AN: I'd like to apologise for the delay in this update and the probable delay in the next; I haven't been feeling especially well the last few days which contributed to the long delay, and the writer's block didn't help xD but I got there and that's the main thing :) Whilst I didn't quite use the ideas that HeartofFyrwinde gave me, they still lead in a certain direction that I expanded on, and their continued willingness to listen to my ramblings and bounce ideas with me massively helps out :D I have a whole box of virtual cookies with your name on mate!
If you have the time please leave me a review and let me know what you think! :)
The All Nighter
Aqua smiled to herself, despite her worry. Mel and Pocahontas, after a few minutes of watching each other very closely, had apparently become the best of friends, as if they had grown up together. The young woman of the Powhatans had volunteered to help look for their missing friends, and she was deeply fascinated with them. Aqua supposed, compared to the people of the village, and these 'pale faces' everyone kept talking about, she and her friends couldn't have stood out more even if they tried. And yet…watching the two young women run around the forest, dodging the trees and roots in their way, making short work of the heartless when they decided to have a go – they could have been childhood friends and you wouldn't know the difference.
Pocahontas said she knew someone who might be able to help, and she took them down one of the many rivers in a large canoe, with Mel helping to paddle. Terra stared at her in amazement as they pushed the craft into the water and demanded to know when she had learnt.
"When I was a child." She said, startled.
"I didn't know you could kayak!" he said, sounding almost wounded.
"It's a canoe," she said after a long moment, trying to gather her scattered wits. For all that her self-confidence had grown, little else had really changed. "And there's probably still a lot about me you don't know." She added gently to placate his hurt.
Mel was quite the accomplished sailor, if a bit rusty at first, but she got into the rhythm of it quickly and sat at the front of the boat while Pocahontas sat at the stern, steering the vessel with sure strokes and relying on Mel to warn her of oncoming obstacles. Aqua wanted to help, but she had never been kayaking or canoeing before, and she felt she was more of a hindrance than a help. It was a fairly short trip, and they docked against a sandy bank before slipping into the shade of an enormous weeping willow tree. Pocahontas ran ahead, jumping nimbly over a huge, twisted root with Mel following swiftly. Aqua let herself walk at a slow and measured pace, trying not to think too much about Ven and Sora possibly in mortal danger. Terra scrambled slightly less elegantly after Mel, not quite keeping his balance as he tried to follow.
"Grandmother Willow!" Pocahontas called, running lithely up to a natural platform made by an enormous tree stump set before the trunk of the willow tree.
"Is this another 'Shamanic' thing?" Terra asked, tottering after Mel and accepting her proffered hand to help him over the last gap between the roots and the platform. "Talking to trees?"
"I don't know." Mel said in that soft, almost vague tone she had. She never sounded vague and careless – just…lost in a world of her own. "Some people talk to trees, like they do to their plants. Ven talks to his plants all the time,"
"Because he's a nutcase." Terra said decisively as Aqua joined them on the platform. "I thought you said sorry to that tree?"
"I thought it would be only polite after what happened. The same way you would apologise to Leo if you punched him in the face."
Aqua snorted. "Who'd be stupid enough to punch Leo in the face? He'd flatten you!"
"Talkin' to trees…" Terra folded his arms and shook his head. "My day just keeps getting weirder and weirder."
"Kyo used to talk to the rose bush in our garden," Mel said unexpectedly. She very rarely spoke of her home world, and if she did it was only about something directly linked to her family. "He went camping the whole summer one year, and the bush just died." She looked faintly puzzled by this herself. "Poor thing. I didn't think I was that much of a bore."
Terra sniggered to himself, and Aqua stifled a laugh.
"Grandmother Willow hasn't seen your friends, and neither have any of the animals," Pocahontas looked upset that she couldn't help as she entered the circle of conversation. "I'm sorry,"
"That's all right," Mel said comfortingly. "I'm sure they'll turn up soon, they always get out of trouble. Sora's notorious for it." Aqua couldn't help it; she had to laugh and staggered away, clutching her sides while Mel went on. "You have our thanks for trying all the same, it was very kind of you both."
"Um…" Terra raised a hand to point, and pulled a quizzical face. "How can the tree tell you if it's seen Sora and Ven?"
"Like this," said a low, elderly voice with an assured tone.
They all whipped around in time to see a face coalesce from a huge knot in the wood of the tree trunk: a kind, human face, that of a woman and deeply lined with wrinkles, the same colour and texture as the willow bark. The tree smiled at their dumbstruck expressions, and a tendril of a vine like branch came to life to snake over and poke Terra in the chest. It took a moment for it to sink in, and then Terra yelped and jumped backwards, nearly pitching over the edge and into the pool of water below.
"Pleased to meet you," Mel said pleasantly, as if talking to trees with human faces wasn't a novelty. The again, this was Mel they were talking about – she had predicted a thunderstorm using the dregs of porridge Ven had left lying around. Aqua had the impression that given the right tools and incentive, Mel could do almost anything.
"Tell me your names," the tree said in a soft but unyielding tone. She didn't exactly command, but it was hard to refuse the request.
"I'm Aqua."
"My name is Melody."
There was an expectant pause.
"And this is our friend Terra," Aqua supplied with a smile. He was still gaping like a fish out of water. Aqua all but stuffed her fist into her mouth to keep from laughing when Mel nudged him in the ribs.
"It's rude to stare," she said in an undertone, and he clamped his mouth shut and looked away, abashed.
"You are not the people who came from the sea." Grandmother Willow said pleasantly, regarding the three of them closely. "I see." She said, as if to herself. "There are more of you than I thought."
"Huh?" Terra and Mel said together. "Have you seen Ven and Sora?" he asked.
"No, child. I have not seen your friends, and I do not know where to look for them. But I can tell you that you are not the first of your kind to be seen in this world. I remember many years, as long as this forest has stood; and I remember each visitor who bares the mark of a strong heart and spirit." She turned to look at Pocahontas. "Almost as strong as my dear Pocahontas!" The woman smiled bashfully and tried to mutter something about it being an over statement, but in true motherly fashion the tree ignored her. "Now then. The last time a wielder of the Keyblade came through here…oh, now when was it?" she chuckled at the stunned looks on their faces. "It is a secret meant to be kept to keep the order of the worlds, but hear tell still leaks through. I must say, I am glad to see such bright lights being the ones to wield the power. The last young man I encountered was shrouded in shadows, and I chose not to speak with him."
Aqua had a sneaking suspicion who that may have been, but refrained from saying it aloud. She started when the face in the tree looked upwards sharply, and the branched of the tree seemed to quiver with alarm.
"Oh dear!"
"What is it, Grandmother Willow?" Pocahontas asked urgently.
"One of those heartless demons is nearby. If you don't stop it, it might make it as far as the village!"
"We can't let that happen," Terra said sharply, completely over his shock now. He raised his hand and drew his keyblade from nowhere; amazing Pocahontas with it's otherworldly qualities that to her were completely unknown. "Let's go!"
"Wait, Terra!" Aqua called as he jumped down from the tree stump and ran through the maze of roots, Mel and Pocahontas fast on his heels, the older woman easily over taking him. "We don't even know which direction…" Aqua said to thin air, frustrated.
"Oh, just a little further north from where they are heading." The willow tree said kindly. "He has a strong heart, I'm sure he can find the heartless ones without my guidance."
"Thank you, Grandmother," Aqua bowed her head politely before chasing after her friends, weapon in hand and mind racing ahead to think of a tactical plan.
XOXOX
Anger, so deep and righteous it had to be channelled before it consumed him. Tomasa screamed with frustration and flung the hateful stone Pete had given him against the wall of his room, and it fractured into a spray of dust so fine it looked like silver star dust.
The all-consuming ire from moments before vanished in an instant, and he stood breathing deeply and painfully, a stitch springing up in his side. Then, he automatically assumed the recovery position from PE at school to straighten himself out and urge the stitch to subside. He jumped when the door opened, and the pain that had started to ebb suddenly returned full force.
"My dear, whatever is the matter?" Maleficent asked as she entered, uninvited.
Although, it was her castle, she could do what she liked. That was his aunt's philosophy, and when he and Kyo had complained she had invited them to build and maintain their own household where they could set the rules – until then they had to abide by the owner of the house, in that case being her.
"I…" he closed his eyes and turned away, shame faced. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me…"
Maleficent hovered over the fine spray of silver dust that had settled in a pattern similar to a creator you would expect from a meteor impact. It occurred to him as she dipped a long finger into the pile, that it was odd for a stone as black as the void itself to produce a silver, metallic residue.
"Now then," she said gently, turning to him after searching the dust. "Tell me, Tomasa, what caused this disquiet?"
Tomasa swallowed. "I'm really sorry, I just-!" he didn't know what to say. He had felt so angry and frustrated; something had to give before it was his mind that snapped. "I couldn't control my temper. It's my fault, I'll clean it up,"
"That is not what I meant. Tell me what is on your mind," despite his many misgivings since coming here, he liked to think she was at least genuinely curious if not concerned.
Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes to help his focus, Tomasa admitted, "Pete makes me so angry sometimes. I don't understand the way he works, and I just resent the way he deals with me. He said I should stay out of his way now that Ratcliffe is on side, because I can't control the heartless. He also said I can't use these stones, and he said he was going to use them on the keybladers. I don't want Mel to get hurt!" It terrified him to think about it… "What are these stones, anyway?" he asked, suddenly curious. He really didn't have so much as a clue about them.
"Didn't Pete explain?" Maleficent asked, plucking another stone from the folds of her robe. She held it up, and it seemed to suck the light and colour out of existence. "They absorb the light of others, siphoning off magic and energy to weaken your opponent. In the right hands and with the right training, the power stored within them can be channelled back and used to your advantage against the one it originally came from. They are good for weakening your adversaries," she started walking towards the window and looked out of it into the distance. It was a barren, featureless landscape Tomasa tried to ignore most of the time. "I have recently discovered them myself, they are useful things, are they not? I wonder," she turned to look at him with a calculating expression that Tomasa matched. "Did you not feel the effects as you carried it home?"
Tomasa blinked and thought about it for a moment, trying not to think too much about the effect of the word 'home'. "I don't know. I was just really angry, and Pete had given it to me. I took it out on the stone…"
"It seems you are one of few who are not effected by them."
"How do you mean?"
"Aren't you aware of their presence?"
"Yes…I just chose to ignore it because it creeped me out." Kyo often ignored things that scared him and focused manically on something else. That always worked for him, and Tomasa had tried it a few times, like now with some measure of success.
Maleficent regarded him closely for a few moments before giving that disconcerting smile of hers. "I think perhaps, now is the time to start your training." She said as she walked slowly towards the door.
"Huh? Training? What training?" he said quickly, his pulse hammering in his veins.
"Perhaps not the heartless, just yet, but certainly I can teach you some magic along with these stones,"
Tomasa frowned, and looked down at the dust pile, and called out to her as she was about to leave. "Wait!" Maleficent stopped, but did not turn around. "What are they even called? And why did it break up into silver dust?"
Maleficent slowly turned to him, and he felt a prickling along his spine that made the hair on his neck stand on end. "They are known as Void Stones. They may have other names I do not know of. The silver colour is the stored energy the stone held, which has now dissipated. Do not fear, no harm was done, although perhaps next time you should try to think of another way to vent your anger. I understand, Pete can be…" she smiled as she lingered over the right word. "Rather trying, at times."
After she left Tomasa shut the door quickly and flopped onto his bed, staring up at the high ceiling with its gothic style vaults, heart hammering. Void…it rung a bell. In his home world their version of hell was a place called the void – it was like a vacuum, and only horrors like demons could escape through foul play and were said to drag the unwary down into their depths. It was a story told to frighten children into obedience, like the boogieman or the witch living under the drainage system like the girl next door believed.
But…grandpa had told them a story, when they were much younger. He told them lots of stories; Mel loved to learn, and Kyo loved to listen, and Tomasa loved to be a part of it. He knew enough about the universe they lived in to distinguish between the different realms – the realm of light, the realm of darkness, and the realms between that were neither, as well as the lanes and alleyways in between. Grandpa had told them a story about another aspect of the world, known as The Void, a place supposedly worse than the Realm of Darkness. It was hard to believe, and Tomasa had never tried to find any deeper meaning. Now he wished fiercely he had paid more attention at the time – Mel and Kyo must remember more, but of course, he couldn't ask them.
Trying not to let his frustration boil over again, Tomasa settled back and relaxed into the mattress of his bed, counting his breaths until they were slow and steady.
"It'll be okay," he said aloud, unthinking. "I know it will."
It was just an old story from an old man told to keep a bunch of kids quiet on a cold winter's night. That's all.
XOXOX
They chased the heartless all the way back to the willow tree, and finally dispatched it. It was another of those unnerving, bear like creatures, not as big as the one that had torn through the river, but still big enough to be a cause for concern. Aqua insisted that they take a breather, and they all sat down to rest before the talking tree trunk.
Terra couldn't get over it – a talking tree! And Mel's calm, placid acceptance of it all. It irked him slightly that Aqua found his reaction amusing, but it didn't do much to rile him up – he was more concerned about the heartless, after all.
"I am still looking," said the tree as Mel settled down beside Pocahontas. "If your friends are around, I'll find them."
"Oh, no!" Mel raised her hands. "Please, don't put yourself to any trouble for our sakes. I know Ven and Sora will find us."
"How can you be sure?" Pocahontas asked, looking her full in the face.
"They always do." Mel replied simply, and she accepted the answer.
"Your people have most unusual names…and I thought John Smith was a peculiar name! Do all people have names like that, where you come from?"
Mel and Pocahontas started swapping names and trying to learn more about each other's cultures. Terra drew himself away from them and went over to Aqua, seated at the edge of the platform created by the tree stump and watching the water below ripple in the light breeze that brought many warm coloured leaves with it floating on the invisible currents. She turned to look at him as he sat down behind her, and smiled before turning back to her quiet reflection. Terra casually slung his arm around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder; she leant her head against his in acknowledgement.
It was the small, simple things, more so than the bigger ones, that made everything worthwhile.
Aqua was the oldest friend he had, and being with her, just simply hanging out, was the easiest thing in the world. Part of his reservations of letting his deeper feelings known was that he might lose this casual, easy intimacy they had. Of course, he should have known Aqua would want that normality as well; it felt wonderful to be this close to her, where he could see and touch her, substantial and solid.
As they sat idly by, Terra started to tune in to what the others were saying. They were swapping stories, and the willow tree was listening attentively, every so often fielding a question or remarking on something one of the women said, sparking off a whole new round of conversation. Aqua shifted and he raised his head to move out of her way; she turned her face to his, angling her body towards him as best she could from her seated position, lifting one of her legs and tucking it underneath herself. Eyes closed, she leaned her face against his, noses and foreheads touching. They stayed there, poised for a moment before Terra bridged the gap between their lips.
It was almost terrifying, how his need for her kept growing – it was almost a physical ache when they were apart for any length of time. He knew his advances were welcome, and his affections returned, but…he still wanted more, like every other young man desperately in love. It was selfish, immature, ridiculous even, to demand more of her, and yet it was still there: a deep yearning that couldn't quite be satisfied. This was probably the first time they had had a moment alone together since the Mark of Mastery was announced; they had both been so focused on it, not just for Terra's sake but Ven's as well.
Aqua pulled back slightly, and he tried to follow, but she turned her face at an angle to deter him. Then she raised her head so their eyes were level, and looked straight into his. It did nothing to quench the urges he could feel in his body.
How could her eyes match her hair? It had always been a mystery to him – such a vivid blue, especially in the filtered light through the trees. And when had it happened, the transition between? When had she gone from a pretty annoying girl, to a pretty stunning woman?
Terra's thoughts ended as she pressed her lips against his again, though more lightly and not for long. Her nose skimmed his cheek as she leaned towards him, resting against the crook of his neck, and arms around his middle, sighing with contentment. Using one arm to lean on for support, he raised his other to stroke her hair, smiling. He was used to having to battle for her affection; she often rebuffed him when she was focusing on something important, or because he had purposefully wound her up. And here she was, cuddling up against him without any resistance. He voiced this aloud, and she smiled against his neck, right before her hands probed around his sides and found the pressure points she was looking for.
"Ouch!" Terra jumped, and glowered at her.
Aqua smiled serenely, snuggling up again as if he was her pillow and said, "Shut up, Terra."
Terra rolled his eyes.
Of course. Aqua wouldn't yield so easily… It should have been frustrating, but Terra liked a challenge, and he had been trying to crack her for years. A little romance in the mix just made it slightly more interesting.
"You know I do love you, right?" he asked idly.
"Yeah, right."
Terra raised an eyebrow and looked down at her, and she flashed him a sly smile.
"But I don't like you right now," he snapped, annoyed.
"Oh well," she smiled sweetly, and giggled as he fumed at her.
This wasn't a battle – it was all out war. Terra pushed her away and turned his back, nose in the air and affecting a 'couldn't care less' attitude. He waited, dangling the bait there for her. After a few moments he heard her shuffle, and then Aqua crawled over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He only just deigned to look at her, and he closed his eyes and held still and unresponsive when she kissed him.
"You're adorable when you're mad," she said in a sickeningly loving voice.
In response, Terra bit her lip hard, making her yelp and recoil. Then, with ire in her eyes, she smacked him round the back of the head.
Yup, it was a war all right.
XOXOX
As promised, when night fell (hard to tell with the lack of light in their cell) the guy named Smith came for them. Ven needed some support at first while Sora rummaged through their bags that had been pilfered back. Sadly, Riku's knife was nowhere to be found, but he could worry about that later. After they left the room and the disconcerting stones, Sora forced a Hi-potion down Ven's throat, and he perked right up.
"We have to be quiet," Smith said, checking around the corner of a tent and ducking back into the shadows as two men walked past. "Get to the gate without being seen." The raccoon from before flitted to his side and looked up expectantly. "Go Meeko," the raccoon raced off in the dimming twilight and disappeared.
"Now what?" Sora asked, poking Ven to make sure he was still awake, turning back satisfied when he swatted the hand away irritably. Good, he was feeling better.
"We wait," Smith said, raising a hand to signal for silence. "By the way," he added after a long pause, turning to look at Sora again. "My name's John," he held out a hand to him.
"I'm Sora!" he said, shaking his hand. "This is my friend Ventus, but everyone calls him Ven-"
There was an all mighty crash from across the camp, and several barrels and a neat stack of crates was over turned in a crescendo of noise. John waited for a few more seconds before he signalled to them both and said, "Follow me,"
They dashed across the camp, dodging in and out of the shadows, but no one was on the look out for them, they were too busy complaining about the mess they had to clean up. They made it right to the other side of the site, and ran along the dark high wall of timber to a small gap that had been left unmanned. Meeko scuttled up to meet them and jumped onto John's back.
"Thanks, Meeko!" Sora said with a grin, which the raccoon returned in kind.
After they had been running for about ten minutes they stopped to rest, and Ven sat down heavily, panting hard.
"Thanks, John," Sora said once he got his breath back. "We owe you one!"
"Don't mention it," John smiled at him. "So, what exactly are you two doing here?"
"Like we said, we're here for the heartless."
"Ratcliffe insists those things are the locals invention to keep us away from the gold." He shook his head condescendingly. "But there is no gold!"
"Like we'd know," Ven shrugged, heaving himself to his feet again. "That was the first we'd heard about any gold."
"I got into trouble with him today. I met one of the women from the village, and she thought I was talking about corn when I told her about the gold. They don't have any – but Ratcliffe wouldn't listen. He wants to wage a war with the Powhatans."
"That sounds bad," Sora said, his will hardening with determination. He turned to Ven and said, "We'd better find Aqua and the others fast! I bet that Ratcliffe guy's using the heartless himself!"
"Yeah," Ven nodded, looking slightly worse for wear but his spirits by no means dampened. "She'll be worried about us by now, we've been gone ages."
"I'm meeting a friend, I'm sure she'll know where to start looking for your friends," John offered.
Sora grinned at him. "Thanks! We'd better stick around in case there's more heartless nearby. I'd hate for something to happen to you out here by yourself,"
John laughed good-naturedly. "Thanks! All right then, you two ready?"
They made a good steady pace that carried them over the terrain, encountering just a few heartless that mostly ran away when they saw them coming. Sora commented on the odd behaviour, but Ven didn't seem to take much notice, so he filed it away for future reference if need be. The forest gave way to a wide river which they crossed carefully, and then scuttled up a steep incline to a flat clearing by a pool of water next to an enormous weeping willow.
A tall, dark skinned woman with long, flowing black hair raced to meet them, flinging her arms around John's neck. She looked up at the sound of a twig snapping as Sora took a step back, and she gasped with recognition.
"You are friends of Aqua, Terra and Mel?"
"We sure are!" Sora jumped to attention with the news.
"Do you know where to find them?" Ven added hastily.
"Through there," she pointed to a place beyond the tree. "They have been looking for you,"
Ven hurtled off without a second thought, and Sora stayed long enough to say, "Thanks again, John! Let us know if you see any more heartless,"
John chuckled and waved. "Take care, Sora!"
Sora bent his steps in the direction Ven had gone, and as he cleared the last few branches and gazed onto the dimly lit shoreline of the river, something grabbed him painfully by the shoulders and he yelped with surprise.
"Where have you been?" Aqua hissed, holding him in a vice like grip.
"We got ambushed!" he said quickly. He was really fond of Aqua; she was kind, funny, and smart – she understood all of his jokes. But she was pretty scary when she got mad, as Ven had kept insisting. Now Sora saw what he meant. "It wasn't out fault! But this guy – called John Smith – helped us escape,"
Aqua turned to look at Mel, who was having her hair ruffled by Terra. "Told you so." She said simply in that tone she had that never invited antagonism.
"Aqua, we've got a whole bunch of problems!" Sora said, waving his hands for emphasis and to get her attention. "There's this guy called Governor Ratcliffe, and he's sided with the heartless! He kept saying that there's gold here or something and the locals are trying to hide it from them, and using the heartless against the settlers. He's also got these weird black stones that suck your strength from you! We would've busted out by ourselves ages ago but we couldn't do any magic or form drives or anything! Ven kept falling asleep, and-!"
Ven scowled at him, then turned it on Terra as he swooped down on the younger man and shook him by the shoulders. "Don't go back to sleep, Ven!"
"Get off me!" he pushed Terra away with as much force as he could muster.
"Where is this Ratcliffe?" Aqua asked, ignoring the other two as Mel crowded closer to listen.
"There's a camp not too far from here, where we were taken after we got captured. There's loads of men there, but they shouldn't be too hard to deal with. The real problem are the heartless and those weird stones."
Aqua frowned, cocking her head to one side and thinking deeply, something he had seen Riku do loads of times before. "What did they look like?" she asked eventually.
"Huh? Err, well…" Sora had to really think. How would you describe it? "Kinda like a black hole, but you know it's really a rock. It even stopped me from summoning my keyblade."
Aqua blinked, and then blanched. "That's impossible!" she exclaimed, reeling with shock.
"There were seven of them in a line on the floor, and we hadn't had anything to eat or drink in a while. Maybe we were just too tired or something?" he suggested. "It really hurt my head!" he rubbed it now, remembering the lancing, shooting pain that had occurred when he tried to call his keyblade whilst near those stones.
Aqua looked deeply unnerved, but Mel looked thoughtful. "I think I heard something like that once."
"Huh?" Aqua turned to her instantly. "What was it?"
"I don't know. I can't remember. But, blocking the energy signature that allows you to summon the keyblade." She looked a bit frustrated. "It rings a bell, but I just can't think from where…"
"I'll have to look into that one." Aqua said eventually, looking upset by the thought.
Ven opened his mouth to speak, but he was drowned out by a terrible, air splitting roar from deep within the forest. They turned to face it, weapons in hand, but the heartless was heading away from them, towards the settlers' camp. They gave chase for a few moments, and Sora was prepared to run after it to the very edge of the world, but Aqua called him back.
"It's no use running around in the dark," she reasoned. "We'll have a better chance in the daylight. Besides-"
What else besides, they never found out. A loud crack, the unmistakable sound of a gun firing off, pierced the night, and they all exchanged worried looks before dashing back to the clearing. Sora skidded to a halt, kicking up a spray of mud and dirt as he took in the scene before them.
A man, dark skinned and wearing clothes similar to the woman, was lying on his back in the pool of water, eyes wide and lifeless. The woman herself was struggling against John to reach another man that Sora recognised from the settlers' camp, holding a gun and looking stunned.
"He killed him!" she woman shouted while John tried to placate her.
"Get outta here, Thomas." John called to the young man, who was trembling at the sound of shouts and yells from not far away through the trees. "Get outta here!" the lad nodded once before he pelted off into the darkness of the forest.
Aqua knelt beside the man in the water, and checked for a pulse. Mel crouched beside her and placed a hand over his heart and his solar plexus, but shook her head sadly.
"He's gone." She said simply.
Aqua gently raised her hand and closed his eyelids, her own eyes downcast with respect for the dead.
Sora yelped and jumped back with Ven as a flurry of activity burst onto the scene. More men, again dark skinned, ran into the clearing, and took John captive. Aqua and Mel swept out of the way as the fallen man was gently lifted and carried away while John was dragged.
"Pocahontas…" Aqua said softly, putting her hands on the woman's shoulders. "I'm sorry…"
She put her face in her hands and shook her head slowly, shoulders heaving.
"Hey, wait!" Sora shouted, running after John. "It wasn't him! Let him go!"
"This does not concern you!" one of the warriors snapped, hefting a nasty looking axe into his hands.
"But he's innocent! It wasn't John who shot him!"
"It wasn't!" Ven added his voice to the furore, which slowed the warriors down somewhat, but not by enough.
"Give it up, boys," John said in a subdued voice, a spear to his back and a knife to his throat.
"But it's not right!" Sora insisted.
"You!" a man shouted, brandishing a spear at them. "Kocoum was right! You really are no better than the pale faces!"
Sora stepped back in surprise, and then took another step back as Ven put himself in between them, keyblade in hand and scowling.
"This is your fault!" the man shouted, raising his weapon to strike, but another, older man stilled his hand.
"Let the chief decide. The wound is from the metal weapon of spark and flame, not their 'keyblades'. They did not kill Kocoum."
The younger warrior snarled, and Sora saw his deep anguish, and knew he was acting on impulse from deep emotion – he felt sorry for the man, but he was still concerned about John.
"You gotta believe me!" Sora tried to convince them as they got ready to leave. "John didn't do it!"
But no one was listening.
"We've gotta do something!" Ven said to Aqua as the men left them alone. "John saved us! We've gotta help him!"
Terra put a hand on Pocahontas' shoulder and said gently, "What exactly happened?"
Haltingly, she told them: John had said his people wanted war, and she had told him that hers did as well. Kocoum had attacked John, thinking she was in danger, and while she tried to help John fend him off – both unarmed – the other man had shot him with the gun.
"We shouldn't have left," Aqua said, anguished. "We should have stayed with you. I'm so sorry,"
"Guys," Mel said in a low voice, and they all turned to look at her. She raised her head, jaw held defiantly, a look Sora hadn't seen in her before; determination was etched into every line of her face. "If we want to save him and avert a war, we should probably get going."
"True," Ven nodded in agreement.
"Then what are we waiting for?!" Sora demanded, and tore off after the party of warriors. "Let's go!"
XOXOX
Kairi wondered back into the entrance hall, to where Riku was sat just outside the doors watching the courtyard below. It was just after dusk, and the sky had taken on that deep blue that wasn't quite black; millions of stars shone in the clear cold sky around the sickle moon. Leo was draped over the stairs, his head in Riku's lap, humming in an agitated manner. They had kept this vigil since late that afternoon. Of course, Kairi was a bit nervous herself now, considering they should have been back a while ago, but that was nothing on how Riku was feeling. Lea had gone for a power nap, not too fussed about their absence, but when he woke up he'd probably start getting edgy too.
They had been building the structures Aqua had asked of them all day, and they were exhausted, in no condition to fight or to search for the others without becoming a liability themselves.
"Riku, come back inside. It's freezing out here!" they weren't quite used to the climate in this world – they lived on a lovely, warm tropical island where the only thing that was frosty was a type of iced drink.
"They should have been back hours ago." He said in a tight voice.
"Aqua and Terra are with them. If something's gone wrong, they'll be fine." She said, tugging at Riku's arm. His skin was cold. "You're going to catch pneumonia if you stay out here like this! If they get back late I'm sure they can find their way back inside,"
"What if something's gone badly wrong?" Riku snapped, shaking her away.
"Since when has Sora ever given up?" Kairi demanded.
"Oh, let me think," Riku said sarcastically, and her temper flared. "Not off the top of my head, but several times he's needed me to drag him out of trouble! What if he's stuck or trapped and needs helps getting out of it?!"
"Because all those times, he didn't have anyone else with him! It's not like during your exam when you were separated. He went with four other people! It's much harder to get lost and up to your neck in trouble with that many people around to look after you. Get back inside before you die of hypothermia!"
Riku gave her a filthy look before he got stiffly to his feet. Leo croaked, slowly waking up and following them without a second thought back inside. Riku stomped up the stairs, and Kairi had to jog to keep up.
"I know they'll turn up." She said firmly. "Let's have something to eat, go to bed, and if they aren't back by the morning we'll go look for them. Agreed?"
"We should go looking for them now," Riku gave her a pained look.
"We're too tired after today to be of much help. C'mon, Riku! Use your head!" she poked him between the eyes and he swatted at her tiredly, missing by several inches. "What use would those reflexes be in a fight?"
Riku looked angry for a moment, and she thought he was going to shout at her, but he suddenly sagged and laughed, just a little to close to hysteria for comfort. "Okay, you win."
"Good!" she put her hands against his shoulder blades and pushed. "Now bed. If they're still missing in the morning, I'll help you look for them."
"Deal."
Leo looked upset that Mel wasn't home, and spent the night curled up outside her room where Kairi was sleeping, his head and neck stuck through the doorway that was too big to accommodate his massive shoulders and font legs. Kairi could have sworn the moment her head hit the pillow that Riku was barging his way past the poor dragon into the room, but when she looked up light was streaming through the window.
"It's morning, they're not here, get moving!" Riku said with single-minded determination as he ripped the covers from the bed.
"Riku!"
"I said move it!"
"Get out!" she shrieked at him, mortified.
"We had a deal!" Riku shouted at her, shaking with suppressed agitation and anxiety.
"Do you want to see me getting changed?" she snapped. She was so not taking any of his crap this early in the morning.
Riku stared at her blankly before he realised what she meant. His anger drained away and left behind a deep awkwardness.
"Get out!" she said again, flinging the pillow at him as he retreated.
"Ten minutes!" he said over his shoulder before he tried to slam the door shut on Leo's nose.
This woke the dragon up completely, but he didn't take kindly to the rough treatment, and she heard Riku yelp as Leo pounced on him in anger and surprise.
"You sure got a way with women and animals!" came Lea's drawl as Kairi hastily threw on some clean clothes and scrabbled around for a hairbrush.
"Oh shut up!" Riku shouted at him loudly. "Kairi, hurry the hell up!"
Kairi didn't deign to respond beyond aiming a punch at him as she stalked out of the room. When they bolted down a hasty breakfast she said, more gently, "I know you're worried about them, but you don't have to take it out on us."
Riku gave her an anguished look, and when Lea disappeared after dumping his plate in the sink, he said, "Sora's my best friend. I don't know what I'd do without him…"
"I know, but luckily you won't have to find out. Now let's go!" she grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the kitchen.
XOXOX
It was with a brooding and ominous silence that they sat in council, not knowing what to say or do. Dawn was fast approaching, and they were no closer to solving any of the numerous problems. Aqua had pleaded with the Chief of the Powhatans, but he was enraged that a life had been taken, and since it was clear none of the keyblade wielders were responsible, he had asked her to keep out of their affairs. He was calling forth the 'drums of war' as he turned them away, and Mel's face had drained of blood. When asked, she said in most instances, this phrase was very powerful and didn't bode well at all – almost like a binding magical contract.
Aqua despaired at being able to do anything; it was imperative they keep the order of the worlds intact, so meddling had to be kept to an absolute minimum, and they had already been pushing it further than they really should have. But, they couldn't just let this go and turn a blind eye!
What would Master Eraqus have done? Aqua didn't know, and it pained her deeply. If ever she had needed her mentor's guidance during the time she had been a Master in her own right, it was now.
Mel kept standing up, walking around the clearing they had found to settle in, and then sitting down abruptly before repeating the same motions in a different direction and dropping to sit in a different location.
Ven and Sora sat moodily, one of them every so often fielding a suggestion before the other shot it down with cutting words.
Terra had dozed off, but only lightly – he was trying to rest up for whatever was ahead of them.
Aqua hung her head in despair. What was she going to do?
Suddenly Mel sprang to her feet and dashed out of the clearing without a word or a backwards glance. She sometimes did this, in the safety of their castle or the Committee's house in Radiant Garden – where she was safe and protected. Running into a heartless infested forest, in the middle of the night, completely alone, was more than Aqua could stand.
"Mel, come back!" she shouted, but the girl was already out of earshot.
"I'll go!" Ven said, jumping to his feet and racing after her.
Sora got to his knees, but thought better of it and sat back down again. "What're we gonna do?" he asked Aqua imploringly.
Aqua snarled to herself, rubbing her temples. "I don't know!" she hissed in her frustration. "I just don't know…"
Sora looked like he was about to say something, but he drooped and looked at the floor, almost defeated. "What would Riku do?" he asked aloud, and then laughed, losing his sombre air. "He'd probably hit me and tell me to stop being a dweeb! We'll think of something,"
Despite the direness of the situation, Aqua smiled. Sora was one of those rare people that could make you smile in almost any situation. Under less pressing circumstances, he was a joy to be around.
They stayed in silence a while longer, each inwardly meditating on the crisis at hand; Terra stirred from his restless sleep and sat up to join in the thinking, and they all jumped when something came crashing into their midst without warning.
"Ven!" Terra snapped, getting over his heart attack.
"We have an idea!" he announced, breathless as Mel skidded into the clearing, followed closely by Pocahontas, who was holding something in her hand.
"What is it?" Aqua said quickly, getting up and running to them, the others on her heels.
"I know," Pocahontas said, trembling with excitement and anticipation. "I know my path now!" she held up the object, which turned out to be a compass. "I know what I must do, but I need your help. I don't have anyone else to turn to,"
"Whatever you need, we'll help." Sora said before anyone else could get a word in, and they all nodded in agreement.
"The heartless, the demons, bar my path. I can't fight them all alone. And I can't stand-alone against the tides of war. I need help."
"You have our support." Terra said reassuringly. "What do you need us to do first?"
They quickly marshalled themselves to order, shared out what was left of their supplies according to need and position, and left swiftly. Terra and Aqua would be bringing up the rear, and Sora and Ven would be ploughing ahead; Mel and Pocahontas in the middle of the group, dealing out supportive magic and items to the others and setting the pace, which was quite fast. Making headway wasn't a problem, it was the heartless that followed in their wake and that threatened to separate them from the group; Mel had to hurl a few well chosen spells into their midst to get them out of a few tricky situations that could fall down that slippery slope.
Aqua could now see the wisdom of Terra's power nap – she wanted to collapse and go to sleep, but too much was riding on them getting to their destination ASAP. Not just for them, innocent lives were at stake; it was their duty to protect them, even if they were now directly meddling in the affairs of another world. Rules, Master Eraqus had once told her, were there for a reason, but at times necessity dictated that you bent them to your will to avert a greater evil.
Most of the heartless were dispatched, but a few escaped their strikes to run along behind them, but when Aqua halted in her forward march to brandish her keyblade at them, they scurried into the shadows and took a while to return.
As the sky was beginning to turn red, Ven started flagging, and slowing down. He hadn't fully recovered from his imprisonment, and he was pushing himself to his limits now. He stopped long enough to take a drink and half a potion before he fell back into position, but it was clear he wasn't keeping up; Sora slowed his pace to try and match Ven's, but it didn't help much. Instead, Mel swapped places and started a relentless forward drive that seemed to scare the heartless into complete hiding, which made Aqua's job a lot easier. The girl fairly blazed with an inner fire that she somehow kept burning even when she started flagging as well. She had amazing endurance and stamina, but she wasn't a sprinter – she didn't have the build, and compared to Sora her legs were incredibly short. But Aqua didn't want her in the back row, where she could easily be separated from the group due to her slower pace; kept at the front, she had the incentive to go faster and people behind her to make sure she wasn't separated.
A low but carrying sound started thrumming in the distance, and it sounded oddly familiar until Aqua placed it in her memories. A deep, resonating thump of many drums that carried far even through the trees. It stirred them into a faster pace than ever, because it signalled the approach of an army, but the memories were more pleasant in this violent situation. Leo could make a deep, grunting roar that seemed low in volume, but carried incredibly far, and could be used to locate him if all else failed – that's what it had reminded her of.
"Look!" Sora shouted as they finally broke out of the forest onto a wide-open space of flat earth that had been uprooted and recompacted.
There was a slight rise near the centre, with a large bolder, and the Powhatans crowded behind it. Beyond it they could see the settlers, in full armour and bearing much more powerful weapons that the villagers. Splayed across a large flat stone on the rise, hands bound, was John Smith; above him stood the Chief, raising a large club and readying to strike.
Aqua took a matter of seconds to take stock of the situation before she reacted. Pocahontas burst through the knot of people, and Aqua threw up a shield around her to protect her in case any projectiles were let lose before the command was given. Mel ran after her, a shield hung around herself already, but one so closely contained it was like a second skin.
"No!" Pocahontas shouted, throwing herself across John as the club started its deadly arc downwards.
The Chief reeled with surprise and manoeuvred it harmlessly aside. Aqua and the others came to a half, panting heavily and waiting for events to unfold before they reacted. Ven was almost on his knees, and only got up after Sora forced a hi-potion down his throat and Terra pulled him to his feet again.
"If you kill him, you'll have to kill me to." Pocahontas said, with such forthright conviction Aqua was sure in that moment that she could change the course of the fight without their help.
"Daughter," the Chief said in a carrying, ringing voice that all assembled could hear. "Stand back."
"I won't!" she retorted, arms held protectively around John. "I love him, Father."
Everyone seemed to stand back in a state of shock from this confession, especially the large man in black armour leading the settlers that Sora had told them about. Aqua smiled to herself; when they had hatched their plan on the spot, they had decided outright honesty their best defence, but also…in all of her experience, love was the ruling, conquering, deciding factor. Love was what brought people together under one banner – what had brought her friends back to her. In a hate filled conflict, love could be like a soothing balm on broken and distraught hearts.
"Look around you!" Pocahontas said defiantly. "This is where the path of hatred has brought us!" laying her head down against John's and with her eyes closed, she said, "This is the path I choose, Father. What will yours be?"
The Chief looked first from his daughter, and then to the gathered men on the field that had been intended for battle. The settlers raised their guns, and the village warriors raised their bows and spears in readiness. Aqua prepared her manna and held her weapon in the ready position, knowing that Terra and Sora behind her were doing the same while Ven prepared his own magic.
A breeze, trailing soft, warm coloured leaves breathed through the ranks of men from all sides and swirled around him. Mel lowered her keyblade, and a few of the settlers lowered their guns as well in awe; she raised a hand, making a sign Aqua knew was meant to convey respect and thanks to the hearts of spirits. As the settlers stood down, so did the villagers begin to as well.
The Chief looked at his club, at first raised for bloodthirsty intent, and then he held it with his hands widely spaced apart and held it above his head in the warm breeze, addressing the men congregated around him, the mass of people who had gathered to spill blood in hatred.
"My daughter speaks with the wisdom beyond her years. We've all come here with anger in our hearts, but she comes with courage and understanding!" he lowered the club so the large knotted head was against the ground, holding it like a staff. "From this day forward, if there is to be more killing, it will not start with me."
Aqua grinned when she heard Sora hiss, "Yes!" triumphantly beside her.
The Chief turned to the man closest to him and said, "Release him."
Obediently, the man stepped forward and took a knife, which he used to cut the bonds that held John's hands together. Freed, he stood for a moment, looking deeply into Pocahontas' eyes before they were in each other's arms, happy and relieved for each other's safety. Aqua felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to find a pair of dark, impossibly deep blue eyes looking back at her. Anyone who had been bearing arms still now laid them down, ready to raise their hands in friendship instead. It was profoundly moving, and Aqua was glad and pleased they had averted such a conflict.
Mel tensed suddenly and raised her keyblade, which alerted Aqua to some remaining discord.
The Governor Ratcliffe stepped forth boldly and shouted, "Now's our chance! Fire!"
"No!" said a young man, not long since a boy still. But he spoke with such sure authority it was hard to doubt him.
"What?!" thundered the governor, struck by insubordination form his men.
"They let him go!" the young man said.
Another older man, with black hair added his voice to the mutiny. "They don't want to fight!" he pointed out, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"It's a trick!" Ratcliffe insisted, trying to rally them to his futile cause. "Don't you see? Fire!"
The men of the settlers looked sullen, and many crossed their arms, frowning deeply and making no move to comply with the demand. Ratcliffe's hands visibly shook, the sword he carried jerking before he threw it down and grabbed a loosely held gun from another man close by.
"Fine! I'll settle this myself!" he shouted, taking aim.
What happened next went so quickly Aqua didn't quite keep up with the events until it was too late. A large, black stone came hurtling out of nowhere and landed in their midst just before the governor pulled the trigger. Aqua tried to react instinctively as John jumped up and threw himself at the Chief, but something dark and ominous, and terribly heavy pressed against her mind and blocked the flow of magic – she couldn't throw up a shield or palling to protect any of them, and she gasped with horror as John fell to the ground, a bullet in his side. Pocahontas and Mel rushed to his side, but Mel swayed dangerously and almost keeled over herself. Ven fell to his knees despite Sora's best efforts to keep him on his feet, and Terra almost dropped too, gasping for air. What was this menacing presence? At least her keyblade was firmly in her hand. It would take a lot to force it to part from her.
Several men in the ranks of the village warriors shouted their alarm and dismay, but it was nothing to the uproar among the settlers
"John!" the young man shouted, making to run towards his fallen comrade. He rounded on Ratcliffe, righteous anger etched into every line of his youthful face. "You shot him!"
"He- he stepped right into it! It was his own fault-!" Ratcliffe began, but his last tenuous hold over the men had already been severed.
"Smith was right, we should have never listened to you!" someone yelled, and they descended upon him like a pack of wolves defending their family.
Mel stood up, swaying violently, but she shouted and managed to make herself heard. "GET BACK!"
The men were bowled over by a surge of darkness, and Ratcliffe straightened up slowly while the men lay on the ground, stunned. He flicked a spot of dirt from his sleeve and watched them with contempt. "Turn on me, will you? I have another ace up my sleeve. Pete!"
And Pete appeared out of nowhere, holding another black stone which he threw straight at Sora. The boy yelped and dodged out of the way before whacking it with his keyblade to rid them of the horrible sensations it brought.
"Heheheh! How's about this for ya?!"
Behind him manifested a heartless, even more dark and menacing than the ones they had already encountered. It was a huge, grotesque, bear-shaped monstrosity – covered in segments of armour that grew from its black body. The markings of red and yellow were contorted; jagged lines of no meaning, and consequence only of maddened rage. Something akin to a gattling gun was perched on its right shoulder, and something was slowly brewing within the barrel. It threw its head back and roared long and terrible, the note undulating in a horrible parody of a wolf's with none of the unearthly beauty – a terrible noise that filed against your nerves like a cheese grater. It raised up onto its hind legs as Pete disappeared, and Sora made to chase after him, ire in his eyes, but Terra grabbed him by the arm.
"Forget him! We've got bigger problems!"
Mel turned to the Chief and started giving orders that the man obeyed without a second thought. They took John, still wounded, and retreated while Mel yelled for the settlers to do the same. The young man made to join the fight, but he was bundled back by his friends to a safe distance.
Aqua ran forward to intercept the heartless as it chased after John, and it came to a ploughing stop to roar in her face, still charging something in its mounted weapon. Ven rallied himself to join in, but stayed back far enough to remain out of harms way while keeping the villagers covered; Sora barrelled past, keyblade in hand and snarling with anger.
"You want some!" he shouted at the heartless as Terra tried to curb his taunts.
"Watch the gun on its back!" Mel shouted at them.
The heartless lowered its head, pawing at the ground before it roared again and charged. Aqua was nearly flattened, and only just got out of the way in time; it swerved violently to avoid Terra, who stood his ground and held his keyblade out point first and yelled in its face. Sora struck out and it doubled back, sighting Mel and making a beeline for her. Aqua was about to attempt some stupid feat to reach her in time, but Mel thought of a plan quickly and put it into action. She took the black stone that had been thrown her way earlier, shuddering and recoiling from the contact, and hurled it at the heartless.
Mel's aim was true, and she struck it between the eyes where it embedded itself in the flesh of the heartless. It roared louder than ever, this time from pain, and tried to claw the stone from its face. While it was distracted, Terra and Sora closed in and started beating it back with heavy blows, herding it away from the men gathered at the edges of the field. Aqua threw her hand in, chancing magic attacks though she knew her potions were dwindling in number by now.
On top of their mad dash to get here, and the sleepless night they had spent looking for Ven and Sora, coupled with their worried and mostly fruitless planning, this was a very gruelling battle. Ven stood his ground and batted the heartless back each time it tied to get past him to the villagers, and Sora took up a similar stance before the settlers. Between them, Aqua and Terra kept the heartless running back and forth between the two boys, and Mel dashed in and out dealing punishing blows in fits and starts that were starting to take a toll.
And yet, the power within the gun mounted on the heartless' shoulder continued to gather strength, if somewhat slowly compared to the pace of the battle. But if they kept this up, by the time they were spent, the heartless would have a horrible attack lined up for them that might just finish them off.
It was getting desperate, and in an attempt to maintain safety the villagers had started escorting the settlers into the forest and showed them were to hide, to keep them all safe and out of the way while the warriors of the keyblade did battle on the open plane.
Mel was lagging alarmingly, she couldn't possibly keep it up any longer; Terra ran in to take up the slack and Aqua dragged her out of the melee to give her a potion to keep her on her feet.
"It's impossible!" Mel said, on the verge of tears from lack of sleep and prolonged exhaustion. "It's too powerful! What are we doing to do?!"
Aqua had been thinking the same thing, but she didn't answer in time – they were both knocked to their feet. A huge and heavy paw pressed against her chest, over her pounding heart, and a terrible black face with flat yellow eyes like dim lanterns, was pressed into her entire field of vision.
The choking sensation, the stench of darkness, those eyes…
Memories she had thought no longer caused her concern flared up in her minds eye, and all she could see was Terra with shocking white hair, unfamiliar eyes and contorted expressions that frightened her to her core. The blackness spread, and as she slid under she felt something deep inside her surge with a sudden explosion of newfound energy, adding fresh rage to her depleting reserves that motivated her to fight back.
No! That hadn't been Terra, and it certainly wasn't him now! There were people relying on them for their safety, and they in turn were relying on her.
I won't give in!
Though Aqua struggled, and the heartless started to back up, it wasn't enough to break free completely, and beside her Mel was fighting against the tendrils of darkness, an unfamiliar snarl on her face on her face that gave her the impression of a feral animal that was tearing its way out of a tight corner.
Another roar, achingly, beautifully familiar, echoed across the open land and the heartless reeled in confusion right before it was bowled over and went sprawling with a great trench of ripped earth in its wake. Aqua got unsteadily to her feet, but not before Mel had run to the new comer and flung her arms around their neck.
Leo stood in a defensive crouch, teeth bared and visible beneath his great armoured helmet. He roared defiantly at the heartless and pawed the ground with his right hand, gouging great lines in the broken earth. He had never looked more terrifying, and Aqua had never been so glad to see him.
Mel climbed up onto his back, stooping to find the clip from the saddle, and attaching it to the straps about her chest in the absence of her riding harness. Leo stood up to his full height on his hind legs, raking the air with his front paws, and Mel braced herself against his back, leaning with the motion to stay upright and brandishing her keyblades either side of his withers to anticipate attack from any angle.
"Where did he come from?!" Ven shouted, running to Aqua's side.
"Who cares!" she called back. They had an advantage now – Leo was fresh, and he was considerably bigger and more physically powerful than they were. If she could just think of a way to use this to their advantage…
The heartless snarled, its nose curling viciously, right before it charged. Leo roared and bounded up to meet it, Mel leaning back against the motion and maintaining balance. They crashed in the middle of the field, with an all mighty sonorous ringing of colliding metal; the heartless lost its footing and stumbled to one side as the dragon bore down on it, teeth sinking into flailing limbs and claws ripping at exposed flesh. It screamed in agony and tried to bolt, but Leo wouldn't have any of it; he grabbed the creature with his front legs and angled his body around so that Mel could aim a few good blows at the gun on its back. Roaring in fear and pain, the heartless tried again to break free, but Leo got a hold of its neck with his teeth and pulled in a motion that on a normal animal would have dispatched its spine in one go.
But this wasn't a normal animal.
The heartless decided retreat was futile, and stood firm to face the dragon, screaming weak defiance. It got out of his grip and went pelting towards Aqua and the others who had fallen back to regroup before it managed to reach them it discharged the power it had been storing in the gun in a single and devastating attack.
Everything went white, and Aqua's whole body seized up. It wasn't like Leo's paralysing roar that made everything hum and spin – this was an involuntary stilling of the limbs, like a Stop spell, but it caused a lot of pain and damage. Sora was the first to recover, and he stood swaying on the spot before he raised his keyblade and forced himself to cast a Curaga spell that depleted all of his magic for the moment. They got to their feet, and dived out of the way as the heartless charged, now completely spent in its own magicks for the moment, though Aqua could feel the gathering start again.
Leo bounded up into the air and circled the field before plummeting down and landing heavily of the heartless' back. It roared with surprise and tried to retaliate, to little avail. Mel started pummelling it with short strokes and a multitude of light but continuous spells, striking physically at the gun and magically at its face. Sora and Ven rushed to help, with Aqua right on their heels, but they had to scatter when it finally threw Leo off and Mel at last lost her footing, getting tangled in the straps that held her on his back and dangling down against his side. He had to pull back and give her time to recover, otherwise she was at risk of grievous injury, which gave the heartless time to organise another attack. It descended upon Sora, the nearest one, and slashed at him with a forepaw that made him crumble to the ground with alarming swiftness. It pinned him there as Ven ran to his aid, brushing him off with little effort. Sora struggled, but stilled for one long, horrible moment, and the gun started stirring much faster than before. Aqua suddenly understood – the fatigue they felt wasn't entirely from their sleepless night, now turning to morning – the heartless was drawing power from them slowly, so magic and potions didn't fortify them as much as they should; Sora was a great reservoir of energy that could charge it up much faster.
A manic laugh reached Aqua's ears and she tore herself away from Sora to look at Ratcliffe, holding a black stone in his hand and grinning at her nastily. "Say good bye to your little friend!"
Aqua snarled in response, but blinked and stepped back automatically as Leo made a dash for him, Mel still not quite untangled from the harness. Ratcliffe's smile faltered, and then he screamed as the dragon bore down on him. Growling with rage, Leo took the man's head completely in his mouth and closed his jaws, trapping him; he twisted somewhat gently considering his anger, and the man fell to the floor, blood stained and unconscious, but neither dead or mortally wounded, just incapacitated.
Mel had lost what little balance she had before Leo's charge, and Aqua ran to help her detangle herself and get back on her feet.
"Its drawing energy from us for the gun!" she said urgently. "It's feeding off Sora! You have to stop it somehow,"
Leo nodded once and was off again, flying swift and low. The heartless let go of Sora as he careened into it, and Terra grabbed him before he could be trampled underfoot. Leo got his jaws around the gun that was starting to charge and ready for the attack that had knocked them all for sixes. He strained to break it free, and Aqua was afraid he would get the full blast of the shockwave at this rate. Mel unclipped herself and jumped onto its back, using her blades to prise the gun from underneath like a lever. They strained together while the heartless struggled, until it gave way suddenly. The gun went flying across the field and landed in a section of broken earth, the sudden discharge instead bringing renewed vigour to Aqua's body – it must have returned what it had borrowed; Sora was back on his feet and running into the fray in a heartbeat, tired but determined. The heartless threw both Mel and Leo off and made a run for it; Sora ran after it while Leo made a move to block its path, snarling and growling form a place deep in his ribcage. Sora jumped onto his back, and held a hand out to Mel to swing her up as well.
"Let us help!" said a voice, and Aqua turned to see the young man that had spoken out against the governor, followed by a legion of men with guns, spears and arrows all at the ready.
Aqua stared at them in amazement before she nodded and turned her attention back to the fight. "Don't hit the dragon, he's a friend. Surround the heartless as best you can and wait for the signal!"
They formed a ring around the scraping beasts, and Leo seemed to be vaguely aware of them because he stopped short a few moves that would have pitched either himself or the heartless into their midst.
"Get back!" Aqua shouted to Ven and Terra, who bolted when they saw the line around them. Raising her keyblade, Aqua ignored the sweat pouring from her brow, and watched with her breath held for the right moment. She needed her allies to be out of the way…
Mel pulled up sharply and Leo jumped into the way, flapping his wings clumsily to clear the area in time and avoid the heartless that snapped at him as he went. Sora and Mel were securely on his back and well out of the way as Aqua brought her blade down in one motion, shouting, "FIRE!"
Bullets, spears and arrows came flying from all directions and embedded in the heartless. It screamed in response, but it was pinned to the ground by several well-aimed spears through its feet and hind leg. Leo dived like a bullet himself and landed on its hide quarters, further pinioning it into submission. Sora jumped from Leo's shoulder onto its back and signalled to Terra who was closest for help, and he ran to Sora's aid.
Together, while Mel and Leo held it in place, they dealt the finishing blow that dispatched it completely, and finally.
It faded into nothingness, its captive heart returning to the heavens above, as everyone collapsed in various stages of exhaustion. Only Leo remained unaffected, and after he straightened out a dent and a few kinks in his armoured tail, he started bestowing upon Mel his own brand of affection, forgetting she was dead on her feet and that he was clad in armour.
"Leo!" she croaked, flattened against the ground. "Can't-! Breathe!"
Leo crowed with happiness and tried to snuggle up with her, still unaware of the discomfort he was causing her. Aqua staggered forward and held his armoured head, willing the armour to disappear, and then he pounced on her, no longer clad in metal but still heavy enough to knock her over. He stared in surprise as Aqua fell back without resistance, and lay panting on the ground. To Leo, Aqua was someone who didn't go down so easily; he sensed something was wrong and scuttled over to her, head lowered in submission. He settled down on the ground beside her and nudged her with his muzzle, making little mewing sounds of distress that had never failed to elicit a response in the past.
Aqua smiled tiredly and raised a hand to stroke his face. "Thank you, Leo. You saved us…" he licked her hand appealingly before scuttling back to check on Mel, who had risen to her knees, and then decided she would rather just lie down face first in the dirt than try to actually get up. "Are you okay?" Aqua called to her.
"No."
"Are you still alive?"
"…No…"
"Okay."
Leo was poking at her, and then he got his teeth into the back of her shirt and lifted her from the ground to deposit Mel on his back.
"Leo!"
His head snapped up and he bounded towards Terra without a second thought, almost knocking him over as well but stopping just short enough to avoid it, sensing he was also exhausted.
"I have never been so pleased to see you!" Terra said, wrapping his arms around the dragon's foreleg and leaning on him for support.
Leo crowed happily and sat back on his hind legs, grooming the dust and dirt out of Terra's hair with a happy humming while Ven and Sora mustered themselves. Aqua had managed to sit up, and wiped the sweat form her face before Ven collapsed beside her, trying to get his arms around her the way he used to when he was younger and seeking comfort.
"Can we go home now?" he begged dully. "I miss my pillow…"
Aqua patted his hair vaguely and accepted Sora's hand to help her to her feet. Ven didn't want to get up, and sprawled dramatically at their feet in his insistence of staying put. Smiling tiredly and leaning on Sora for support, Aqua was about to say something, but they heard more shouts and she turned reluctantly to see what the fuss was about.
Ratcliffe had come to, but he had been bound and gagged and was being born back to the encampment; Mel was talking to one of the men from the village, and handing him something from one of her pouches and gesturing with her hands, giving instructions that seemed destined for John's care. The man eyed the dragon carefully, but Leo had collapsed to the ground alongside Terra and was happily grooming him like a docile cat, which seemed to give the terrifying apparition a less scary aura. The man nodded his thanks and tore off across the battlefield with Mel's medicines as Ratcliffe struggled uselessly; as the man disappeared in the tide of warriors from both sides, someone else joined the throng, but they were heading towards the dragon fearlessly.
"SORA!"
He whipped around at the sound of his name, and grinned. "Riku! Hey, Kairi!" he waved manically, finding a new burst of energy and made to run towards them, but Riku flattened him in his haste and held him fast with a vice like grip. "Ouch! Hey-!"
"Where the hell have you been?!" Riku shouted at him, shaking him fiercely, his eyes betraying his worry though his anger was certainly not an act. "You should have been back hours ago! What if you got killed?! Where the hell have you been?!"
"Right here." Sora blinked, not comprehending the source of Riku's wrath. "Oh, Riku!" his face fell. "The knife you gave me – I lost it!"
"What?" It was Riku's turn to blink in surprise. "So?"
"I got captured and they took it off me, and I never got it back before we escaped! I don't know where it is now, I'm so sorry!"
Riku shook his head, and then shook Sora some more. "You think I'd care about something like that? You could have been dead for all we knew! You're such an idiot!"
"Hey!" Sora spat back, managing to push Riku off of him and stand his ground, though he swayed with fatigue. "I just helped to avert a war! What have you done, lately?"
"Looking for you, dumbass!" Riku shouted at him.
"I don't need looking for, idiot!" Sora yelled back, both of them annoyed with each other. "I had Aqua with me! Did you think we couldn't look after each other or something?"
"I didn't know what to think when you still weren't back this morning! Anything could have happened!"
Kairi walked over to Aqua sedately and put her arms around her waist. "Hello."
"Hi," Aqua leaned on her for support. "Sorry we made you worry. We had a bit of a situation on our hands."
"Riku was really worried when you didn't come back last night."
They turned to look at the two boys, now shaking each other to try and get their point across to one another. Sora suddenly sagged and fell to his knees before curling up on the ground, making Riku even more agitated with worry.
"Oh shut up!" Sora shouted as Riku started looking through his supplies for a hi-potion. "You'd be tired too if you'd been up the whole dang night!"
"Hello, ladies." Lea drawled as he sauntered into their midst. "What's all this then?"
"Thanks for nothing," Terra muttered darkly as Leo tugged on his arm guard in a weak gesture of play, as if he knew he wouldn't get what he wanted. "Could've used some help just now! Where the hell were you?"
"Looking for you." Lea said, deftly lifting Ven to his feet, though Ven protested and tried to reach the comfortable ground again to lie down. "Leo jumped ship on us, it took a while to notice at first. We figured he knew the way to go to find you, but we didn't know where to find him, so we just took our sweet time in getting here. Got it memorised?"
"I hate you." Terra said, leaning against Leo's side. "I wanna go home now."
As they slowly rallied themselves, speaking to settlers and villagers alike as they went, Aqua followed Mel feeling worried about her. She had an uncomfortable expression on her face, and kept twitching with something that looked like an ache of some description. Terra clapped her on the back, and she nearly lost her balance; Leo snapped his jaws at Terra in anger and shepherded Mel away from him, glowering over his shoulder.
"What's wrong with you then?" Lea asked, hands on his hips and looking down at her searchingly.
Mel wriggled with discomfort before saying, "I could kill for a bacon sandwich right now."
XOXOX