Sorry it took so long, but computers don't like me. My computer crashed. Again. Luckily I had this one on my flash drive (that's been lost for a while). I'm definitely going to continue this one but bare with me please. When I began the project, I had very little pre-writing and direction, but I'm working on it. I also have an AP exam coming up and am sharing a computer with my cousins. Also, when chapter thirteen is posted you may want to go back and reread chapters one through twelve again, because I may be changing a few small details that have a lot to do with the overall plot.
"Sora!" Riku yelled as he rushed towards the cliff. The few seconds it took for him to reach it had obviously been too much, for the boy was gone. There was no falling friend, or mangled body. No sign at all that the keyblade master had even been there, save everyone's memory and Aero's face staring at the ground so far below.
"What have you done!" He demanded, holding the seer by her collar. "Answer me!"
Every one else was standing there watching the exchange with horror on there faces. They had trusted this girl and she had betrayed them in the most deplorable way. They had rescued her and she had…
Aqua stood staring at her sister in disgust. Was this why she had worked so hard to keep the girl safe? Was this the kind of person she had let her sister become?
"Aqua." Her sister whispered, asking for her help but this time it was not forthcoming. Instead the blue haired girl just stood at the panicle of her personal hell. Not only had Aero forced her to come to this place, but it had been for her to destroy everything Aqua held dear. Not only was she forced to relive that horrid day with every step she took, but she had a new horror to live. The day her sister killed someone.
"No. You did this. You get yourself out." She spat. Aqua's contempt hurt Aero much more then anything else and she was sure it would only be more forthcoming in the near future.
"You think he's dead, don't you?" Aero asked, looking Riku as close to in the eye as her current position would allow. Her voice was blank and held no emotion.
"What do you think? You're the one that pushed him off the cliff!"
"But he wasn't the first spiky-haired young man to fall from such heights, and survive. Sort of." She whispered.
Riku looked at her in complete confusion. He had no idea what the girl was talking about, but apparently Aqua did.
"Riku, put her down." It was clear that whatever that meant, Aqua found it offensive. She was practically shacking with rage as she walked up to her sister, and gave her one of the hardest slaps any one had ever seen. When Aero turned her face back to her sister, everyone could see a bright red welt forming on her pale skin. Okay, so maybe bringing Ven into this wasn't the best idea she had ever had.
"He's not dead, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you all about my plain," She said more to Aqua then anyone else, "but if I told you everything, you would have stopped me for a very petty reason. If you weren't here, Aqua, I would have told them everything, and more then likely they would have still come. So the only one you have to blame for everyone having to think Sora's dead for a few minuets is yourself, and your narrow-mindedness.
"There is a lot you didn't see. I know I have no right, but if you guys will just come with me to bottom I'll show you what this is all about. He's not hurt I promise. Well, he may have a little headache but…
"Look, if you really think he's dead, which he's not, why don't you go get his body?"
Although the plain had been simple, it had to be executed exactly at the right time. Blaze knew this. He also knew that if he messed this up Sora would die. That's why he had everything set up exactly right. The plain would work. It had too.
The twins were waiting in the wings to lend him their power. Blaze would then use both the light and darkness to catch the falling boy and separate Ven's heart from his. Then all he had to do was craft a new body from the twins power for his former friend.
Blaze had it all planed out, and every variable accounted for. Or so he thought. In fact the one thing he forgot to think of would be the one thing that mattered.
Sunset Horizons was a place of ghosts. It had been for the last ten years. Here sprits walked, unseen and unheard. Unlike most places, these ghost were mostly those of heroes.
One in particular happened to be wondering in, what he perceived to be the right place at the right time. Terra had always tried to help anyone in anyway he could, so of course when he saw the boy fall, he tried to catch him. It didn't cross his mind for a moment that he did not have a solid form to catch the boy with. He ignored the blanket of darkness and light that was already in place to claim Sora, and jumped up through it.
Today was only suppose to only be Ventus's turn. Blaze knew that the twins only had enough strength to bring back one person, but Terra's little stunt caused something to go wrong. Because the emetic knight had chosen not to fear the dark, he was now involved in the process. Blaze had no choice but to draw more power from the twins and complete both knights at the same time.
"NO, NO, NO!!" Morose roared as she watched the scene unfold.
She had known that the traitor Blaze and the seer had been up to something, but she had never imagined this. It wasn't that she was lacking in imagination, in fact she prided herself on the contrary among other things. The only reason that she hadn't guessed what they had up their sleeves was that magic like this required a lot of groundwork. Groundwork took time and that was something Blaze and Aero hadn't had a lot of, at least not when it mattered.
Pulling herself through the darkness she arrived at Thanroe's lab. It was a rather eerie place in it's sterility. Everything was white except the 'patients' strapped to surgical tables about the room. Most were in some form of dismemberment and all were destined to become one thing. The vary thing the witch had come for.
"Thanroe get your head out your ass, we have work to do." Morose commanded. Thanroe looked up from his books and ledgers with a slightly annoyed expression. Few would dare disturb him as he was creating a masterpiece. All those who worked with him knew that to do so may just put you on the express list as one of his subjects.
"Oh, and what would that be?" A warning rang out in his tone. It was a warning his girlfriend didn't bother with. Like he could eve turn her into one of those abominations. If he did ever grow the balls to try, she would turn him into something far more foul and there would be no 'try' about it.
"Blaze and that damned seer are bringing back the their friends. They already have the girl, although I don't know how we didn't see that. If they get Ventus and Ansem's son, things may not be so easy anymore."
"Sora… We both should have seen this coming," he said lightly chastising himself and his companion, "did you not think it odd how much Roxas looked like Ventus? The seer must have placed his heart within Sora's just as he died. Creating a new body for the heart would not be particularly difficult for those who knew how…"
"I don't care if they pulled him fully formed out of Sora's ass. All that matters is that he's coming back. Both of them." Morose was panting with aggravation and the sense of urgency.
"Terra as well?" He asked with a slight grin. If Terra was back that could be turned into a good thing. It could be turned into numerous opportunities for vengeance.
"Yes, him as well! What else would I mean by 'both of them?' Now why don't you do the intelligent thing instead of sitting here twirling your thumbs. Get one of those pets you care about so much to crush them before this gets any worse." She screeched.
Three figures were laying face down in the dirt once the preverbal dust settled. Terra was the first to regain consciousness.
As the blue eyed young man stood up he noticed three things: first, somehow it had gone from being the middle of the night to the middle of the day; second; both Ven and another boy that Terra had never met were lying in the dust beside him; and finally, there was a large group coming down the path that lead to the rock face. He could not make out who they were from where he was at, but he wasn't going to take that chance. Terra quickly grabbed Ven, and for good measure, the strange boy.
Despite being tired and sore, he managed to carry his friends into a little cave in the rocks, were they could see without being seen. When he had rested for a fraction of a minuet, Terra quickly cast Cure on Ven, leaving the unknown boy for later.
"What's going on?" The blond haired boy asked his friend, who in turn just pointed to the crowd that had gathered at the very spot they had just been. It was almost as if they were looking for something. For them.
"Where is he??!!" They heard someone shout form the mysterious group. Who were they looking for? The boy, perhaps?
"I…I…Don't… he should…" Someone stuttered. Someone familiar, but they couldn't tell who. Not until she backed away from the group almost as if she were afraid of them. From this distance all they could see was blurs of colors. But that's all that was needed to identify the girl.
"Stunts?" Ven whispered.
"I think so."
Just as they were about to step in to intervene, another sight caught there attention. It was two creatures that he had never seen before. They were obviously related to unbirths but they were very different. If they had bothered to wake and ask the boy he would have been able to tell the Chasers a little about the creature, but it never crossed there minds.
The creature was odd shaped. Almost as if it had originally been a neoshadow that had been warped and stretched to the point it almost resembled a trick master, but instead of wielding flaming batons as weapons, it had some crude version of a riffle. The creature was not alone. On its heals was another creature, this one vaguely kin to some sort of dog or maybe it was a wolf.
Whatever the creatures were, the strangers obviously recognized them as enemies for immediately they charged. Wanting to get a closer look at the both the enemies and their adversaries, Terra and Ven slowly crept forward, careful not to be seen.
They watched as a boy with bluish white hair and a red headed girl charge with keyblades. It was easy to see that the girl was a novice and that the boy was trying too hard to protect her and defeat the unknown creature at the same time. He was obviously a very skilled fighter, but even the best could spread themselves too thin.
The strange creature with the rifle took one good shot, and that was all it took. Riku was down and Kairi was wide open for attack. Until now Aqua had stayed out of the fight. She had wanted to see how well the new generation of keybladers would fare, but it had long gone past the point of a simple test.
Without even calling forth her armor, she summoned her keyblade and got to work. A simple Cure spell and Riku was back in action and ready to go. No one noticed a strange glint in his eyes and something changed.
"Darkness!" He called out and suddenly his entire outfit changed. Instead of the yellow and blue he normally his garments were black, blue and red. His entire being reeked of darkness, but somehow they could tell that it was not the malevolent sort. Riku commanded enough of the darkness and light at the same time to balance it out. He truly was a twilight warrior.
Riku jumped and went right for the creatures throat as Aqua went for it's back. It should have been an easy kill but the beast would not go down with out a fight. As it died, it swung its long string-like arms. One caught Riku in the gut sending him flying into the rock face, while the other struck Aqua's head knocking her unconscious.
This would have meant little had they not have forgotten the dog-creature. While it's attackers were indisposed, it charged for their companions. Unfortunately Lea had his brothers had given up their super cool and powerful weapons when they had given up the darkness. With Sora, Riku and Aqua all out of the picture they were sitting ducks. It would surly mean certain death for all of them if one of their champions didn't come to soon.
Just as the creature was about to strike, something caught it's attention. It only had to look up to be assaulted by a blinding fast blur of blond, black and white. Once Ventus struck he continued to unleash several long aerial combos as Terra caught up. As the slightly more earth bound hero joined his friend, the attacks started becoming synchronized. One would attack while the other prepared another.
The onslaught only stopped for once as Ven allowed his feet to touch the ground, something that had been rare enough during the battle. As if he were answering to some unspoken queue, Terra rushed forward to his side. Making sure there was at least fifty feet between them and there target, Ven performed a backwards summersault and landed on his friends shoulders. From there he proceeded to jump almost horizontally towards the almost-dead rebirth. At the same time, Terra used the backside of his keyblade as a baseball bat to strike the soles of Ven's shoes, catapulting him forward at an immense speed. When the boy reached his target he stuck out his own keyblade just so it he could slam it into the abomination's skull, immediately killing the creature.
Were the corpses of both creatures lay were two people. One tan and tall, the other pale and looked almost as if he was on drugs. Aero instantly recognized them as part of Neisse's family by the way the pale one sparkled.
Everyone else looked on with stunned silence. Some were couldn't speak for the show of skill, others had a slightly different reason to be shocked. These people had been dead for ten years, or so they had thought.
"Are they real?" Myde whispered to his brothers in the back of the group.
"I think so." Ienzo replied, and he was not one to be fooled twice by the same trick.
"You guys looked like you could use a little help." Ven said.
Aero was off to the side almost hyperventilating. Both! How could it be both? It was just suppose to be Ven. What had gone wrong? She kept going over all the different scenarios in her head that she could think of. Terra being back wasn't a bad thing in and of it's self, what worried her was what the extra strain could have cost Blaze and the twins. As much as she wanted him with her now it wasn't worth some one or some ones dying over.
"How is it suddenly daytime. Last I remember we were fighting Thanroe in the middle of the night." Terra asked.
"It's not just daytime, it's been ten years." Aero replied, still shaken. She hoped her sister would wake up soon because she had a feeling that the girl would appreciate being awake for all the explanations. Riku had already come to and was listing in intently. Despite that he still had one question he needed answered.
"Ten years! How is that possible?" Ven asked.
"I'll explain later." Aero muttered.
"Where's Sora?" Riku asked.
"Oh, you mean the spiky haired kid? He 's back there. I'll go get him." Terra offered, not at all offended by the boy's demanding tone. Or perhaps he was too shocked to be. Whatever the reason, Terra fallowed through on his promise and went to get the boy. To his surprise, he was not alone. Aero had followed him.
"What happened here?" He asked lightly grazing the welt left by her sister's slap, when he was sure they were out of earshot. The touch sent shivers up Aero's spine as it always did. Good to see not everything had changed.
"It's nothing, Aqua's been a little stressed lately." It was all the excuse needed.
"Ahh, has she had a lot of reason to be stressed?" He asked.
"Yes she has. I probably could have put an end to a lot of it…but then she would have made things difficult." She whispered. Talking with Terra was easy. He was the only person she knew that would let her have her secrets while still caring enough to actually ask the right questions. Or maybe his presents naturally unhinged her lips a little.
"When has your sister not made things difficult for herself?" Terra muttered. Aero laughed, for it was true. Aqua had often gotten herself into trouble with her over bluntness and set ideas on good and evil.
As much as Aero wished it, they could not continue bashing her sister forever. There were other issues that needed to be discussed and they were not pleasant ones. At this point, finally having Terra back, Aero would have given anything not to have to be the one to break the news to him, but she was the only one who could.
"Terra look. There's something I need to say." She admitted as she took in a deep breath. "I know that this is confusing for you already, but it's going to get a lot worse. Your sister doesn't remember you."
Comprehension flashed in his eyes. Ten years. The girl. It couldn't be. It can't be. It was impossible. But Aero wouldn't lie, not to him, not about something like this. His family meant everything to Terra. It was the quickest way to get to the gentle giant; the surest way to get him angry was to even give idle threats against them.
Terra put his hand against the rock face to steady himself.
"So that girl…" he breathed in nonbelief. Last he has seen his sister she was a sweet little five year old whom he adored. But if what Aero said was true…
"Kairi doesn't remember you. It's part of the magic I had to do to save you. Please wait for me to explain to everyone. I just thought you should know so that you don't wined up saying something that would put you in an awkward situation that you don't want to be in." She muttered.
"You think I shouldn't tell her?" Aero couldn't exactly tell if it was shock or anger shining through his baritone voice. Either way she cared enough not to console him with the truth. Even if she told him that he should run up and explain everything right now, he wouldn't. In truth, he would probably never tell her, nor would Ansem. For them it would be easier to let her forget then face the girls anger.
"What you tell her is your prerogative, but you should probably wait to talk to your dad first. This hasn't been easy for him. Not at all." She said.
By the time the duo had managed to get Sora from the little cave and back to the party, Aqua woke up. The moment her eyes fell on the sight of her old friends she immediately passed out again, causing Terra to give a little chuckle. Aqua had always been a bit of a drama queen.
"That poor girl, she sure has been spending a lot of time sleepin'" Goofy quipped.
Okay, so you finally find out the big secret about Kairi. The only question now is when does she? To me, the fact actually seems cannon. Think about it. She's a princess like all the princesses of heart (Wonderland exists inside Alice's imagination so of course she's an unofficial princess of it). She's originally from Radiant garden. Ansem is king. Simple enough.
The twilight crossover thing will not be a big aspect, I just love nessie. Also if anyone has any idea as to what the other organization members are doing, besides the brothers and apprentices (which are 's 1-6 if you didn't know) are doing I would like to know. Especially since I would love to be able to add other somebodies.
In reviews someone mentioned not understanding how Aero was freed. If you're confused, just think of the magic that bound her as a lock and since the keyblades can unlock any lock…
Hope that clears things up a bit.
R&R guys. The lack of response before put a major damper on my mojo. No mojo it's hard to write.
