Draco: YES. I just named this chapter, in Latin, after the lyrics of One-Winged Angel. The line translates to Do not let me die. You can begin having nightmares. Oh, for maximum epicality, play J-E-N-O-V-A (Advent Children Version) while you read this chapter! That's the track that played during the Cloud V Kadaj scene, for those who don't know.
Characters, weapons, origins © Square Enix and Disney. Monsters, setting, and encyclopedia © Akihisa Ikeda.
Chapter 10: Ne Me Mori Facias
Going through a wall? Impressive.
Getting thrown through a wall? Scary.
Getting back on your feet afterwards? Mulch just got some sort of real.
Kadaj Jenova was blazing, his entire body storming with a dark power that no one recognized. Sora and Xion called their Keyblades to hand, and dark mist volted from Riku's palm as he closed his fingers around Soul Eater. Naminé's pencil started racing across the paper, but whatever she was going to do, no one could know. Kairi tried to rise, but Sora only set a hand on her shoulder.
"It's alright," he insisted. "Don't push yourself."
He stepped forward, the others following behind him, leaving Kairi watching incredulously.
Darkness had started sparking around Kadaj like lightning, racing bolts across his flesh. "You little freaks!" he roared. "I will not let you make a fool out of me! I WON'T!"
A flare of energy emerged from his right shoulder, taking a horribly familiar form - a jet-black angel wing, draped over his side like a cape.
"Kairi Chikai... human! Why!? Why do you continue to defend her?!"
Riku smirked. "She never said any such thing," he snapped. "That's a rule. Right, Sora?" He glanced at the vampire. "Never show your true face, even to your fellow classmates. Isn't that the first thing Leon told you when the school year started?"
Kadaj gave a shout like a tortured child and shot forward, swinging his bare hands like swords. Sora sidestepped one blow, ducked under another, and swung his Key towards a third. The flaring impact allowed him to whirl into a spin, lashing out at Kadaj's wing - but the Jenova swordsman only grabbed it, and Sora released the weapon, fading it from Kadaj's hands only to reform it in his.
Xion lashed out with her own Keyblade, her weapon becoming a blur in her hand as she lashed out with a rushing combo. Kadaj sidestepped each blow, letting Xion force him back until he leapt over her, flaring his palm towards her forehead. Xion ducked under the reach, lashing out at him; but he only flared his wing, dropping before her and thrusting a knifehand strike towards her.
Riku coming up behind him caused him to cut it into a spin, lashing out at him. Riku ducked under the blow and started swinging, and though Kadaj caught his blows upon his hands, Riku moved too fast - the pulse from Kadaj's touch would emit against the air when Riku was on the other side of the swordsman. Unfortunately, Kadaj saw the pattern in Riku's strikes and lashed out at the opening, his hand connecting with Riku's chest.
Somehow, the werewolf even managed to avoid that; he was on the other side of Kadaj when the pulse hit his chest, which sent him flying right into Kadaj's back and send him tumbling forwards, leaving him open. However, Riku didn't count on that connection pulsing as well, sending him hurdling forward as Sora used the opening to strike out at Kadaj. His Keyblade went flying, impaling a wall as Xion leapt away and hurled several shots of icy fire at the swordsman.
Kadaj blocked those with his wing.
Yes. A swordsman shielded himself from flames that froze with a group of black feathers.
At that moment, a spider's web pinned his right arm to his wing, causing him to pause as he glanced at it - and spider's webs began to form all across his body, tying him to himself. He raised his gaze to see Naminé scribbling fiercely in her sketchbook. He managed to pull his left arm out of the web, and a light pulsed across his left arm as he gave a murderous shout.
He raised his hand at Naminé; and a flare of deadly power flew from his hand, searing towards her. Naminé raised her gaze and screamed as the pulse neared her eyes...
"Get down!"
A blurred figure shoved her out of the way, and everyone turned to see Riku raise his blade to take the blow. The impact ripped an explosion around him, tearing a tortured shout from the werewolf as a burning flame enveloped him.
Riku Kurai hit the ground, his body weak.
Kadaj only laughed, his calls echoing all across the chamber as he tore himself out of the webs. His wing flared out as dark lighting sparked across his body. "All that speed... and you're willing to take the blow!" he shouted. "You throw that witch out of the way, and you're willing to protect your little human!"
Kairi was watching helplessly from the other side of the broken wall. If Riku hadn't taken that blow, the shot would have passed right through the air and killed her. They're getting hurt because of me, she realized. Because I'm human. He's taking them down because of me!
Riku managed to turn his head towards Kairi. "Hey, don't look like that."
She raised her gaze as a weak smile rose on the werewolf's face. "We're gonna get out of this. All of us. Trust me." He closed his eyes and struggled to get to his feet.
Sora and Xion were still in battle with Kadaj, but the one-wing had just made it six times harder with or without Riku. He caught blow after blow on his palms, sending their weapons flying with the energy pulses he launched with every touch, and even as they used that to arcing into momentous blows that neither of them could pull off on their own, he only blocked those as well - at some points he even evaded, causing the two of them to clash blades once, twice, three times before Kadaj would lash out with open-palm blows - and their evasion was maybe a few millimeters from Kadaj's skin before they leapt away.
The fourth time was the inevitable mistake. Xion lashed out with her claws, catching Sora's Key before she lashed out with her own towards Kadaj. The one-wing was already gone - her strike landed on Sora's leg, and she raised her gaze to see the Jenova swordsman drop down with a knifehand blow and sent her flying into the wall. Sora scrambled to his feet, but Kadaj only lashed out against his chest, sending him flying as well.
Riku got to his feet.
Xion got to hers.
Sora rose on a hand, a knee and a foot with his Key in the ground for support.
Kadaj grinned, glancing between his three opponents. "Come on!" he called. "Let me see what you can all do!"
All three of them shot forward, weapons in hand. Riku arrived first, managing to slide a downswipe, a horizontal swing, and an uppercut in the time it took him to pass Kadaj. Xion lashed out with a spinning blow from Key and claw alike, sending icy fire blazing across Kadaj. Sora struck out with an earthward blow that sent light flaring around Kadaj.
Then all three of his assailants fell to the ground, pulses racing across their bodies.
Kadaj laughed menacingly, raising his hands before him. His left arm began to shine again, and he arced it above him before slamming it into the ground, causing a menacing shockwave to spear across the earth. Riku was thrown into a pile rubble; Xion was driven into the earth. Sora arced into the air as Kadaj reached skyward and grabbed him by the neck, sending pulses of energy tearing across the vampire's flesh before Kadaj hurled him into the ground, ripping a three-metre scar in the earth.
"Watch, Chikai!"
Kadaj's left arm was shining like a sun as he raised it to the heavens
"Your friends came to save you..."
He levelled his palm on the fallen Sora.
"Now watch them die!"
There was a grating of steel on stone.
"...alone..."
Everyone paused at that, and all three of the combatants turned to Kairi.
The human girl was on her feet. In each hand was a sword - the two halves of Kadaj's twin katana. One step. Two steps. Three. Five. It was a weak stumble at first, but Kairi was accelerating into a full-throttle dash as Kadaj raised his gaze.
"Leave... my friends... alone!"
She arced her arms back as she rushed towards Kadaj, swinging the blade in her left into a horizontal blow and the one in her right into a menacing uppercut that tore across her leg on its way to Kadaj.
He caught in his right hand the blade in her left.
He caught in his left hand the blade in her right.
And Kairi gave a tortured scream as he sent a necrous voltage through the blades, screaming lightning screaming through her nervous system.
Kadaj's face was a menacing grin as he pulled the katanas from her hands, causing her to fly back, falling over Sora. "Never thought I'd see a human so frail perform such an act of valor," he admitted, whirling the weapons in hand. "Never thought I'd see a girl so weak... be such a fool!"
He slammed his palms together, causing a flare to emerge between them as the katanas became one, the twin shaft of Souba blading from his right hand as he pulled it away from his left.
"Now shut your mouth and watch!"
His left hand was raised towards Sora, and four spears of cobalt energy flew from his palm, arcing towards the fallen Sora. He raised his Keyblade to defend himself...
Only for a pull on his chain to fade it from his hands as a familiar figure leapt in front of the blast.
"I won't let you!"
The shots struck Kairi from every angle, and a pure energy explosion ripped out from each impact point, tearing a bloodcurdling scream that pierced the eardrums of everyone present. Sora, Naminé, Riku, Xion, even Kadaj could only watch as Kairi fell to the ground, her body scarred with energy burns, deep thick cuts in her arms and sides where the spears had connected.
There was half a moment of silence.
Then Sora screamed.
"KAIRIIIII!"
Pure, monstrous energy ripped through the air around him, causing Kadaj to pull away. He whirled Souba to his left hand, bracing it in a backhand grip as he watched Sora rise. His skin paled; his hair turned menacing jet-black before a crimson flare rose upon it, forming a sunset darkness upon his helm. His fingernails sharpened into claws, individual pin tumbler keys of which no two were the same - and he crossed his arms over his chest before giving a menacing battle cry with his gaze to the sky.
Sora lowered his gaze, his eyes blazing a deadly blood red.
Kadaj pulled back, bracing his blade before him. Sora hardly paid him more than a glance before kneeling down to pick up Kairi as Naminé, Riku, and Xion raced towards him.
The vampire grit his fangs. "You're not dying on me now, snack tray," he gasped. "You're not!"
Riku glanced at her, horrified. "She's not breathing..."
Naminé set her hand on Kairi's neck. "There's no pulse... Sora, there's no pulse!"
Sora gasped. "I'm not gonna make this easy on you."
He pulled her neck close before sinking his fangs into Kairi's neck.
Xion's eyes widened. "Sora... What are you-?"
Then Sora pulled himself away - and the snowgirl saw his teeth were flat as Kairi started to stir.
"Naminé, take her!"
He handed Kairi to the witch, who stumbled back, dropping to a kneel as he stepped forward.
Riku watched incredulously. "What were you..."
"I didn't drink her blood," Sora reprimanded. He saw Soul Eater in the werewolf's hand and grabbed it by the blade, pulling it out of his grasp with no resistance. "But given that she's in no condition to drink mine... I had to pump it in directly."
Naminé glanced at Kairi. She was breathing, if only ever-so-faintly, and she had a horrifyingly slow pulse - but it was still there. "That... that just might... work..."
Sora closed his eyes. "But there's no guarantee."
He flipped the dragon wingblade into the air, letting his fingers close around the handle as he raised his gaze to Kadaj.
"You have ten seconds to pray to Bahamut."
He arced the blade straight to his side, and everyone gasped as the flame-red faded from his hair, leaving only the black of night.
"Then I'm gonna tear your wing out and use it as a cloak!"
He shot forward, Soul Eater gleaming in his hand as he lashed out with a menacing flurry of strikes. Kadaj caught the blows on Souba and returned with his own, but Sora only arced around them and lashed out with a roundhouse kick to the back of Kadaj's head. The one-winged swordsman spun around, but Sora was already swinging his blade into Kadaj's side, causing the Jenova brother to leap away as Sora charged after him.
Riku gaped. "Woah," he gasped. "I never thought... the clawed Sora with a blade..."
Xion shook her head. "No..."
"What do you mean?" Riku asked.
"This isn't his full power," Xion gasped. "He should be sending Kadaj flying when he misses - he should have cleaved that swordsman in two." She winced. "I knew this was going to happen, but..."
Kadaj lashed out with a kick that sent Sora skidding back; then he shot forward, his feet off the ground, and lashed out with his right hand. Sora rolled under the strike, cutting at Kadaj's legs, but Kadaj only spun and hurled a burst of energy at the vampire, causing Sora to leap into the air.
"Come on, Kingdom!" he shouted. "What happened to that power you're so proud of! You've let yourself go..." He raised his blade before him, and his left arm began to shine. "And I'm not that weakling you took down at the start of the year!"
He shot forward and lashed out with his blade going for Sora's face and his hand going for Sora's heart. Sora caught the cut against Soul Eater so that his elbow would catch the blow, but Kadaj only grabbed him by the arm and hurled him towards the wall. Sora angled his blow so that his feet connected with the wall, his empty hand landing on the surface before he lashed forward, blade flat before him; but Kadaj only sidestepped it, causing Sora to roll across the ground before skidding to a stop.
"Sora, what's wrong with you?!" Naminé shouted.
"Why do you think I grabbed this thing?" Sora snapped, whirling Soul Eater in hand before hurling it at Kadaj. "I needed to compensate for the power loss!"
Kadaj beat the blade to the ground as Sora shot towards him, lashing out with a flurry of claws and kicks before sweeping Soul Eater off the ground and jabbing it towards Kadaj. The Jenova swordsman only caught it between the blades of Souba, careful to make sure the hilt was facing the back of the dragon's wing, before whirling it in hand and pulling the wingblade out of Sora's hand, sending it flying into the air.
Souba was whirled into his right hand as he lashed out with his left, sending a pulse across Sora that knocked him across the ground. He managed to slow himself to a stop, charing towards Kadaj again; but the one-wing only dropped low, arcing into a flip-kick that drove Sora into the ground.
"All you've done is lose this battle for good, Kingdom," he snapped. His arm began to light up again, sending a menacing glow across his features. "You could have defeated me, if you were lucky - but no! You gave up - you tried to protect your little human!"
He raised his arm towards Sora again.
"And now, you're going to die for it!"
Sora raised his gaze, knowing Kadaj was going to end him.
And a flare of monstrous energy erupted from behind the swordsman, causing him to spin.
Everyone gave a shout of horror. Kairi was on her feet - she was standing of her own volition. The wounds across her body - energy burns, the cuts in her skin where Kadaj's spear attack had connected, even what was left of the wounds she had accumulated since the start of the school year - everything was vanishing. And monstrous energy was flaring around her - the same deadly strength that always erupted around Sora when she pulled of his crown.
Kadaj was panicking. "No... you... you're not human... You can't be human! No human could recover from that! Kishi played me for a fool!"
A hand on his wing caught him by surprise, and Sora grabbed Kadaj around the neck, choking him.
"Oh, yes, there's one thing I forgot to mention," he growled. "If the blood takes hold..."
Kairi's hair darkened, the beautiful crimson turning the colour of hot obsidian.
"Even I don't know what it'll do to her!"
He drove his knee into Kadaj's back, causing the swordman to give a shout of pain. Souba clattered out of his hand, but Kadaj hardly noticed - the pain Sora was driving through him was too much.
"Kairi..."
The girl raised her gaze to Sora.
"RUN!"
Kairi flared her hands back and shot forward, causing Kadaj to grab at Sora's hand around his neck. "No... NO! Let me go!"
He pried Sora's hand from his neck.
And Kairi's roundhouse kick connected with Kadaj's chest, sending him flying.
Another wall shattered as Kadaj flew through it.
Kairi glared at where Kadaj had just been... then she stumbled in place, as though hit with a sudden stench, and started to fall forward.
Naminé panicked, rushing towards them. "Kairi!"
Sora stepped forward, catching Kairi against his arm. "It's alright," he insisted. "The vampire blood must have worn off. She'll be fine." She turned towards the first hole in the wall - but Slasher seemed to have disappeared.
"So, Riku," he called, causing the werewolf to look towards him. "You still got any questions about whether Kairi belongs here?"
Riku gave a nervous cough and turned away. "Well... I mean... I guess.."
He stopped and spun to face Sora. "Wait, how did you-?!"
+x+x+x+
When the dust had settled, Riku, Xion, and Naminé stepped out of the prison through the door they had come in. A couple seconds later, Sora stepped out; Kairi sleeping in his arms, his rosario around his neck, and half-sleeping for himself.
Loz and Yazoo had vanished from the entrance; however, unbeknownst to them, someone else watching them as they made their way back towards the school. Slasher Kishi had hidden himself in a higher floor - and now, he was watching through a window in one of the cells as the five combatants stepped away.
"Very well done, Kairi Chikai. The guise of a monster - and a vampire no less!"
He ran his hand down the shaft of his repaired staff. "I admit defeat this time. But you'd better be ready.
"Sooner or later... I will face you myself."
Draco: I know. You were all expecting Roxas to show up and fireball Kadaj in the face. But no. He can do that to someone else. And no, this isn't the last you'll see of Kadj Jenova. Not by a long shot.
Sorry this chapter was shorter than usual (didn't quite hit 4000 words). The critical scene didn't last as long as I thought it did. Hope you all enjoy!