Shadows of Sleep: Final Mix
Chapter Twenty – Waltz of the Damned
The dry wind of the Keyblade Graveyard assaulted Ventus face the second that his armour vanished. He walked to the edge of a large cliff, looking out over the crooked mountains and the desert in the distance. It was hard to believe that this had once been a part of his home, and it was impossible to even imagine the tropical paradise of Destiny Islands attached to this dry, dead place.
"Terra, Aqua," he muttered. "This is going to end here."
He took in a deep breath before turning and walking down the steep, winding path. Though he had never gone this particular path before, he knew that it was the way to go.
The dark part of him said so.
VVVVVVV
Terra stood at the center of the crossroads in the Keyblade Graveyard. He had heard about this place before, but he never expected to see it for himself. There were so many Keyblades, the only reminders of all those who had been lost in the past. Someday, his Keyblade would rest here, but whether it be sooner or later, he knew that he wasn't going to give up without a fight.
"Terra."
He slowly looked around and saw Aqua approaching him, much like she had in Crystal Shards. She stood a few feet away from him and asked, "Why did you come here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," he replied.
"I received a message from Yen Sid that you had found Xehanort, and that you were on your way here."
"You should have stayed in Radiant Garden with Ven. He needs you more right now than I do."
She shook her head and said, "Ven woke up feeling better than he had in a while. He took Sora back home. He said that he wasn't sure if he would be able to later on. I'm worried, Terra."
"Me too."
There was a pause before she asked, "Is he here? Xehanort?"
"Yes," Terra answered. "I tracked him through a few worlds until I got back to this one. I'm positive he's here."
"You do remember what I said, right? Vengeance is not going to honour the Master."
Terra shot her a sharp look and was about to reply when he saw movement in his peripheral vision. He looked around and stared with surprise at who he saw walking towards them.
"Ven?"
Ventus approached them and said, "Vanitas is here. He fully intends to create the χ-Blade. Then, he said that he's going to go after Sora, and that scares me to death." He put his hand over his heart and looked down sadly.
Terra clapped a hand on his shoulder and said, "We won't let anything happen to you, or to your brother."
Aqua made a sound of agreement and put a hand on Ventus' cheek. There was a pause before he pushed both of them away and said, "You were right when you thought I did something to save Sora. I made a trade, a binding contract, with someone who had the power to save him. She didn't know who Sora was, or she never would have agreed to it."
"Who Ven?" Terra asked.
He shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter now. It's been done. It was a trade. Sora lives, and I die."
"What?" Aqua managed to ask, and Terra just looked stunned.
"You can't stop it. If I try to find a way to save myself, everything's undone and Sora dies instead. That's why I've been weak and tired. You guys have to promise me something. You have to promise to make sure that, even after I fall, Sora stays safe. And, if the memories get too bad, if they get too painful for Sora or my mom, you have to promise to…to erase me."
"Erase you?" Terra repeated.
Ventus nodded sadly and said, "Just…put an end to me."
Neither Terra nor Aqua seemed to know what to say to this. Terra frowned, and Aqua brought her hand up to her chest and looked down sadly.
Cracking and scuffing against the dry ground caught all of their attention, and they all looked down the center pathway that ran through the Keyblade Graveyard. The wind picked up, blowing dust and sand around them.
Master Xehanort was walking towards them steadily and calmly. A second later, Vanitas seemed to phase into view as he walked a few paces behind Xehanort, stopping when the old man did.
Ventus couldn't see his face, but he had a feeling that Vanitas was smirking at him.
Xehanort flourished his arms towards the Keyblades and said, "Behold. These lifeless keys used to be full of power. They were united with the hearts of their Masters, becoming a part of them. Before Twilight's Destiny even existed, on this barren soil, Keyblades of light and darkens were locked in combat as a great Keyblade War raged."
None of them moved as Xehanort spoke, though Ventus had to wonder why the old man was spouting monologue to them at a time like this.
"Countless Keyblade wielders gave up their lives," Xehanort continued. "They searched for a power that could match and control Kingdom Hearts itself. A power that can only be found in one ultimate key." His eyes shifted over to Ventus. "Though in the war, a single heart was said to rise above the rest, sealing away the power of Kingdom Hearts before banishing the power of this key. This cannot happen again, but it'd be a shame to let such power go to waste. The χ-Blade and the Keyblade Master will soon belong to me."
Ventus' eyes narrowed and he muttered, "He is never getting Sora, and he's never getting the χ-Blade."
The three of them each hit their arm armour and were engulfed by light as their full body armour appeared. Ventus was about to rush forward to go after the man that started all of them, but Terra pushed him back and ran ahead.
"Terra!" Ventus called out, but it was too late. A huge part of the ground exploded under Terra, throwing him up into the air. A second mountain seemed to form, shooting up even higher with Xehanort and Vanitas on it.
"What do we do?" Ventus asked Aqua.
"I don't—" Aqua was cut off as the entire world started to go dark around them, turning from orange shaded to mostly dull greys and blues. They both looked around in confusion, and then the Keyblade around them exploded out of the ground, flying up into the air.
Vanitas seemed to appear out of nowhere, jumping on top of the Keyblades, and gliding on them effortlessly. Ventus managed to jump out of the way of the oncoming brigade of Keyblades, but Aqua was thrown backwards.
Above them, more Keyblades flew at Terra, throwing him off of the newly formed plateaus and down towards the ground, Keyblades flying at him from every direction.
"Aqua!" Ventus cried out as he rushed to her side. She groaned and pushed himself up, her damaged helmet falling off and to the ground. Aqua could see that Ventus was fine, and her eyes looked around for Terra until she saw him being assaulted by a whirlwind of Keyblades.
She pointed her Keyblade up at him and yelled, "Terra!" Her magic slammed into him, surrounding Terra and suspending him above the Keyblades like a stone in a staff until it exploded, sending shards of ruined Keyblades in every direction.
Ventus quickly pushed himself off of the ground and ran towards the mountains where Xehanort stood at the very top, a dictator looking over all of the damage that he had caused. Ventus was not about to let him hurt his friends, and he wasn't going to let him have the chance to get his brother.
Terra ungracefully fell to the ground in of Xehanort, and groaned in pain, despite his armour. He pushed himself up and stared at Xehanort as he held out his Keyblade in front of him.
Terra looked up in time to see Ventus try to attack from behind, but as quick as he was, Xehanort was quicker. He phased out of view, reappearing behind the startled Ventus and grabbing him by the helmet.
Terra struggled to push himself up and cried out, "Ven!" He tried to attack to help his friend, but he didn't see Vanitas come at him. He was slammed with the whirlwind of Keyblades and hurled towards the ground.
Ventus struggled in Xehanort's grip, not understanding how such an old man was strong enough to hold him by his head. He couldn't get away though. He felt so weak and tired, like all he wanted to do was sleep. The pressure Xehanort had on the helmet caused it to crack and shatter, and he was able to clearly see Aqua staring up at him in horror.
Suddenly, he felt pain shooting through him, and then he felt numb as Xehanort froze him solid. There was no pain, just such sudden coldness that he couldn't think or move. He vaguely realized that Xehanort had dropped him, and that he tumbled towards the ground, some of his armour shattering as he hit the side of the cliff.
Ventus wasn't exactly sure what had happened, but the next thing he knew, Aqua was holding onto him tightly, leaning over him and asking, "Ven, are you okay?"
All he could do was groan a bit to show that he was still there, letting his eyes move. The pain came rushing back, and he wanted nothing more than to just close his eyes and let go then and there. He had to keep holding on though. His friends were counting on him.
Aqua's head suddenly shot up when a bright orb shot towards the sky, forcing the clouds to part.
She stared in awe as the bright blue light of Kingdom Hearts appeared above them. She had never seen anything like it in her life, but while being so bright, it also brought her so much dread.
She turned her head slightly and saw Terra making his way back up to Xehanort. She wanted to help him, but she needed to help Ventus now.
"Don't worry Ven," she said. "I'll use some heating spells and—"
"Why don't you leave the popsicle with me?"
Her head jerked around at the unfamiliar voice, and Ventus managed to move his head slightly, still shivering violently, his skin blue and covered in frost and ice. Before them was a man with long, black hair and an eye patch. He had a nasty scar on his face, and the eyes that they could see was a vibrant yellow, just like Xehanort's.
"What?" Aqua asked, not having a clue who the man was.
"You can't be too happy with him deep-sixing your Master," the man said with a dark smirk as he walked towards them. "So why don't you go show Terra that?"
Her eyes narrowed and she demanded, "Who are you?"
"You can call me Braig," he said, still smirking, eyeing them like a hungry wolf eyes its prey. "You two really think that you have some big role to play, don't you?" He snorted. "As if. You're only here so that when I finish you off, Terra won't be able to resist the darkness anymore."
Aqua was about to snap back at him, but Ventus beat her to it. "Shut up!"
Braig held his hands up and sarcastically said, "Ohhh, this kid thinks he's a full-fledge Keyblade wielder. Well, I'll tell you one thing kid, you've got the angry look down. Too bad your brother is a better candidate than you for being a Keyblade wielder. They just don't make them like they used to."
Aqua held Ventus as he tried to struggle to free himself from the ice, a furious look on his face. She looked over at Braig and calmly said, "Go ahead and keep wasting your time trying to drive us apart. Your mind games will never work."
She set Ventus onto the ground, ignoring his strained plea for her to come back as she made her way towards this mysterious man that she had never met before, but there was something very unsettling about him. She summoned her Stormfall Keyblade and ran at Braig.
VVVVVVV
Ventus groaned and struggled against the ice that was trapping him. He felt like everything was frozen and on fire at the exact same time. He was so cold that he was burning, but he wasn't about to give in to the pain, give in to his desire to just close his eyes and sleep. His friends needed him.
He watched helplessly as Aqua and that man, Braig, fought viciously. He was so fast, but the bullets he was shooting her with didn't hurt her as much as they could have because of her armour. He needed to help her, so he was trying to concentrate on heat and fire magic to make himself move again, but the sad truth was that he failed miserably when it came to magic without a Keyblade.
Though she fought with her normal graceful movements, Ventus couldn't help but feel like Aqua was being a little more brash than normal. She was leaping at Braig to hit him with her Keyblade, like she wanted to physically wound him, not just use her magic to do it.
He felt a wave of pride go through him as he saw Aqua let loose a powerful, and very colourful, attack that threw Braig to the ground.
The man struggled to get up and said, "I keep forgetting, don't mess with Keyblade Wielders." His eyes looked up towards the top of the newly forged mountain suddenly, a smirk appearing on his face. "That just means I made the right choice."
"What are you talking about?" Aqua demanded.
"He wanted me to buy time, and I'd say he got it." Then, Braig turned around and ran.
Aqua was about to chase after him, but came to a stop. She shook her head. There were more important things right now than running after some lunatic that didn't make any sort of sense.
She turned around and saw Ventus struggling to thaw himself out. "Ven!"
Ventus stopped struggling for a moment, his eyes going wide as he saw Vanitas hurling down through the air. He felt his heart stop for a moment and he called out, "Aqua!"
Aqua turned around in time to avoid Vanitas slicing through her skull with his Keyblade, but he hit her hard. Even though her armour she could feel the pain racing.
She let out a gasp and fell to the ground, unconscious.
Ventus started desperately struggling when he saw Vanitas raise his Keyblade over Aqua, preparing to stab her with it. He couldn't let that happen, he couldn't!
"You can do it Ven!"
He jerked with surprise as an unfamiliar voice echoed through his mind. It gave him strength though, and he felt his body heating up again, watching the ice melt and steam rise off of him.
Everything felt like it was going in slow motion as he pushed himself to his feat and yelled, "No!"
Vanitas' head visibly jerked towards him, honestly surprised for once. Ventus didn't even give him the chance to react as he summoned Lost Memory and practically threw himself at Vanitas.
The two fought viciously, and though Vanitas had some cheap tricks up his sleeve (because how was flying around on a bunch of Keyblades fair), Ventus was not deterred, and he wasn't about to give up. He wasn't exactly sure where the strength within him was coming from, but he wasn't going to question it.
"Wind!" Vanitas was thrown up into the air, and Ventus jumped after him, slamming his Keyblade into him, hearing grunts of pain. Vanitas fought back though, his Keyblade leaving a bloody gash on Ventus' face.
Back and fourth they traded blows, but Ventus was not about to back down. Vanitas needed to be stopped, at any cost.
Ventus' feet in the ground and he slid backwards, but he managed to stay upright. He rushed at Vanitas, who lunged at him with his own Keyblade.
That's when everything stopped.
Ventus couldn't help but feel a little stunned at what he had done. Slowly, he pulled his Keyblade out of Vanitas' chest and stumbled backwards from him. He expected Vanitas to fall to the ground, but while he gasped in pain and held his hand to his chest, he didn't fall.
Instead Vanitas started laughing madly. It was an eerie sound, and Ventus was incredibly confused. He watched as darkness started to surround his dark half. "You've done it Ventus."
"What?" he asked, taking a step back.
Vanitas chuckled madly and said, "Now that my body is about to perish, you and I will have to join together. The χ-Blade will be forged!" His helmet started to practically melt off of his face, and Ventus felt himself freeze at what he saw.
Though Sora was only four, Ventus could still see the similarities. There was no mind that if he was comparing them at the same age, they would be almost identical. Vanitas looked almost exactly like Sora. Or at least how Ventus could see Sora looking when he was older, except his eyes were a glowing yellow and his hair was black as night. He was too stunned to say or do anything, and his moment of hesitation cost him.
The darkness seemed to explode from Vanitas and several blue unversed wrapped themselves around Ventus, forcing him to drop his Keyblade and keeping him trapped. He started to struggle, but he was suddenly feeling exhausted and sore.
"The Unversed? They came from you?" Ventus asked as he struggled against his captors.
Vanitas laughed darkly as several huge Unversed appeared around him and said, "It happened when you and I were split in two. The negativity took shape as these monsters. They are what I feel: a horde of fledgling emotions under my control. I released them into all of the worlds that I could, hoping to lure you away from your home and Master. I made sure to set extra Unversed in the worlds. Master Xehanort was the one who created the idea of telling Terra that Sora of all people did it. Like he could control these powerful creatures."
"What about the Endless, are you responsible for those too?" Ventus shouted at him.
"Endless. Right. They're abominations. Maybe they'd be useful if Xehanort ever got them right, but they're nothing. He's been splitting people's hearts in two, just like with you and me, but he does things to them to make them stronger. He mixes the darkness and the light. He has never been able to recreate what happened with us. Endless are nothing, and compared to me, so are Unversed. I'm something different all together. I'm better."
Ventus struggled more, but Vanitas kept talking. "We needed to make you stronger, and we needed you to lead us to Sora. The Unversed were the perfect opponents for you. See, no matter how many times you defeat them, their negativity flows back into me." All of the Unversed, aside from the ones holding Ventus, turned into darkness and went back into Vanitas as he walked forward, seemingly more amused than anything else. "You never stood a chance against us, Ventus."
Ventus couldn't move. He felt so wiped out from the fight and from struggling that he couldn't fight back as Vanitas approached him and walked right into him.
Pain flashed through him as Vanitas and the Unversed vanished and light surrounded him. He let out a yell of pain, feeling his connection with his brother, the one that kept him stable for so long, ripping away as the dark part of his heart returned. He yelled loudly and felt like he was about to explode from pain as light exploded from him, streaking up into the air and sending a shockwave around him, throwing Aqua's still figure down a hill.
From the distance, Mickey Mouse watched the copper and white column of light streak into the air, and he grasped his Star Seeker Keyblade in his hand tightly as he started running towards the scene.
VVVVVVV
Author's Note
Okay, I know I just basically retold Birth By Sleep here, it's the reason why I didn't put it in the first time, that's why I tried to focus more on their inner feelings, struggles and insights.
So I take no credit for quite a bit of the dialogue. Admittedly, I did listen to it and type the dialogue as I went, but I only watched the scene once and had to write everything else that happened from memory.
Someone asked me about Braig before. Keep in mind that there is very little Terra point of view in this story. Originally, I was going to have it from only Ventus' point of view, but Aqua is one of my favourite characters so I put her in. In a way, she's more of a prominent character than Sora is in this, but he's a more important character, that's why I have him listed.
The next chapter, well, it does include Ventus and Vanitas fighting, but it's not exactly the same as in the game, which was one of the most epic fights ever. My hand hated me because I kept activating the reaction where you needed to use the joystick, not the x button.
Since we're almost at the end I'll probably be speeding up the updates, and I'm going pretty fast as of right now. Admittedly, I won't be updating much around the times for my exams so I'm trying to get as much out as I can in my free time while I can.
Thank you to the following people: Shifuni, Jas826, Trainalf, Nyx The Last Keybearer, Twilight Cardmistress and NRZWolf 13! You guys are awesome!
Krystal Lily Potter