TN: So how about this chapter, pretty short, eh?
TUH: Not in content.
TN: Definitely not.
TN: I can't believe we're so close to done.
TN:But, as they say, out of the fire ...
TUH: And into the fruit's basket.
TN: Exactly as I was about to say.
TN: Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter XXI
Taken
Avéladré, I'ltorien
September 13, 2010
Tor was packing his red chocobo with an assortment of different things. Some spare clothes at the bottom of the bag, a document that was top secret from Mateus himself, and some food and water. He was readying himself for a long distance trip to the other side of the nation … all the way to the Tower of Ahkthra on the other side of the Vale Rift. Hopefully, though, it would be over quick with this chocobo helping him. After tightening the pack, he climbed onto the chocobo and raced out of the stables, ready to go to the Tower of Ahkthra.
Or maybe not so ready.
HoL:TS
Well, here he was on the island that held the great Tower of Ahkthra. Having been built ages ago, it was a testament to time here in I'ltorien. He held Mateus' parchment in his hand, close to his chest as he walked over the cobblestone path to the Tower. It was in the center of a beautiful island full of flowers and fruit … all of which were highly poisonous. Everything about this place was deceitful. The beautiful foliage was poison. The shimmering lake held a massive monster in it that only Morvlan could control, being the eldest Vysril and heir of his parents' power and authority. The Tower was masterfully constructed of obsidian, hundreds of years of work. Inside, it held tortures and death for those unwelcome.
He walked to the vast doors, and they opened slowly on oiled hinges. He was greeted by two Vysrils.
"Hello, my name is Hexarin," one of them said, bowing his head slightly with a smile.
"You are too nice with the human scum, miserable wretch," the other said.
"And this is my charming sister, Drylia" he said. She barred her pointed teeth at Tor and recoiled slightly. "She is not on friendly terms with humans," he explained.
"Di fitìval ù isfiara si di céla antù," she said in her sick tongue, turning on the spot and walking away briskly. Hexarin looked on after her in shame before allowing Tor into the tower. He felt an instant chill, as if a predetermined death had been laid upon him. The black halls of stone led out of a central room. The center of the tower was hollow all the way to the top, where the ceiling was. Each floor, which there may have been a hundred of them, could be seen from here, should one only look over the railing. Tor shuddered to think if there was a basement just as big.
"This way, please," Hexarin said. His voice was smooth, but cold as ice. Tor followed reluctantly, but this was an important mission. The thing about his career was that he always did a perfect job. He always followed his orders precisely, and that's maybe why his sister hated him so much. She had been in the facility. He hadn't. He had lived an "easy" life. She had not. Maybe none of that would have mattered, except for one. Small. Detail.
He hadn't cared.
His goal, since he was adopted into the empire, was to climb the ranks and be one of the best. Sure, he may never be better than Orlandeu, Argovaron or the Black Knight, but what he could do was be in that circle … even if that meant he was the weaker one of the group. It wouldn't matter because he was in the top.
But no. His sister already outranked him because she was one of Mateus' lapdogs. She was so highly thought of because she survived. Who cared that he had put in more work, had done more missions, had worked his ass off for a family where he was merely adopted? Just because she could use magic. Just because she was infused with an Esper. Maybe this is why he resented her. But he did not hate her. He loved Eighteen. He truly did. And he regretted a lot of his life's decisions. But there was no way to go back. There was no way to change the past. He had messed up, put his career first, and now he had no one. Not Eighteen. Not his father. No one. And the Black Knight? As if … he laughed internally at the thought. Here he was, the emperor's gopher, doing this or doing that, and why?
Well …
Why not?
He dismissed the matter in his head as heard screaming coming from a room down the hall. His boots clocked as he walked down the stone floor. He peered into an open room as they passed. His stomach turned as he watched something evil. A woman was strapped to a table, stark naked. One of the Vysrils stood in a corner with hooked pole, the shaft quite long. He approached the woman and carefully—
They passed the door.
Hexerin sighed. "Another miscarriage? Why doesn't Morvlan understand …?" he muttered to himself. Tor felt like vomiting as they continued onward and upward.
"What was that about?" Tor managed to ask, keeping his breakfast down. Hexerin looked over his shoulder.
"Hm? Oh, I'm dreadfully sorry you had to see that. See, us Vysrils are immortal lest a blade or poison take us. But there are only seven of us and we wish to … well, Morvlan may be able to tell you more, should he deem it necessary," Hexerin explained. Tor did not press the matter further. The screaming had turned into sobs as something his the floor with a hollow and squishy thud. Tor shuddered as the ascended the tower.
Some time later, Tor was somewhere in the tower, and that ominous feeling of a predetermined death was still hanging about. He had given Morvlan the documents and was waiting patiently, letting him read them over. The sun was setting, and it was the only beautiful sight he had seen since entering the tower. Finally, Morvlan finished and looked to Tor with a gazing look.
"I know that you are someone that does not have much significance to Mateus, so I will only tell you what a dog should know. Take this to your master," Morvlan said, handing Tor a sealed document. The seal itself was white wax pressed in the shape of an open eye. The eye was red. Tor felt a deep terror and chill when he looked at it.
"This contains all the details on the … project. He will understand. Hopefully he will give you a treat for fetching his paper for him." Morvlan laughed and beckoned for Hexerin to lead Tor out. This was a good thing because Tor was starting to get angry with Morvlan. He was normally a very relaxed person, or so he showed on most occasions. But something about Morvlan just hit that sweet spot in his temper.
"Sorry about my brother, he can be … inconsiderate. Living for thousands of years without a real place to call your own can do that. Hopefully the Fish will help us," Hexerin said.
"The Fish?" Tor repeated?
Hexerin only chuckled.
HoL:TS
I'ltorien
September 23, 2010
Loyalty, Honour, Pledge. Pretty words, aren't they? Unlike what you may think, King believed that there is indeed a value in giving your life away for something you truly believe. That there are some things worth dying for. What he was starting to doubt was if that applied to the Empire he was serving. He sat there in his chair, unable to sleep after lulling the strange girl he had adopted on a whim to sleep.
Cuore was the first in many actions he himself couldn't—or better—didn't want to justify and to this day he half-regretted bringing the turquoise-haired girl with him, the other half of him hated the fact that he even slightly regretted it. To leave her back there was going against his ideals… but, like this, he was going against his word.
The knocking on the door called him towards the wooden structure, as he opened it he saw the blonde hair of his sister-in-name-only, Eighteen. She had been strangely relaxed ever since Tor had been sent on a mission. As much as King didn't want to believe it, she probably DID hate him to the bone.
"Hey, it's your day off today, isn't it?" she even talked ten times more casually.
"Yeah, I was thinking on how to spend it really…" King lied. A day off was a bit of a lie. It was "training day" for their battalion, they SHOULD be practicing their sword skills or physical conditioning, but the excuse Orlandeu always gave of "strategically research" always paid off in free free-time.
"I have an idea… what about doing this?" she asked, waggling a keychain in her fingers.
"Are those…"
"The Keys to the Royal Library yes. I went to have lunch with dad today. He only takes the keys when he needs them, it's more than enough time for me to slip them back in," Eighteen replied with a rare smile. King reciprocated and turned to Cuore, who was eying them curiously.
"You stay here for a bit Cu. When I come back, I'll bring something special with me!" King said, leaving Cuore to pout and start summoning Chocobos out of spite. He sighed and just submitted himself to the fact that he would spend the rest of the day putting his room back in order.
With that, Eighteen and King headed down the tower, towards the library.
The library housed a copy of every single book ever allowed in the Empire, because yes, censorship was obviously a thing in here. You ever look at Mateus? God, what a dick. Now, this was the ROYAL Library though, which implies some exclusivity. Some exclusivity that included Cid del Norte Marquez, which meant King and Eighteen had an unlimited amount of entertainment at their disposal whenever she managed to nab the keys from beneath her oblivious father's nose. He never noticed.
Today however, they were not here for entertainment. They passed through all the larger-than-life bookshelves of fantasy, history, biographies, everything, and made a beeline for the science archives.
The largest of the sections, the archives contained every single drop of information about every experiment ever conceived by the Empire, even the failures. Unless that info was too dangerous that is. Which is why the siblings were there.
"You check Magitek Laboratory list of patients, I'll prod in a little deeper in case you come out empty-handed," Eighteen said, leaving King to find a needle in a haystack.
"This will be fu-" King began before having a book just fall right on top of his head, flooring him with its sheer weight. Grabbing the now floored book he was shocked at seeing it was:
"Compilation of Patient Backgrounds by Cid Del Marquez 1000-2000… how incredibly convenient," King said, looking up to see the row missing one of the books, quickly finding the nine remaining pieces. "Cuore should be number 9999… but first," King said, looking at the tome in his hands. "I might as well…"
He had never prodded deeply into his past. His parents were either dead or had given him up, which was something he could not forgive. Still, lately, he had had a bug nibbling at the back of his head, asking questions, far more than he cared to have answers previously. One of them was his origin. Were his parents heroes or cowards? Were they even alive? Was the whole reason the Manakete had come to him related to them? The doubts were too many, before he could help it he was on his page for the first time.
"Number 1994, bloodline… Mixed?!" King scathed, letting go of the tome. He looked at his hands and wondered if he wanted to go on. Nodding, he decided he was, taking another look at the book.
Father: Rex Verus.
Occupation: Former General
Race: Wyverian
Hometown: Minegarde
Status: Unknown
King was beside himself at this. His father… was a general? Not only that, but from Minegarde… and not HUMAN? Not even a shred of humanity in him apparently. He was afraid of looking at his mother, but he did so anyway. He figured it couldn't get much worse.
Mother: Merlina Pendragon Magus
Occupation: Unknown
Race: Undefinable
Homeworld: Camelot
Status: Alive
It got worse. A lot worse. Not only was his mother from another world, but her race wasn't even definable by the book's standards. However, there was some light at the end of the tunnel. Merlina was confirmed alive… however he had never even heard of her before today. Which only meant one thing.
"My mother is part of the rebels…" King let out, slowly closing the book and putting it back on the shelf. He had to get the book with Cuore. He had to. He couldn't handle thinking about this right now. He picked up the book and just shuffled it furiously to the last page. Sure enough, even the name caused him to feel awry.
"Cuore Mist of Eblan… this… this can't be!" King gawked, slamming his fist on the table. "Esper: Maduin. Father…" King gulped. It was true.
Father: Edward Geraldine of Eblan
Occupation: King, Ninja Lord
Race: Human
Hometown: Eblan, Drisseria
Status: Alive
Mother: Rydia Mist
Occupation: Queen, Summoner
Race: Summoner
Hometown: Mist, Drisseria
Status: Alive
"Cuore… Cuore's… a princess." He said just as Eighteen approached him, wondering what the fuss was about.
"A Princess? Who's the- No way…" Eighteen said as she looked at the tome. "How are we ever going to get her back to her parents now?!"
"I don't know sister… I just… don't know."
HoL:TS
In Orbit of Treasure Planet
September 25, 2010
"What is the meaning of this?" Captain Amelia barked, walking up to Sora and Kairi from her quarters. The crew slowly crept out of the many holes of the ship. Kairi looked over at Jones with fear in her heart.
"Either you hand over Kairi, or I send these two to my locker, and trust me, you nor they don't want that!" Jones proclaimed, bringing out Jim and Merideth. Their hands were bound behind their backs and they we forced on their knees on Jones' deck. He pulled a long dagger out of a crewman's sheath and held it to Jim's neck.
"What do you want with me?" Kairi yelled to him. She felt that fear, yes, but why did he want her. Why was he here? And Beckett for that matter? Sora put a strong arm around her, and she felt reassurance.
"I don't want you. Maleficent is the one that wants you. I'm here to collect you for her. I should also grab that map for Beckett. Yes, he is here, as you know. Maleficent is giving him reign of this world and he wants that planet right there!" Jones explained, pointing a claw down at Treasure Planet.
"Why would you work for a man like Beckett?" Sora asked. She watched him and felt as if he were getting onto something. She glanced at Jones and saw a glimmer of hatred streak across his face.
"Like I want to! Dear old Captain Sparrow never had my heart. And Bootstrap's son doesn't have it either. Now, I'm done of banter! Hand over the Princess or I kill them!" he shouted.
"I won't let you have Kairi! And I won't let you harm my friends!" Sora shouted. Kairi felt heat flare in her chest and face. He truly did love her, and she smiled when he gently squeezed her waist. Jones chuckled.
"You're not like Jack, you know that," Jones said, letting his grip from Jim go, resting the dagger at his side. Captain Amelia whispered to the crew, and they began to slowly move.
"Get ready for a fight," she whispered in her and Sora's ears.
"See, Jack would always look to save his own skin. He may 'care' for his 'friends,' but he is always looking to save himself over anyone else. But you, Sora, I have to admire your stupidity. You do not care about yourself … no, you care about everyone else. You would rather die to save someone that will die later, or be used. It doesn't matter. Your attempts are futile," Jones said. Kairi place a hand on Sora's shoulder.
"You're wrong! I fight for my friends, and protect me! We work together, and that's how we'll always win …" He looked around at the crew. Amelia winked and nodded at him.
"We give each other strength, and that's what matters! FIRE!" he screamed! Kairi felt the entire ship reverberate as cannonballs soared into the Dutchman. Splinters of wood crunched and flew. Coils of rope untwisted and snapped. When the last of the cannonballs fired, the Legacy swooped down and below the Dutchman. As if it were planned, Jim and Merideth surged forward and leaped, feeling all the weight leave them as they jumped to the Legacy below. Luckily, the two gravity bubbles interlaced, and they were able to jump down as if it were normal. They rolled onto the deck. Kairi rushed to them and sliced the ropes binding them.
The new and enhanced Dutchman was just as fast. It swerved in a loop and fired down upon the Legacy. Cannonballs whistled and blasted straight through the Legacy, in one side and out the other. They were wreathed with fire and explosions issued on contact, throwing anyone or anything near the radius away. Kairi ran to Amelia, who was issuing orders.
"Sora, I need you to grab the map, and come back out here for battle. No doubt that there will be those … Heartless things you mentioned," she said. And, just as she mentioned it, a whole platoon of one hundred or more, flying Centurions burst from the Dutchman, racing over to the Legacy. Luckily for Kairi, the Dutchman was old fashioned and had to reload its cannons after every shot. The Legacy had semiautomatic fire on its guns.
"Kairi, I need you to man … I mean, woman one of the plasma cannons. We're not going to go down so easily. Now go!" she shouted. Heartless emerged on the Legacy, and anyone that wasn't in a cannon, was fighting them. Sora had already come back and was fighting the Heartless, Oblivion flashing in the suns and stars. Kairi rushed to a plasma cannon and strapped herself in. The controls were easy enough to understand, and the handles let you spin in a spherical motion, allowing you to aim anywhere. A shield went over her sphere and an aiming helmet came down over her head. This way, she could see everything and be somewhat safe. She heard Amelia yell at her from outside the shield:
"Make sure not to miss. We can't take many more of those cannons! I'll try to evade as much as I can!"
Kairi began to shoot.
It sent a thrill through her. The plasma cannon sent vibrations through her whole body as it rocked back after every shot, purple globs of plasma striking Centurions in mid flight. She whooped and aimed at more. They would swerve and evade her shots, and she furrowed her brows, trying to take them down. A Centurion was swooping in for Captain Amelia, but Kairi was faster. A purple round blasted into it, vaporizing it on the spot. She swiveled the cannon around and noticed there were five Darksides on the ship, and Sora was inside the chest of one of them. She worried for him but shrugged it off, taking aim once more at the invading Centurions. She looked inside her capsule and saw many different buttons in front of her. Ideas sparked in her brain.
"It couldn't hurt to try," she muttered. She slammed a button and her single-shot rounds stopped. Instead, they were replaced by a large, continuous beam of plasma energy. She was so shocked, she lost control of the cannon, and it severely swiveled to the left, vaporizing anything it touched. She took down one of the Legacy's small masts; it teetered and crashed into a supply of barrels which exploded in a great ball of fire, incinerating Heartless around it. It left some major damage on the ship's but in the process, she cleared twenty Centurions and cut the last Darkside clean in half.
"Sora! I don't know what I'm doing!" she yelled as she switched into fully automatic mode. She hammered away Heartless after Heartless. Sora looked to her, his brown hair whirling about his head, sweat covered him and he bled from multiple, small cuts.
"Well, whatever you're doing, keep doing- AH!" he screamed. Kairi turned her head as she shot at the Dutchman with the cannon. A Praetorian's arm was sunken into Sora's shoulder. Blood poured from the wound as he wrenched it free. He shot a Firaga at it and obliterated it. He healed himself and braced for more impact. She sighed in relief but that was short lived. Her cannon rocked from an impact; Centurions had latched onto it while she wasn't paying attention. She tried firing at them, but of course, they were too close. Instead, she blasted a hole into the Dutchman, which was about ready to fire again.
"EVASIVE ACTION! Hold on to your shorts!" Amelia shouted. The black creatures crawled all over her cannon, obscuring her vision. She heard the Dutchman's cannons fire, and not so many cannonballs made contact. Unluckily for her, one of them grazed her cannon, killing the Heartless on that side, It bounced off and the entire cannon was knocked off of its podium. It rolled and crunched onto the deck of the Legacy, the shield going away. The ball came to a stop in the corner of the deck; she unlatched herself from the seat and crawled from the wreckage. Burning holes now littered the starboard side of Legacy. Instantly, she felt a sword pierce her foot, and she bit back a scream like last time. She looked up into the eyes of the Praetorian, its other blade whistling at her neck.
She was too slow to react …
Sora was doing well, he thought. Kairi was in her cannon, firing away and having fun by the looks of it. He was jealous of her, being lucky enough to fire a plasma gun of epic destruction. Oh well, he didn't mind too much, mainly for the fact that Heartless had just appeared all over the deck, including five Darksides.
"Oh boy, here we go," he said with a huge grin. He ran forward at the first one. He sliced a regular Shadow with ease and sprung off the head of a Pirate Heartless. In air, he did a flip and landed on the Darkside's head. Sora plunged the Keyblade in its head and—like a pirate—slid down its face and top of its torso, cutting into it like a pirate riding down a sail. Darkness spewed from it and then he landed in the void that was its chest. Sora wrenched his Keyblade out, but before he could execute his final attack, large Centurions flew up on either side of the heart-shaped hole. There were many on each side.
"Don't you ever let up?" Sora asked in exasperation as two Centurions began to hack at him. The others hovered behind, waiting for their turns. Sora backed into the dark body of the Darkside and began to deflect swords and maces from the Centurions, sparks shooting off of the contact. Sora glanced at Roxas, Naminé and Merideth, all fighting side-by-side. He ducked a sword jab, and it went into the Darkside, a growl of pain coming from it. The Centurion's blade was stuck in. Sora dodged the left mace with a duck, and then sliced the arm off of the right Centurion. It wheeled away, just to be blasted by Kairi; another took its place.
"This is just annoyi- ah!" he exclaimed as the ship rocked because of a ram from the Dutchman. He teetered and fell out of the Darkside, but he gripped the body, and held on with one hand, dangling from the chest. All the Centurions on either side swooped to this side and began to attack. Sora used his right hand and deflected what he could and countered where he could. But, there were just too many … until he had an idea. His finishing move may take them away, too. One of the Centurions went for a shred at his legs, but he lifted them, landing on the Heartless and back-flipping into the Darkside. They shot for him, but he raised his Keyblade and forced it into the chest of the Darkside.
"Firaga!" he screamed, blowing its top half into oblivion. The explosion flung him away and into the wall of Amelia's stateroom. The blast also cleared the Centurions. Sora groaned in pain as he got to his feet.
"One down, four to go," he muttered. But that wasn't true, because Roxas, Naminé and Merideth had killed one of the others and the crew had taken down a third. Only two remained. Sora ran to the staircase and slid down the railing, pretending to skate. He jumped down but was stopped by the new and improved Knights and their counterparts, the Invisibles.
"Oh great, more …" Sora mumbled, before hauling his Keyblade back and lunging forward.
"Roxas! Run to the other side!" Naminé shouted. He pushed his way through the commotion as barrels of … something … blew up in a raging inferno. The heat breathed upon his face, sweat trickling down his neck and back. This Darkside seemed bigger than usual as he squared it up. He watched as an arrow whizzed right into its face. It bounced off like nothing. Roxas ran forward and plunged his Keyblade into the Heartless' leg. It turned its lumbering head his way while Naminé cast a series of Blizzara and Fira spells, all of them colliding into it. It turned to face her and swiped at her. She backpedaled away, tripping over some rope. The Darkside then fell to its knees and began to unleash orbs of dark fire and death.
They screamed through the air and struck anything and anyone in their way, blowing up on contact. Roxas remembered sifting through Sora's memories of these things, and they seemed stronger now than they normally had been in the past. Electricity and fire brimmed from them, and darkness spewed. The creature rose to its feet and slashed at the crew, lightning flaring from its hand. Each step it took thundered through the ship, as if a Quake spell had been used. Roxas rolled under swooping Centurions and dodged slashing Praetorians. He ran by and took a slice at its leg, but it hardly did anything to the Darkside. It was then that he noticed a net and pulley.
He looked over to the burning wreck of the barrels that had exploded. An idea lit his brain like a wild fire.
"Amelia!" Roxas shouted, summoning the captain to his side; she was there in a flash.
"What is it?" she asked, perplexed as to whom Roxas was.
"Order everyone that can to take those barrels and put them in this net," he explained. She eyed him critically and then nodded.
"Listen up!" she screamed. Men still fought but listened all the same. "Get the plasma containers into the cargo net! NOW!" she screamed. Half the crew scrambled to do this while the other half continued fighting. Roxas continued to fight the Darkside and any other Heartless that stood in his way. Roxas jumped over barrels of the Beard Company. Barrels of Beards, he thought, and laughed as he slew a Heartless. The barrels slowly but surely gathered in the net. Amelia, seeing the plan, ran to the rope with some of the burlier crew members. When all the barrels were in, they began to hoist.
"Roxas! You have to distract it from us!" Naminé shouted. He nodded confidentally at her and turned to face the Darkside by himself.
Sora, hopefully your skills have been passed onto me.
Yep, he answered concisely.
Roxas pointed his Keyblade and fired a weak Fira spell at the creatures head. He was never good at magic, but it hit home and the creature focused on him. It was really a bunch of dodging and evading for Roxas. He would roll away from swipes and crackling lightning, cut down a smaller Heartless in his way, and then dodge more. It punched down towards him, and lodged its hand through the deck, splinters of wood crunching. Roxas, without thinking, ran up the arm, and laced his Keyblade with fire. He met its face and began to just unload his attacks into its head. He was always a better melee fighter, by far. It growled and howled in rage, wrenching its hand free of the deck. The sudden movement made Roxas fall back and onto the deck with a loud thump. His back arced in pain.
Speaking of arcs, the Darkside pointed an open palm at Roxas' downed body and shot a stream of electricity at him. Roxas would have let go of his Keyblade and retreated into Sora if he could, but his muscles retracted too much, and his grip on the Two Become One never loosened. His body shook with pain, convulsing and rocking with spasms. He yelled in pain. His vision blurred and became darker. Then, a large blast of light came from the heavens, or so he thought. Fire spread across the sky as the barrels exploded, blasting the Darkside into nothing. He turned his face away from the heat.
"Roxas!" he heard Naminé scream. He opened his eyes to see her by his side, healing him.
"Thanks, babe," he coughed as he stood up, his strength being returned.
"One more to go," she said.
Kairi sliced it in half within a second.
And the ship was pulverized by Jones again.
HoL:TS
She was too slow to react …
The sword stopped in dead swing, her eyes were shut, so she did not know. When the death blow didn't come, she peeped them open to see Sora standing there, holding his Keyblade where the Praetorian used to be. She let out a sigh of relief and smiled at him.
"Thanks, Sora," she simply said. He smiled back at her. The Darksides were gone and the last of the Centurions were being killed. But, faster than they would have predicted, another volley of magical cannonballs tore through the Legacy, and then something bad happened. The gravity bubble flickered, but held and the control circuits of the ship malfunctioned, sending it rotating into the planet. It was flipping upside down when Amelia began to order people.
"Someone go and fix it! The rest of you hold on-" she was cut off as the ship lurched violently upside down. Sora grabbed onto Kairi's hand as they plummeted; his hand reached out for something to grab onto. He snatched a piece of rope, and it pulled tightly, but Kairi's grip broke from his hand and she kept falling, and the bubble was flickering.
"KAIRI!" Sora screamed. She fell straight out of the bubble as it flickered and into the one of the Dutchman as it passed underneath, slamming straight into the deck with a loud thud.
"Roxas!" Sora shouted in both his mind and out loud. He was there in a flash.
"What do you need?" he asked worriedly.
"Take the transporter device to Merideth. I'm going for Kairi," he said, handing Roxas said device. Before Roxas could say anything else, Sora had jumped.
I promised her I would let no one take her.
He land deftly on the deck and summoned his Keyblade. The pirates were on him, but he was too fast, especially when someone like Kairi was in danger. He blocked every blow with one sweep. He fired a Firaga at them and blew four of them back into the railings. He looked up to see a rope falling for them. Kairi was weak to stand up, too dazed from the fall.
Roxas, help her!
Again, Roxas was there in a flash. He helped Kairi up and grabbed a hold of her. He then grabbed the rope.
"Come on, Sora!" Roxas yelled. Sora backed off another five pirates, but more came at him. He realized what he had to do.
"Roxas, go! I'll get up there somehow. Get Kairi safe, first, then come for me," Sora said, receiving a wound from a pirate. It stung like hell and burned through him.
"But Sora-"
"Go, now!" Sora shouted back. They began to rise as the crew lifted, the Legacy being stabilized. Sora was being backed to the railing. If he fell, he was done for. They were just about to unleash all the men on him when a single voice ripped through them.
"No!"
It was Jones.
The pirates all moved away, letting there squid captain limp his way forward to Sora. He eyed him carefully. Sora lunged forward without thought and tried to strike Jones. Sora never saw it, but the man was fast, having drawn his sword and deflected the blow easily.
"Put him in the brig. This will do for Maleficent," he ordered.
"No!" Sora shouted in fear and anger. He lunged at Jones again, but was shot in the shoulder from behind. A spray of blood came from the exit wound and he screamed as if molten lead had been poured onto it. He fell to his knees, dropping the Keyblade with a clang, letting it vanish in a thousand lights. A sword hilt met the black of his skull, and his vision became black.
The Dutchman kicked it into overdrive, and sped away from the Legacy the next second.
Sora was gone … gone to the sorceress.
HoL:TS
"NO! SORA!" Kairi screamed with all of her might. She watched with tears in her eyes … she watched helplessly as Sora was taken by Jones. Taken to Maleficent. She screamed again, her vision blurring from the tears, her eyes stinging.
"Kairi, calm down," Naminé told her. Roxas had vanished with Sora.
"Calm down? Sora, my boyfriend, was just kidnapped by a squid-faced-pirate, taken to Maleficent, and you tell me to calm down? I am calm. Not calm would be me trying to take the Legacy after him. No, we need to go, we can come back another day to seal the Keyhole. Wait! Sora has the device!" she exclaimed, a look of defeat hitting her.
"No, he had Roxas give it to me," Merideth said, coming up from behind. She handed it to her. She held it and looked at the crew.
"Amelia, I'm sorry, but we have to go," Kairi said simply. Amelia simply nodded.
And they were gone in a flash.
"Set course for Radiant Garden, and take this hunk of metal as fast as it can go," Kairi ordered.
I'm coming, Sora, and I'm bringing back up.
HoL:TS
Avéladré, I'ltorien
September 25, 2010
Tor had returned, and there had been no sign of King or his sister Eighteen. But he was not thinking about them. He was thinking about his life before I'ltorien. His life back in …
What was the name of it?
Oh well, he couldn't remember. He just remembered his real sister. His real father and mother. His blood family. He remembered training and having fun with them, but mainly his little sister.
I miss you, Merry
"Come on, princess, it's time to train!" some courier shouted outside the door. "Quote from the Black Knight himself! Don't keep 'im waiting!"
"I won't," Tor sighed, before grabbing his katana and heading out the door.
"Tor!" a cute little voice shouted. He smiled as Cuore ran up to him, hugging him around the legs and waist. He patted her head and lifted her up into a hug, then carrying her onto his shoulders. She giggled. And then his smile faded away.
"Oh, hey sis …"
HoL:TS
I'ltorien
September 25, 2010
Two days had passed ever since that trip to the library and King was still in shock. It had been too much at the same time. His father had been a general… had he sold him out to the facility? If he did… did his mother leave him for it? Was he even alive yet? And if he was, did he even care about the rest of his family?
King looked down upon his hands, sighing heavily. No one could ever know what he was before the facility. The infusion warped your blood and body to the point where it could no longer be considered human, some even gained changes for this. Eighteen had had simple brown hair when he first met her, but it slowly turned blonde, along with her eyes. King's ears should have been some sign, as they were pointier than a normal human's, but that could have been attributed to the Esper in him, especially since they were not quite elven. Reading that text changed all that.
And then there was Cuore. She had left, pulling Eighteen to go meet Tor as he arrived, leaving him to hold down the fort. His promise towards her… was it going to have to be a lie? Was she doomed to be hidden away until the eventual capture? Was HE doomed to have to tell her about the death of her parents if the war went on and they won? Maybe by his own hands?
"What should I do?!" King shouted, breaking his own bedside table with an angry fist. "All of this… all of this… should I just take her word for granted? That Manakete… should I just jump into a prophecy I know nothing about and hope that it works in bringing down the Empire?! What reason is there for me to do it?" King yelled, fury and confusion amalgamating into one.
Suddenly, a powerful light erupted from the ground to his side, from the remains of the table emerging a single crystal.
"Silver?" King questioned his Esper, knowing that the crystal would not just awaken.
Deplorable. You STILL ask that question? Little Drake, ask yourself this. Why stay here? Silver questioned, his tone acidic with anger and depreciation.
"What do you mean Silver, you kn-"
Honor? Duty? Reason? Is that what you are about to say? King gulped down, the Esper seemed to know him far too well. You mean to tell me that that honor and sense of duty of yours weighs more than your progenitor, the most important person in your life and the same honor that binds you to the promise to the summoner's daughter?! He blared, the light not only blinding King; his skin was cracking under the heat it emitted.
"It's true I gave my word to Cuore but-" King began, however Silver was having none of it.
NO! It is no honor! It is no duty! It is no reason! Your scales are trembling, your tail is tucked away, and even you should be able to smell it. It is FEAR Drake. You are afraid of defecting! Your fear for your OWN safety outweighs everything you claim to believe. King could feel an arrow go straight through his chest, such was the edge contained in said words. He could not counter it, he had no counter to it. He was left to stare blankly at the crystal as Silver continued.
I was wrong about you. You are not a disgrace to me. No, that would sell you too short. You are a disgrace to not only me, but to the trust that any human ever put in you… no, to your kind in general! A man who lives at the cost of his belief is not a man but a rat! Humans, no matter how lowly they are… cannot go lower than you Drake. Do not dare speak to me again until you prove yourself worthy of my gaze.
And with that, the crystal fell onto the ground, King's knees impacting at the time as it. It had took Silver to make him realize something he had subconsciously hidden away. It all made too much sense now. For the last months, several reasons and opportunities to turn his back on the Empire had come and went: Christina's escape and survival, Cuore's promise, a Manakete's prophecy, Elincia's trust … yet he always asked for more reasons. Hot tears were streaming as he slammed his head on the ground. He masked it as being prudent. He wanted to be sure of the rebel's strength. He wanted to be sure they'd win the war. He… he had wanted to be on the winning side.
"I'm the worst kind of trash… everything I preached to Tor… Everything I told Eighteen… I was guilty of all of it," King touched his chest, the wound of the shot now pulsing again. "This thing… this thing truly killed the man that lived in that facility, didn't it?" he asked, knowing that his past self would have never condoned his actions. The bullet had not only pierced his physical heart, but his spiritual as well. The fear of death rang far too close to home on King. Submitting had been so easy… Eighteen and Tor were there to make it all the more easier. "Believing Christina to be dead at all costs was only to keep myself from having a reason to rebel wasn't it?!" King cried, reaching for his pocket to pull out Christina's tear stone earring.
But now he knew the truth. Christina was alive. His mother was alive. Cuore's parents were alive. And they were all out there. Past the walls. Past the grip of the Empire. There was no denying it. He either submitted or rebelled. He either cowered in the safety of his nest or he ventured into the storm without a compass. The tears stopped. His heart seemed to stop before starting to pound again. His hand closed into a grip, his teeth ground and he stood back up, slowly walking into the balcony. He looked downwards, seeing a hyper-active girl run in circles around what he knew to be Eighteen and Tor.
"Christina … Cuore … I won't let you down anymore!"
TUH: I revealed more in 20 lines than I did in 90% if Il
TN: Yeah, pretty obvious. Also, Tor is a dick.
TUH: So's King.
TN: Everyone is in I'l, because it's a dog-eat-dog world.
TUH: Christina.
TN: Well ... not everyone.
TN: So, ready for the next chapter?
TUH: I'm nearly freee!
TN: Book Two is on the horizon ... 80+ chapters. Let that sink in, everyone.
TUH: Not that abnormal
TN: Well, until next chapter!
Chapter XXII: Sorceress Rising
May the Love of Anuwëy guide you when all Hope is lost
TorNathan
The Unknowing Herald