Chapter 9: Time of Angels

"WHAT?!" Ty roared, and would have gotten up if the Heartless holding down let him. They had to force him back to his knees, but I had never seen Ty so mad before, only the night that he found me after Robert had beat me.

Robert laughed. "The old gang, so close to being together again…" He said. "It sure brings back memories of the good old days."

"When I get my hands on you Robert!" Ty shouted at him.

"Ty," I said, sensing a darkness forming around him.

"What?!" He snapped at me.

"Stay calm…" I replied quietly and nod to his legs, where a shadow was starting to form.

Ty almost panicked, but took slow breaths to calm himself down. Suddenly I felt a presence behind me. I look back and there was the winged man from my dreams. He had broad shoulders, dark clothing and the darkest eyes I have ever seen. His feathered wings folded neatly behind him. "I was told that you can sense the darkness." He said. "I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to venture into it, like a certain Keyblader we know. Isn't that right Riku?"

Riku froze a moment and his fist clenched. "I don't know you… You weren't in Meleficents castle."

"Oh, how rude of me," The guy said, walking around usso he was in front and took a graceful bow, his wings spreading a goof ten feet. "I am Esau. The Proud bearer of the Devils Creed Keyblade, and the Harald of the Eternal Night."

Cynder snarled. "The Eternal Night was beaten! You can never start it again!"

"Oh, can't I?" Esau asked and summoned the Keyblade. It was exactly as I saw in my dream. "I hold the skeleton key to the Door of Darkness. Our battle is already half won Cynder, Huntress of the Sky's!"

Cynder hissed at Esau.

Esau only laughed.

I glared at him, his very presence making my skin crawl. I needed a plan, and fast. I knew Solas was still in my pack, but I didn't want to risk him coming out to shine. Shine… Papa always set a light in dark parts of life, to give us hope. That's when I noticed a glint. It was my sword. It was gleaming a bit in the gloom of the cave.

Shines bright, then the heart and deed is right.. I thought. I glance down at the Master Emerald shard on my necklace. An idea was forming, it was a risk, but I had to get everyone out of here.

Meanwhile, Spyro was eyeing the dark Keyblade. "You're going to regret hurting that hatchling for his wings." He snarled.

Esau mearly grinned at him. "He didn't squirm much. Besides, he doesn't need his wings."

Cynder and Tarian snarled at him, thier claws scrapping the stone floor.

Riku, who had been placed between Spyro and Tarian, nudged Tarian. I could hear the two whispering, so I glared at Mephilis. "Why did you take Jade and Joe?"

"They are close friends of yours and Ty's," Mephilis' voice rumbled. "Why wouldn't I choose them?"

"Besides," Robert said, stepping up to kneel in front of me, looking me square in the eyes. "They made a rather desireable peace offering."

"You gave them to that monster?" Ty Shouted again.

Robert looked at him. "I did. Thier blood made it possible to free Mephilis."

This time I raised my voice. "You FREED Mephilis? Are you insane?!"

"If I remember correctly," Robert said. "You did send me to an asylum. So I guess I am just a little insane."

Ty squirmed again in the Heartless and the Mantises grip. This made Robert smile and turned away.

"NOW!" Riku shouted, making me jump with surprise.

The ground suddenly rumbled and cracked, the cracks coming from Spyro and Tarian. Cynder screeched at the Heartless, the sound of it sending cold shivers of fear through my spine. Flame and Sparx lit up the cavern using their light and fiery breath. Ty had taken advantage of the sudden chaos and summoned his keyblade with Riku and Roxas while I quickly grabbed mine.

Esau roared in anger and attacked Ty. He must have been pretty strong because Ty's knees almost buckled under the blow. But before I could help him, Jade had grabbed a sword and attacked me. I blocked her blow at the last possible second, but it left me with a bizarre feeling.

Standing in front of me was the girl that had made the Protectors Team back at school. She introduced me to Ty and they both became my best friends. We ate ice cream cones together on the curb of each others houses after school, and Ty would mostly pay for them. She showed me how to do pirouette, or at least tried. And I showed her and Ty how to play on blue grass. It was hard to take in that it was now eight years later… and she was standing in front of me, her heart stollen by Mephilis and fighting me.

"Jade!" I shout at her. "Jade it's me! Emmy Em!"

Jade seemed to pause a moment, but she flinched and continued the attack. She slashed, cutting my backpack off and causing it to fall to the floor. It made a small grunt as it landed from Solas, who didn't appreciate being tossed.

She was suddenly shoved to the ground by Cynder, who pinned her down. "There has to be something! What about that gem of yours?!"

"It hurts to use!" I told her as I fight off a heartless.

"Can it fight off these things?!" Cynder shouted over the chaos.

"It might!" I answer, shoving the heartless away.

"Then DO IT!" Cynder ordered.

I nod and grip the shard. "Cover me!"

Tarian heard my shout and sealed me in a stone egg looking shield. It was quieter inside the 'egg', but I gripped the shard and breathed slowly. I could hear my team outside of the shell fighting, and Ty yelling at Tarian for sealing me in a rock. I couldn't help but grin. He was a wonderful friend… I found that I always felt safer with him. Whenever he was near, it felt like nothing could hurt me, that things will be alright...

My mind flashes back to when Robert beat me. It was Ty that found me and called an ambulance. He held my hand and kept me awake while the medics and my parents came. 'You hang on.' He told me. 'Don't let go of my hand.'

I barely noticed the chaos energy flooding into me as I thought about him. It didn't hurt this time. It filled every fiber of myself with a warmth that banished any chill that the caverns gave off. Soon, my skin started to glow like it did the last time I fought Robert. I curled into a ball and allowed myself to change.

"EM!" Ty shouted as Tarian finished the shell around her. "Why'd you do that?"

"She said 'Cover Me!'!" Tarian replied, who was now standing over Tarian protectively.

"More important things here Ty!" Roxas shouted as he fought off an armored Heartless.

Ty growled and joined the fight again. He was blocked by Esau again, who growled back. But he grinned at him and opened his wings. "The love is lost, Tyler Johnson. Beauty and light, have vanished from this garden of delight." His sword started to crackle with an energy that made the hair on the back of Ty's neck stand on end. "The dreams are gone and Midnight has come…. The Darkness is our new Kingdom."

"It aint yours to take!" Ty replied and attacked. "Tiene!" He shouted, sending a ball of fire at Esau.

Esau blocked the fire ball with the wing of his keyblade. "That's right, You've only just started to unlock the power of the keyblade haven't you? What more would I expect a new Blader?"

He attacked, shoving Ty back, where Joseph grabbed him and held him still. Ty squirmed, but he knew Joe went to the gym often back on earth and was bigger than him. Esau approached Ty with hie sword raised. "For once," He said. "The Keyblade made a mistake in choosing a bearer…"

Esau raised his sword to finish Ty, making Ty squirm more to raise his Keyblade.

"TY!" Roxas shouted, but he couldn't attack because he was surrounded by the heartless.

Metal was shoving his way to save Ty when a sound silenced the room.

CRACK!

Metal looked over to the stone egg Emily had been sealed in. A crack had appeared in the shell, and a light was showing through it. Esau looked over as the cracks widened and appeared in more places. The Heartless screeched and ran as beams of light landed on them.

Suddenly the shell broke away to show Emily, eyes almost an icy-sky blue and auburn hair looking like dying embers. On her back was a pair of feathered wings like Esau, only white.

Esau glared and moved to finish the job on Ty, only to have his blade blocked by Emily's.

"Em!" Ty shouted, having to squint at her.

She looked at him and smiled, but said nothing as she shoved Esau away and did the same with Joe.

Esau got up and ran for the exit. Emily quickly followed him, gripping her sword as she went. No one had noticed Mephilis making an escape with Robert, Jade and Joe until Ty saw them walk into a shadowed corner. "NO!" He shouted and ran for the corner but there was nothing but solid stone.

"Ty! Come on!" Spyro shouted as he and the others raced back up the tunnel. Ty now noticed that dust was falling from the ceiling and there was a rumble. He nodded and followed, scooping up Emily's backpack as Tarian had picked up Solas. the tunnel rumbled around them, some of the boulders crushing the remaining mantis robots as they fought for escape. Spyro and Tarian used their power over earth to keep the ceiling up as they ran out, so all made it out safely, a cloud of dust rolling out of the caves mouth.

Outside looked almost as bright as the day from how bright the full moon was. It illuminated the entire forest, making it easy to spot Emily and Esau fighting in mid air. Soaring and diving at each other, trying to land an attack on each other.

"What…" Spyro started, but Sparx finished for him. "What happened to the chick?!"

"It's her super form," Ty explained. "Remember that gem around her neck? When she needs it, she can use it's powers to strengthen her. The last time she used this form was when she was caught by Robert three months ago."

Ty Flinched as Esau made a mark on Emily, slicing her shoulder wide open. Metal snarled and was about to jump and start his jet pack to help Emily, but remembered that his new Android body no longer had a jetpack. He could only watch in horror as Emily took another hit.

"If Esau was closer," Roxas said. "Then the three of us can use the Keyblades to make a Trinity Blast. That should put an end to Esau if we get it right."

"Whats a Trinity Blast?" Ty asked, eyes glued on Emily.

"One of our Strongest attacks." Roxas explained. "It takes the unity of three Keyblades. But it's hard to aim and takes a ton of energy. So we'll need to get Esau closer to get a better chance at hitting him.

Riku then looked at Ty's Keyblade. Suddenly he face-palmed himself. "I'm an idiot!" He shouted and took Ty's hand and made him grasp the silver wings on the Keychain of his keyblade.

"What are you doing?" Ty asked, feeling a tingle in his hand, as if the wings were vibrating.

"The blade isn't the only part of the Keyblade Ty!" Riku said, so urgently he almost yelled. "The Keychains offer help as well! You can wear these wings!"

"Say what?" Flame asked.

"Say eitilt!" Riku instructed. "It's the word for flight!"

Ty looked at him then down at his hand. He narrowed his eyes and tightened the fist like he's seen Shadow and Emily do occasionally. "Eitilt!" He yelled, making the tingling sensation fly through his arm and to his shoulders. His new wings appeared in a shimmer of light, but they didn't look soft like Emily's. They looked like the silvery chrome color like they did on the keychain, but they moved like live wings. After the strange sensation ended, Ty only took a second to look at them before looking back at Emily, hearing her cry out.

"Ty!" Cynder said, moving to the ledge. "Follow my lead! Open your wings and leap!" With that, Cynder leaped off the ledge and plummeted a second before soaring. Ty nodded and followed suit. The rush under the wings was a strange feeling, but it was better than riding on Spyro as the wind caught his wings and pushed him higher into the sky.

Cynder continued to instruct him on the fast paced lessons of flight as the two soared to aid Emily, Spyro having taken flight behind Ty to help him in any way he could.

Esau and Emily were still locked in combat when Esau saw the new arrivals. He growled and kicked Emily away and charged at Ty.

"Uisce!" Ty shouted, sending a jet of water from his Keyblade, hitting Esau hard enough that it threw him back. This gave Ty on idea. "Em!" He shouted pointing to the ledge, where Riku and Roxas had drawn their swords.

Emily looked at them and looked at Esau before smiling at Ty and nodding, again not saying anything. This made Ty wonder if she knew fully what was going on. Shaking the thought from his head, He and Emily with Spyro and Cynder flew to the other side of the tumbling Esau and hovered in place side by side, humans in the center and dragons on the sides.

"Now!" Ty shouted and pointed his sword at Esau. "Gaoth!" The command sent a gust of wind at Esau as Cynder also breathed a blast of air at him. Emily sent out a beam of light at Esau from her sword and Spyro breathed a rod of lightning, all attacks hitting Esau and seining him plummeting to the ledge.

"Everyone hold on." Emily said, gripping Ty's hand and Spyro's paw while Ty took Cynders paw. A tingle was sent through them and a second later they were on the ledge with the others, surprising everyone but no one says anything as Ty stands between Roxas and Riku, all three drawing their Keyblades and pointing them at the tumbling Esau.

"Ty, the word is Tríonóid Réalta. On three!" Roxas said. "One!….. Two!…. THREE!"

Ty took a breath and shouted with the two Keybladers. "Tríonóid Réalta!"

The three keyblades began to glow and something like a star formed at where the three points came together. Once the star was big enough, it blasted toward Esau.

At the last possible second, Esau folded his wings around him just as the blast hit him. The blast lit up the night for a moment before it dimmed. There was no sign of Esau, or his dark Keyblade.

Ty smiled, his legs feeling like jelly. But before exhaustion could completely overtake him, he noticed the glow coming off of Emily behind him had dimmed to nothing, and he heard something fall. He turned to see Emily unconscious on the ground, several wounds covering her arms and other places.

"Em!…" Ty said, but before he could help him, he, Roxas and Riku also fell, giving into the exhaustion.

Ty could hear the dragons yelling their names and felt claws wrap around his shoulder to shake him, but he was too exhausted to stay awake and fell unconscious as well.