Authors Note: Wow it's been forever. I deeply apologize for taking such a long to update this. A huge thank you to everyone that has read this story so far. :) I hope to update a bit faster next time.
Chapter Nine: A Confrontation
Xemnas's Point of View
I stifle a yawn as I walk down through the castle on my way to kitchen the following morning. Even is a thoroughly disagreeable man, how many times he poked needles into me and ran tests I have truly lost count, as if I'm an unfeeling block of wood. I step into the kitchen expecting to see Aqua sitting at the table but she isn't there. The only person who is, in fact, is Ventus. He doesn't seem to notice me as he twirls a spoon in a coffee cup absentmindedly. Where is everyone? It isn't especially early. Frowning, I approach Ventus. He notices me when I put my hand on a chair beside him to pull it out. He jumps before smiling in greeting. He takes a large swallow out of his drink before setting it down on the table. I force my expression to remain the same as ever, feigning ignorance of his worry and nervousness in relation to me.
Ventus glances towards a window behind me. "Good morning."
I nod, heading over to a refrigerator instead of taking a seat. "Yes it is a good morning...where is Aqua?"
"She went into town with the apprentices. They'll be back by dinner, something about your lab tests I think," Ventus says.
A perfectly well-rehearsed answer. But I am not stupid. I take out a couple of eggs and empty the contents into a frying pan. I think over my next question carefully.
"They didn't take you?" I ask, glancing over at him to watch his expression. He shakes his head no with a frown.
"Even said it would take all day and that I probably wouldn't understand any of it, so I was wondering...how would you like to go outside and spar with me?" Ventus asks hopefully. "We can use these wooden swords I found or our own weapons if you would rather."
I remain silent as I scramble the eggs for a moment. I smile. "Of course."
Ventus visibly relaxes before grinning, finishing whatever was inside of his cup quickly. "Great! Wooden swords or real weapons?"
"Real weapons," I say after a minute. "I'm rather curious to see you in action. You were taught by the same man as Aqua...and Terra, correct?"
Ventus comes over and leans against the counter by the stove, he nods, watching as I continue scrambling the eggs. His gaze is far away, his eyes holding a trace of worry. This should be rather interesting. Apparently the apprentices, and Aqua as well, think I need a babysitter. Somehow, I do not get the feeling that Ventus is the best at "secret keeping".
He sits across from me as I eat, and as soon as I've eaten the last bite he hops to his feet, grinning.
"Let's go outside, it'll be easier out there," he says with false cheerfulness. I merely smile and nod.
We walk out onto the front pathway. I look up at the blue sky above, wondering when the sun came out from behind the clouds. I hear Ventus summon his Keyblade and turn my attention back onto him. He's looking at me with an odd determination that makes me lift an eyebrow from surprise. I summon my ethereal blades and fall into a fighting stance, beckoning him at me. He watches me calculating for several moments before running at me full force, I swing at him but he leaps past and swings at me from behind. I spin back towards him just in time, the blow of his Keyblade sends me staggering backwards and he uses the moment to try and land another attack against me. In the moment it takes me to start to move to block him he hesitates, clearly unwilling to actually hurt me. I take full advantage of this, swinging my weapons around to knock the Keyblade from his hands. It falls a few feet away, spinning against the smooth stone, he meanwhile stumbles and falls to his knees. He stares at me wide eyed as I straighten and turn, pointing the weapon in my left hand at his throat, a mere few inches away. He can no doubt feel the warmth emanating from the weapon. The uncertainty in his eyes slowly turns to fear. I look once again at the sky, sighing.
"Tell me Ventus...does Aqua love Terra?" I ask softly.
Ventus seems to balk at the question, he chuckles slightly. "I mean I guess you could say that we all love each other. We're all best friends. No, closer than that, we're family."
I scowl at him. "That wasn't my question."
"Oh...I think maybe. Yeah, I mean she did sometimes get weird around him. Blush and things...if that's what love is," Ven says after a time.
I put my weapons away and Ventus's shoulders hunch forward. I walk over to his Keyblade and pick it up, turning it this way and that. I glare at it, lifting it towards the sky.
"What about Terra?" I ask. "Did he love her?"
"No...I don't think so," Ventus says. "But maybe you could answer that question better than me...and why do you care?"
I hesitate before shaking my head to bring myself to my senses, I point the Keyblade towards Ventus before flipping it around and offering it to him. He looks at me curiously before taking it. I bend down so that we're on eye level with each other and tilt my head to the side.
"Where did she go? Aqua?" I ask.
Ventus looks startled. "I told you...she went into town with the others."
I shake my head angrily. "Don't bother lying to me. Where did she go? Your telling me could mean the difference between her living or dying."
Ventus sighs, defeated. "She went to get the armor."
I get back to my feet. I suspected as much. "Does she have any idea where it might be? Or is this a foolishly blind trip?"
Ventus doesn't answer, he gets to his feet and walk over to the front gate, staring beyond it into the town. I grow irritated and storm over to him, pushing him back against the gate.
"Where did she go Ventus?" I demand, eyes flashing. "The base in the Land or Departure or The World that Never Was?"
"Neither...she went to the Keyblade Graveyard," Ventus says.
I release him, horrified. "She has a good plan I hope? It's heavily guarded. Xehanort...if they know about the base, no doubt wants them to try something so foolish as trying to get the armor back. Come Ventus, we have to help her."
I open a portal and step through it and the sound of pounding feet lets me know that Ventus follows me. He runs in front of me and flings his arms out to either side as though he intends to stop me.
"What? Help them?" he asks.
"It has to be a trap. Xehanort, he has no use for her. He'll kill her," I tell him, hurrying past. "Help me or don't."
Aqua's Point of View
I land in the Keyblade graveyard, staring around at all of the keys. I never wanted to come back here. Not after the last time I came, with Terra and Ven. All of the keys only act as a reminder of the Keyblade War. Dark times wait ahead, of that I am sure. I only hope I can face them with both Ventus and Terra at my side.
I follow Ienzo as he leads the way through the keys. The other apprentices follow behind me as I traverse through the almost endless rows of keys. I wonder how Ven is doing with Xemnas. Perhaps I should have stayed behind and let him go with them. But after our disagreements I think he may be more likely to handle Xemnas than I.
Ienzo leads us up through a pathway in the cliffs and I follow close behind up the steep incline. The wind kicks up as I wind my way up the cliff, brushing my bangs to the other side of my face. At last we reach an opening in the cliffs, the cave Ienzo spoke of. I follow him inside as he lights his palm with fire to provide a dim lighting and something to follow through the narrow depths of the cave. I walk carefully, aware of rocks and un-evenness on the path. Ienzo plods forward at a steady pace. After what seems like a very long time we reach the end of the path and it opens up into a huge circular room of sorts. Several lanterns hang on the walls illuminating all the way around the circle. In the very center is Terra's armor, which is chained down to the floor. The helmet moves upon our entry before moving back down into it's usual position. I look around the room cautiously before walking forward. Ienzo yells my name as a giant heartless appears in front of me. As I summon my Keyblade I look around, many more heartless are appearing, forming a circle around the apprentices and I. They number more than I can count. A laugh sounds from across the room and Braig appears, walking out from behind a column. He smirks as I glare at him.
"Really? Did you really think it would be that simple?" he asks, tone dripping with sarcasm.
My attention is ripped from him as a heartless pounces towards me. I swing my Keyblade at it and it fades to darkness when my blow connects. I spin in a whirl as more heartless of varying sorts descend upon me. After a few minutes I find myself beside Ienzo, we stand back to back, fighting off the horde of heartless. Just when the numbers appear to be dwindling I hear a portal opening from behind me. I spin around, watching as Xehanort steps through.
"My, my, Aqua," he says, shaking his head as if with pity. "It wasn't very intelligent coming here. I need the armor you see, it needs to bend to my will. I cannot very well have you steal it from me," Xehanort says, with a scowl.
"I will never let that happen," I say. "I will never let you hurt my friends again."
"But for you Aqua, never, may come sooner than you think."
A grin spreads across Xehanort's face as he lifts his hands skyward. Nobodies begin popping up, followed by more heartless. Xehanort summons his Keyblade, shooting dark balls of energy at me. I summon a shield, and the dark energy evaporates on contact. I counter by shooting beams of light at him, but he deflects them with a mere flick of his wrist. I dart forward, hoping to catch him off guard, but he sees me coming long before I get to him. My Keyblade hits his, the force nearly knocking me back, I push my weight forward, retaining my balance. But I've forgotten about Braig. I hear his arrow guns fire and spin away from the sound on instinct. One hits me in the shoulder, causing me to gasp from the pain. I grip my shoulder as I leap back, keeping a good grip on my Keyblade. Xehanort advances from my right with his Keyblade as Braig takes aim once more. There's no way he'll miss, he has too good of a shot. They fully intend to kill me. I bite my lip and spring to the side as the arrowguns fire. They miss me but now I'm right next to Xehanort and before I can regain my footing he's swinging the Keyblade down towards my chest. I close my eyes. So this is how my life will end. No, this wasn't supposed to happen. I have to save Terra and defeat Xehanort. The blow never comes and I open my eyes. I stare from surprise. Xemnas stands in front of me, blocking Xehanort's blow with ease. With a quick movement he flings Xehanort backwards, and the old man stumbles back a few steps, slightly winded. Xemnas backs towards me and I see Ventus helping out Aeleus who is surrounded by heartless.
"You're wounded," Xemnas says, his eyes never straying from Xehanort as he addresses me. "Is it serious?"
I smile at him, although with his back turned I know he doesn't see me. "I'll be all right... Why did you come?"
Now he does look at me, just a brief glance. "...To help you. It was foolish to come without me, I could have helped. Perhaps after this you will trust me."
He leaps towards Xehanort and they become a flurry of weapons as the old man struggles to keep up with Xemnas's faster reflexes. At last he pins Xehanort against the wall, putting one of his weapons an inch from the old mans neck. I glance around to find that the tables have at last started to turn as Ienzo runs after Braig, Aeleus and Even take down ten heartless in the blink of an eye while Dilan demolishes a giant heartless.
"You've lost," I tell Xehanort, slowly walking over to he and Xemnas.
Xehanort's eyes flick over to me and he glares. "For now." A portal opens up behind him and he backs into it silently, it closes after him.
Xemnas turns towards me, his eyes search mine before he pulls me into a tight hug. I start to lean my head against his chest but he steps back before I can, smiling at me.
"I was worried that I wouldn't get here in time," he says.
I return his smile. "Thank you, I would be dead and we couldn't have been able to stop Xehanort without your help."
Ventus runs up behind me and, grinning from ear to ear, leaps up into the air swinging his fist up in victory. "We did it!"
I laugh. "Yes, now we just need to get the armor and go."
Ienzo walks up, he looks a little worse for wear, dust makes his hair look lighter and he has a cut across his left cheek. He nods at me before frowning as he looks over my shoulder.
"Where's Xemnas?" Ienzo asks, with a frown.
I spin around, looking for him. At last I spot him, steadily walking towards the armor which struggles against the chains at his approach. I gasp, starting forward but Ventus grabs my arm to stop me.
Xemnas's Point of View
I walk forward cautiously. Having already made up my mind on what I need to do next. It has to happen eventually. Sooner rather then later. At least I think Aqua will be happy.
The armor struggles against its chains, its head raised as though it's looking at me. I tilt my head to the side, watching it cautiously. At last when I'm right in front of it I bend down, taking the Keyblade from it forcefully. With it's one weapon gone it stops struggling it's head turned back so that the mask is tilted towards my face. I stare a it for a moment before turning the Keyblade towards myself and pushing it to my chest. I squeeze my eyes closed as a feeling of falling overcomes me. I open my eyes at last to find myself standing in the middle of a glowing platform. The image I'm standing on shows Terra and I standing facing opposite directions. Smaller images of Aqua, Ventus, Eraqus and Xehanort are in a semi circle around the larger one of Terra and I. At the sound of a footstep I turn slowly. I know who it is before I see him. The man stands behind me, his blue eyes cautious as they meet my amber ones. I stare at him curiously.
"Hello, Terra."
