6.19.11: I hope no one's offended by my slightly sexist remark below; it's meant to be a joke, I swear. :D I realize that I've called Kairi's keyblade an array of different names in this story, but the stated name in the first story was Radiant Destiny. It's finally gotten an official name, but I am not changing it. Sorry. xD
A/N: Disclaimer-I. Don't. Own. Kingdom. Hearts. Kay.
The realm of darkness was a curious place. Admittedly, maybe it was only curious because so few people ever gave it much a thought. It is always said that there is light in the darkness, but never the other way around. Jewel's Grove was one of those light in the darkness places, though it was much more dark than it was light. Shadows and Heartless seemed to hang around every corner, the world was so seeped into darkness, yet the only people there who seemed to realize it were Stefa, Ceron and Nalani.
Stefa didn't know why she was thinking about such a thing as she struck Hades with Shadow Heart, but, for some odd reason, the thought came to mind. Hades prepared to strike her with a blast of fire after she jumped away, but Nalani's water spell took care of that. 'Where's the use in fighting? There's no point.' The familiar, bodiless voice echoed within her mind. Though she did not know why, knowing the voice had no outside source, she glanced around; no one had spoken and, even if they had, the voice did not belong to one of her friends. 'If you would trust in the darkness, I could help you.' She shook it off as she watched Ceron thrust his sword into the god's side.
Stefa joined him, pressing her keyblade into Hades' back, causing him some serious discomofrt and hindering him from moving. As he was held in place, a light spell pierced one side while several blizzard spells pierced the other. "Enough!" he bellowed, sending out a blaze of fire that knocked Ceron and Stefa away.
"What's wrong, Hades? You can't even fight in your own element?" Hercules asked in the deep voice that heroes always use when taunting their enemies.
Hades flames burst a little as he became increasingly annoyed. "That's enough out of you, Blunder Boy. Feel the heat!" He launched another orange and black fireball at Hercules, but the attack was deflected quite easily by Auron and his katana, the result of which was Hades being hurt by his own attack.
Nalani backflipped behind Hades and, pointing EaKaze at his back, cried, "Wateraga!" The water exited the staff like a geyser, knocking the god flat onto his back.
Ceron flashed her a brief smile. "Wow, Hula girl, you sure are good with water, I guess that isn't so surprising, though."
"Would you stop calling me that?" she asked with mock-anger.
Hercules called upon two more Aura spheres and Roxas and Sora hurled them the god's way. "This should make things less annoying," noted Roxas as he knocked Hades into the air with Oathkeeper and Oblivion. He knocked him further and further into the air until gravity reclaimed his hold on him. Then, he knocked the god into the floor of the arena the way a volleyball player might spike a volleyball.
Hades hit the ground with a loud thud and lay there, unmoving, until the curious group finally decided to move in closer. "He really wasn't that much harder than he was last time we fought him in the Coliseum," remarked Sora, mostly to Hercules and Auron.
Naminé took a step backward, "I don't like this."
Kairi nodded her agreement as she called, "Guys, I really don't think that he would go down so easily..."
Riku looked back at them with a smirk. "Don't be so paranoid."
"Mm, I kind of agree with them," replied Nalani, keeping her staff in a defensive position. Just when it seemed obvious that no one was going to listen, a wall of fire sprang around the arena, trapping them all inside.
Stefa sighed, holding Shadow Heart a little higher, "Here's his last shot, I guess." Admittedly, it was becoming a little easier to ignore the relentless voice in her head, but the temptation to turn to the darkness was still quite high. Riku, Sora, Roxas, Ceron, Auron, and Hercules (being men) leapt at the God right away in the hopes that his health was almost depleted. (A/N: And no one can say anything because the only people who really review are female. x3)
"Why don't you wait and plan your attacks?" Kairi and Nalani reprimanded in unison as the guys teamed up on Hades. Kairi sighed, flipped her hair to the best of her ability, and held out her right hand, "Radiant Destiny." In a flash of light, the familiar flowery keyblade appeared in her and for the first time in the fight; Naminé mirrored her action, only Chain of Memories materialized in her hand without speaking a word.
XxxxxX
Reixka was exhausted as she collapsed onto her comforting bed, face first, and did not move from that spot. As of late, she had done nothing but unlock keyholes and fight the occasional good-doer in each world that they had visited; it was nothing complicated, really, but it was draining. Xemnas finally allowed her to take a break from business and do as she pleased for a time since the Organization was way ahead of the keyblade wielders, who had yet to reseal a single one of the unlocked worlds.
The break was both good and bad. Bad because Reixka was bored out of her skull, but it was good because she wasn't constantly running around different worlds and getting assaulted by Stefa's memories. She now officially had the keyhole locations of several worlds permanently drilled into her mind. It took a while, but she came to the realization that a break meant she could go wherever she wanted. 'Maybe I should go to some soothing world.' With a wry smile, she thought, 'If that bores me, Xemnas gave me permission to wreak havoc in any world I choose.'
Reixka rolled onto her back as she thought about the thing that was truly bugging her. The people who had been accompanying her to each world should have, in theory, gotten their own break. After all, her objective was to unlock worlds, and their objective was to make sure no one stopped her. Since she was no longer unlocking worlds, why did no one else laze around? Zexion had explained to her that Xemnas had the others doing other work, but no one would tell her what. Something very strange was going on.
"Destroy their worlds?" A male said from somewhere outside of her room; it sounded like Xigbar was a ways up the hallway. She rolled off of her bed and crept to the door to get a better listen. Xigbar let out a low whistle before laughing. "That will definitely accomplish something, but I'm not thinking it'll be what the Superior wants." She wondered who he could possibly be talking to unless, of course, he was speaking with himself...
"It shall break them down," pointed out Xaldin's, who sounded highly amused. "That's what the Superior wants."
"So, is he taking down just the two worlds, or...?" Xigbar's voice became louder; they must have been passing her door.
"He might take out Twilight Town, too. You know," Xaldin paused, probably to smirk, "to get to Thirteen and the witch." There was another moment of silence before they both laughed. They began to talk some more, but they were drifting so far down the hallway that she could no longer make out their words.
Reixka remained standing by the door, her lips steadily pressing into a thin line, "So is that what Xemnas is having the rest of the Organization do? Destroy their worlds... If they were talking about the once-Nobodies, then he must have meant the Keyblade Master and Stefa, too..." She entertained the thought of a destroyed Jewel's Grove but, admittedly, it did not sit well with her, not even a little. "Damn, these stupid memories..."
XxxxxX
Ultima and Way to Dawn flew away from their owners hands and hovered in the air together before emitting their strong lights. Hades howled in pain as the last bit of Eternal Session finished him off. The wall of fire crackled and died, and a flash of white light blinded the group temporarily...
...And then they were back. Hades disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke as soon as they returned to the Underworld's coliseum. Pain and Panic, not wanting to be beat up by the group of heroes, also disappeared in two puffs of smoke. "That was surprisingly easy," said Sora, allowing his keyblade to disappear, and placing his hands behind his head. "You know, considering we were in some sort of darkness."
Auron nodded his agreement. "Yes, but let's returne to the Coliseum before Hades changes his mind..." The suggestion was unanimous, and the group made haste as they disappeared into Naminé's portal.
The portal returned the exhausted group to the lobby. As if Meg and Phil could sense their return, the two ran out of the arena to join them. Hercules and Meg shouted each other's names, and the two shared a brief, romantic embrace before his lips touched hers. Though the girls were polite enough to look away, the men continued to stare on, some with smirks on their faces. When they parted, Hercules had a blush on his cheeks as he turned to ask, "So, Sora, do you remember where that keyhole is?"
It was more of a question that tested Sora's intelligence rather than one that required an actual answer. Sora pounded his chest, "Of course." Ultima returned to his hand as his eyes scanned the golden wall for the light... But he quickly realized that the pedestal was, once again, blocking the keyhole. "Isn't that convenient?" He took a step forward to push it, but stopped abruptly when Auron pushed aside the stone with ease.
"Think of it as my gratitude for rescuing me," remarked the samurai.
Naminé, sitting atop a pedestal on the opposite side of the room, tilted her head to the side. "I thought helping us in the battle was the thank you?"
Auron smirked. "That was obligatory."
A beam of light entered the spot in the wall, locking it instantly. Sora looked to the others as his weapon disappeared. "This time, when we kill off the Organization, they better stay dead; I don't want to have to come back and seal these keyholes for a third time," he sighed, causing everyone to laugh.
XxX
"You know, sometimes, I think that Elie should have stayed with the Organization," remarked Stefa sometime later when she, Ceron, Riku, and Nalani were boarding their gummi ship.
She knew that Riku could come up with an array of reasons and probably only asked for the sake of entertainment. "Why's that?"
Nonetheless, she looked at him as if the answer was obvious. "Then we would know what the Organization was doing."
"That would be helpful, yes," he agreed.
Nalani shrugged a little. "They would probably have figured out, sooner or later, that Elie was feeding us information, though, especially considering she did it before."
"Hey, I have a question," blurted out Ceron, his tone out of character; the others faced him with confused expressions. "Can we go back to Jewel's Grove? I'd kind of like to see if my family is okay." The expressions on Nalani and Stefa's faces lit up.
"I want to go see how my family's doing, too!" agreed Nalani. "They weren't exactly... Pleased when I left in a hurry last time."
"Me too!" added Stefa.
Riku chuckled quietly and nodded. "Sure. Naminé and Roxas were saying something about wanting to go visit Twilight Town for a little bit. I wonder if Kairi, Sora, and I should go back to the Islands? Our parents were more than pissed when we left."
"Go for it," said Ceron. "We won't be gone for long, just long enough to do a little bit of visiting."
"Alright. I'll drop you guys off," agreed Riku, "and come back later."
XxX
The idea had been greatly agreed on by Naminé and Roxas, who were itching to return to Twilight Town. Kairi and Sora had been a bit reluctant, though, explaining that they should be checking other worlds to make sure things were okay; it was very clearly a cover for the fact that they feared, if they returned home, they'd never be allowed to leave again. Instead of Riku, Sora, and Kairi returning home, they decided to go to Disney Castle instead to see if the King knew what was going on.
Riku had, as promised, dropped Stefa, Ceron, and Nalani off at Jewel's Grove; Likewise, Sora had dropped Naminé and Roxas off at Twilight Town. Nalani kicked at a stray rock on the ground as she and Ceron headed in the general directions of their homes. Though Stefa lived near them, she had insisted on doing something else first and split in an opposite direction. Rain was, as was the usual for this world, falling from the sky viciously, but they were so adjusted that they didn't care.
"Are you coming over?" asked Ceron with a smirk; Nalani was friends of both him and his brother.
Nalani shook her head, "Nah, I should probably go check in with my own family."
"Gotcha, well, where should we meet up at?"
Nalani became thoughtful. "See if you can pull away in an hour or two and come to the park near my house; it's just about a street from here." Ceron agreed before disappearing down the next street. "He still doesn't get it," she mumbled with a sad smile before taking the rest of the walk to her house up to a run.
Stefa walked along the familiar black bike trail, realizing just how long it had been since she had last returned. Weeds that had grown to the sizes of monsters sprouted out from the various cracks in the faded tar path. "Looks like this entire area has been given up as a loss cause," she noted as she eyed more weeds growing between the fence posts.
She continued to follow the path, noting that the empty field beside it had filled up with rain water. When she was little, Stefa had always felt a strange sense of pleasure when it filled up with water during storms; of course, that was probably because she always wanted to swim in it. If she really wanted to, she could now; there was no one to tell her different. 'What a weird thought. No mom to yell at me or tell me how stupid I'm acting.' The thought came to her at the perfect time as she stopped near a grey-colored fence with tall grass and out of control weeds. She looked up to see her old bedroom window, with a giant hole in it.
'Now would be the perfect time for an Organization member to come kidnap me,' she realized as she glanced around, but she did not feel in any immediate power. With a shrug, she continued until the path dead ended at a rusty fence. Deciding that she really did not want to swim in the water, she edged along the fence to reach the cave looming on the other side of the field.
Nalani had been, in a word, trampled when she entered her house. Her parents covered her with hugs and kisses, and even her sister squeezed her so tightly that she had been willing to bet that her ribs would crack. In order to really welcome her daughter home, Nalani's mother had hurried off to the kitchen to make the best dish she could manage. Although she didn't want to disrupt the calm, Nalani knew that she had to tell her family that she would be leaving so soon. In the short time she had returned to Jewel's Grove before, she had enough time to explain to her everything the King told her, but she doubted that they would take the fact that she was now smack in the middle of all the action with Stefa would cheer them.
"Heartless? That's what those little black things are called?" asked her sister for the umpteenth time.
Nalani rubbed her temples a little, simply assuming that her sister was trying to be difficult. "Yes, for the last and final time, Heartless are – Wait, what do you mean?" It sounded like her sister was speaking from personal experience. "Oh, right. You probably saw them last time, when Jewel's Grove was almost destroyed."
Her sister, however, shook her head. "I saw them just the other day when I went out. There were so many that I had to turn back and go home." Nalani fell into silence as she tried to comprehend this. The Heartless were back? She had assumed that they would've gone away after taking Stefa's heart...
"I see them all over the place when I go to work," added her mother.
"And white creatures seem to be with them a lot, too," recalled her father. This was crazy, her family was talking about the Heartless and Nobodies like they were wild animals.
Nalani jumped off of the bar's stool. "This isn't good!" Out of reaction, EaKaze appeared in her hand, and her family stared at her with a mixture of shock, awe, and fear. "I'm sorry that I'm leaving so soon, but I have to go warn Ceron and Stefa!" She called over her shoulder as she ran out of the room.
Nalani's parents cried in protest while her sister looked amused, 'Ceron got sucked into this too, huh?'
Ceron had been reasonably surprised by his family's reaction to his return. His parents had hugged him a lot and even his older brother seemed to have missed him. It was a little unnerving for them to take the news so easily, but he had only been more surprised when he learned that a huge number of Heartless and Nobodies were roaming around Jewel's Grove. His mother hadn't wanted to let him go when he made to leave, but his father assured her that Ceron knew what he was doing. Ceron only left after promising he'd come back to visit them.
When he left his house and returned to where he and Nalani had separated, he was surprised to see her running like a maniac toward him, very early. Unless she knew about what was going on, too. "So, Heartless and Nobodies are roaming around here?" He guessed as she doubled over near him, panting like crazy.
Nalani nodded her head vigorously. "We have to go get Stefa and find this keyhole so that it can be sealed," she said between breaths. The rain had finally stopped falling, but the clouds were still dark and ominous in the sky.
"We don't have to worry about that," he replied as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. Sure enough, Stefa was running to meet them with Shadow Heart already in her hand.
"Do you-?" she began to ask, but Stefa cut her short by nodding in reply.
"We have to find that keyhole and quick. With the amount of Heartless here, they could destroy the world." Lipstick covered her face, and she smelled somewhat like Axe cologne.
Ceron raised an eyebrow as he looked her over. "What happened to you?"
"You'd be attacked by your family in the same fashion, too," Stefa began darkly, "if they had believed that there was no way in hell for you to get your heart back. I guess they weren't quite so confident in the abilities of my friends. The story was a fun explanation, but not nearly as fun as when I told them I had to leave. Kath grabbed me by the legs when I was almost out the door." She bent over and pulled up her jean legs a little bit. Sure enough, there were nail marks imprinted in her skin.
"Wow." Nalani fought back the urge to laugh because she knew how sad the situation was.
"Onto another subject," Ceron began as Stefa drew to her full height. "Where do we think the keyhole is?"
"Actually, that's why I wanted to go to the park," answered Nalani. "I thought it might be near Woodchip Mountain."
"Woodchip Mountain?" echoed Ceron as Stefa uncharacteristically squealed with delight; she had not been to that place in over two years.
"Good call, Nala."
Some minutes later found the trio climbing, quite literally, a huge mountain of woodchips. Ceron, being less experienced at it than the other two, continuously slipped and tripped on their way up. "Where do you think it could be?" Stefa asked, looking around as if the keyhole would jump out and dance the Macarena. She had seen keyholes before but, every time, someone told her where it was, or pointed it out to her.
"You're the keyblade wielder. Why not take out Shadow Heart and see if it... I don't know, shoots out a beam of light, or starts to act oddly?" suggested Nalani. Stefa nodded and recalled the keyblade, but it made no movements.
"I think you were wrong about this." Ceron grumbled, slightly annoyed at the fact that he kept slipping all over while Nalani and Stefa navigated with ease.
As they reached the top of the mound, Nalani snapped, "Well, I don't see you making any suggestions." The three of them looked around, hoping to find something that stuck out or was off in a way that would suggest the keyhole was there.
"Don't you think it's a little bit odd that we haven't met a single Heartless or Nobody when everyone said they've seen so many?" asked Stefa suspiciously.
Nalani and Ceron both nodded. "It is weird." Nalani and Stefa walked down the mountain side and stopped on the gravel ground; Ceron slid ungracefully and rolled onto the ground.
"I would have been willing to bet that keyhole was in the trailer," sighed Nalani as she threw a rock into a pond before them, "if the trailer hadn't disappeared."
Stefa sighed, "Who would have expected that old thing to leave this place after all these years?" Nalani sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
"Well, where to now?" Ceron asked, uncharacteristically impatient.
Stefa shrugged. "I guess we could search around my old neighborhood. I mean, all of the houses are boarded up and whatnot, so maybe it's there?"
"It's worth a shot," agreed Nalani. "I just can't believe it's not here."
As they returned to Stefa's old neighborhood, Ceron wondered, "What's up with this weather?" Both girls sent him looks that questioned his sanity.
"Ceron, it's always stormy here," reminded Stefa.
Ceron shook his head and gestured to the purple, cloud-filled sky. "But the clouds usually go away right away, and yet they're still here a half an hour later."
"And they don't look too promising, either," mumbled Nalani.
Stefa just shrugged it off. "We can worry about the tripolar weather later. Right now we need to find that keyhole." By her tone, it seemed she had come up with something. "I think the keyhole might be in that cave by the trees where we used to play at when we were little."
Nalani nodded her agreement, "That place always was weird."
XxX
"So you guys went here as kids?" asked Ceron, clearly amused as he looked over the drawings and writing on the cavern walls. Unlike Woodchip Mountain, he had been able to navigate himself perfectly against the fence to get to the cave.
The other two ignored him as Nalani asked, "Anything?" Stefa was impatiently swinging Shadow Heart against a piece of wood that suspiciously resembled a door. It was not out of her thinking the door was the keyhole at this point; it was mostly out of hate.
"Nothing," came her sour reply as she called off her keyblade. Both girls rounded on Ceron, staring at him with annoyance. "You make a suggestion now, smart aleck," growled Stefa.
Ceron scratched his head and shrugged, "Beats me." Stefa and Nalani sighed as he turned and exited the cave.
Nalani bent down over a small section of the wall, placing a steadying hand there. "Remember these drawings, Stef?" There was an adorable, chibi version of her drawn the cave wall by orange chalk. "Quince did this one," she remembered, laughing.
Stefa smiled and nodded despite the fact that her heart constricted a little at his name, "Yeah."
"Shit!" Ceron's voice exclaimed from outside. They shared a confused glance before running outside to join him, but they could not run too far. Had they surged straight out of the cave, they would have fallen into the purple vortex below. About fifteen feet away was part of the land that had the water-filled pit and houses. Stefa gasped quite audibly.
"What's going on?" demanded Nalani as she summoned EaKaze.
Hanging above them was a large black and red vortex. "This... is what a world looks like before it's destroyed and sent to the End of the World," murmured Stefa, her tone laced with disbelief as she recalled what Sora had told her.
"Wh-what?" Nalani and Ceron exclaimed in unison, staring at Stefa with the same disbelief that she felt. The gravity pull from the vortex was strong, and, without anything to grab onto, they were whisked into the sky and toward the vortex.