Author's note: Sorry that it's late. Had trouble and all that. Now I've finally managed to update this story with a new chapter and I think this will be the last chapter or the second last at the least.
I do not own Kingdom Hearts or the Mummy. Kingdom Hearts belongs to both Square Enix and Disney, while the Mummy belongs to Universal Studios.
Chapter 8: On the Way to Imhotep's Death.
Near the city of the Dead which was just a short walk, the StarShard's light was seening zipping from the sky and screams could be heard until finally it's spell wore off and now the group of Mickey, Riku, Axel, Tifa, Rick, Jonathan, Ardeth and Terrance were left in mid-air for a few seconds until they all went plummeting down towards the earth as they screamed and all crashed landed into the sand dunes. All groaned at the hard landing and some of them were a bit dizzy.
"Ow..." Axel groaned as he sat up and rubbed the back of his head. "Geez, that was the worst trip I've ever had. Next time I'm bringing a paracute, for crying out loud." as he then stood up and dusted himself off from the sand that sticked to his coat.
Riku shook his head to rid the dizzy spells, seeing stars in his vision before they finally cleared and sighed, "Wow...that was some flight."
Mickey was wobbly on his legs as stars circled around his head and he could hear birds chirping before he held his head and then shook it to rid the dizziness, and sighed in relief that the Starshard had actually worked despite what Vanitas had done. Pocketing the shard back into his pockets, he asked around, "Is everyone alright?"
There were mumurs of 'I'm ok' and that...except from Jonathan who somehow got stuck waist-deep into the sand that he had trouble getting out off and he was clearly very irritated by this as he called out, "Excuse me? Um, a little help would be useful...IF IT'S NOT TOO MUCH TROUBLE!"
"Yeah, yeah, alright." Rick replied as he, Riku and a reluctanted Axel went over and all heaved and pulled Jonathan out of the dunes while Ardeth made sure that Terrance was alright.
"Where are we?" Tifa asked as she looked around. The entire area around her was unfamiliar and in the distance she could see the ruins of the City of the Dead, while everything else were barren cliffs and nothing but sand everywhere no matter where she looked.
Riku, Mickey, Rick, Ardeth, Jonathan(who was grumbling about the trip), Axel, and Terrance all gazed in the direction Tifa was staring at, and most of them couldn't believe that they had made it back, or in Terrance's case, for the first time. Either way that works.
"We're back at Hamunaptra." Mickey answered with wide eyes.
"How the hell did we get back here so quickly?" Rick asked, dumbfounded. He then remembered what Mickey had used and he, along with Jonathan, Ardeth, Terrance, Axel and Tifa turned to gaze at the said mouse who, seeing the stars gazed at him, shifted uncomfortably as he twirled his foot a little in the sand while having his hands behind his back, knowing that he and Riku were in trouble due to what he had to do in order to get them to safety and to where Evy, Imhotep, Beni and Vanitas were.
Gulping nervously, Mickey began, "Well...t-this isn't what it looks like..."
Five minutes later...
After deciding that, with no other choice, Mickey, Riku, even Tifa and even a very uncomfortable Axel told Rick and the others the truth about where they actually came from and why they kept it secret due to the World Order, especially since Vanitas had broken the rules due to the Corridor of Darkness and such, though Axel left out on the part that he was part of Organization XIII, Jonathan was even more confused, Ardeth and Terrance were shocked and stunned beyond belief, and Rick, well...he was even more annoyed and dumbfounded as he was when the entire thing started.
"So let me get this straight." Rick began, trying to clear up the confusion in his head. "Some bad guy from another world, in which other worlds have people like us, and whatever else, tried to wipe out everything with those black creepy monster things you guys call Heartless, to use something that's just as dangerous as the Book of Dead to bring back the dead, and he was stopped by two of your friends and Riku's friend who is really just a fourteen year old kid?"
"Pretty much." Riku answered with a shrug. "Worse part is, Ansem tricked me into giving my heart to darkness and it took Sora and Mickey to save me. If it weren't for them...I wouldn't be here right now."
"And that Vanitas kid...you said that he's not even human and he can actually control those blue things you call the Unversed and he's supposed to be dead just like the Mummy?" Rick asked once more, this time directly at Mickey who nodded.
"Yep." Mickey replied, "I'm not sure how he came back, though. It was ten years ago that he was defeated along with somebody else who also caused problems. The main reason why Riku and I were brought to this world was the powerful darkness coming from Imhotep and I'm pretty sure Vanitas is using him to cast the entire world into darkness."
"So that's why he read the Book of the Dead 'cause he's just as crazy as Imhotep." Rick summed up.
Axel scoffed, "Well, that's at least easy to sum up about the kid himself. No wonder he's dangerous. That doesn't explain why he's getting at me, though." with his arms folded to his chest. While he now understood Mickey's history with Vanitas, Axel still found it confusing on why the kid himself brought him here. It doesn't make any sense.
"So your reason for not revealing the truth was to keep the World Order to protect all worlds." Ardeth concluded as he gazed at both Mickey and Riku. "You two had lived to tell the tale and were brought here to defeat the monster."
"We're sorry for lying to you." Riku lowered his head in guilt, as did Mickey, to Rick and Jonathan.
"Oh no no. It's fine." Jonathan dismissively said. "I lie to everybody almost all the time. At least your reasons are alot better than mine."
Rick, while very annoyed about all of this, decided that it did make sense at the same time before shrugging as he said to Riku and Mickey, "After everything's been happening for the last week, at least you kids were doing the right thing."
"I guess everyone has their reasons for not telling anyone their secrets." Tifa muttered as she gazed ahead of her, after listening to the conversation. When everyone gazed at her, the young woman admitted, "I left my world to find my friend who's heart's been affected by someone I know. I didn't know that he and Riku had that much in common."
"You mean your friend you're lookin' for?" Mickey asked, curiously.
"Yeah." Tifa nodded, "His name is Cloud and we've known each other since we were children. The man responsible for what's happening to him is Sephiroth, who just as twisted. He says that he's the darkness in Cloud's heart."
"Just as Ansem's darkness was inside me." Riku realised, in shock as well as more guilt. Well, at least he wasn't the only one struggling with one's inner darkness in his heart. But Cloud...was he just as similiar as Riku? Or was Tifa's said friend's reason different if he's missing that caused Tifa to go and find him despite the risks?
Axel sighed before suggesting, "Not to cut this conversation short, but don't you think we should get a move on and try and save O'Connall's girlfriend and stop the Mummy and the crazy kid who's supposed to be dead too?"
"I agree. However, I'm not good in combat, but I will do my best." Terrance nodded in agreement. "The creature must be stopped once and for all."
The group nodded in agreement, before they all began trekking towards the City of the Dead and onward towards the final battles that lie just ahead of them. The outcome was unknown, but as far as Riku and his friends were concerned, the fate of this world and Evy's life depended on them and even on Axel who more than anything just wanted to get home and pretend this venture was just one delayed and crazy nightmare, still unaware of his future connections that has brought him here in the first place.
Meanwhile, as Imhotep led Vantias, Beni and Evy who was looking around the entire room with fear and awe as she knew that this was the ritual room, which was not only dark, but it was also covered in years of cobwebs and then some...well, after 3,000 years, it had to be now, would it? The four arrived at what appeared to be a wall with carvings on it halfway towards their destination when Vanitas froze suddenly, before his eyes narrowed before turning his head to where he could sense familiar pressence.
"Don't look now, but it looks like those idiots are still alive and here." Vanitas spoke in ancient egyptain to Imhotep who was holding canobic jars that weren't just from Anck-Su-Namun's. He can not only sense the pressence of light from King Mickey or some of the others, but also smell the darkness from both Riku and Axel.
Despite that Beni had no idea what Vanitas just said at the moment, Evy somehow understood and relief washed over her expression. So Rick and the others had come back to rescue her and set things right. Even better still, they were still alive.
Imhotep, not impressed with this, gave Vanitas a look before he poured something into his hands. He turned to the wall and blew the stuff onto it. He then spoke something like a chanting in Ancient Egyptain. After a few tensed moments and some inhuman moaning that echoed through out the room, not only Heartless and Unversed appeared, but from the wall, two mummies came ripping themselves out from it, shattering the stone and concrete before bowing to Imhotep. Evy and Beni both took a few steps back in shock, horror and disbelief while Vanitas smirked.
'Well, I'm impressed by that. Even though it is admittedly disgusting.' Vanitas thought to himself.
"Kill them. And wake the others." Imhotep commanded to two of his new minions, who slaggered off to do as he commanded.
So with this out of the way, now it was time to get to the more important matters on hand.
Meanwhile, going through the tunnels of the City of the Dead to find Evy, Imhotep, Beni and Vanitas, Riku, Mickey, Rick, Jonathan, Axel, Tifa, Ardeth and Terrance one by one slipped out through the crack in the wall to another room and were glad that nothing was waiting for them on the other side. It was admittedly dark, but then Rick noticed something familiar above him. A mirror to be used for light. Having an idea, he pulled out a pistol and shot at it, causing it to tilt upward, and light up the entire room.
Everyone's mouths dropped a little as they looked at the treasure room they were seeing. Though the only one who actually cared about all of his was Jonathan as his mouth was dropped wider than anyone else's, as he and the others walked on slowly, gazing around while also making sure there weren't any kinds of danger.
"Can you see-" Jonathan breathed, soundless and amazed.
"Yup." Mickey replied.
"Can you believe-"
"Yeah." Axel replied.
"Can we just-"
"No." Riku and Rick inadvertedly chorused, which made Tifa giggle at the look of disappointment on Jonathan's expression.
However, the moment was cut off when Riku, Mickey and Axel sensed something behind them and the others and a second later an croaky sound caused all of them to spun around, most of them with weapons drawn and Tifa balling her fists to fight just in case, just as a mummified hand came crushing through the ground, pulling it's body out. Soon one by one, more joined it, as well as Heartless and Unversed appeared from the darkness, preparing to slowly advance on the group who froze, eyes widened.
"These guys are just as scary as Imhotep." Mickey admitted, feeling a cold shiver down his spine.
"Who the hell are these guys?" Rick asked to Ardeth and Terrance, about the mummies.
"Imhotep's priests." Terrance answered.
"Fair enough." Axel replied, before tossing his Chakrams at all of the enemies, slicing through the much slower mummies and slicing them in half, killing them instantly before he caught his weapons which returned to him.
Rick shot fires through the rifle while Ardeth and Terrance sliced through the enemies that came to them, including the Heartless and Unversed. Jonathan pulled out two of Ricks' pistols and shot fires at them as well. Riku blocked off both of the human-sized Heartless and the human-sized mummy-like Unversed before blasting Dark Firaga at them, burning them into oblivion. Mickey leaped over the monsters before preforming his triple-air sommer-sault, knocking down the enemies. Tifa punched the Heartless, the Unversed and the Mummies with a single punch each before twirling around and delivered a kick to another mummy in it's decaying stomach.
However it was quickly apparent that there were too many of them and so the group were forced to fight while reteating backwards down through another tunnel in their search to find the statue of Horus as well as Evy, Imhotep and Vanitas, unaware that Beni, who had decided that now was the time to leave, had arrived in the treasure room and was gazing around at all of the treasure.
Despite the firing lines, the swordsman skills, the chakrams and fire skills, and martial arts skills, Riku and the others were really struggling against the seemingly never ending horde of Heartless, Unversed and Mummies. Jonathan in the meantime, was the first to enter another chamber, before he realised where they were.
"There he is!" Jonathan cried out, lighting the room through the brazier, "Hello, Horus, old boy!"
The others in the meantime, were still fighting off the enemies when Axel realised there was only one way to solve this problem. He turned to the others and told them, "You guys hide behind the statue! What I'm about to do is very dangerous!"
"Are you gonna take them down on your own?" Mickey asked, shocked at the Nobody's sudden nobleness, as was Riku. Especially since Axel was a member of Organization XIII. Still, the two of them and the others dove behind the statue of Horus, heeding the young man's warning.
The redhead grinned, "Nah. I can handle these punks. Watch this!"
Axel then held his chakrams together and under his force of energy and growing fire rage, he blasted a large powerful blast of fire into the tunnels where the Heartless, Unversed and the Mummies couldn't escape the wrath of the Flurry of Dancing Flames. They were sent into a fiery oblivion, with the mummies squealling and some rocks falling from the entrance.
When the others came from behind the statue of Horus, their eyes widened at what just happened. Axel in the meantime, panted before falling onto his butt and wiped sweat from his forehead. Sure he managed to stop the Heartless, Unversed and mummies, but boy did that take a lot out of him. He made a mental note to not do something like that again.
"Whoa..." Riku whispered, awed.
"Are you alright?" Mickey found himself asking Axel. Nobody or not, the king knew he had to be grateful for Axel's actions so far.
Smirking a little weakly, Axel gazed at both Mickey and Riku, jokingly saying, "Take my advice; Don't use your whole being into an attack unless it's necessary." while Rick and Jonathan both immediately began digging through the bottom of the statue while Ardeth and Terrance were both reflexing themselves for the more fights just ahead of them shortly and Tifa was looking around for a short-cut to where Evy and the villians were.
"Sounds weird when it's coming from you." Riku pointed out. Even though he had to admit it, what Axel did was rather impressive.
"Whatever." Axel shrugged.
However, more croaking went off as the three of them and everyone else turned and looked down the bath to the gold room, cutting their talk in half. The shadows of the Priests were making their way down the hall, slowly but surely. And there was a lot. Riku couldn't help but groan, "Ugh, you've gotta be kidding me!"
"Well, what did you expect? Darkness will always continue to come, and you know it." Ansem's voice, at least that's what sounded like to Riku, echoed in the boy's head. The teen shut his eyes tightly as he felt the familiar throbbing pain enter his heart again, causing him to clutch his chest with one hand and suddenly fall onto one knee, panting softly.
"Riku!" Mickey cried out, reaching over to his friend. This was the second time in many days that this happened to Riku. First was just before they arrived here in this world, while both Ardeth and Terrance clashed against the Mummies with offered rifles after telling Rick and Jonathan to keep digging. Tifa immediately helped to get the book out while Axel then stood up and clashed against more Heartless and Unversed that appeared shortly after.
Riku didn't hear either Mickey or what was going on. The pain was steadily becoming worse, and suddenly his heart froze in realization. That's why he was brought here. Whatever's left of Ansem wanted to take over his heart and absorb the darkness from Imhotep since this world was about to be casted into darkness. His blood ran cold and his breathing quickened. How could he have not seen this sooner? He'd been right. Ansem was still inside him. No! It can't be happening! Not again!
Shutting his eyes tighter, Riku willed the pain and the darkness of Ansem to go away, trying with all of his inner might and even thought about all of his friends; Sora. Kairi. Mickey. Rick. Jonathan. Evy. Tifa. Ardeth.
'Ansem...you can't have me!' Riku shouted in his mind, and for a split second, he thought he saw himself, slashing his Soul-Eater sword at the ghostly form of Ansem who stood shocked for a moment, before he heard the man's scream of anger and agony before it faded and light covered his vision.
Reality then came back to him as Riku's eyes snapped open, finding himself being pushed to safey by Mickey when a Heartless attempted to attack them before Axel slashed it into two halfs and sending it back into darkness. Dazed at what just happened, Riku blinked before gazing at Mickey who looked so worried that the king actually began to have tears form in his eyes.
"Are you okay?" Mickey asked, worriedly.
"Y-yeah." Riku nodded, finding himself panting.
"Save the girl." Ardeth suddenly spoke up as he and Terrance turned to them and the others who looked up in return, after Rick, Jonathan and Tifa had finally pulled the Book of Amun-Ra, which looked like a golden version of the Book of the Dead. Ardeth then continued with determination, "Kill the creature!"
With a nod to Terrance who gave him a nod in return, he and Ardeth both gave out a roar before the two Medjai dove into the priests and shoved and slashed at them, much to the shock of Riku and the others. He, Tifa and Mickey both made to jump in to save them, but Axel held them back with a look that said that there wasn't anything they could do and that they, Rick and Jonathan had to focus now on saving Evy and stopping both Imhotep and Vanitas.
Rick, having the same idea even though he didn't like it, lit another stick of dynamite and tossed it towards another side of the wall before he and the others move out of the way when it exploded and blasted away the last of the mummies since both of the Medjai would have to fend for themselves. He led the others into the newly made tunnel and towards where they would save Evy and end this nightmare for good.
Evy, unconscious for a short period of time after being knocked out by Vanitas, slowly woke up to find herself chained on a table. She then felt something moving on her stomach, and when she looked, a fat, disgusting rat was on her, and she freaked out, before she moved to the left to get off of her, only to scream as next to her, was a corpse of a woman. She then tried to free herself, but the chains held her hands and her ankles, and to her dismay, more mummy priests like the two she witnessed before approached.
The Mummies knelt around her and the dead body, while Imhotep approached with the Book of the Dead, opening it with the key-box before placing it inside his robe. Vanitas in the meantime, stood leaning against a wall with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.
Realising that the ritual was taking place, Evy screamed out for help while Imhotep read the book and chanted the spell. Evy then looked to her right, as in the waters that led to the Underworld, the blue-gray liquids came up and a spirit towards the dead body which is the corpse of Anck-Su-Namun, and to Evy's horror, the spirit absorbed itself into the dead body which gasped and shrieked.
Evy let's out a terrified screamed at the sight, before looking to her right again, to find that Imhotep was now beside her, with a golden dagger as he raised it into the air.
"With your death, Anck-Su-Namun shall live." Imhotep said in Ancient Egyptain, preparing to kill Evy, "And I...SHALL BE INVINCIBLE!" and Evy lets out a scream.
"Hey, baldy!" A familiar cocky voice came shouting, that caused Imhotep to pause, and as he, Evy, Vanitas and Anck-Su-Namun looked up, on the top of the stairs, Axel was there, glaring heatedly at the Mummy, "It's not very nice to go and attack innocent girls like that. Got it memorized?"
"What are you doing here!?" Vanitas demanded with wide eyes, unable to believe what he was actually seeing.
"Eh, ya'know. Just doing what I feel like doing." Axel replied sarcastically, secretly smirking as while Jonathan had made to show Evy the book, but was hiding since Axel made a point that it would only make things embarrassing and so had decided to let Axel be the distraction. The redhead continued, "So, why don'tcha come after me first, Mr. Gooey Almighty?"
Imhotep, far from pleased, decided to take the foolish man's offer and made to approach him, placing the knife down next to Anck-Su-Namun while Vantias decided to join him as well to finish off the Nobody. Both of them were unaware however, that Riku, Mickey, and Rick, who found a sword to fight with all jumped into action and began free Evy, with Mickey using the Kingdom Key-D keyblade to unlock the keyholes of the chains and shackles, before having her go to Tifa who then had her take shelter to where Jonathan was hiding before she raced back to join the others.
(~Final Boss Phase 1-KH0.2 Birth By Sleep: A Fragmentary Passage~)
The Mummy noticed. In Ancient Egytptian, he ordered his priests to kill the group, which they then tried to, but the mummies were instead being sliced and killed themselves by Riku and his friends. The Mummy himself and Vanitas then took on Axel who blocked Vanitas's Keyblade and Imhotep's punches as hard as he could. Tifa, at first punching at the Mummies, soon found herself facing against Anck-Su-Namun who was wielding the knife Imhotep attempted to use to kill Evy.
Riku used his Soul Eater and clashed against one of the Priest-Mummies, dodge-rolling out of the way before kicking at his opponent's legs which caused the undead guy to stumble over and fall onto the ground. Riku then quickly got up and knocked the back of the Mummy Priest, sending it into the water before casting Firaga at another, causing it to burst into flames and then leaped into the air before he descended by cleaving another one in half, which was gooey and disgusting, but he did his best to ignore this as he went for others. Riku then slashed thinly at the two mummies at attempted to get to him, but were immediately destroyed, before he moved to use a dark-fire with one hand and blasted it onto another one with the same result.
Mickey was slicing and slashing away the mummies as well, before he did a triple-air-somersaults while knocking one of the mummies out with his Kingdom Key-D Keyblade. He then whirled around and chanted blizzard to turn two of the priests into mummy-icicles before shattering them into several pieces. It was gross, but he tried to get the image out of his mind. Mickey swished and slashed at three mummies that attempted to attack him, and were quickly defeated in each single hits he gave, before casting a gravita spell that had two more mummies stuck in mid-air. He then leaped up and slashed them in a single hit before landing safely on the ground and the spell eased off, but the heartless were already gone.
Rick slashed and sliced each mummies into several pieces with the sword he was using, knocking away one's head like a bat before he was was then dragged onto the ground and trapped by two mummies, while a third held up a heavy stone that would kill him if dropped. Fortunately, with his sword just an inch away, Rick managed to grab it before thrusting it to the side and sliced off the Mummy's leg's. The Mummy, screaming in realization and horror, fell backwards and was flattened by the stone-slab it carried due to having been sliced from it's legs.
Tifa was punching at Anck-Su-Namun while grasping at the female Mummy's wrists to make the latter drop the knife before kneeing her in the stomach and then punched the decaying woman's face. As Anck-Su-Namun dropped to the ground, Tifa then sensed movement behind her and whirled around to smash another Mummy's face in, smashing it's head into gooey pieces which she grimced at the grossness of it, shaking away the slimy carcass stuff from her hand before being pulled to the ground by Anck-Su-Namun who pulled her by the ankle. None the less, Tifa kicked her in the face before rolling out of the way and pulled herself up to continue the fight against her opponent.
Axel thrusted out his Chakrams at Vanitas who blocked the weapons with his Keyblade, shoving them back which forced the Nobody to catch them skillfully. He then teleported out of the way to avoid Vanitas' speed which was starting to become difficult, especially when Imhotep then thrusted a punch at him, causing Axel to be flown back to the side before he caught himself by flipping backwards in mid-air and then land safely back on the ground before quickly blocking Vanitas' Keyblade that attempted to slice him in half.
"Time's up!" Riku told the Heartless as he and Mickey joined hands and preformed their special team-work attack and twirled around and around and around with mixture powers of light and a bit of darkness which eliminated the Mummies that attempted to get to them only to get hit painfully and then disappear. Once the attack was finished, the two returned to fighting the mummies solo.
Just then, as Riku shoved another sword-wielding Mummy, he inadvertedly caused it to stumble into Anck-Su-Namun who saw this too late and her horror, she was stabbed into the head by accident, screaming in agony which not only caught the heroes' attentions, but also Axel's, Vanitas's and especially Imhotep's attentions as the latter saw what just happened, his eyes widening in horror at what just happened to the lover he worked so hard to revive.
"ANCK-SU-NAMUN!" Imhotep screamed out in horrified agony.
(~End Final Boss Phase 1~)
"...Uh, oops." Riku muttered, shocked at what just happened, as Mickey and Rick both rejoined him.
Axel in the meantime, while knocking into Imhotep, caught sight of the key inside the robe. Having an idea, the redhead immediately snatched it from the stunned Mummy before tossing it to where both Evy and Jonathan were hiding as they'd been unable to open it with out. The said two then saw what was happening and Jonathan surprisingly caught it clumsily. However, Imhotep, in great fury, grasped Axel by the collar of his coat before tossing him to lower level and as the redhead screamed in alarm, he accidently knocked into Tifa, causing both of them to collaspe to the ground and lost consciousness.
"Tifa! Axel!" Riku and Mickey both cried out, before they and Rick jumped slightly in fright as both Imhotep and Vanitas leaped onto the ground on their level, glaring at the two. surrounded by auras of both sand and darkness.
"Now you've done it." Vantias grunted. "I think it's time to finish you guys off for good."
"You will pay!" Imhotep growled dangerously in anger at the trio, who quickly stood ready, weapons drawn even though this was a fight that would be one of their hardest in their entire lives.
(~Final Boss Phase 2-KH0.2 Birth By Sleep-A Fragmentary Passage~)
Evy, while she and Jonathan made to open the book, called out to Riku and the others, "Keep them busy!"
"Sure, no problem." Rick replied.
He then took on Imhotep first who dodged his attempts to slice the latter in half before rolling out of the way to avoid in being knocked back by the Mummy. Riku and Mickey on the other hand, focused on Vanitas who was just as furious as Imhotep since the plans were all ruined.
Riku, Mickey and Vanitas clashed weapons against each other before the former two leaped out of the way as the raven-haired boy instantly disappeared before reappearing behind him, tauning, "Too slow." before knocking Riku behind his back.
Riku quickly rolled out of the way before blocking his opponent's second attack when the latter casted a fire of darkness, before casting his own Dark Firaga at Vanitas who teleported once again, in which Riku rolled out of the way again before he was strike by surprise for the second time. Though this gave Riku and Mickey a quick opening as they both managed to at least strike with a couple of combos against Vanitas' chest, knocking him back as he cried out in alarm.
Mickey attempted to use his Blizzard to lower Vanitas' defense, but once again, the latter teleported and reappeared right in front of him, hitting him several times in the stomach as the boy said in disappointment, "Pathetic!"
Vantias thrusted out multiple dark fires at the duo who both leaped out of the way before Riku responded by using his Blizzard right at the enemy who teleported out of the way before reappearing in front of him before Mickey came to his rescue and preformed his triple-air cartwheel, smacking the masked boy off guard severel times before landing and Riku thrusted, slashed and smacked on the masked enemy's side and arms as fast as he could.
The two then leaped out of the way when the masked boy attempted to use dark magic against them, but was caught off-guard once again when Riku leaped and shoved him back with his Soul Eater, succeeding. Despite his, Vanitas was still tough as he teleported once again and trusted a gust of wind at the duo who did their best to block it with their weapon and avoid in getting blown back.
Unfortunately for Riku, Vanitas managed to knock away his Soul Eater before knocking him back into the wall and knocking wind out of him before the teen slumped onto the ground. Fortunately, it wasn't enough to render him unconscious, but it did leave him vulnerable that Vanitas teleported in front of him to finish him off, much to Mickey's horror. The king immediately rushed over to save his friend and successfully distracted him enough for the raven haired boy to spin around and block Mickey's attack, knocking him back in return and causing Riku to cry out his friend's name. Mickey was knocked to the ground and nearly lost the Kingdom Key-D Keyblade, but like with Riku, left him vulnerable. Though Vanitas decided to turn his attention to Riku first to get him out of the way and was about to thrust his Keyblade at the teen who glared back before having no choice but to shield himself with his right arm, something very shocking happened.
As soon as Riku snapped his wrist in his motion to shield himself, a familiar but very much more warmer feeling tingle run down his arm and a clang was heard and he felt no pain on him at all. When Riku looked up, his eyes widened in shock and disbelief, as in his hand, was a weapon that was very similiar to his Soul Eater, but it was more blade like, with a feathered wing teeth on the tip, the hilt having the simliar design, and there was a Key-Chain hanging on the end on it as well, with the symbol that represented the Heartless. Everyone else who saw as well were also shocked by this display.
"B-But how!?" Vanitas gapped in disbelief.
Riku was just as shocked, unable to believe that he was holding the very weapon designed by his heart that he never thought he would have due to his heart gone down to the Darkness and having chosen Sora as well.
It was Riku's very own Keyblade.
Deciding to worry how it was possible later, Riku, using his new Keyblade, shoved Vanitas back before rushing over to Mickey who recovered and rejoined his friend.
"Welp, I guess the Keyblade decided to choose you as well as having chosen Sora after all, Riku." Mickey guessed with a shrug, answering his friend's unasked question.
"Maybe...but I think we should worry about this later. We do have Vanitas to worry about." Riku nodded in agreement.
Vanitas was shocked beyond belief at this, before giving out a roar and attacked the duo to resume their fight.
Riku and Mickey were then forced to leap out the way when Vanitas went for a dive attack from the air after the latter sped up into the air with incredible speed, nearly knocking them over, though it did create a bit of a shock wave that cut a bit from their health, before Riku responded in healing himself with a potion and his companionwho nodded their thanks before trying another new skill and then slide onto the ground just as the boy attempted to slice him in half before an idea hit him and he kicked at the enemy's legs, knocking him to the ground before leaping up and attempted to deliver a finishing blow.
Vanitas easily teleported out of the way just in time before deciding to change opponents and attack Mickey who leaped and jumped away from the enemy's Keyblade slashes before creating his own orb of light and shot it out from his Keyblade, shooting it at the masked boy who blocked it with his Keyblade but the latter did grunt at the sudden power of light.
"C'mon!" Mickey called out to Riku who nodded, following his lead.
"Time's up!" Riku told Vantias as he and Mickey joined hands and preformed their special team-work attack and twirled around and around and around with mixture powers of light and a bit of darkness which Vanitas who attempted to get to them only to get hit painfully and cry out in pain and shock.
But as Riku and Mickey were done with the attack, they all screamed out in pain when Vanitas suddenly reappeared from the ground and created a powerful shock-wave explosion that engulfed them, but not before Mickey quickly chanted barrier to block the rest of the devastating attack while protecting Riku and himself, but they still rechieved agonizing hits that forced them to use Curaga again to heal themselves, even though the healing magic was starting to fade, so they knew that they had to be careful now, or else Vanitas had won this fight.
However, recovering, Vanitas then leaped into the air before thrusting the blade down towards them and even as Riku and Mickey leaped out of the way, they were hit by a powerful shock-wave the moment Vanitas' Keyblade was thrusted into the ground, knocking them back, before the two moved out of the way to avoid getting hit even more, though they were becoming more and more exhausted.
Rick in the meantime, was thrown back by Imhotep for like the third time in a row during the fight and the latter made to approach him, which while both Jonathan and Evy were trying to find the right chant to finish this for good, the older siblig pleaded with his sister as he saw what was happening to Rick, Riku and Mickey, "Hurry, Evy! Hurry!" Jonathan cried as the sister traveled through the book.
"You're not helping!" She replied in a sing-song voice.
Imhotep grabbed Rick's throat in his left hand, grinning evilly at him, as Rick's face were turning blue. He then decided that Rick would be his first victum to kill. "Now, it's your turn." Imhotep whispered, before he opened his mouth to being to do what he did to the rival group who had died.
"I've got it!" Evy suddenly exclaimed, before chanting in Egyptain, "Kadeesh mal, Kadeesh mal." to which the first words made Imhotep stop what he was doing and even Vanitas to stop and turned to face Evy, as did Riku, Mickey, Rick, and both Tifa and Axel who were regaining consciousness(and who had also noticed Riku's new Keyblade, much to Axel's shock as he muttered to himself, "How did he get a Keyblade like that!?"), and to Imhotep's horror, Evy concluded, "Pared oos, Pared oos!"
A loud roaring, sound of a whip and horses whining made them all turn to look at the top of the stairs as a large blue vortex appeared, and an image of men on the back of a horse-drawn carriage caught their attention. As Imhotep dropped Rick, which he quickly rolled out of the way, everyone watched as the cariot ran right through Imhotep. Something seemed to be dragged out of him as a blue version of himself appeared, trapped and screaming, while the Mummy chased after it, but was too late as the cariot with the blue version of Imhotep disappeared into the vortex which also disappeared.
"What!?" Vanitas gapped in disbelief, which this was the distraction Riku needed, knowing that now was the time to finish this once and for all.
So with a yell, Riku thrusted out his new Keyblade and by the time Vanitas looked, it was too late as the silver-haired teen thrusted right as his chest and through him, catching the raven-haired boy off-guard. (~End Final Boss Phase 2~)
As Riku panted, Vanitas, in horror and realization, dropped his own Keyblade which vanished and melted into darkness, before the raven-haired boy fell backwards and onto his back, where a dark portal he was melting into began to absorb him, losing consciousness as he was unable to believe that he has been defeated again, this time by someone whom he failed to kill to change fate. Finally, Vanitas, before disappearing completely out of existance, spoke weakly to Riku who watched him vanish, "You think...this is over...but...this...is only just...beginning of the end..."
As soon as Vanitas vanished out of existance, something twinkled for a split second, and it only confused Riku, Mickey and Axel who, along with Tifa, rejoined the others while Rick rolled before reclaiming his sword as Imhotep, seeing that Vanitas was gone, turned to glare at his mortal enemies who had taken everything from him.
"I thought you the Book was supposed to make him go away!" Mickey said worriedly, since Imhotep was still alive.
Imhotep gave an angry yell, lunging at Rick but stopped with a grunt as the sword went through him. Mickey's eyes widened and his stomach dropped, which made him freeze on the spot at what just happened. Riku was in the similiar vote and Tifa stood there, stunned beyond belief. Imhotep, shocked himself, lifted his hand up, traces of blood stained.
"He's mortal." Evy replied.
Rick pulled the sword out, shocked at what he just did. Imhotep in the meantime, groaned in sudden pain, held onto his wound, walking backwards, and stepping to the blue liquid, everyone else watching, in some sympathy to watch him slowly die. His skin began to decay once more, turning him back into the gooey mummy their found earlier as he sank, the souls of the Underworld dragging him down slowly to his death.
Imhotep gave them a final look as he said something in ancient egyptain, before he finally sank completely and disappeared. Everyone was silent at this.
"Uh...care to translate that?" Axel asked, uncertainly.
"Death... is only the beginning." Evy translated.
"You mean...it's over?" Tifa asked, blinking.
Riku nodded, "Yeah. It's over."
Just then, the walls began to move and everyone looked around to see that they were slowly descending. Their eyes widened in horror as Rick declared quickly, "Time to go!"
he then led the others back to where they came from in a run, all quickly realising that the City of Hamunaptra was crumbling and falling. As they ran, Jonathan accidently fell and dropped the Book of Amun-Ra which slid and then sank into the dark waters, but he only got up and continued to run, much to Evy's dismay.
"You've lost the book!" She shrieked.
"Sorry, but no time to get it back!" Mickey cried out as he, Rick and Riku pulled her with them, and caught up with Jonathan, Axel and Tifa, racing through the tunnels which sand fell onto them, but they just continued to run and run, making it back into the treasure chamber, which Jonathan noticed again, and once again, his love for treasure kicked in.
"Oh, could we just-"
"No!" Axel and Tifa both shouted as they dragged him back to catch up with the others. Just before the door which was only six feet began to get lower, Riku and his group dove in and made it on the other side, though the same wasn't for Beni who had snuck back in to get more treasure earlier, and that he accidently switched on the destruction switch. Rick, seeing his former friend, tried to save him, but it was too late, as the doors closed, leaving Beni trapped on the other side.
"Good-bye, Beni." Rick muttered, before he got up and raced out with the others, while on the other side, despite that Beni made it back into the treasure room before he could get squashed...it's too bad that he'd just become the final meal of the Scarabs.
Finally, the group made it back out but continued to run as the pillers continued to fall all around them, and they all raced towards the entrance, and the ground gave away behind them. Some of the Camels joined them in the hurry, and finally, once at the safe distance, Riku, Mickey, Axel, Tifa, Rick, Evy, and Jonathan turned around to watch the City of the Dead sink into the sands and in the cloud of dust.
It was gone, and now just another sand dune.
Just then something touched Jonathan's shoulder and he screamed in fright, causing everyone to turn around in fright, only to have relieved expressions, as Ardeth and Terrance were both on two camels.
"Ardeth! Terrance! You're okay!" Mickey cried out happily in relief.
"Glad to see you guys safe and sound." Riku smiled in relief.
"Oh! Thank you. Thank you very much." Jonathan rubbed his chest, trying to calm his beating heart.
"You have earned the respect, and gratitude, of me and my people." Ardeth replied to the group who smiled in return.
"Ah, it was nothin'." Axel smirked with a shrug. Despite not having a heart, he found that he actually kind of liked the Medjai guy. While it was weird, he decided to go with it.
"You all did an execellent job, despite how it all started." Terrance smiled as well.
"Are you going with them?" Evy asked her superior.
"I could visit the village once and while. I'll be back in Cario within next week." Terrance promised, as he and Ardeth both did some sort of salute to the group, which Jonathan tried to repeat.
"And...yourself." Jonathan replied.
Ardeth and Terrance both then clicked their tongues and rode away on the camels back to their people, as the group waved him a goodbye.
"See ya real soon!" Mickey called out as he waved.
"Take care of each other!" Riku added.
"Stay out of trouble." Rick added.
"They're just…leaving us here." Jonathan sighed and then gave a sad chuckle. "Well, I guess we go home empty-handed…again."
"I wouldn't say that." Rick said. A moment later, he and Evy were kissing, which made Mickey smile and Riku chuckle and Tifa giggle.
Jonathan on the other hand, just rolled his eyes up, and grumbled, "Oh, please!" turning away from the romantic scene and walked over to a camel. "How 'bout you, darling?" he pulled the camel's face down and asked, "Would you like a little kissy wissy?" only for the camel to grunt in front of him and he waved his hand at the terrible stench. "Whoo! Oh."
"Say, where's Axel?" Tifa suddenly spoke up.
Realising that the redhead hasn't said another word, the others looked around and realized, to their confusion and concern, Axel had just disappeared as well.
"Where did he go?" Evy asked, concerned.
"I'm sure he's fine." Riku replied, realising that now that Vanitas and Imhotep were gone, that meant that he, Mickey, Tifa and Axel can finally leave this world behind. "He's probably gone back home himself. Probably not the kind of guy to say goodbye."
"In that case, then I guess now that this world is safe, it's time for us to get goin' too." Mickey concluded, while a little sad to leave their new friends behind.
"You're leaving too?" Evy asked, sounding sad.
"Well, our journey's not yet over." Riku began, "Besides, I gotta look out for Sora and the others."
"And I have to still look for Cloud." Tifa added.
"Don't worry. Even though we might not see each other for a while, nothing will ever drive us apart." Mickey told the trio of this world, "Our hearts are connected."
"Well then...you guys stay out of trouble yourselves." Rick told them wisely.
With a nod and with a promise to keep everything they learned a secret, the group went their seperate ways. Tifa went into one direction where a portal to her freedom opened up, leading her to her journey, Rick, Evy and Jonathan rode away back to Cario on their Camels, and finally, Riku and Mickey, both donning on their disguise Organization coats once more, find the path where they took to this place in the beginning and found themselves back on the crossroad.
When the duo turned back to pause, they discovered that the portal to the world of Egypt was gone and they were back on the path of the fork in the road.
"Well, that's that." Riku said at last.
Mickey nodded in agreement. He then turned to his friend with a curious expression, asking, "So Riku. What're you gonna name your new Keyblade?"
Remembering the new weapon that came to him in his time in need, while wondering why this new Keyblade came to him, thought about what to call it, before coming up with a good name, and finally answered after a moment, "I think I'll call it...the Way to Dawn." summoning his new Keyblade and gazed at it. Come to think of it, the new Way to Dawn Keyblade somewhat suited him better than the Kingdom Key which suited much better with Sora.
Mickey chuckled, saying, "The Way to Dawn...I like it!"
"Me too." Riku said in agreement, desummoning it for the time being, now being able to use two weapons. It gave him a bit of an extra boost to help Sora, Donald and Goofy.
The two companions shared a smile before deciding to take the road to their right, where they would eventually find themselves in Hollow Bastion and many more adventures yet to come.
As for Axel, he found himself back in Castle Oblivion, where he finally reached the entrance of the building and sighed. As much as he knew he should reveal the location of Riku and the King, as well as being troubled at the very thought that Riku was now a true Keyblade wielder, just like both King Mickey and Sora, and of course, Roxas and the newer member of the Organization, the redhead decided to give the two a day's head start and smiled.
"Nah, they deserve a break." Axel said to himself, opening a portal to RTC, "Besides...Sea Salt Ice Cream and Roxas are waiting for me." entering the portal to finally return to the Castle that Never Was. Plus, hehad to admit it, having a Keyblade did sound pretty cool. It's too bad Axel will never have one...
At least not as a Nobody, but that was another story.
In the not too distant future...
"To Vanitas has perished." An old man muttered, having no hair but with golden eyes which narrowed as he sat on the throne of the Room that Never Was, with eleven others seated there as well.
Sighing, he decided to accept it. "It cannot be helped. Soon enough, Sora and his friends will soon meet their ends, and the X-Blade will be mine." he said to himself, cletching his fist.
Soon the real War was about to begin, and those who fought against him so many times will meet their final match against him in the promised area.
RECONNECT
KINGDOM HEARTS.
A/N: Not the best ending and such, but I'd run out of ideas at this point for this story. None the less, the Mummy of Darkness is finally finished after a long time delay. I hope you liked how the last chapter turned out. See you in my other stories.
May your Heart be Your Guiding Key.
