Take the Pieces – Build them Skywards
Chapter VII
Disclaimer: I own no part of Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix or Disney or Biffy Clyro's "Machines" lyrics.
Forewarning for spoilers and speculation based off of KH, KHII, CoM and BbS.
You've been warned. Feel free to back it up to the index before you ruin the game for yourselves like I did (those patiently awaiting the US release as of right now).
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The closer you get to the light…
The greater your shadow becomes…
The ride was long. The dazzling stars were far off in the distance now, no longer lingering overhead. Ven and Sora had fallen asleep, the Gummi ship shifting into an autopilot mode. Terra had also fallen into a light sleep, but was woken suddenly by the sound of movement off in the distance.
He opened one eye, noticing Aqua in the back of the ship where the overhead window was still open. She, too, had fallen asleep, though it appears she did so while still gazing up at the sky. She was lying on her side, legs somewhat brought closer to her chest, features quite relaxed. He smiled, and approached her, kneeling down and resting his hand on her shoulder. "It's cold out here, isn't it?" he said in a slight whisper, though she didn't respond.
Before Terra could wake her, the ship shook. He whipped his head around, noticing the autopilot function had turned itself off. "Oh no…" Instead of running to the captain's seat, he rushed over to wake Sora. With a grunt of frustration, Sora opened his eyes and blinked tiredly at Terra.
"Mm… what's up?"
"The ship's autopilot is off!"
"What?" Sora started with a jump, heading immediately to the controls. "Wait… it wasn't supposed to deactivate until we reached our destination!" He then brought his hands to the steering wheel, trying to bring them back on the path. The wheel wasn't responding, however.
The ship continued to rock, and eventually began hurdling violently from side to side, as it did before. "Terra!" The brunet's head turned, spotting Ven leaping in their direction. "What's happening?"
"The ship lost control, but…—!? " he was cut off when everything began to spin. Out of the blue, he remembered Aqua was still in the back. "Aqua!" he ran as fast as he could to see if she was being tossed about.
But she wasn't there.
"Terra! Ven! Sora!" they heard a muffled voice coming from the other room of the ship. The three in the control room turned their heads, all but Sora going to see where she was. Beyond the room with the roof, there was another branching off from there.
"Aqua…! Where did you go!?" Ven shouted, noticing an open door leading to the outside of the ship. And as one would expect, everything was being sucked out into the empty space.
Suddenly pale, Terra ran to the door, but was held back by Ven. "Wait, Terra! Your armor!" But the older one pulled away.
"What does it matter? Aqua doesn't have her armor either!" His head dropped. "If something happened to her…" There was dead silence between the two for a few moments, until Terra ran for the door again. "Go help Sora."
"But… what can I do?" Ven seemed unsure. "You saw what I did earlier…"
"Ven…" Terra began, sending the blond a confident glance. "I trust you. And right now, Sora could probably use the help."
"As Aqua could use yours," Sora came in hurriedly, hearing their whole conversation. He then tossed Terra a cable wire, which he then attatched to the side of the ship from the inside. "In case something happens… tug on the cord, and we'll pull you two in!"
The older brunet gave a swift nod, attaching the other end to the cross section of the red straps across his chest, heading out the door, creeping along the outside of the ship making sure he wouldn't fall. Sora then grabbed Ven's hand.
He smiled. "Come on, we'll fix this together!"
--
"Aqua…" Terra muttered, his eyes searching for his friend. He then caught a glimpse of a blue light emitting from the top of the vessel. He made his way up from the side, hands gripping every ledge he could reach from where he was. Upon arriving at the top, he saw Aqua there, standing, the keyblade acting as an extension of her own arm. A blue light enveloped both the blade and her, eyes closed as she tried to ease their flight with her magic.
"Wait, Aqua!" He called again, struggling to reach her. She opened her eyes finally, attention fully on him.
"Terra…!" it was hard to tell what her expression was like, since the blue light had become brighter, concealing most of her body by now. Crystallized ice formations began to take form from her boots, up her legs and near her thighs. She gritted her teeth, motioning for him to stay away. "Go back inside! You'll get hurt out here!"
In complete disregard to her warning, he made his way up to the very top, using the cable to latch onto one of the pink straps crossing over her back. "Me? I'm the one who'll get hurt? You'll be killed if you stay out here like this!" he retorted, starting to pull her back. "Sora and Ven are working on this inside. We have to return there where it's safe!"
Aqua seemed frustrated, pulling the chord back. "No, Terra. You don't understand!"
"What is there to understand!? Playing hero isn't what this game is all about!"
"… Playing hero? … You think this is a game?" She simply stared at him. But before she could say anything else, a wave of energy engulfed the ship. Instinctively, Aqua pushed Terra away and off the edge so he could swing back inside; she was completely unaware that he had the cord hooked onto her as well, though, and they both got dragged down. In mid swing, everything seemed to come to a halt.
Frozen in the unmoving emptiness, Aqua's body remained aloft, the brunet's eyes following her carefully. He attempted to tug at the cord to bring her back down, but it seemed that some force was holding it in place. Within the fraction of the second that passed, a sharp red aura split from Aqua's soft blue one, zipping off into nothingness. As soon as it dissipated, gravity and time seemed to start moving once again.
Lifelessly, her body continued to fall, Terra catching her before she was left hanging at the end of the line. He then tugged on it, keeping the bluenette close to him. "Sora!" he shouted, in hopes that everything was okay inside.
"Terra!" Ven and Sora approached the door, looking down at them. "It wasn't the ship— Some magic force meddled with the control system! The whole thing is corrupt!" Ven notified him.
Mouth slightly agape, Terra was unsure of how to respond. 'She was using her magic…to dispose of the force interacting from the outside…' He thought for a brief second, shaking the thoughts from his head, nodding. "Pull us in! I think the tie is slipping!"
Quickly, Sora ran for the other end of the rope, pulling as hard as he could. "Grab it from the front, and pull Ven!"
Without a moment to lose, Ven desperately grabbed it from the open door, using all the strength his body could muster to get them back inside. Everything seemed to be going well, until the startling sound of the cord splitting rang in their ears.
Eyes wide, Terra urgently began to use the side of the ship to climb along the side to reach the door. At that point, it was already too late. When their only means of salvage snapping in two, the two oldest key wielders were launched into a hectic frenzy of hot, yet cold, space rocks, diving deeper and deeper into space.
"Terra! Aqua!" Ven cried out, wanting to jump in after them, as if that would make things any better. Sora had the strength to keep him back, however, leaving Ven a wreck.
A helpless, lonely wreck.
Don't be afraid…
Terra felt as though he and Aqua had been falling for eternity, even though that was anything but the case.
"Is this the end, now…?
Is this… how we're going to die?"
-
D o n ' t b e a f r a i d . . .
-
"But…"
Terra could feel his hidden emotions welling up inside him, threatening to spill over.
"… I don't want to die…"
A burst of refracted light emitted from the Rainstorm, summoned unconsciously by Aqua, as it lead them in a different direction other than 'downwards', now heading straight into the world that lie ahead of them.
You hold the strongest weapon…
In the world…
--
Sora and Ven sat quietly in the ship, floating amidst the stars in front of what would have been their next destination, Radiant Garden, the door where the other two exited now shut tightly.
"Ven…" Sora commenced, afraid that he would be lashed at if he gave the other a comforting touch. "Ven… I'm sorry…"
"No, Sora…" the blond sighed. "I just…"
"… Just?" Sora waited for him to continue.
"I …… Just…" he brought his legs to his chest, gripping the charm Aqua gave him tightly. "… Don't like being alone…"
"But…" he thought for some time before continuing. "… I'm still here."
Ven smiled slightly, his eyes hazing over as he bore his stare into the sparkling lights before him. "I know…" he opened his mouth to say something, but the words couldn't find their way out. Instead, he buried his head into his arms.
He didn't react much when Sora gave his back a placated pat… Then as the blond started to laugh did Sora pull away to some extent.
"Ven…" Said boy's broken smile never wavered as Sora called him out.
"It's funny…" he couldn't stop himself from chuckling, a lesson that the two elders always reminded him of: never lose your ability to laugh. "Here, I thought… We could go back to the way things used to be…"
"… Fate works in funny ways." Ven looked up at Sora, his expression souring briefly, breaking away from contact soon after.
"And it makes this such an imperfect world…"
"Nothing's perfect, Ven."
"Yeah…" Both boys said nothing to one another for a long time.
"Hey, Ven?"
"Hm?"
"… I'm sure they're fine."
Ven blinked. "Why do you say that?" Sora grinned, pointing outside. Curious, the other turned around to see the brunet's reference. Two glowing objects were soaring away, intertwining trails of light through the darkness, heading beyond the worlds into the cosmos. And just as Ven realized what the objects were, he sighed with much relief, his lips curving in with his smile.
"Come home safely..."
Thinking of you…
Wherever you are...
--
When Terra awoke, the first thing to obstruct his vision was his keyblade sticking up in the ground beside him. "Ah…" he smiled, sitting up to remove it, allowing it to disappear. Just then, he remembered that Aqua fell with him. He stood hastily, something warm gripping onto his arm. Startled, he jumped back, his blade aimed at the one who dared to touch him in such a vulnerable state.
"Terra!"
Of course, just Aqua.
… Aqua…!
"You're all right!" the brunet exclaimed, refraining himself from embracing her—it would be far too embarrassing if he squealed like the little girl he was probably acting like.
"Of course. What did you expect?" she tapped her foot, seemingly disappointed in his behavior. "Even you know me better than that, Terra…" an affectionate charm filled her tone, as she dug the tip of her right boot into the soft earth they stood over.
Normally, Terra would continue the teasing. But what first grabbed his attention was her abrupt change in mannerisms. "Hit your head too hard on the ground? Or does your lady-like charisma only come out when we have no idea where we are after being thrown off of a flying rainbow spacecraft?" She giggled.
"Let's go with the first one." Her expression then softened. "But really… Some sort of feeling… just came over me." As if filled with an ecstatic contentment, she spun around, falling into the tall grass that seemed to be all around this area. "As if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders… I don't know what it may be, but it feels… fantastic."
"Fantastic, hm…" Terra watched as she fell into the grass, eventually deciding to take note on their surroundings.
They were in a meadow; filled with lush, green, green grass, a countless variety of wildflowers, finished by a small lake off in the distance. "Sure is peaceful…"
"Very peaceful…" Aqua sighed, sitting up, tugging at Terra's arm. "Come, sit here with me. The breeze feels great."
The male shook her off, only noticing the hurt expression in her eyes after he retracted the offer. "You're acting funny…"
She was quiet for a second, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Terra, but…" she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know… I just feel… light."
"Light?"
"Yeah… Like a feather, I mean…" she swung her arms over her head to stretch, the white half-sleeves slipping down as she relaxed her muscles.
He stood over her, scanning the vast area quite a few times, like a hawk watching over it's nest. "Well… Ven, Sora and I… we can't afford to lose you over the ecstasies nature has to offer you."
She laughed this time. "You don't have to tell me that!" She smiled sweetly. "Ven and Sora… they're okay, I'm sure of it. I used my remaining magic to assist the Gummi ship to get back on course… before we ended up here."
"Oh?" Terra quirked a brow toward his blue-haired counterpart, folding his arms together. "Where are we then?
"This land… there's a meadow, a forest and a river. The animals live peacefully here, but most notably is the King of this forest."
"There's a King?" Terra's interest seemed to be perked. "Who is it?"
Aqua smiled. "Bambi."
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Talk about a wrap! Geez…
Ah hah, this was very emo...
... and shorter than intended... I really have to work on making these longer...
I've been reading a lot of fanfics lately… And noticed the smart use of worlds in many of them. I'm not using worlds as a primary focus (generally because I haven't watched too many Disney movies as of late), and I don't want to copy each idea exactly, so rather, I'm trying to avoid content clashing by using worlds that I haven't seen used yet. My first world is Bambi's world. And as a reminder note, being after KHII, my guess is that Bambi has grown up into a fine stag.
And I have no intention to have Terra or Aqua change into a forest animal. My reasons are simply because that would make the whole idea rather cliché… Besides… We don't want every KH character ani-morphing.
Hah hah.
… I don't own Animorphs.
Reviews are kindly appreciated. :3
