Chapter 20: Recusant
Aqua released a blast of dark energy and set Xehanort's house aflame. She watched silently as it burned, destroying his trove of knowledge. Save for the originals left hidden in Maleficent's keeping, and the reports hopefully with Master Yen Sid, the knowledge Xehanort had attained would be lost. She was fine with that though, some things were best left forgotten.
She walked silently for a time, coming to an edge and leaping off into a ravine and striding to another edge to look over the Keyblade Graveyard. It was such a desolate landscape. Marks of battle, of utter destruction, were scattered through her field of vision. This world had been left dead by the Keyblade War. She wondered, if in the past before the war, had it been covered in green? Grass, trees, forests, rivers, oceans... had it been a normal world once? Had people lived here?
She held out her hand and summoned her Keyblade, staring at it silently. "There will not be a second war. Not so long as I live."
She slowly turned and walked down the path, Keyblade in hand. "If I can give my friends nothing else, it will be that. A future not wrought in the darkness of a Keyblade War."
She could see a dust storm off in the distance. She frowned and took a sniff, smelling Vanitas's presence. She walked toward's it, and into a canyon. She raised an eyebrow, sighting huge unatural twisters ripping through the area. She scoffed and waved her hand, shooting orbs of darkness into them. Each twisters contorted, turned black, and faded away.
"I'm not wasting time with any of your games," she muttered, walking through the area quietly.
She continued walking, into a small open area leading to a very narrow pathway through the rocky mountains, ominous light shinning down it. She walked through, and out into the other side. What she saw there... it chilled her to her core.
Keyblades...
Dead, lost, and forgotten Keyblades, lay stabbed into the ground, everywhere. "This..."
This was where the final battle had taken place, wasn't it? According to Xehanort, this is where they fought, where the X-Blade was claimed and Kingdom Hearts summoned. Only for something to happen, for the X-Blade to be destroyed, and for Kingdom Hearts to fall into the Realm of Darkness, almost taking the Realm of Light with it. She allowed herself a fleeting moment of contemplating, wondering once more how that all could have happened before dismissing it.
Aqua walked over to the nearest dead key and picked it up, trying to connect with it and will it to life...
"Nothing," she murmured, "It truly is dead in every sense of the word."
She stabbed it back into the ground before walking down the pathway of dead keys, and coming to a crossroads. Curiously, the graveyard of Keyblades was sectioned into four areas.
She thought for a moment. "Light, Darkness, those who attempted to reconcile the two, and those motivated by nothing more than a lust for power. Four 'factions', along with anyone else who got caught up with them. Four sections of the graveyard. Yet... why did they split up? In an all out battle, you'd think they'd have mixed and mingled as they fought. All the keys are stabbed into the ground, not just laying around. It's... almost as if they stopped fighting and separated for some reason at the end."
Her head tilted in consideration. "Perhaps... it's because the X-Blade's wielder was chosen and Kingdom Hearts summoned. The objective of the war had been realized, and the fighting was over. But..."
She rubbed her chin and thought. "Xehanort wrote that the legends said that the Keyblade War began and ended with Penance. Perhaps the X-Blade wielder intentionally destroyed the X-Blade and threw Kingdom Hearts into darkness as the World's penance."
She sighed and shook her head. "Musings for another time, it's not why I'm here."
"Agreed," came a familiar voice.
Aqua spun, her eyes going wide. "Terra?! What are you doing here?"
Terra crossed his arms and gave her a contemplative look before ignoring her question. "You really did a number on the Master."
She narrowed her eyes. "He deserved it."
Terra closed his eyes and nodded. "Perhaps he did. I intend to have a long talk with him about what he did, later."
Aqua gave him a soft smile. "Scolding the Master huh? How times have changed."
"Yeah, how they changed indeed," he replied softly.
He crossed the distance between them and gave her a sorrowful look. "Aqua... I'm sorry, for everything."
She shook her head. "There's honestly nothing to be sorry for. As much as I want to hold some things done and said against you, I can't. It would be playing into Xehanort's hands, this is all what he wanted."
Terra nodded solemnly. "It is. I... read his reports Aqua. Are you sure you should face him? It's risky. Out of all of us, I'm the only one he doesn't really have some dark scheme planned out for that I know of. I..."
"Do you really think you could take on both Xehanort and Vanitas yourself?" she asked, eyebrow skeptically raised.
"I don't know, but, if to spare you and Ven a grim fate, I would," he answered firmly.
She smiled at him. "You're a good man, Terra, and a good friend."
She hesitated before taking a step forward and pulling him into a tight hug. They held one another, quiet for a few minutes.
"I've really missed you and Ven," she murmured.
"So, am I forgiven?" he murmured.
She chuckled softly. "Maybe."
"Maybe?" he asked, looking down at her with a pout on his face.
She smirked. "Alright, you're forgiven."
Her smirk fell. "Just... please... I do everything I do for you and Ven. Please don't ever accuse me about hurting you or Ven, ever again. That, Terra, hurt, it hurt a lot."
He tightened his hug. "I'm sorry Aqua, and... you shouldn't need to do everything you do for us. We can take care of ourselves you know."
"I dunno Terra, considering you can't cook to save your life...," she teased.
The both laughed before growing quiet. Aqua couldn't help but look up into his eyes, her face a little red...
"Is this the part where you two go kissy kissy?" came a teasing voice.
Aqua's face turned pure red and she forcibly separated from Terra, turning to glare. "VENTUS!"
Ven sheepishly scratched his head. "Busted!"
Her face went from red, to pale. "Wait... Ven! You can't be here!"
Ventus's face darkened. "Why? Is it because Xehanort wants me and Vanitas to fight, and make some kind of 'X-Blade'? It's why the Master tried to destroy me."
Aqua clenched her fists. "Ven, you need to leave, now. Get on your glider and go."
"Why? What IS the X-Blade?" he demanded.
"Death," she answered honestly, "If Xehanort gets his hands on it, it's death. The Keyblade War will be reborn, he'll drown the world's in darkness, and try to open Kingdom Hearts."
Ventus's eyes furrowed. "Kingdom Hearts...?"
"The heart of all worlds," she explained, "It's sad, in a way, the X-Blade existed to defend Kingdom Hearts originally, only for power mad fools like Xehanort to seek it out and corrupt it's purpose."
"Aqua... answer me honestly, what could Xehanort do if he opened Kingdom Hearts?" asked Ventus softly.
She closed her eyes. "Remake the worlds in his image."
"Then, if it looks like he's going to win...," he began.
Terra stepped forward and put a hand on Ventus's shoulder. "Xehanort won't win."
Aqua reached a hand to caress Ven's face. "He won't touch you Ven, I won't let him."
Ven brushed their hands away. "If he wins, I'm asking you guys... as a friend... just... put an end to me."
Aqua's breath hitched in her throat. "Ven... I would never..."
"Ventus," said Terra sternly, "You could be lost in the deepest darkness, but I would never give up fighting for you, for either of you, so long as I live."
A gust of wind bombarded them, making them wince. Aqua took a sniff and stiffened, smelling Xehanot and Vanitas. She turned and glared down one of the crossroads. There he was, the decrepit old bastard, slowly walking towards them, his hands clasped behind his back. Vanitas stepped out from behind him and started walking at his side. The pair stopped a ways from them.
Xehanort held a hand out and slowly waved it over the area. "Behold. These lifeless keys used to be full of power, united with the hearts of their masters. On this barren soil, Keyblades of light and darkness were locked in combat..."
He thrust his hands into the sky. "...as a great Keyblade War raged!"
"Countless Keyblade Wielders gave up their lives all in search of one, ultimate key, and it will soon belong to me...," he continued before pointing a finger at Ventus, "X-Blade."
Ventus and Terra slapped their Keyblade Armor activators and were engulfed in light. Aqua reflexively moved to follow, only to have her hand brush her skin. Right... she had destroyed it in the fight with the Master. So be it, her darkness was her armor.
"Terra, you deal with Vanitas, Ven, you fight any Unversed he summons. Xehanort is MINE," she ordered.
She slipped through a Dark Corridor and came out right in-front of Xehanort, catching him off-guard and planting a fist into his chest, dark energy exploding from it and sending him flying and skidding along the ground. She and Vanitas didn't spare each-other a look as they rushed past one another. Xehanort thrust a hand at her and then pulled up. Aqua gave a startled cry and staggered to her knees as the ground underneath the two of them rose far into the air and became an unnatural plateau.
Aqua knew why he had separated them. The way he was so greedily eyeing her body would have been disgusting if it could be taken for being lecherous. Instead, it was moderately terrifying because she knew he wanted to wear her body a second skin. He wanted her alone and away from the others so they couldn't interfere.
That was alright though, because this is where she wanted him too. She didn't want her friends to see what she was going to do to this bastard. If she won, she still didn't know if she was going to just kill him, or torture the life out of him. After the hell of fighting Eraqus, she was heavily leaning towards torture. She had a lot of issues she wanted to 'work out' on him.
One way or another, things ended here. Either he died, or she lost her body to him. She didn't think she had ever felt more scared, yet so alive and thrilled at the same time. It... was... TIME!
Aqua blitzed the the distance and swung her Keyblade, Xehanort's Keyblade rising to met her. "Admirable done Aqua."
Aqua lashed out with her foot and kicked him back, swinging for his eye like she had done for Eraqus, only for him to teleport away. "I knew this was a journey you could make. Over the unseen wall that divides darkness and light."
Aqua aimed a hand and unleashed a blast of darkness at him. Xehanort thrust his Keyblade forward and stabbed the blast, wrenching up and launching it into the air. "And I was not wrong, Aqua!"
He grinned full force. "Oh yes, I was not wrong in the slightest. In truth you, Aqua, considering your age, hold a unparalleled darkness within yourself, and yet, I doubt you are even close to the peak of your potential. I cannot wait to, personally, see the depths of your power in the future."
"Shame you're not going to live through this," she said evenly, ignoring his obvious allusion to his plan, he thought he was being 'cute' sneaking that though, didn't he?
Cheeky bastard.
"If Eraqus was an example of what kind of fighter a supposed 'Keyblade Master' is, I don't think you'll last three minutes," she taunted.
Xerhanort grinned at this. "Is that so? Show me then, show me your power."
"Gladly," she said viciously.
She was not going to play games. Ven and Terra were down there somewhere fighting Vanitas and probably hordes of Unversed, she couldn't afford to waste time. She tapped into her darkness, a heavy black and purple aura surrounding her. She sank into the ground and surged forward, exploding out beneath Xehanort and grabbing him with a gauntlet of darkness.
To her annoyance, Xehanort simply teleported out her grip, in addition to creating and lobbing a rather large chunk of ice at her. She formed a barrier and cringed when the ice hit and exploded, nearly breaking her shield. Xehanort aimed a hand, and black lightning descended from the sky, breaking through her barrier and electrocuting her. She gave a small scream and staggered a bit before recovering and casting cure.
"You call that thunder? I'll show you THUNDER!" she roared.
She aimed her hands into the sky and then knelt down to slam her palms into the ground. A massive bolt of lightning rained down onto the plateau they fought on, bathing them both in lightning. Thankfully, her own spells didn't hurt her, the same couldn't be said for Xehanort.
The old man staggered and yelled with pain, grinding his teeth. He teleported to the edge of the cliff and held a hand down, beckoning something up. Aqua stared at him with confusion, at least until a stream of dead Keyblades flew into the air and surged towards her.
She grinned. "Nice try, but you don't do magic against a mage!"
Aqua aimed her hand forward and ripped control of the spell from him and thrust her hands to her side. The stream of Keyblades diverted from her at the last second and turned to rush at Xehanort. The elderly Keyblade Master looked a bit disgruntled at that, but merely teleported out of the way and...
Aqua swore and dismissed her control over the Keyblades in time to turn and scramble to block an onslaught of Keyblade strokes from Xehanort. For an old man, he was FAST with his blade. Xehanort kept on attacking up close and personal, seeming to abandon his magic. Probably a smart idea, since she heavily outclassed him there.
Aqua fell back against each swing of his blade, wondering if not putting at least some effort into on her physical skills was actually a severe mistake. She formed a barrier to block an attack, sank into a puddle of black ooze, and surged away, jumping back up above ground to aim a hand at Xehanort and release a blast of darkness.
The man teleported and came at her close range again. Okay, enough of this!
She locked Keyblades with him, stilling his onslaught. "I hope you've had fun old man."
At her beckoning, tendrils of darkness surged out of her and latched onto his arms and legs, pinning the suprised Keyblade Master in place. "Because your DONE!"
She aimed her Keyblade and made to spear him through his chest before she froze at a pained scream coming from below. That sounded like Terra!
She blasted the Keyblade Master back and rushed towards the edge of the cliff, glancing down to see Terra collapsed on the ground, a hole through his shoulder armor, Vanitas standing over him. How... how could Terra have lost to him?!
"Terra!" came Ventus's panicked cry before he flew at Vanitas in a rage.
"Shit," Aqua swore, preparing to dive off the cliff to stop the two of them from fighting.
She gave a startled cry as she was pulled back away from the cliff and launched to the center of the plateau by a gust of magic as Xehanort laughed and mocked her, "Do you see how powerless you are to save them? Saver that rage and despair. Let is empower..."
"SHUT UP!" she roared at him, mimicking his teleport technique to close the distance and drive the hilt of her Keyblade against his skull.
Xehanort staggered back, crying out in pain, blood leaking down his face. She aimed a hand and released a burst of darkness, throwing him back and to the ground. She rushed forward and prepared to stab him...
"Here's one for ya!" came a cry.
What the...?
Aqua spun and deflected a energy shot, glancing over to see, to her surprise, the gunman from the world she had met Kairi on, an eye-patch over his eye, floating above the far side of the plateau, holding what looked like a sniper rifle of sorts. "I got your friend, now it's time to pay you back for my eye, witch!"
She narrowed her eyes. So that's where the hole in Terra's shoulder came from. Sneak attacking sniping cowardly bastard...
"I don't have time for this," she muttered.
She could feel Vanitas and Ven with her senses clashing viciously down below. She had what she estimated to be less than five minutes before one of them beat the other, and either way, the X-Blade would be forged.
There came a chuckle from Xehanort who rose to his feet. "I thought of sending my associate to directly fight below, but, after watching your battle against Eraqus, I knew I'd need every advantage I could get."
Aqua's head turned back and forth between both combatants. She knew she could beat either of them on her own, but this... would be far rougher. Grrr... what could she do... wait...!
She glanced at the gunman, working a thought over in her mind. "Hey! You wanted a Keyblade, right?"
The gunman raised his eyebrow. "What of it?"
Maleficent had turned traitor on Xehanort... and Aqua hadn't even offered her anything but her life, time to test out temptation as a skill. "I'll perform an inheritance ceremony on you, and heal your eye while I'm at it if you help me do the right thing and kill this old bastard!"
Xehanort looked surprised at her words, as did the gunman, who hesitated. "Huh... not what I expected you to say..."
"Whose stronger? Me or him, huh?" she called over, "You saw what I could do before, and I'm far stronger now."
"Don't even bother, his heart already belongs to me," said Xehanort, a smirk on his face.
What...?
She frowned and looked the gunman over...
His eyes... they weren't yellow before! She could feel Xehanort's darkness in him. She remembered suddenly, the report she had read, about Xehanort planning to insert pieces of his heart in others. Shit...
"I dunno old coot," murmured the gunman, aiming his gun half-way between him and Aqua, "I haven't seen a Keyblade in my hands yet. You keep telling me to just wait for it, but I'm not a very patient man."
Okay, apparently a piece of Xehanort's heart in someone else's didn't give him full control, yet. Perhaps a strong will could still maintain an identity and control for a time.
Xehanort narrowed his eyes. "Braig, I will only warn you once..."
"Braig is it? Think of it, getting in on good terms to the Order of Keyblade Masters, they'll reward you handsomely for helping to stop this madman," she offered, "They can undo whatever he did to you, I'll heal your eye, and you'll walk away with your own Keyblade at the end of it."
"That's a mighty good offer lady," Braig murmured, separating his sniper rifle into two separate guns, his eyes furrowed in thought.
If there was one thing she had come to understand about most servants of darkness, it was their complete and utter greed. Maleficent had it, Xehanort had it, and this man obviously had it. Greed was a reliable method to control people like Braig. Heck, she could admit even she was greedy, if only in regards to the protection of her friends, and obtaining any power needed to keep them safe.
"What about it old coot, got anything to one up her?" asked Braig with a grin on his face, "If you ask me, she has a point, not a lot of things have gone right for you. She slips out of your radar and goes undetected for awhile, coming back way stronger than before. Both her master and his palace are still intact, she's been thoroughly kicking your butt, and your little masked freak down there isn't doing so good. Looks to me like it might be time to move on to the winning side."
If looks could kill, Xehanort would have murdered Braig with them. "..."
Braig teleported and landed next to Aqua. "Alright miss, you got yourself a deal."
Oh hell yes!
She took a step towards Xehanort. "I'll keep him busy, you support from behind. If you can line up a kill shot, don't take it though. He's mine. You can take out his legs though if you want."
There was a dark chuckle from behind her. "I like the way you think lady."
The raw look of frustration on Xehanort's face was bliss-worthy. She blitzed forward, Braig's energy bullets giving her covering fire and forcing Xehanort to defend himself. She swiped a darkness coated Keyblade at Xehanort, unleashing a wave of dark energy that knocked him off his feet.
"To the left lady!" came Braig's warning.
Aqua dove in time to see a huge energy shot surge past. Xehanort teleported out of the way. Where did he...?
"Hey hey hey! Old man, I was just kidding!" came Braig's panicked voice.
Aqua turned to see Xehanort with his Keyblade up to Braig's throat. "Were you now?"
Aqua reached a hand out, a tendril of darkness shooting up out of the ground to grab Xehanort's arm and yank him back. Braig immediately teleported out of the way and behind Aqua again.
"Enough! If your heart will not belong to me, then it will RUPTURE!" cried out Xehanort, aiming a blackening hand at Braig.
The gunman screamed in agony, a hand clutching his chest, before his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he collapsed forward onto the ground
"What the heck? What did you do to him?" demanded Aqua.
"I detonated the darkness I had placed in his heart," answered Xehanort coldly, "It wont kill him, no, but it leaves a hole in his heart that will incapacitate him for a time until I've had a proper chance to force his loyalty. And this time, there will be no allowances."
She might not really have cared about Braig, at all, especially for shooting Terra, but...
Aqua narrowed her eyes. "You really are scum Xehanort, you know that?"
Xehanort merely smiled at her.
Enough of this. Xehanort had hurt to many people, and Ven still needed her. She teleported infront of him and backhanded him across his face, sending him staggering. She aimed a hand at him and unleashed black fire, singing his clothes and sending him reeling back in pain. She surged forward and swept her darkened Keyblade over and over again, tearing into him, leaving red bloody lines through his clothes.
She frowned as the man staggered back, noting that he did not try to counter attack. This was almost to easy, truth be told, this entire fight had been. Eraqus had put up a better fight... it was almost as if...
He was holding back intentionally...
He had barely used his darkness, and she had yet to see any major or powerful skills. He didn't want to harm his new body, did he? Well that was going to come back and bite him!
She lashed a foot out and caught him in his stomach, sending him staggering back and to a knee, stabbing his Keyblade into the ground for support. She stood up straight, glaring at him, gripping her Keyblade tightly. She was getting so sick of looking at his face, hearing his damn voice... she just wanted him DEAD!
BOOM! SHOCKWAVE!
Aqua staggered to a knee as a massive burst of light filled the air. "What the heck?"
Xehanort looked over her shoulder, eye's going wide, and pointed a finger. "There! You see!"
Aqua tilted her head, sighting a pillar of bright light emanating from below. "What is...?"
"The X-Blade has been forged!" cried out Xehanort, staggering to his feet.
All the breath left Aqua's lungs, she fully turned, took a few steps, sucked in a breath, and screamed, "VEN!"
"And now Aqua, it is time for the final union!" said Xehanort triumphantly.
Aqua turned in time to see Xehanort stab his Keyblade into his chest, a black and purple light shining out on contact.
She suckered in a breath. This was it... he... he was going to try and... and...
"At last our moment is here," said Xehanort, his keyblade fading away, and his heart popping out of his chest, and his body starting to glow.
Aqua forced away her fear and clenched her fists and half-crouched, focusing inwardly to call out every spec of darkness she had in her heart and body, every scrap of power she had, every desperate thought and concern for her friends and family. If she failed here, Xehanort would take her body and kill her friends...
"Out with the old and brittle vessel, and in with a younger, stronger new one!" exclaimed Xehanort.
A massive, pitch black aura began to engulf Aqua's body...
"I swore I would survive...," said Xehanort, not even paying attention to Aqua, staring up at his own heart.
The air around them began to turn pitch black with Aqua's energy...
"And be there to see what awaited beyond the Keyblade War," he exclaimed.
"AHHHHH!" Aqua roared, a pillar of black energy erupting out of her body and into the air.
Xehanort glanced at her, not appearing to care in the slightest. "And now, it is your darkness that shall be the ark that sustains me!"
Xehanort pointed his hand at her, and his heart flew forward.
Aqua called all of her darkness down and into her hand, turning it pitch black. She gave a cry of power, and thrust her hand out. The moment her hand met his heart, she felt an immense clash of energy that cracked the plateau they were on. Energy exploded around them in a blinding flash of light, before it faded...
...leaving Xehanort's heart wrapped in Aqua's hand, still outside of her body.
Xehanort looked at her, aghast. "WHAT?!"
Aqua trembled in effort, it was taking everything she had to keep his black heart at bay. "You... shouldn't have left... all your books and reports... laying around your house... Xehanort!"
She grinned at him. "I know everything... I read every book you wrote... I spent weeks... training with Maleficent... and in the Realm of Darkness... strengthening my power... and learning how to defend... against foreign hearts..."
There was fear, pure raw fear, all over Xehanort's face.
"Now Xehanort... SHOW ME ANGUISH!" she screamed, clenching her black fist tightly over his hear, squeezing it.
Xehanort screamed in agony and fell to a knee, hand clutching where his heart should have been in his body. She squeezed again and again, torturing him until he was on the ground writhing, but it wasn't good enough! Terra was badly hurt, and who knows if Ven was in control of his body or not! The Master had betrayed her and Ventus. Everything that had ever gone wrong for her over the last four years, every damn thing, flashed through her head.
She HATED him!
He had to SUFFER!
She clenched her fists tightly and with extreme force, cracking the heart in her hand. Xehanort gave a scream before going limp. Dark energy leaked out of his heart. She felt his presence weakening. It was taking far less energy all of the sudden to keep his heart at bay. She forced her own dark energy into his heart, and began tearing at it from the inside. To her disappointment, Xehanort's body didn't react anymore, or give any cries of pain, leaving her extremely unsatisfied.
She could feel his consciousness starting to fade away within his heart, collapsing on itself under her assault. With one more squeeze, she could rupture and destroy him utterly, but it wasn't enough... not nearly enough for her... he had to SUFFER MORE! She needed more ways to make him feel pain! But what was left that she could do?
She paused as a memory triggered...
Aqua sighed. "So... my options are either return to my Master and try to fully reject the darkness and return to the light. Kill Xehanort before he gets a chance to transplant his heart into mine. Or find some way to defend against this..."
"Or, if you could simply overpower his heart," advised Maleficent, "After all, why not return his sentence?"
Aqua's eyebrows furrowed. "Sentence?"
"He would trap your heart in a pit of darkness, never able to take control of your body again, forced to watch someone else play with your puppet strings," explained Maleficent, "Why not take his heart and force it to submit? Strip him of his knowledge and use it for your own while keeping him trapped in a prison in the depths of your heart. I'd see no greater cruelty than to turn his own plan against him."
Aqua frowned intently. "..."
It would be a fitting punishment... a suffering worthy of being forced on him... but...
"That's to risky," she murmured, "I'd rather not risk a battle of heart. My body would be on the line after all."
"Hmph, you doubt yourself?" chided Maleficent, "Do you doubt the strength of your own heart?
Aqua grinned wickedly and spoke with pure savagery, "Xehanort, Xehanort, Xehanort. I think I know just the hell to put you through..."
Xehanort's heart was crumbling. There was no danger of him overtaking her anymore. Yes... yes! She would make him suffer! She would have him trapped, watching as she lived out the rest of her life, unable to do a damn thing, his plans ruined! She could lord it over him until the day she died, a smile smugly on her lips on her deathbed.
Aqua gave one more small squeeze to damage his heart further, just to be on the safe side, before wrapping Xehanort's heart in her darkness and pulling it into her chest. The moment she did, Xehanort's body burst into little bolts of light before fading away. She gave a soft gasp as memories flooded through her mind...
"So much knowledge...," she whispered, "So much he didn't even write in his books..."
Immense black energy emanated from Aqua. "So much power..."
She threw back her head and laughed hysterically, a huge pillar of black energy erupting out of her, blackening the area around her. "It's all MINE!"
She paused as she felt a burst of energy from below. Someone was still fighting...?
"Ven!" she cried out with realization.
She turned a hand towards Braig. "Curaga!"
The man cringed and moaned, rising to a knee, clutching his chest. "Oh man... why does everything hurt so much...?"
"Get over it, you still have a job to do," she said, rushing over to the edge of the cliff, "Come on!"
With that, she dove off the edge, determined to see what fate had befallen her friend, and do her best to help if he needed her...
Author's Notes:
On a scale of 1 (catastrophically bad idea) to 10 (great idea), what would you rate Aqua's decision to absorb Xehanort's damaged heart?
And how badly do you think this is going to come back to bite her?
Because it will, perhaps not in the way you think, but it will.
Aqua, Aqua, Aqua, you had a chance to just end it, but, giving in to hatred like that? Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.
Anyway, this is the last chance to vote in the poll to determine Ven's fate. I'm going to sleep, and tomorrow, I'm writing the next chapter.
P.S. I also trimmed down Chapter 7 and hopefully made it flow better with the rest of the story.