Author's Note: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.
Ch.4 Figments of the Mind
The Guard Armor looked down at Sora and they were surrounded by a bright light. When it faded Donald and Goofy were gone, changed into card form again. Both of them were lying on the ground, and Sora quickly picked them up and put them in his pocket. The Guard Armor swung at him with its fists and Sora moved back, avoiding the hits. Once the onslaught was over he charged and swung, slashing at the Heartless. His Keyblade created a small cut on the Armor's chest plate, but nothing serious. In return the Armor's right foot swung up of its own will, kicking Sora in the stomach and knocking the wind out of him. Sora staggered away by was punched the chest twice, knocking him to the ground. Before the guard Armor could pummel him he pulled out the Goofy card, holding it up and calling "Goofy!"
The card vanished with a burst of light and Goofy appeared, grasping his shield and spinning on one foot. The pseudo-tornado attack knocked the Heartless back and caused it to falter, also giving Sora the time to stand. Once Goofy was done he vanished, and Sora charged again. The Guard Armor held up its left arm over its chest to block the hit, so Sora simply attacked that arm and swung down with both hands. This attack was more powerful than the last, and tore through the metal to leave a large, gaping cut. The Armor quickly stepped back and looked at Sora, swinging its other fist. But Sora rolled out of the way and countered, actually cutting off one of its fingers. The Heartless seemed like it glared at Sora, before suddenly all pieces of it rose into the air, raining back down around Sora.
He dodged both legs and the arm he had torn before, but the other arm gave him a nasty punch to the ribs while the torso slammed into his back. Sora fell over onto his front, and the pieces reassembled. Quickly they grabbed Sora and literally threw him, sending him through the air until he hit the wall and lid down. The Heartless lumbered forward and Sora pulled out the Donald called, activating it. Donald appeared and called "Yeah!" before casting Blizzard and Thunder. The two spells did minimal damage, but they did distract the Guard Armor long enough for Sora to stand and attack. He swung at the same arm he cut before and gave it another one, further damaging the limb. The Guard Armor retaliated with a double kick that Sora leaped back to avoid.
It was then that he noticed that behind the Guard Armor was another card like Donald's or Goofy's, but this one had a silhouette of King Mickey. Quickly Sora turned to Guard Armor and actually threw his Keyblade, running past it at the same time. The Guard Armor batted the weapons aside, but by then Sora had already grabbed the card and held it up. The card burst apart into four motes of light, and suddenly the Guard Armor froze before literally falling apart, landing in a heap of metal limbs. Sora called his Kingdom Key back to him and charged, bringing it down once more on the rm of the Guard Armor. This time the blow was strong enough to sever the limb into two, which caused it to dissolve in a burst of shadows. After that Sora turned to rest of the Heartless attacked, dealing three hits to the torso and one to each foot.
Then he took the blade and stabbed it through the Armor's head, which caused it to awaken and hurriedly stand. The Armor grabbed his Keyblade and pulled it out, throwing it back at Sora. He caught it deftly and the Armor charged, using all three of its remaining limbs to deal damage. Sora saw another Donald card to the side and leaped to grab it, swinging diagonally as he dived. By sheer luck he dealt a blow across the Guard Armor's chest, forcing it to move away. Then Sora pulled out a Simba card he had gotten from Leon, and held it up. Simba appeared in between the two adversaries and roared, the pure sound blasting the Heartless which enough force to dent its armor. While it trying to recover Sora charged straight forward and gave a trio of cuts on the Armor's right foot, destroying it.
Now all the Armor had left was one arm and one foot, and that was before Sora pulled out his trump card. Along with the first Goofy card he had another with him, and so held up the cards of both his friends and an Attack card. Both Donald and Goofy appeared, Donald saying "Okay!" "Come on!" Goofy said, falling forward and holding his shield over his head. Sora and Donald caught him, holding Goofy like an impromptu battering ram. "Let's go!" Sora called, and they charged. Goofy slammed into the Guard Armor's front and sent it staggering back, and the two of them barreled past the Heartless before turning and charging again. The Heartless tried to kick out its remaining foot and stop them, but then Goofy hit that foot and the trio took it with them, crushing the foot between them and a wall and flattening it.
Now all the Guard Armor had left was a single arm, which Sora, Donald and Goofy also destroyed with one more charge. Then all of them save for Sora vanished, and he recalled his Keyblade. With no more limbs other than its torso, the Guard Armor simply spun in place fast enough to make a whirlwind around itself, hoping to keep Sora away. But Sora simply waited until it was done before running and jumping up high, looking down. "It's over!" Sora called, and he dealt a single massive vertical slash that cut the Guard Armor from stem to sternum. Sora landed on the ground and watched as, for a few moments, the Guard Armor was completely still. Then it began shaking violently, and the head remained in the air before crashing to the ground. From the top of the torso a large heart appeared, rising into the air and fading.
Once the heart was gone the body of the Guard Armor fade away, defeated. Sora sighed in exhaustion and dismissed his Keyblade. Behind him Donald and Goofy fully reappeared, and they looked around. "Well I'll be! You beat the thing, Sora!" Goofy cheered. Donald crossed his arms. "I guess you can fight alone after all," he said, admitting his earlier statement was wrong. Sora smiled and laughed, but then they heard a voice behind them say "Good job, Sora." They looked and saw that the speaker was Leon, and Yuffie, Aerith and Cid were there with him. "So, did you find your friend?" Yuffie asked. Sora shook his head. "No, I don't think I'll find him in this town. But he's somewhere in this castle. I just know it," he said. "Castle? Like this whole town's inside some humongous castle. Hoo, that's rich!" Cid said, not convinced one bit.
"He's probably right, Cid," Leon told him. "We may not understand what's going on, but Sora does. He can see that reality is bigger than just this world," he said. Sora frowned and hung his head. "I wish I was that sure," he said. The side of Leon's mouth turned upwards in small smile. "You'll be okay, Sora. No matter what shape reality takes, I'm sure you can handle it. I may not remember you, but I know you in my heart," Leon sad. Sora looked back up, surprised. "Leon..." he said. Yuffie smiled. "Take care, Sora!" she said. Cid scratched his head. "I'm little lost... but best of luck anyway," he stated. Sora nodded and both sides turned to leave. Just as Sora was catching up to Donald and Goofy though, he felt that someone was behind him. He turned round seeing that it was Aerith.
"What's up?" he asked. Unlike before, Aerith's voice was low and serious as she said "I don't have all the answers, but I had to tell you something. Your memories created this town, right?" Sora nodded. "That's what the guy in the black coat told me," he said. "Then in that case, this town is just a figment of your mind. And so are we," Aerith revealed. Sora gasped, staring at her for a second. When her expression didn't change, he said "But... you can't be a figment! We're standing right here! The town is here too!" Aerith slowly shook her head. "But I'm not really me. I don't remember the things I should. And I sense things I shouldn't. Sora, beware your memories," she warned. Now Sora looked at her confusedly, and she explained. "In the journey to come, you'll be faced with more illusions. Sometimes the shadows of your memories will deceive you, try to lead you astray," she said.
"So, uh... what exactly does that mean?" Sora asked. "I'm sorry. I'm just another illusion. The truth is out of my reach," Aerith replied. "Don't say stuff that like. It's depressing..." Sora told her sadly. "Stay strong, Sora. Don't let the illusions distract from what's truly important," Aerith said. After a moment of silence, Sora nodded. "...Okay," he said. Behind him he heard Donald yell "Sora!" He turned, seeing him and Goofy standing ahead. "Are you ready to go?" Goofy asked. "Yeah, be right there!" he called. Then Sora looked back, saying "Well, I'd better go." But when he looked back, he saw that standing there was... nobody. "Huh? Aerith?" Sora asked, looking around. "Aerith!" he called. "What about Aerith?" Donald asked. "Where did she go? I was just talking to her!" Sora told them. There was no way someone could run off that fast.
But then Goofy said "Aerith left with Leon and the others, remember?" Sora's eyes widened. "Huh?" he said. "You worried us, just standing there by yourself," Donald added. Sora looked back one more time. "Is this what she meant...?" he thought aloud. But there was no one there to reply, and she he turned and left with Donald and Goofy.
After they left the Second District, Sora found a door that could they hadn't seen before, and opened it. A brilliant light shined forth, and as Sora walked through he could feel the world behind him fade away. On the other side the light faded, revealing the white stone halls of Castle Oblivion. Standing there was the same hooded figure who had explained the use of cards to him, and the three of them instantly drew their weapons. The figure chuckled. "Well, Sora? Was it nice seeing the ones you cherish?" he asked. "Yeah, it was nice to see everyone... But, what do you really want from me?" Sora asked. "What do you have to give?" the stranger countered. He began walking towards the, raising his right hand to summon his Keyblade when suddenly there was the tell-tale sound of dark corridor behind them.
From the corridor Axel appeared, hood off and issuing a "Hello!" Sora stiffened but was nonetheless ready to take on this newcomer. The hooded figure rolled his eyes and said "I thought I was given the order to take care of the, not you." "Aw, come on! No hogging the hero!" Axel complained. The figure grunted before suddenly spinning and throwing a card at Axel. He caught it and grinned. "Then perhaps you'd like to test him," the figure said, before vanishing via corridor. "Perhaps I would," Axel replied, before turning to Sora, Donald and Goofy. "My show now, Keyblade master! Who am I? Oh, my name's Axel! Got it memorized?" Axel said. A little unsure, Sora said "Uh... sure!" "Good, you're a quick learner! So Sora, now that we're getting to know each other better..." Axel began.
He abruptly held his arms out to his sides and flames curled along the length of them before reaching his hands, where they formed a set of chakrams. Axel looked back up at Sora, still sporting that same grin. "Don't you go off and die on me now!" he warned.
Traverse Town is finished, but now our heroes have to face the Flurry of Dancing Flames! Can they beat him, will all their hopes go up in smoke?
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