Chapter 7 - Determined


Land of Departure, Three years before Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep


Terra was the first to see the X charging at Ven, and he was the first to react. "Quake!" The ground shook, dislodging more chunks from the wall. Ven hung on to the edge of the hole, trying not to fall over. Aqua, unprepared, stumbled back against the ledge. Even the X stumbled, wobbling on its feet. Only Terra was unaffected and took that moment to attack, rushing over to the X to attack. It pooled to duck under his attack, and then slithered between his legs to attack from behind. Aqua was there to meet it with an attack from her Keyblade, but the X dodged that was well, grabbing the opposite end of her Keyblade and tossing her. Terra caught her in his arms and took a step back, meeting the wall. "That worked better than I had expected."

Before, the X had been between them and Ven. Now, Ven was right beside them, all three apprentices facing down the X.

"Terra, you can put me down now." Looking at Aqua, he realized he was still holding her. Carefully, knowing he was blushing, he put her back on her feet.

"Sorry," he muttered, "But listen, I have another plan."

"Since when did you have a first plan?"

Terra raised an eyebrow in a 'how did you not notice it?' expression and smiled. "Cover me."

Staring at him for a moment, Aqua shook her head and sighed. "Another one of your crazy schemes…"

"If I recall correctly, you like them. They always seem to work anyway."

"It's not that I don't, but…"

"Um, guys?" Ven interrupted, looking frightened. "It's coming."

Looking back, they saw he was right. The X was charging straight at them, Keyblade ready in an attacking position.

"I'll hold it off, so hurry!" Aqua shouted, charging in to meet it.

Terra didn't waste a second; he balanced his Keyblade on one shoulder, closing his eyes in concentration. The sounds of Aqua battling met his ears; metal clashing with metal, bursts of magic exploding against the ground, and the sounds of the X shifting from form to form, a wet gushing noise. Somewhere behind him, he could hear Ven whimpering, his fingers digging into the broken wall. Above all of it, he could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears. 'Now's not the time to be worrying about it. Focus!' Adjusting his grip on his Keyblade, Terra felt his power surge as the metal shifted under his fingers, expanding and contracting until it reached the form he was trying for; a giant cannon, the end pulsing and grinding as it charged.

'Here comes the hard part…' Pouring his power into it, he charged the attack, pushing more and more energy into it until he felt it peak. 'I swear, when we're finished, I'm going to work on improving this.' "Aqua, now!"

Hearing his signal, Aqua dived out of the way, rolling to the side as a beam of concentrated power burst from Terra's Keyblade cannon. The amount of force pushed Terra back to the hole, where he stumbled back, the jagged edge tripping him. Ven ran over and braced him until the attack finished, the beam tapering off.

"Di-did we… get it?" Ven asked, peeking around Terra's side.

Terra's Keyblade returned to its regular form. "Here's hoping…"

The attack left the ground steaming and, from the center of the beam's path, a long rope-like projection of the X slithered up, wailing and moaning in its horrible, ear-splitting voice. Behind him, Ven covered his ears, but Terra stayed in a battle ready position, watching carefully. Slowly, the X brought all of its mass back into its humanoid form, still gripping the Keyblade.

"But how?" Ven gasped, wide-eyed in surprise. "It should have been blasted into nothing!"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out!" Terra growled, rushing in to attack.

The X replied to his attack by slithering under his attack, under his feet, and springing him up and away. Terra went flying, crashing into the stone ledge with enough force to knock the air out of him. For a moment, everything went fuzzy, all of his senses blurred over. 'No! I'm not going to pass out! Aqua and Ven need me!' Despite that, his limbs felt sapped of all their strength and he was having a hard time breathing. 'Something… feels broken…'

He pushed himself up enough that he could take a deep breath, but stabbing pain made him recoil. A yelp and crash beside him made him look up as Aqua crashed into the ledge near him. She slumped against the wall, looking dazed, a deep cut on her face bleeding. Her Keyblade clattered from her hands to the ground.

Terra struggled to stand up, but the pain overpowered him, bringing him to his knees before he fell flat on his face, gasping for air. His vision began to black out, darkness closing in on all sides as he saw the X regarding them before it turned to face Ven. All of his strength drained away, and he fought unconsciousness with all his might.

'This… this isn't the way it ends. I can't… let things go like this. We have to keep fighting! We have to beat that thing! If not… No, losing isn't an option. Losing… we can't…'

Images flashed in his mind with such speed that he could merely make all of them out. There were some that he could see nothing at all, but others were clearer. A little girl with red hair lying unconscious on a beach, the waves crashing around her ankles. The silver haired boy he'd seen before, only much older, standing amidst a storm, a portal of darkness swirling behind him. The brown haired boy standing in a brightly lit town with a duck and what looked like a dog, all three of them smiling. The red haired girl standing in a cave, looking at drawings carved into the wall with a smile and tears of joy. The brown haired boy protecting the blond girl in the white dress from a sadistic-looking blond woman in a black coat. The boy who looked like Ven standing with the raven haired girl, her holding a silver and yellow Keyblade while he brandished a stick in front of him. The same boy wearing clothes similar to Ven's, holding the silver and yellow Keyblade while watching the brown haired boy sleep in the pod with a sad smile. A small mouse wearing a black coat standing with his back to the brown haired boy, duck, and dog, his arms spread wide. The red haired girl and the blond girl standing together, looking ready to fight. The brown haired boy and the silver haired boy facing down a white haired man in a black and white coat.

Seeing all those images, Terra felt his strength returning. 'Those children, whoever they are, are fighting. They're fighting their own battles, no matter who they're fighting or what they're fighting for. They're not giving up, and neither will I! I'll fight that monster for them, and for Aqua, and Ven! I'll get rid of it, even if I have to die trying!'

Terra's eyes snapped open and he sprang to his feet, almost instantly between the X and Ven, blocking what would have been a fatal blow. Ven, startled, tripped and fell on his backside, panting as though he'd been holding his breath. The X cocked its head at Terra's sudden appearance, but only responded by continuing its attacks, directing them at Terra. The oldest apprentice blocked each one deftly not even breaking a sweat, in turn using each of his blocks to push the X back, away from Ven.

Once they were into a more open area, Terra broke off one of his blocks, shoving hard enough to make the X stumble. From there he began his attack, swinging his Keyblade into blow after blow as if it was part of his arm. The X blocked every one, but Terra could feel that it was weakening, his Keyblade pressing more and more into its defense with every strike. Somewhere behind him, he was vaguely aware of Ven cheering him on, but he wasn't paying much attention to it, his mind focused on the battle.

He felt like a machine, feeling nothing except rage as he struck repeatedly. It became less about focusing on attacking and more about where to attacks, his arms moving with barely any instruction or effort on his part. The X could barely defend against his attacks anymore, reduced to being knocked around by him, using the Keyblade as a buffer for damage. Terra didn't really care. He was emotionally detached from it all.

Suddenly, that changed. Terra felt happy, a dark, sickening feeling, but happy nonetheless. His strength soared and he beat down on the X, landing blows that carved away parts of its mass, little globules of bluish goo splattering all along the ground. It was so intoxicating that he couldn't help himself: he laughed, feeling the dark deadly sound ripping itself from his throat.

Almost instantly, the tides turned. The X struck back, all of its strength returning. The little blobs scattered on the ground began returning to it, bringing it back to its original mass. Its attacks quickly grew in strength until Terra was left with barely any way to defend. He used the armor on his arm to brace himself for most of the attacks, combining it with his Keyblade as his only method of defense.

'What happened? I was winning, but it's so much stronger now. It's even stronger than before! How does it keep getting stronger when we attack it relentlessly? It should be weak; weaker than the both of us combined, but now it's stronger! It's impossible! … I can't handle this on my own!' "Aqua!"

The X continued its attack, beating down on him until he felt his skin blistering and bleeding. Terra tried to focus on defending until she came to assist him, but her help didn't come.

"Aqua, I need you! Get over here and help me!"

Terra shifted his weight, keeping the X from pushing him back, but his armored boots negated some of that effect, taking part of the ground with him as he tried to brace himself. Each blow hurt more and more as the pain from his earlier injuries compounded onto his new ones, waves of pain rippling and shuddering through his body to the point that it was unbearable. Still, nothing came.

"Come on, Aqua! Now!"

The X's blows became stronger and stronger until Terra could feel his arm on the verge of breaking, the pain in his forearm and shoulder intensifying with every blow. He ground his teeth, fighting against the pain. Still, nothing.

"Aqua?"

Time, from his perspective, seemed to slow down. He looked over at trying to figure out why she wasn't there helping him. Her expression was one of horror, pure and uncontrolled terror. And she was looking right at him. She was afraid of him. He knew instantly that he was on his own.

The X brought the Keyblade up for an attack and Terra responded, swinging his Keyblade in a wide strike. The X condensed its mass and ducked under it, slipping behind him and circling back to his front, reforming humanoid again. Terra turned around in a circle, trying to keep his eyes on it so he could defend against its next attack, but it surprised him.

Propping the Keyblade against the ground, the X leaned against it and brought its legs up, meeting Terra just as he turned, one foot connecting with his chest while the other sank into his stomach. Both areas exploded with pain, loud cracking signaling the snapping of no less than seven ribs. His stomach emptied acid out into his esophagus, making his throat burn.

At that moment, everything returned to normal speed in his eyes. Terra went flying backwards, smashing into the wall with such force that swore he felt his brain jerk in his head, smashing against his skull. He didn't even hear the crack of his head against the stone before he was instantly out cold.