CHAPTER XIV

I Hope You Know You're Letting Go

(NOTE)

Okay, I should warn everyone that this is the penultimate chapter in the series; that is to say, the next one is the last. Don't be worried, though, I plan to start a sequel immediately after. I'd like to use some of this time wrapping up this fanfic coming up with a plotline. xD So, rate and review, and thank you to everybody who has been so far, if you weren't, I wouldn't have continued this!

(/NOTE)

"So, that's the plan?" asked Charity, one eye much wider open than the other.

"It's risky," Nessa admitted, "but it might just work."

"And we know Anton well enough to know how to get to him. I have a good feeling about this, actually." said Leander.

"Leander has a... good feeling about something?" asked Kairi. Nessa managed a giggle, but Charity still wasn't in all that good of a mood to do anything. Ever since Azure Daybreak had been destroyed, all she wanted to do was throw something, kick somebody, or cry. Trying to stray away from these emotions, she set her mind totally on Riku's plan at hand.

"Where do you think the next unlocked world's going to be at?" asked Nessa.

"That doesn't matter," Sora told her, "They're going after Kairi, Charity, and I, so wherever we go, Anton or Odol is going to go also. They think that they're luring us."

Nessa smirked, "I think I get it."

"We've got two hits," Cid said, looking at his computer screen. This time, nobody bothered to get up and go check, "at Traverse Town and Atlantica."

"Ugh, I hate Atlantica." Sora moaned lightly, earning a look from Riku. "What?"

"Traverse Town," said Kairi with interest, "And if we all split up, both of them have to go to a world at once. Then we just have to lure in Kiur."

"Exactly!" Riku said, who was excited for once in a long time. "Charity, Sora, and I will all go to Atlantica, Kairi, Leander, and Nessa can all go to Traverse Town."

"What about me?" asked Axel, "You know you're not leaving me out." He had just walked into the room with a toothbrush in his hand. Why he was brushing his teeth, the rest of them weren't all that interested in finding out.

"You can come with us to Atlan— er, on second thought, maybe you'd better stay out of the water and go with them to Traverse Town." Sora told him, scratching the back of his head sheepishly while staring at the ground.

"Right," Axel said, "I'll be ready in a minute."

xxxxx

"Kiur, we've got a problem," said Odol, looking at his radar, "It looks like two Gummi ships are leaving Hollow Bastion."

"Where are they going?" asked Kiur, who was lazily sitting on a chair, thinking.

"It looks like Traverse Town and Atlantica."

"Perfect. Odol, you go to Atlantica and head them off, and Anton can go to Traverse Town."

"I don't like the water." Odol complained.

"Too bad. You're going to Atlantica.

"But I haven't swam in ages." Anton retaliated.

"Too bad. You're going to Traverse Town." He opened portals for them, and practically shoved them inside.

xxxxx

"I'm a fish." Charity said shortly, looking down. Her fish half was orange, and was wearing a green sea-shell bra. "An oddly revealing fish."

Riku, on the other hand, seemed to be part shark. He had a dorsal fin on his fish half, which was both a dark and light grey, and a very dangerous looking tail. Sora just looked like a plain old merman with a blue tail.

"Where was the keyhole to this world?" asked Riku to Sora.

"Ariel's grotto, but it doesn't matter anyway because the keyholes were switched around." Sora replied.

"Right, I forgot about that." Charity mentioned.

"Let's find Ariel. Maybe she'll know." Sora suggested. It took only a second for Riku and Charity to get the hang of swimming underwater; but it was actually very similar to the dolphin kick that they learned during their school's swimming lessons.

"These Heartless are messed up," Riku commented, as he hit some sort of fish with a light sticking out of its head, "It won't go away."

"That's because that's not a Heartless," Sora said, "That's a fish."

The fish glared at Riku.

"The Heartless are the darker ones." Sora mumbled.

"It's a lot harder to tell the difference because we don't generally spend our time underwater." Charity stated, in Riku's defense. She stabbed at another Heartless, but was surprised to see it swim underneath her. "It's also a lot harder in general to fight under here."

"You get used to it." Sora said, as he swam ahead to show the way to King Trident's castle.

"How can you maneuver your way through all of this?" asked Riku to Sora, who was skillfully weaving through rocks and schools of fish and Heartless, some of which were red, to a certain point before attacking more Heartless.

"Oh, there are tridents pointing the way on the walls!" Sora responded.

Charity sighed, "Of course."

xxxxx

"I think I like Twilight Town better." Axel said, stroking the flurry of his red hair.

"I think I agree." Nessa said, looking around. Nobody around them seemed to be happy, and there were odd creatures that called themselves Moogles practically flooding the place. There were one or two in Hollow Bastion before it was attacked, but there were never so many.

"Maybe I'm crazy," said Kairi, "but I think it was a lot prettier before." Kairi stared up at the dark sky, "It's probably just because I was always safe inside of a house. The Heartless must have really done a number on this place before Sora finally got around to sealing it."

"I can see that." said Leander. They walked forward, and found a woman with long, black hair that was tied in a ponytail and parted like a fin at the end. She was wearing a white tank top, a mini skirt, red shoes and gloves, and a more than worried face.

"Hey, Tifa!" Kairi called. She had gotten to meet Tifa on multiple occasions, but never for too long.

"Kairi," the woman said back, a small smile appearing on her face, "Are you here to seal the keyhole?" she asked her, hopefully.

"We are," Kairi responded, "but we're also here to get someone. It'll go along with the keyhole. Do you know where it is?"

Tifa looked down slightly. "I'm not all that sure. I'm thinking that it's where Merlin's house used to be— that's a pretty good hunch, anyway— but I haven't found a keyblade wielder that could help me, but now you guys can."

"That's great, that's great, but can we get going?" asked Axel.

"Aren't you a member of Organization XIII?" asked Tifa, who didn't seem to be able to believe her eyes.

"Ex-member, ex-member." he corrected her, scratching his nose.

Tifa rolled her eyes just slightly, "We have to pass through second and third districts first, and you know the fire spell, right?" she asked Kairi and Leander, whom she noticed also had a keyblade.

"I think I like this town," Nessa said out of nowhere, holding a random moogle by its colorful antennae, and shaking it up and down. She was quickly knocked off of balance by a Red Shadow that appeared from underneath her.

"First district, too?" asked Tifa, "We can't waste time fighting them here, we have to get off to the Third District." she told them. Running towards the dividing doors, Nessa, Kairi, Leander, and Axel all followed her.

xxxxx

"You know about these odd red Heartless?" asked King Triton to Sora, "Oh, your friends have changed," he mentioned, first noting Riku and Charity, "The duck has changed quite a bit, but I don't remember the dog being part shark."

"Dog?" asked Riku, his eyes narrowing.

"They're different friends," Sora said quickly, "and yeah, they're just the same Heartless, except they're not after anybody except me, Kairi, and Charity," he said, pointing to who King Triton thought was a duck, "but as long as the keyhole's unsealed, you'll still get the regular Heartless here, so we really have to find it."

"The keyholes have been moved, hm? If it's not in Ariel's grotto, I'd suggest the sunken ship. Or even Ursula's Lair. Those are my only suggestions now, as I haven't seen any keyholes in my castle." King Triton told them.

"Have you seen any weird merman with dark skin and black, spikey hair, or another one with red and blond hair and big, gray eyes?" asked Charity.

"Can't say that I have, no, little duck." replied King Triton pleasantly.

"Duck?" she asked, groaning.

"Thank you, King Triton!" Sora said, trying to rush the two out of the castle before they went crazy with hatred for this man.

"Oh, and try to find Ariel while you're out if you could! Maybe the dog can sniff her out."

Riku looked back, but Sora continued to push him outside of the castle. "I think he's gone a bit... loopy." Sora understated.

"You would, too, if you had to swim your whole life. I'm having trouble remembering which way is up and I've only been under here for a half an hour." Charity complained. The only thing that kept her under there was seeing Riku without his shirt on. Author's Note: Joke, joke. Calm down. xDD

"How do we get to the sunken ship?" asked Riku, looking around.

Suddenly, Sora grabbed onto a swimming creature, "Like this!" he shouted, grabbing Riku's hand who grabbed Charity's. They were on top of a dolphin, swimming fast towards a current.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!" Charity repeated. She kept feeling like she was going to slip, "Why do we have to ride a dolphin?!" she asked.

"Because I forgot how to do the dolphin kick so I can't get past the currents." he responded. They were dumped off at an extension of the currents, and found themselves facing a large, beat-down ship, half dug into the ground.

"This is original." Charity spoke sarcastically, though interested to see the different parts of the dirt-brown ship. She inadvertently flipped upside down, but swam quickly towards the ship nonetheless.

"We might want to stay by Riku so the shark doesn't attack us," Sora warned, as Riku quickly swam towards Charity, and Sora lagged behind, "because he's part shark and everything."

Charity laughed at him. "It's a shark, you could knock it out easily, what with two years of experience." she smirked.

"I don't see a keyhole." Riku said, looking everywhere around the ship.

"That's fine, we've still got Ursula's lair to look in." Sora said.

"Ursula?" asked Charity, swiping at a stubborn Red Shadow relentlessly. She wondered quickly how a Red Shadow was underwater.

"Don't worry, we got rid of her a long time ago." Sora said, happily.

xxxxx

"This place just gets worse every day," Tifa complained, punching violently at a Large Body. Its stomach seemed to be like rubber.

"At least we're almost at Merlin's house," Kairi said optimistically, running towards an intricately engraved door, "and here we are." she said.

"Is here where we use fire?" asked Leander.

"Wow, I wonder." joked Nessa, pointing at the fire design on the door.

"Thanks." said Leander, kissing her on the cheek.

"Anytime." she smiled.

"Fira!" Kairi said, pointing her keyblade at the door. A small ring of fire spewed out from the tip of the blade, and suddenly they were able to open the door. "I've never done that before." Kairi admitted.

"Now what?" asked Nessa, as she looked over a small lake or pond of water, and stepping stones that almost seemed like they were moving in front of them. In the center of this pond was a small island with a beat down house.

"We hop across these and get inside." Kairi told them. "It's actually kind of fun." she said, hopping onto the first, and then the second, and the third. Nessa, Leander, and Tifa seemed to have no problem getting across, but Axel was practically clinging to each rock as he made his way across, muttering something about water being too 'wet'.

"It looks like you were right about the keyhole being in Merlin's house." Kairi told Tifa, as she looked ahead, fear causing her to tremble slightly. Anton stood against Merlin's house in the same lazy stance as he had in The Great Valley.

"Of course." Tifa said, looking at the boy. He wasn't too old, and Tifa was confident that they could take him.

xxxxx

"This place is just the slightest bit creepy," Charity mentioned, purposely underestimating. The tunnel they were going through was dark and cold, and small caves that branched off of it only added more to the mystery of what lay in Ursula's lair.

"Somehow I think it's creepier now that Ursula isn't here." said Sora. He was mostly agreeing with Charity, but Riku didn't say anything. He did, however, take the lead and be the first one to enter a large room with a giant cauldron in it.

"I practically had to fight that cauldron." Sora complained. He hated remembering to use fire when it was red and blizzard when it was blue; the only thing that made it worthwhile was being able to beat the shit out of Ursula every time he did.

"This can't be where the keyhole is." stated Charity. "Anton or Odol would have been here guarding it."

"Maybe I made a false alarm. Maybe they're really not both coming to two different worlds at the same time." Riku said. Although his plan seemed perfect, he was really starting to gain doubt about whether or not it would work.

A cough— that gave everything away. Sora quickly swam over to the cauldron, and looked inside of it. In a dark swoosh, Odol popped out and headed beeline for them.

"Perfect!" Riku shouted, defending himself with Way to Dawn as Odol struck at him, and Sora went behind him, slamming the hell out of him with the Kingdom Key.

"Thundara!" Charity cried, mimicking a spell she had seen Sora use before. Much to her pleasure, tens of lightning bolts fell down out of nowhere, and one hit Odol head on. He swung backwards, but regained himself by rebounding off of a wall, where he kicked Sora so he spun backwards, and started striking at him with Midday Descending.

Charity swam from under him, and struck her keyblade in his shins where he flipped upside-down in the water, and Riku jabbed him at his side. Losing only a small amount of his energy, however, Odol took his keyblade by both hands and began to spin rapidly underwater, hitting the three of them at least two times each before Charity managed to escape the vortex and slam her Savior of Balance into the side of his head, while imitating Riku and jabbing Destroyer of Balance into his sides.

The battle continued.

xxxxx

Things were getting crazy in Traverse Town. Tifa had been long knocked out after greatly underestimating Anton's power. Axel was waiting from above Merlin's house, deciding the perfect time to make a move. Meanwhile, Kairi, Leander, and Nessa were fighting it out like they never had before.

"Give it up!" Anton taunted, "Being five against one and you still haven't killed me already, what makes you think you can anytime soon?" he asked. In one swift move, he knocked Kairi into the water, and Leander straight through the house, taking it down with him. He also managed to knock Nessa to her knees. Her lips and nose was bleeding, and she had lost all feeling in her legs.

"Cousin Nessa," Anton cooed, getting onto his knees and putting his hand on Nessa's chin, "Could I kill you?" he asked, less of Nessa, and more of himself, sounding amused.

"Go right ahead," she spat, "You're no cousin of mine."

"Give me one good reason," Anton hissed angrily at her, "that I shouldn't just kill you right now."

Nessa smirked. "Look up."

Anton raised an eyebrow and lifted his head, but too late. Axel jumped on him, beating the tar out of him with his Chakram. Nessa, in the meantime, ran into the collapsed house to retrieve Leander, while Kairi swam back up to the small island, and readied her keyblade to attack farther.

xxxxx

Charity managed to pin Odol to the wall with her Destroyer of Balance, while she held up Savior of Balance to his neck, "Riku, Sora, get him!" she told them.

Grabbing some rope from Ursula's wall, they began to tie Odol up. In the meantime, Charity walked over to the cauldron, and sure enough, the keyhole was inside of it. Pointing Savior of Destiny at the outline of the keyhole, a bright light flashed and filled the underwater cave, sealing the world of Atlantica.

"What the heck?!" asked Odol as they tied him up, right before they tied his mouth.

"Now we take him to the Gummi Ship?" Charity asked. Riku nodded, and they began to make their way there. The journey back was a lot more of a pleasant one considering there were no random Heartless attacking them, although Riku still mistook the occasional fish.

"Why 'on't 'ou 'us 'ill 'e?" asked Odol through his tied up mouth.

"Well, we could, but how would we get to Kiur?" asked Charity.

"Plus, killing you would be too easy." Riku smirked.

They hauled him into the Gummi Ship, and made their way back to the half-destroyed Hollow Bastion. "I have one question for you," Charity said tauntingly. She undid his mouth tie, and sat down in front of him, as he was on the floor of the Gummi Ship, "Which one of you sent the Heartless to Hollow Bastion. The ones that killed Yuffie?"

"Anton." he spat at her.

"Riku was right." Charity said, unable to look Odol in his dark eyes, "It's always the quiet ones." Charity flipped him on his stomach, and left him there.

"I wonder how Kairi and the rest of them are doing with getting Anton." Sora said.

"Kairi does quick work," Riku reassured him, "they're probably already at Hollow Bastion waiting for us to get here."

xxxxx

Nessa and Leander were practically two-on-one against Anton now. Axel had been thrown into the water and had an emotional breakdown, and Kairi and Tifa were both knocked out, surprisingly close to each other.

"Isn't two and one a little unfair?" Anton asked in a false lovingly tone.

"I didn't hear you complaining when it was five on one." Nessa gasped, swinging her sword at Anton. She had already dealt him a great number of cuts, but the amount of bruises and bleeding that he had given her was worse. Nessa had come to like being cut open better than just being knocked around; it reminded her that her potential Somebody's heart was full and working inside of her.

Anton jabbed her in the gut with Way to Twilight for at least the third time during that battle.

"Don't touch her!" Leander blackguarded at him, clashing his own keyblade with Anton's.

"Don't tell me what to do." Anton commanded in a slow, deep, and maniac voice. He knocked away Leander's keyblade, and stopped another attack from Nessa. Grabbing the sword by the blade, with a bloody hand Anton wrenched the sword away from her, and hit her out of the way with his keyblade. Leander, who was just standing back up, did not see this happening.

"Leander, no!" Nessa outcried at Leander. Her voice was unheard as Nessa's blade pierced through Leander, and he kneeled still, skewered on the long sword. He hardly had time to drip blood before he slid off of the sword, and dropped to drown in the water below.

"LEANDER!" Nessa cried out, her voice mangled with fear, hate, love, and something in between. Abandoned of her sword, Nessa ran up to Anton and punched him in the face. As he fell to the floor, she regained control of her sword, and without thinking, without looking, stabbed at Anton in the chest.

A chuckle escaped Anton's mouth along with the slightest amount of blood, "You're my cousin... alright." he coughed, and fell forward, his head on Nessa's foot. She backed up. Her eyes were wide, her hands shaking. She dropped her sword, now stained with both the blood of her cousin and her love. The girl looked down at her hands, free of any and all blood, and buried her head in them. She fell to her knees, and bawled like a baby.

She had killed a Nobody before, but never in her whole life could she guess what it was like to kill a human being; let alone her own cousin.

Nessa picked up the sword once more, and pointed it at herself.

"Nessa, what are you thinking?!" came a foggy voice from the distance. Kairi quickly grabbed the sword from Nessa, who turned around and began to cry in her shoulder. "It's okay," Kairi attempted to soothe Nessa, "It's okay. Let's get up and get home."

"No! We have to get Leander! Leander's down there!"

xxxxx

Charity looked over at the door happily as they heard a Gummi Ship land close by. She was excited to talk to Nessa about how the fight went, and was interested in hearing something besides empty threats from a pathetic tied up boy on the floor.

"Nessa!" shouted Charity, running up to her best friend in an embrace. Much to her surprise, Charity held onto her tightly, and began to leak tears all over her shoulder. She was bloody and bruised up, and when Charity tried to talk to her, it was as if no words came through.

Kairi softly attempted to explain everything to Sora and Riku, about how Leander and Anton had both been killed, but she couldn't explain very far because she had been knocked out. They brought Leander's waterlogged body inside with them, and Tifa simply looked down. She felt as if she had failed them, just as Axel did.

"We'll give Leander a proper burial, right next to Yuffie." Cloud told Nessa. She seemed to calm down slightly at his words, although she could hardly hear over her own crying.

xxxxx

We'll have to give it a night before Kiur comes, Aerith had said. All of the emotion in the room had been starting to give Charity a headache by then, but tonight I think that all of us could use a good sleep.

Charity jumped when she heard a knock on her door. She wasn't even used to having a room in Hollow Bastion since Merlin decided to make one for them. "Come in," she hollered over softly. Nessa quietly opened the door, closed it, and came to sit on her bed with her.

Charity didn't even need to ask what's going on, "Nessa, I'm so sorry. I know you cared about him so much. I want you to know that I'll always be here, because you're my best friend." Charity had thought of this ahead of time, but she realized it sounded a lot better in her head.

"Th-thank you, Char," Nessa started, although it seemed there was something else on her mind.

"What's wrong, Nessa?" she asked, "And, I mean... besides that. Something else is wrong." Charity said. She could tell.

"Anton's... dead, too..." she reminded her.

"I know that. A little wrong in the plan, and I know he was your cousin, but with five against one, it was bound to happen eventually."

"You don't get it," Nessa said, her face scrunching up and becoming red again, welling up with tears, "I killed Anton."

She threw herself into Charity's arms again, and began to cry out everything, "I didn't know what to do, and I was scared... he killed Leander, and I wasn't thinking... he killed Leander."

"I understand," whispered Charity, "Shh. Tomorrow, we'll destroy Kiur, and it will all be worthwhile."

"After all this," stated Nessa, still whimpering, "After Yuffie, and Leander ,and Anton... it better be."

Author's Note: So, Leander was Shishka bobbed, Anton was stabbed, and Axel became an emotional wreck from all the water! I personally think that this was my strongest chapter yet; get ready for the next chapter and last chapter, to be released later today!