It had taken us the rest of the morning and the better part of the evening but eventually we made it to Lexington only to be confronted with—
"You have got to be fucking kidding me!"
—the remains of the city. The entire city of Lexington, Virginia was nothing but rubble. It was almost as if a huge earthquake had had just suddenly appeared and brought everything crashing down to the ground below. The worst part of all was that the ground was so shattered and broken up that there was no way that our vehicles would be able to cross all the way through the city.
I stepped out of my car and glanced around, trying and failing to find a route that we could take through the city. I sighed and turned back to face everybody.
"I guess that we're going to have to go back a few miles and try to find a different—"
I stopped right there as I saw that they were watching something past me. I sighed as I turned around. Somehow, I knew what it would be.
"So you four are the ones that have been standing against us."
I brought my eyes up to stare at the man watching us from the top of a pile of wreckage. The man must have been in his late 30s with dark brown hair down to his chin and eyes just like the others had.
The man made his way down in front of us and I could feel the earth seem to shiver a little underneath us.
"I cannot allow you to continue to interfere. Your actions have cost us the lives of two members and that is unacceptable. Now, which of you will step forward to confront me?"
I saw Adam glance towards me and I nodded as he made his way towards the man.
"So you will be the first?"
"We all agreed on it and I've been waiting for my turn to come up."
I saw Adam glance back towards me and I understood exactly what he wanted me to do. I made my way back towards my car and turned the sound system up just as the next song began to play.
' I'm just a step away
I'm just a breath away '
"As you wish then. Now, it is time for you to face me, Uriel, the elemental master of Earth."
' Losin' my faith today
Fallin' off the edge today '
"Well, bring it on!"
In the blink of an eye, Adam's keyblade was in his hand and he was already bracing his legs as he aimed the first strike of the fight towards Uriel's side. As Adam's attack was blocked, I felt my jaw literally drop for a moment.
"What the fuck is that?"
I couldn't believe my eyes at first. Uriel had just yanked out of nowhere a frickin' battle-axe as tall as he was and used it to block Adam's strike! What the crap?
"It is my weapon of choice."
' I am just a man
Not superhuman '
Uriel pushed Adam away and—faster than I believed was possible—swung the axe at Adam's head, barely missing him as he ducked out of the way.
' I'm not superhuman
Someone save me from the hate '
Adam grinned and swung the keyblade out again, this time managing to catch Uriel across his right thigh and drawing a trickle of blood.
' It's just another war '
"Too slow!"
' Just another family torn '
Uriel swung his axe back around at Adam again—the damage to his thigh not managing to even draw a grimace from him.
I watched as Adam simply grinned again and twisted his body out of the way of the axe once again. As long as he didn't end up getting too over-confident he'd probably do fine.
"Ah come on, this is too easy!"
' Falling from my faith today
Just a step from the edge
Just another day in the world we live
I need a hero to save me now
I need a hero to save my life '
I sighed. Damn Adam...just had to go and jinx his chances.
"So, this is not enough for you?"
Not even a moment later, the ground under our feet split and the last thing that I saw was what was left of the entire city of Lexington beginning to sink into the crevices that had appeared as Adam realized what was happening.
"That's it! Fuck with me, that's fine, but fuck with MY FRIENDS, AND I WILL END YOU!"
' I've gotta fight today
To live another day
Speakin' my mind today
My voice will be heard today
I've gotta make a stand
But I am just a man
I'm not superhuman '
"Shit..."
I mumbled several Cure spells under my breath as I tried to stand up and grimaced at the pain. I'd managed to slow my fall but it still felt like I'd been run over by an eighteen-wheeler. I glanced up above my head and mumbled a curse to myself as I realized that I could just barely see the top of the crevice. I did smile a little though as I heard a single scream that sounded like it had come from that guy Uriel.
"Keep at it, Adam. Sounds like you're doing a great job...Now, I've just got to try to get back up there."
It took me forever, but I eventually managed to quite literally claw my way back up to the surface only to notice—
' I need a hero
Who's gonna fight for the weak
Who's gonna make 'em believe '
"Ah, come on!"
—that I had missed the rest of the fight. Uriel was on the ground, already dead and Adam was letting Krista patch him up with a few Cure spells while he laughed and made gestures—presumably related to how he won.
' I need a hero
I need a hero
A hero's gonna save me just in time '
"Oh, hey freak. Finally decide to join us again?"
"Oh yeah, just had to climb what felt like the side of a mountain all by myself. Thanks a lot for the assistance!"
With that said, I took a deep breath before continuing.
"Now, come on. Tell me what happened. How'd you win, Adam? How—the hell?"
I stopped right there as I glanced around and noticed that most of the damage done to the surrounding area had been leveled off during the fight—pretty much meaning that we now had a straight shot through the city.
"Yeah, let's just say that Adam managed to piss that guy off enough that he started causing earthquakes all over the city to try to kill him and when that didn't work, he tried to topple every last building in the whole city—"
"—and that didn't work either, right?"
"What do you think, freak?"
"Haha, Daniel. Well, let's get going. We've still got about two and a half hours until we get to Richmond."