I open the double doors and skulk along the tile walls as I search for anything that could be lurking around. Finding a Heartless should not be a tedious task and destroying it should not be a problem either. Fighting the Heartless for past nine months has given me enough experience. I turn the corner, briefly survey the hallway, and step out of my hiding spot. Why do I need to hide? Clearly, it is hiding from me. "I am going to put an end to you," I dauntlessly announce as I wait for a sign of life. I listen to the muffled noises above the ceiling, they sound like Mizuki and Don's voices. "They are all counting on me to this-"
A mucky noise emanates from the other side of the hallway, then I hear footsteps from around the corner. I stand in a fighting position, ready for whoever is coming out. A girl whose appearance I recognize all too well stops at the other end of the hall. I hold my breath as her arms hang limply at her sides. "Mia? You should be with Mizuki," I mumble to myself. Mizuki told me that the Heartless is on this floor, but it is only Mia I see.
Mia raises her head and grins. I remain in offensive stance; there is something about Mia's smile that seems peculiar. There is no warmth in her smile and she is staring at me ravenously. The Keyblade appears in my right hand; without thinking, my sword arm is raised at Mia. Maybe the Keyblade is responding to my gut feeling. "Who are you?" I ask. A dark crimson-violet liquid spreads from her chest and engulfs her from her blue hair down to her shoes. The jade color in her eyes is overcome with bright yellow, her eerie grin never faltering. Four arms with claw-like hands protrude from her back as she hunches over, getting ready to charge. The familiar Heartless emblem is etched across her chest. "That is all I need to know," I mutter as I prepare myself to fight. That creature is not my friend. Heartless Mia releases a high-pitched shriek as it clumsily rushes to me. Using the narrowness of the hallway, I jump side-to-side and bring the Keyblade down on its head. Its hand slams me against the ceiling and then it throws me back like a broken toy. I land on my feet and lunge at it again.
It launches another one of its arms at me and I slice through the stem, its hand flying off. Before I can reach it, the hand I was sure I sliced off snatches me, pounds me against the floor and then flicks me back to my side of the hallway. I peel myself off the wall with a pained grunt, but quickly get to my feet. "You are going to die here," I say as I wipe off some sweat from my eyes. Two pairs of arms sprout from Heartless Mia's back as it roars furiously in response. As it shoots its arms at me, I hit one out of my way and hop onto the other, using it as a bridge to the Heartless' body. When I get close enough, I beat it against the wall and slice one of its hands off with the jagged edge of my Keyblade. It shrieks in pain until I jump off and kick it into the wall.
"…other lives!" I make out Mizuki's voice upstairs. Something is going on up there, something potentially dangerous. Mizuki sounds angry, I have to join her and the others when I finish here. The Heartless' spider-like hands push itself out of the crater, then it charges at me with two extra hands. It drops its jaw and a mass of Darkness the size of pineapple forms inside it, causing me to retreat back. Heartless Mia's angular hands try pinning me to the floor as I leap back towards the corner I hid in earlier. The orb of Darkness barely misses me and explodes on impact of the wall, causing a slight tremor in the demolished hallway. I catch my breath quietly as I think of how I can defeat the monster as soon as possible. This floor will fall apart and who knows how that will affect Mizuki and the others? "No time," I mumble as I back away from Heartless Mia's claw-like fingers scraping the wall. It pursues me as I retreat, but abruptly freezes as I hear someone whom I cannot recognize, "…stop them!"
Heartless Mia raises its head and sends two of its arms through the ceiling. While it is distracted, I run up to it and shoot a ray of Light from the Keyblade. Its arms keep it rooted and it recoils with a punch that I dodge with a backflip; as I unfold from the somersault, it snatches me and holds me above the floor. It pinballs me with its other free hands until a third hand slams me into the floor. I hack out thick blood as I lie in the crater defenselessly and then I feel a hard ball crash against my back at the same time it explodes. The hallway shakes intensely compared to the first time, making it harder for me to stand up.
My head feels extremely light and when I manage to wobble out of the crater, I spit out more blood. I need to recover, I cannot go on like this. When I plunge the Keyblade into the floor, the tiles fly off the walls and enclose me in a small dome, I can hear some dirt and rocks splatter against it. That must be from outside, right? A vertigo feeling overcomes me; I curl into a ball and lie in the safety of my dome. Something pounds repeatedly against it, probably Heartless Mia. My head and my chest jolt each time its fists knock on the dome. "Risa…"
"Mizuki?" I whisper softly as I struggle to stay awake. Her barely audible voice is swallowed by the furious shriek from the Heartless, but I try my best to hear her through all the noise. "…be weakened! Don't kill it!" Kill what now?
The next time I open my eyes, I feel a few tiles and rock debris on my black shirt. A small hole is opening up in my dome thanks to the relentless assault from the Heartless. No wait, what did Mizuki say for me to do? My stigma throbs, reminding me of the order she gave me and alerting me to the Heartless' hands tearing my dome apart. She said "weakened" and not to kill it, why? "Oh."
I remember now, she mentioned this earlier at Mia's home. I take in a deep breath and exhale, despite my mind telling me to let sleep take over-I cannot do that while this Heartless poses as a threat to my friends.
Heartless Mia's hand finally gets into the dome, I grab it and pull hard. I sprint along its thin arm, leaving my decrepit dome to collapse on top the Heartless' fingers, and shoot a beam of Light at the creature. It hits and as it is reeling back, I send the tiles and stones crashing into the beast's chest. I place my hands on the walls and thick, green moss engulfs the hallway. Heartless Mia removes its other two hands from the ceiling and makes a new crater in the wall as it crashes. Why did it take its hands out? Perhaps to deal with me seriously. I hurry to the mossy wall, the growth halting when I took my hands off, and force vines to wrap around its body and numerous spider-arms. It jerks persistently as I retreat to the double doors and escape the suffocating hallway. I slump against the wall with an exhausted sigh as I stare at the staircase. That thing is trapped, I can finally rest and then join the others. All the pain I suppressed while I fought piles up and puts me to sleep.
By the time I wake up, there is a lot of chatter coming from the upper level. I feel slightly better, the pain has been reduced to numbness while I slept. I push myself off the wall and climb the first step until I notice Dark aura seeping out from the double doors. I stopped the Heartless, yet I am worried. I turn around and shove the doors open to find the vines broken and the Heartless gone. Following the trail of Dark stains along the hall, I come across Heartless Mia amassing a spiraling ball of Darkness, bigger than the other ones. I lunge towards it and it pounds its fist into the floor, causing a strong quake that shakes the entire building. I fall to my knee clumsily and hold the Keyblade out in front of me as the lights over my head flicker out, leaving us in more darkness. The sphere creates strong winds that push me back slightly; I did not see the sphere leave its mouth, but I feel it. I am driven further into the crater in the wall as sharp pain and Darkness engulfs me. The Keyblade falls a few feet away from me and then vanishes into cyan Light. When I am tempted to move, I cannot since the physical trauma is too much to bear. The beast thrusts its massive palm into me in an attempt to crush me into the wall.
Every part of me wants to give up in this moment and let the inevitable happen. Everything hurts, the numbness converts to an astringent pain that is squeezing the life from my chest. My sight is beginning to fade as I pant furiously. I cannot let this Heartless to take away my life before I can fulfill my promises. I weakly push back with my bare hands-although I am unable to remove the hand, I am stopping it from crushing me. "Nngh...dammit. I will not-nnnngh!" I mumble under my breath as I manage to hold the stalemate.
"Oh my God!" Mizuki's voice surprises me.
"Risa!" Mia is here, too? The real Mia?
"Are you kidding me!?" Don sounds terrified. Are they all here? They sound close.
I need to move. I need to protect them even if I die. The familiar voices down the hallway help me suppress the pain in my body for a moment. "We'll get you out of this, hang on!" Rayquaza's muffled voice pierces through my heavy breathing. I cannot let the others get hurt in my battle. This Heartless will not touch them. Groaning while doing so, I manage to push the hand off with my legs and slip down to the Dark-stained floor. Summoning the periwinkle Keyblade, I send it spinning towards the Heartless who easily blocks it with its hands, and then I slam my fists against the wall. Vines pin Heartless Mia down; this time I create layers and layers of spiked vines until it is wrapped in a cocoon of beefy vines. "Holy shit, that's awesome Risa!" Mizuki exclaims. When I look up to her, I see nothing but a blur of colors.
"Are you alright, Risa?" Mia asks concernedly.
I drop on my knees and then touch my head. Something warm is pouring down my temple and it does not feel like sweat. Much thicker than sweat. "Risa, can you hear me?" I can hear Rayquaza dropping beside me. His voice is closer than the others. The monster growls as I hear it scratching through the vines.
"Yes," I utter as Rayquaza stands me up, holding onto my arms tightly. I am breathless as I speak, "Is…every…safe?"
"Thanks to you and your friends," he answers while slowly walking me towards the group. Too weak to lift my head, I lean against him.
"I expected no less from you," says Don. "That's why I trusted you with this." My head swirls for a bit and I let out a cough thick with blood. I would be embarrassed if I was not on the brink of possibly dying.
"You shouldn't have tried to fight it," protests Rayquaza sternly. I feebly shake my head-I mean to snort, but it comes out as a haggard breath.
"I was...greedy," I whisper.
"Your will is indeed powerful Risa," remarks Azelf. I try lifting my head to see him, but it remains pinned to Rayquaza's shoulder. "But your body is past its limit."
"He's right," agrees Don. "You need to rest."
"There's very little time for that," argues Dialga. Although my world is out of focus, I can hear the vines trapping Heartless Mia being ripped apart.
M.C.