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The Twilight Will
By Demonabyss
Chapter 07: Day 369: Twas Brillig
The Griffon flew with his two passengers, heading back to the crossroads where they had originally entered the Pale Realm. He soon landed at the magma fountain, Alice and Roxas getting off. "Recruit whatever allies you can you two. We'll need them all. I'll return with reinforcements from the White Royals. You two head to the Oracle's cave, you should be able to rest there and hopefully restore your friend. Take heart, I'll be back soon," he said to them. Alice nodded while Roxas just stood unmoving, still stuck in his Void Form. Once the Griffon was out of sight, the two made their way back to the cave of the Oracle. While they encountered a few fire imps, they were quickly taken care out due to Alice's Ice Wand and Roxas' claws.
Eventually, the two arrived at the cave with the Oracle. As soon as they approached, the low voice of the Oracle echoed out. "The time for action has arrived. You should not waste a day. No lame excuses do you contrive, nor tolerate delay," it said ominously.
Alice frowned deeply as the Cheshire Cat appeared next to her and Roxas. "It talks like we're on holiday, Cat. Wandering about, having a bit of fun. We also need to rest and restore Roxas to normal. The Oracle's an idiot," she snarled.
The Cheshire Cat seemed to snarl as well despite his permanent smile. "Confront what frightens or offends you. Reckless or insulting talk should never go unchallenged,"
"Affirmative," Roxas said robotically before moving forward, twisting and turning like a Dusk up to the entrance of the cave. He then used the four collar bands to move the rocks out of the way to reveal who or what the Oracle really was. "Subject: Caterpillar. Alias: The Oracle. Classification: Neutral entity. Threat level zero. Question."
Alice was surprised. "You bizarre creature? I was beginning to like you," she said in an offended tone.
The giant, fez-wearing insect just snorted. "Like me or don't. But believe me, the Jabberwock must be eliminated. Now blow open the gates and confront the queen."
Roxas backed away before speaking. "Negative. Jabberwock Eye Staff is incomplete. Component missing is Jabberwock Eye. Please input possible strategy," the greater Nobody asked.
The caterpillar took another puff on his hookah. "I don't know, but you two must do so soon, the situation is urgent."
The emerald-eyed girl snarled now. "What good are you to us? We're supposed to attack this ferocious creature, but Roxas is stuck in this … Void Form was it? Besides, I'm not even sure this is our fight."
The insect sighed, "It's no one else's. Only you and Roxas can yourselves and each other." The solemn tone in his voice was obvious.
The girl raised an eye-brow in question. "Save ourselves? From death, is that it? Is that why we've been brought here? I'm not afraid to die, times I've welcomed death," she said sadly, more to herself than to those around her.
The transformed Nobody just nodded, "Affirmative."
Caterpillar shook his head. "Not death."
Alice's rage' spiked again. "What then? A fate worse than death? I'm not stupid, don't make me think you are!" she accused.
The insect just snorted and frowned. "Think what you will. But know this, you withdrew from you world after the fire because you could not bear your terrible loss. Roxas did the same when he learned of his past and relation to Sora. When you answered Rabbit's call and Roxas created a Chaos Corridor, you both began to emerge from your respective tragedies. Stay on this path you two, save yourselves and you will save Wonderland. You will restore us all."
Alice looked down, now more solemn and thoughtful. "What I've been feeling, I am beginning to understand. I broke this world initially and when Roxas entered it, his past caused it to fracture even more. Now only we can repair it." Caterpillar nodded in agreement before turning to Roxas who had remained silent. From behind him he brought forth a large crystal of Meta-essence. He tossed it to Roxas who immediately caught it and looked at it curiously. A moment later the large crystal was absorbed into the Nobody, causing a reaction.
Energy wrapped around him and in a moment flashed away, revealing a fully restored Roxas. He dropped to his knees as Alice ran over to help him. "That … was weird," he said as he stood up slowly. He looked down at his hands, flexing them in thought as he spoke. "I was in full control, but I couldn't feel anything. No pain, no rage, no concern, no happiness, no sadness, just … nothing," he spoke more to himself then to the older girl next to him.
The emerald eyed girl just gave him a comforting hug; trying to reassure him, though she had no idea what that would've been like. She herself had been on the opposite end of the spectrum, her emotions flying every which way out of her control with no logic or reason to help her. Her time in the asylum had not been pleasant. "You going to be okay?" she asked, voicing the same question he had asked her a short time ago.
He nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Come on, we need to get to the Jabberwock," he said as he stood up.
The Caterpillar also nodded. "With Griffon as your ally you have reason to hope for success. He's the strongest among us," he said before taking a long drag on his hookah. The insect then let out a massive cloud of smoke, disappearing again.
Roxas shook his head. "I really want to know how he does that," he said with small smile as the two started on their way to the lair of the Jabberwock.
-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-
Far away from Alice and Roxas in the World that Never Was, Organization XIII was having a meeting in the Place Where Nothingness Gathers. It had been five days since Axel's encounter with Roxas in the old mansion. Since then, Xigbar, Xaldin, Demyx, Luxord, and Axel had all returned to the mansion to find any trace or Roxas or possibly Sora. All they found were the remains of a base as the false Twilight Town abandoned. Apparently, whoever had been there had decided to leave before they got there. They had searched the mansion for days but had found few real leads on what had happened to Roxas. They were gathering now to discuss their findings. The first to speak was number I, the Superior, Xemnas. "So what have you found in you investigation?" he asked in his usual calm tone.
Xaldin spoke first. "There are some remains of a base, but it has been thoroughly cleaned out. We did find one computer but it was heavily damaged. It seemed that whoever attacked it did so out of rage more than anything as the damage was not made by precise strikes. None of the data on it could be retrieved," he said in his formal tone.
Xemnas nodded. "I see. Any signs of our wayward Keyblade wielder or the Keyblade master?" he asked calmly, again showing no true emotion.
Demyx spoke up this time. "We found nothing. The kid and Roxas may have been there, but not anymore. We also found this white room full of pictures of us, more of Roxas, Axel, and some black-haired girl in one of our coats than anyone else though," the sitar player explained.
Luxord nodded. "Indeed. Whatever player had been there decided to cut his looses and wait for better odds and apparently took Namine with them," he spoke calmly. "However, we did find one strange trace of energy deep within the mansion. There was a trace of a portal there, similar to our Corridors of Darkness but of a far different type."
Saix's voice broke in at this point. "Sire, given the evidence we've found and what we haven't found. I'd say there are two possibilities here. Either the merge with Roxas did not awaken Sora or they never merged in the first place. Given the unusual energy signature residue found in the lower levels, it is more likely Roxas escaped somehow before merging with Sora."
Once again Xemnas nodded. "Indeed. Since we cannot complete Kingdom Hearts without a Keyblade bearer, we will search all known worlds for Roxas and Sora. Also, keep a look out for the imposter. He may also have a part to play in all of this." They all nodded and disappeared in flashes of darkness, Axel and Saix being the last ones to leave.
-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-
They had finally reached the center of the fiery wasteland. All around them was a molten landscape, the oppressive heat being the least of their problems. On their way to meet the beast they had encountered lava snarks, nasty fish that in the molten streams that had attempted to drag them in, and jabberspawn, smaller misshapen clones of the Jabberwock. Add to that climbing on hot rock to get here, Alice and Roxas were already a little worn. What made it all worse was the Jabberwock's actual "lair". It was two large, semi-burned down buildings that seemed to have either collapsed on each other or had been fused in some weird fashion. The larger of the two buildings both had seen before though only Roxas truly knew what it was. It was the train station clock tower from Twilight Town, burned down and torn apart. The other, smaller of the two looked like a large cottage, Victorian style, the kind a family would live in. While Roxas had never seen it, he could guess what this was. It was Alice's home, the one that had gone down in a fire, killing her family, burning her alive, and shattering her sanity and subsequently Wonderland itself.
Roxas pulled up his hood and summoned Two Become One and Refection of Fate. He turned to his companion, his voice low and quiet. "You ready for this?" he knowing that if the Jabberwock was anywhere near as powerful as it had been implied this whole time, then they were in for a rough fight.
Alice brought out her Vorpal Blade, gazing into its reflective surface, her emerald eyes darkening for a moment before turning to her companion. "I'm ready." With that, the two entered the Jabberwock's lair.
The inside of the structure, using the term as loosely as possible, was even worse than the outside. All around it looked like the place had been engulfed in an inferno with some parts of it still burning. Creepy thing was that the fire that was still blazing didn't seem to eat away at the place, almost as if it was now part of the structure. Shadows moved all around them as if alive, unfettered by the supposed light of the fires. The two of them stood past the entrance of the clock tower, where the trains would normally be stationed. While the trains were there, they were totaled, ripped apart by what appeared to be claws … very large claws. On the side with the tunnels was a large hole that connected the tower to the cottage. Inside was what looked like the remains of a living room, complete with tables, chairs, and a piano, or at least the charred remains of these things. It was hard to look at the place.
It was after a moment that the two felt it. A presence, dark, twisted, corrupting, like nothing either had felt before. It forced all their worst memories to come to forefront. For Alice, she was in her home as the fire raged, the flames licking at her flash as she screamed for her parents. Roxas saw the form of Xion in front of him, mutated by the unwanted memories from Sora and twisted by the words of Riku. One saw her family die in blazing death, the other saw his family fragments in crystal death. The two started to breathe hard as they looked up and saw them … the eyes of flame.
With a low growl and resounding footsteps, the Jabberwock appeared. The creature was easily as big as a Darkside Heartless and more twisted than anything else. It stood on two saurian legs and had a large central body that looked like a furnace of some kind with gears and cogs showing in place its guts. The things arms were long and thin, looking like the arms of a skeleton with two long fingers and two shorter fingers for its hands. The tail looked like a mix of metal and bone, covered in strange marks. Out of the creature's back were two massive clockwork wings that also sported claws of their own with pipes sticking out between them blowing out black smoke. On a long, serpentine neck rested a head that looked like an elongated skull with four large, sharp fangs in the front along with two antennae on the top of its head. Within that skull sat two burning eyes, eyes that blazed in such a way that all the fire around them paled in comparison. The Jabberwock stared at them in a manner they knew was condescending and full of hatred. This was confirmed when the thing spoke, his voice low and demonic. "You have kept me waiting Alice and Roxas. Have you never heard that punctuality is a virtue?" he said arrogantly.
Roxas readied his Keyblades. "And I thought Vexen was arrogant," he commented lightly, or at least tried to.
The Jabberwock seemed to ignore his comment as he continued. "You're both habitually late aren't you? Between your dim-witted daydreaming and self-delusions of existence the hours just fly by. There's barely time for anything else."
Alice just snorted at the massive creature. "That the best you can do? Hurl second-rate insults? They don't hurt," she said with confidence she didn't have.
Again, the twisted creature seemed to ignore the words and continued. "Your family and Xion were expecting each of you to come to them weren't they? Perhaps they thought you might warn them of the danger … being close to the sources as you each were. But they waited in vain, didn't they, and all died for their trouble."
Both of them spoke at the same time in reaction, knowing what the creature was referring to.
Alice: "We were all asleep! It was an accident … I…"
Roxas: "I tried to save her! Riku convinced her … it wasn't …"
Now the Jabberwock's tone turned hateful and angry as his words no cut right to their cores. "You selfish, misbegotten, and unnatural children! You smelled the smoke, but you were in dreamland taking tea with your friends! You knew something was wrong but cared only for your own lack of answers! Neither of you couldn't be bothered! You both were protected and spared … while your families died in an inferno of incredible horror and twisted manipulation!" he accused, putting as much force as possible behind his words.
Sorrow broke through Alice's face while rage broke through Roxas'. "SHUT UP!" he screamed as he leaped right at the Jabberwock, only to get swatted by the creature's claw and slammed into what remained of one of the trains. That seemed to snap Alice out of it as she also attacked, launching her Jacks at the beast in order to get its attention away from Roxas. She got it when he turned to her and started to breathe fire at her. Though she attempted to counter by making a wall of ice with the Ice Wand, it wouldn't hold long against the hellfire of the Jabberwock.
Roxas got up shakily, cursing himself for losing his temper. He gripped his Keyblades, his will flaring as he focused on the twisted creature attacking his friend, unconsciously triggering their abilities. He dashed forward, Two Become One flaring with a chaotic energy aura, and slashed with it. The aura instantly extended like a whip and struck the Jabberwock's face, ending his fire attack on Alice. The creature roared in rage and pain and reared one of its arms back to knock the Nobody off the top of the ruined train. Roxas saw it coming and blocked with his Keyblades, Rejection of Fate glowing as he did so.
To everyone's surprise, Roxas did not get swatted away again. Instead for the Jabberwock it was like hitting a solid metal statue welded to the ground, completely immovable despite the force directed behind the strike and thus causing the creature more pain. The Jabberwock moved, this time to straight up punch Roxas off the train. Seeing it coming, the black-coated boy jumped at the last second, landing on the Jabberwock's arm and it smashed through the metal with ease. He ran up the arm and slashed at the beast's eyes, knowing that they needed one of them to achieve victory.
The Jabberwock roared, whipping his head to follow Roxas as beams of twisted purple light shot out of his eyes, cutting through anything they hit. Alice moved quickly, launching her Jacks once again to swarm the creature while readying her cards. While she knew they couldn't do any significant damage, aimed at the right spots they could slow the freakish thing down. She ran to the side as the Jabberwock continued to follow Roxas and started to launch cards at his joints and exposed gears. They had the intended effect of cutting into and jamming them, unfortunately gaining the creature's attention. He shook with rage and reared up, readying a massive blast of hellfire as the furnace in his chest glowed ominously.
Before he could release the blast, Roxas jumped onto his back and dug both Keyblades into his neck and pulled, forcing the blast higher than intended. The Jabberwock raged and thrashed, trying to get the boy off of him. Roxas held on, shifting this way and that to avoid its claws and to stay on. "ALICE! GO FOR THE EYE!" he screamed out.
The dark-haired girl's face took on a look of hardened resolve as she dashed forward, the Vorpal Blade shining her hand. The nightmarish beast saw her coming and attempted to swipe at her only to have Roxas pull hard on his Keyblades, tearing into his neck and forcing him to miss. Alice jumped up and landed on the Jabberwock's head above Roxas and immediately drove her blade into the edge of the creature's eye socket. The thrashing became desperate now as the Jabberwock knew that if they gained one of his eyes they would then have the means to kill both him and eventually the Red Queen.
Alice held on for everything she had as she wretched the blade even deeper into the socket. With a cry of rage she ripped the eye out, resulting in a fountain of black and red blood to pour from where it had been. The two jumped off and headed to where the eye had landed while the Jabberwock staggered back in pain and fury. Once again he built up a blast of hellfire to consume the both of them. Roxas stood in front of Alice and brandished Rejection of Fate, which now blazed with energy. Just as the Jabberwock unleashed a beam of hellfire a massive wall of black, gray, and white crystal appeared in front of Alice and Roxas. The attack hit the Mirror Wall and seemed to be absorbed for a split second before being fired back at the Jabberwock. He screamed as he was hit by his own attack and driven through the wall of the building.
The wall disappeared to show Roxas holding Two Become One which was now blazing brightly. The Jabberwock's one remaining eye widened as Roxas swung the Keyblade, unleashing a massive wave of Chaos Blades. He let out a nightmarish howl as the attack struck him and knocked him off the cliff and into the burning darkness.
The two waited in a tense silence before finally relaxing. The auras around Roxas' Keyblades faded as Alice brought out the Eye Staff. She pointed the clawed end at the eye, which then opened up. Vine-like tentacles shot out of its palm and attached themselves to eye where the nerve endings would be. The vines retracted and pulled it into the claw which closed around the eye. With a violent spark the eye started to glow, as if alive once again. The Jabberwock Eye Staff was now complete. Alice gave Roxas a weary smile which he returned as the two left the burned structure.
Once outside they heard the flapping of wings. They looked up, at fire thinking the Jabberwock had come for round two, only to relax at seeing the Griffon. "Hurry you two. The Eye Staff is yours, the troops are gathered, and everything is ready. I'll deal with the Jabberwock. You two are our champions. Lead us to victory in Queensland!" he called to them. They nodded as they climbed on his back, riding onward to the final assault on the Red Queen's realm and eventually on the Queen herself.
Journal Entry Day 369
The Jabberwock
The simplest way to describe the Jabberwock is a nightmare mixed with a person's own torment made real. No heartless or creature I have encountered to date is as terrifying as this thing. Its mere presence causes anyone in the area to vividly remember their worst memories of guilt and failure. Even worse is that despite being a monster, this thing is smart and knows how to get inside your head. Alice and I have survived one encounter with this thing only due to me discovering more about my Keyblades and the fact that it couldn't fly in the area we were in. I only hope we do so well in the next encounter.
