodies in Castle Oblivion?"
"No. I won't use it again. Every time I do, I hurt people I know."
"No, you won't, Riku. You see, you're more like your father than you think."
"What?"
"Riku, your bloodline traces back to the ancient soldiers of Shinryu, the Chasers. Warriors who could bend the True Dark to their very will."
"And that helped so much before."
"You also now have a true anchor to the light: Lightning, the daughter of a Celestial."
"Huh?" Lightning spoke up now.
"Riku, your ancestor was a Chaser. Lightning, your father was a Celestial."
"So we're the epitomes of light and dark-"
"-and we're both useless."
Terra walked over, and dragged Riku out of his bed. "Come on, sourpuss, let's get started." He dragged the silver-haired Chaser through a Dark Corridor to who-knows-where.
"Riku!", Lightning leaped out of bed after him, only to be tackled into another portal by Ventus.
Xehanort sighed. "Training starts now. Sora, come with me. Kairi will go with Aqua."
As the two got up, Xehanort continued.
"Say your goodbyes, too. You won't be anywhere near eachother for three years."
Sora stood dumbfounded. Three years without Kairi? He turned to his lover, and was met with a kiss. He held her close for as long as she let him.
"Sora, promise me we'll finish this when we meet again.", she asked, tears beginning to build up.
"We will. I swear it on my heart.", he said, donning his trademark grin. If only I truly were this happy...
With these words, and many tears, they passed through the two portals that formed, followed by their teachers. The Nobodies were left in the room on their own.
"Well, Superior, should we keep refilling the ranks?" Vrilgix said.
"Indeed, No. 2. We shall. Come, No. 3."
The Nobodies walked through another Corridor to some place, and the castle fell silent, save for a broom mopping the floor outside.
Xer: Yay! Next chapter's gonna be the last updated one. Sayonara!