Hello everyone! Sorry I've been busy for a while. Here's the next chapter! Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Naruto! Sin Flash's POV.
When we arrived at Radiant Garden, I jumped off the Lingering Will's keyblade glider, the suit of armor only seconds behind me. We looked around.
Where would Xehanort be? Lingering Will's voice said in my mind. "The only place I can think of would be here... Unless he's at the area you fought that thug, Braig?" The armor looked at me, and I remember that Terra never heard Braig's name, and that Lingering Will was only Terra's armor being controlled by his mind alone. "The sniper who had Xehanort freed up, when you first used your darkness." I added quickly.
Oh... Him. He said. I nodded, and we quickly made our way to the place.
When we arrived, we saw two men who appeared to be simply chatting. The first man was old and decrepit. He was bald and had a small tuft of white hair on his chin, with piercing gold eyes and and dark tan skin. He was bent over slightly from age, and held a black keyblade, saying something to the second figure who was completely covered in a black coat, like Riku's. I strained my ears trying to hear what the old man was saying.
"In reward for your services, I now perform the ceremony to give you the keyblade's power." The hooded man nodded, and my eyes widened. "This way, hurry!" I shouted to Terra. "We have to stop Xehanort!"
In a flash, we were there. I ran and punched Xehanort to interrupt his ceremony. The Lingering Will lifted Ends of the Earth and fired a bolt of darkness at the hooded figure. He ducked to avoid it, saying "Not this time, Terra!" His hood fell off, and revealed a man with an eye patch, a pair of scars running across his face, a golden eye, and a permanent smirk plastered on his face. Two arrow-guns materialized in his hands.
"Did you really think that would work on me twice? As if!" The man laughed, then glared at us, still smirking. I could tell, though, that he was pissed about what happened to make him need to wear the eye patch.
"Xigbar..." I muttered. The freeshooter laughed again. "So you've heard of me. I guess he," he pointed a gun to Terra's armor, "told you about me?"
I returned his smirk. "Well from what I heard, you got shot by a pellet of darkness and lost an eye. Sounds like you did end up collateral damage!"
For once, he stopped smirking; his face actually fell. He glared daggers at the armor and myself.
"Bad timing. Couldn't you have at least waited until I had a keyblade?"
"As if!" I mocked. He looked even angrier.
"Well since you did that, I think now would be the time to get rid of you." The Nobody said. He then shot his guns at me. I simply teleported myself a few feet away using a dark portal. After I evaded a few more shots, I decided to take an offensive. I teleported behind Xigbar and sent a punch toward his neck, intending to knock him out, or at least slow him down a little.
However, in my haste I forgot that the Nobody known as Xigbar, the Freeshooter, was a master manipulator of space itself, and he could teleport as well. A heartbeat before my fist connected with his back, he vanished into thin air, and reappeared a good twenty feet away and shot at me again. I teleported once more, and that's when I had an idea to turn Xigbar's greatest weapon against him.
Of course, while Xigbar and I were going at it, Xehanort and the Lingering Will weren't exactly sitting around either. Terra's armor was enraged by the old man who stole his body, and was hell-bent on ripping Xehanort to shreds with his keyblade... If not his "bare hands". Keyblade met keyblade as terra battered at Xehanorts defenses, fragile from both old age and Terra's raw power.
As Terra's armor continued pounding Xehanort, I put my idea into action. "Come on, Xiggy!" I shouted. The more he shot, the more I teleported and taunted. "What's wrong? Can't shoot accurately? Or are you afraid..." I teleported behind him. he teleported even further away as I put the main step of my plan in effect. "Afraid that you can't hit me? Tell you what, I'll give you a free hit; just make it count!"
Now, if Xigbar were thinking properly, I know for a fact that he wouldn't have taken the bait. However, from all the taunting, he was only thinking of shutting me up. Just how I wanted him. I even turned around and closed my eyes to prove my point. I heard the Nobody charging his weapons for an extremely powerful shot. As soon as I heard the shot fire, my eyes snapped open as I made my move: I opened a dark portal behind me. The portal teleported not me, but the speeding shot behind the man who shot it, striking him square in the back of the head.
I turned back around in time to see Xigbar fall in shock, fading once again into nothingness, as is what happens when a Nobody dies. I smirked and picked something up off the ground before teleporting to Xehanort and Terra's battle. I laughed out loud as Terra made it look easy to beat the seasoned Master Xehanort.
That laugh may have been a bad idea.
Lingering Will looked at me and gave me a thumbs up. If there were a face beneath the helmet, I know it would be smiling at the thought of regaining his body.
That's when Xehanort made his move.
The old man teleported behind me and grabbed me by the neck. I heard him smirk, and my nose wrinkled at his breath.
"At least take a breath mint, you old goat?" I said. "Is that raw fish and burnt steak on your breath?" My words earned me a smack on the back of my head, and Xehanort said to the armor. "The choice is yours, Terra. Step down, and I let the boy go."
I couldn't let Terra give up. Not now, when his goal was so close.
"Terra!" I shouted. "Forget about me! Get your revenge! Get your body back!"
Looking at him, I could tell he was torn: get both revenge and his body, or protect a new ally? That's when the armor did something I never in a thousand years that he'd do.
He dropped his keyblade and stood down.
My eyes widened and Xehanort's smirk only grew.
He then threw me to the ground, and before I could think, he teleported behind Terra and (quite literally) stabbed him in the back.
I saw it happen in slow motion. As Terr'a armor slowly fell to the ground, I ran up and caught it.
"Terra!" I shouted. "Don't leave! You can't! Aqua and Ven still need you! Eraqus and your living legacy Riku still need you! I still need you..."
I started sobbing. I didn't care that Xehanort was right there, nor did I notice him grinning to himself and teleport away.
Sin... I was alarmed at how faint his voice sounded, even when it was his thoughts sounding in my head. A gloved hand slowly grasped Ends of the Earth and brought it up to me. In your hand... Take this key, he started. I shook my head, not accepting the fact that the last piece of free will of Terra, my all-time favorite Kingdom Hearts character, lay dying in my arms; it felt like a lead bar in my heart, even worse since it was my fault. So long as you have the makings... Then through this simple act of taking... Its wielder you shall one day be.
I continued to shake my head in denial that this was happening, but gripped his heavy keyblade, knowing full well he wants me to complete the ritual.
"Terra..." I said weakly, "I can't-"
You can, he interrupted. You will. My goals... My revenge... My powers... We will meet again, but until then... I give it all to you, Sin... Flash.
Slowly, hesitantly, I nodded, and Terra's armor vanished in a dim flash of light and darkness alike. When I opened my tear-stained eyes and looked down, both Ends of the Earth, and Xigbar's arrow-guns - the thing I picked up before this happened - disappeared as well, replaced by a new weapon.
A purple hand guard with a trigger, and a brown blade. There were two words inscribed on it, and I took those words to be the name of this... Mix between a keyblade and a gunblade: "Shattered Will".
"Terra," I said, looking up. "I'm so sorry. I swear, I will not fail you again." I gripped the new weapon, and I felt an energy surge through my whole body. I don't know how, but somehow I knew right away that I was receiving all of both Terra and Xigbar's powers. I looked down at Shattered Will and stood up slowly.
"Thank you..." I whispered. My true journey has finally begun.
Wow... I have no idea what possessed me to write this... Terra dying? What the hell? Anyway, on the bright side, Flash finally got his keyblade! ...gunblade? Key-gunblade? Whatever it's going to be called :D
Please review of course. Your opinions are always highly coveted. I'll have Chapter 11 (and 12, if I'm lucky) updated right away. :)