Back again with another chapter. And I'm disappointed in you guys. Few of you even mentioned anything about the prophecy in your reviews. I was expecting a little something, but maybe that will have to wait until you guys check out the forum I made for the fic. Then you can all talk with each other about everything Kingdom Hearts, and The Fire in His Heart, related.
Disclaimer: I really wish I owned Kingdom Hearts, especially after trying to explain it to several people at camp while they asked what my story was about or if I'd finished it yet.
The Beginning
Chapter XXV: Separation Part II
Sora stared in horror at the empty alley in front of him, the portal of darkness he had traveled in vanishing mere moments before.
Roxas please, Sora thought in shock as he realized he was alone. If you can hear me please answer me. But his attempt was met only by the reverberations of his thoughts inside his mind. Sora plopped down on the ground in defeat and began massaging his temples. He was also dead tired and had no clue how he had gotten that way.
As if the situation hadn't been bad enough before, he thought. The Islands, mom, Kairi's parents, my friends, maybe Riku, Maleficent's rise to power, and now Kairi, Roxas, and Naminé. Not to mention I don't have any ethers. Sora sank his head in his hands and drew a ragged sigh. He thought he heard a sound and looked up. His head turned left and right, half expecting, half hoping that he would see a portal open and Kairi, Roxas, and Naminé would all come out, smiling broadly.
There was nothing on his left but the stone wall of the alley's end, but on his right the alley opened up roughly twelve feet away. There was a crowd of people just outside the alley, and in front of them was a wooden ship that appeared to be in the process of taking on a crew and supplies. Men could be heard singing from the vicinity of the ship. Their song attracted Sora's attention, and he listened.
"It's sixteen hundred seven,
We'll sail the open seas.
For Glory, God, and Gold and the Virginia Company.
For the New World is like heaven,
And we'll all be rich and free.
Or so we have been told by the Virginia Company."
Sora stood up, swaggering slightly, and steadied himself as he surveyed the ship.
"Sailing to find a New World huh?" he asked himself. "They certainly are a whole lot more prepared than we were with our raft." He looked back behind him; still no portal. Sora's gaze shifted once more to the ship. "Since our voyage was cancelled thanks to the heartless," Sora continued as he bounded forward, "I think I'll take them up on that offer." Before he could even move four feet a warm wind descended upon him. The wind swirled around him, carrying a light, and Sora felt all the weariness flee from his limbs and his heart lift. A voice also emanated from it, and it remained in Sora's mind for countless years.
The heart of light of a knight of great valor,
The Seventh Princess of Heart shall win.
Of the child of their love's endeavor,
Light of Evil's bane lies within.
And another voice, one that he had heard in his waking mind and dreams several times, spoke.
Fear not, young master of the keybldae.
She is on this world, and will be healed of the hurt given to her long before you next see her.
The wind then flew out of the alley, bearing the light away. Sora dashed out to see where the light was going, and saw it linger over the ship's mast for a moment before speeding out to sea.
Now I definitely need this voyage, Sora thought grimly. He made his way through the crowd, hearing the sounds of men giving orders and witnessing tearful farewells. He finally got up to the front of the crowd, and a man was sitting on a chair behind a desk. On the desk was a scroll, bottle of ink, and a quill. Sora could see that many names were already scribbled down. The man stood up as Sora approached to sign his name and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Where do you think you're going lad?" he asked. Sora squinted up at him and got a good look at the man. He had a weathered face and an aged brown beard with strands of gray infiltrating and betraying his age, The man couldn't be more than forty-five, but his teal eyes bad in them a haunted look, as if they'd seen too many go before their time had come already.
His eyes were holding that dread now. The dread that one much too young would lose his life on this perilous voyage. Sora quaked, almost in reverence, at this man who was looking out for him without even speaking a word to him. But Sora needed to get on the ship. Kairi was waiting for him somewhere on the other side of this ocean.
"I'm, I'm going onto the ship," Sora stuttered at the man. He gave Sora a firm look.
"How old are you?" Sora was taken aback but quickly answered.
"Fifteen." The man narrowed his eyebrows at Sora, and looked strangely at his unnatural hairstyle and clothes.
"Do you're parents know you're here?" the man asked again. Sora balked at the question and hesitated a moment.
"My parents are dead," he said, loathe though he was to. Mac was technically dead, even though he lived aboard the Dutchman, but to say that statement Sora knew he was admitting what he had hoped most to not be true. A tear quietly welled up in his eye as the grief of loss assailed him again, but he was determined not to break down in front of this unknown sailor. The man nodded sympathetically at him, and his gruff exterior melted into a kind-hearted one, the hand on Sora's shoulder becoming comforting instead of firm.
"An orphan huh?" he said kindly, though secretly wondering how Sora would come across such strange clothes and appear so well fed if he was an orphan. Sora nodded and turned his head away. The more he dwelt on it, the more his resolve broke down. The man spoke again and Sora snapped his head back.
"What is your name?" he asked again.
"Sora." The man wrote it down on the scroll and nodded his head towards the gangplank. Sora made for it but was held back once more by the sailor's hand.
"I've seen too many die at sea," said he. "This is going to be dangerous, be careful." Sora nodded at him and muttered that he would. The sailor released his hand from Sora's shoulder and let him pass.
The ship's deck was a hive of activity. Men were coming aboard, cannons were being hoisted onto the deck, and supplies were being stowed in the cargo hold.
"John Smith?" he heard one man with a head of red hair ask. "Are you coming on this voyage too?" The man next to him slapped his shoulder.
"Course you ninny," he spoke with a Scottish accent. "You can't fight Indians without John Smith."
"That's right," a voice spoke. Sora searched for it and saw a blonde-haired man with a handsome face wearing a light blue shirt and pants rise over the railing on a cannon. "I can't let you boys have all the fun." Sora watched him leap down from the cannon and land flawlessly on deck. Sora smirked at him and turned his head away.
That John Smith could be a pirate, he thought. A young man with bright red hair and a tweed hat had begun speaking to the other two men and Sora listened to their conversation.
"Captain John Smith?" the man had asked. "I've heard some amazing stories about him."
"Well now you're going to see 'em in person," the Scotsman said.
"What do you think we're going to find in the New World?" Sora asked, wanting to be included in the conversation. They all introduced themselves before continuing on.
"Well if there are any Indians," Lon, the first redhead, said, "we've got Smith to deal with them."
"I'm going to get myself a pile of gold," Thomas, the young redhead, rambled off as he shook Sora's hand. "Build myself a huge house, and if any savage gets in my way, I'll blast him."
"Uh-oh," Ben, the Scot, said as he looked over the rail. "Governor Radcliff is coming aboard." He motioned for them to form in line flanking the gangplank. "Form up maggots!" he ordered. Every man on deck quickly got into ranks on opposite sides of the plank. Sora quickly found himself shoved near the end of the line. The voice of John Smith called them to attention, and then muttered something that Sora couldn't catch. He heard heavy, booted footfalls and snapped his head forward, doing nothing but allowing his heart to beat, blinking his eyes, and breathing (A/N 1). After about ten seconds a large, fat man wearing a regal purple overcoat and hat with numerous trimmings of different colours and a red cape passed in front of him. Governor Radcliff stopped in front of Sora and surveyed him with disdain.
"Pathetic little one," he muttered to himself, audible to Sora though. "Hardly worth bringing along such a young orphan." Anger rippled and boiled within Sora's heart as it pounded in his breast. Yes, he was now an orphan, but he had fought creatures that would freeze this fat man's heart if he knew of them. But Sora chose not to act against this insolent Governor and instead glared forward into his bulk. John Smith then spoke something to Radcliff that destroyed Sora's anger and replaced it with curiosity.
"Sora here has my full confidence Governor," Smith had said. "I'm sure he's well up to handling this voyage."
"Well if you vouch for Smith then I'm sure he'll be able to do… something. Radcliff stopped and turned to his dog, Percy, he was being held on a cushion and wearing the same purple as his master. "Come Percy," he cooed to his dog. "Let us get ourselves accommodated." He turned to Smith and gave him the order to cast off before leaving the scene. The crew broke ranks and began making preparations to cast off. Smith began walking away fro Sora.
"Wait Captain Spar- Smith," Sora called, remembering with a pang his former captain. John Smith turned and looked at him.
"Yes Sora?" he asked.
"How do you know my name?" John smiled and turned his head.
"I like to know the names of everyone who goes with me," he explained and looked again at Sora. "And I like to get to know them personally," he continued before looking inquiringly at Sora. "But if you're wondering why I stood up for you in front of Radcliff, it's because I saw something different in your eyes."
"Different?" asked Sora. John raised his hand and waved it to indicate all the men on deck at the moment.
"All of the men here," he elaborated, "are here for either gold, adventure, freedom… a new life in a new world. But you, I see something different in your eyes. Not the gleam of fortunes or excitement, but you're still searching for something, and I can't quite put my finger on it." Sora nodded at Smith.
"A few words to remember," Sora said. "All that is gold does not glitter." John Smith looked inquiringly at Sora and he continued with a smirk. "Not all treasure is silver and gold mate." John Smith nodded in understanding and walked away. Sora looked out to sea as the ship's sails were unfurled. They filled up with wind and the ship made its way out to sea.
The waves crashed against the prow of the ship, reminding Sora so much of sailing on the Black Pearl, but his thoughts were not on the deceased captain that his friends were hopefully trying to bring back already; instead they were centered on a certain girl with auburn hair.
The light said that she would marry a knight of valor, Sora thought glumly, and that the knight would have no darkness in his heart. I'm not any of them. He sighed shakily and drew his gaze away from the sea and dropped it to the wooden deck. A tear formed in his eye when the thought came to him.
I'll never marry the girl I love, he thought in shock. He silently sobbed for a minute or two, images of Kairi smiling with her arms linked with a figure wearing shining armour and a shadowed face haunting him. He looked up for a moment at the sea again as another thought struck him. That voice! It said that the next time I see her, Kairi would be healed. He hung his head down again. A fire woke from the ashes in his heart, which before had seemed so cold.
So that's why she didn't come out of the portal, he thought as his grip tightened on the railing he was holding onto. Maleficent hurt her while we were escaping and we got separated. He didn't realize that he was shaking and the wood under his fingers was splintering, droplets of blood oozing out of his fingers. Oh she will pay. What?
Sora felt the pain in his hands and looked down. He swore under his breath and healed his hands quickly with a cure spell, withdrawing them from the cracked railing. He examined his newly healed hands with shaky breaths before looking at the railing.
"My love did that?" he whispered to himself in disbelief. It was the first time he consciously realized just how powerful a stimulant love was, even their limit Lover's Leap hadn't caused him to notice yet.
I may not marry her, he thought to himself sadly, but in a tone of finality. I may not marry Kairi but I still love her with all my heart. And I'll keep her safe for whoever's destiny it is for her to wed.
As soon as I find her that is…
(A/N1: Cpl FitzGibbon's philosophy for drill. The only things you are allowed to do on your own on the parade square are Beat, Blink, and Breathe. Everything else, you are told to do.)
A young woman was paddling a birch bark canoe into a sheltered grotto. The woman had long raven hair and copper skin, and she was garbed in a dress of tanned hides.
Pocahontas' canoe spread its way through the veil of leaves of the large old willow tree, and she expected the stump in front of the tree to be empty, but it wasn't so.
Grandmother Willow was already awake and chanting something as she examined a girl lying face down on the stump. Pocahontas stepped out of her canoe and climbed onto the stump to get a better look at her, Meeko the raccoon and Flit the hummingbird following. The girl was the strangest Pocahontas had ever seen. Her skin was as the snow in her opinion, and hair the colour of red bark. The clothes she wore were unlike any she had seen either. Black as a black bear's fur on her torso, but from her waist came a strange flowing skirt of a hue of blue Pocahontas had never known existed. The girl seemed to be of fifteen, maybe sixteen summers, just a few less than herself. And there was a strange mark on her left shoulder.
"Grandmother Willow," Pocahontas asked as she looked in revulsion at the green mark that burned through part of the strange black hide the girl was garbed in, "what is it?" Grandmother Willow moved one of her vines to examine the mark.
"It's a burn," she replied immediately, almost to herself. "A magical burn. But who could have…" she left her question hanging and touched the burn with her vine. She winced heavily and withdrew the vine almost as soon as its leaves brushed against it. Faint black lines began pulsating in the green burn and Grandmother Willow looked grimly at them. She then spoke in a serious tone, not removing her gaze from the burn.
"Pocahontas," she said. "This girl has a very powerful enemy, and if it weren't for the strength that she possesses this malady would have already taken her and my power would be useless. I want you to go to the village and bring blankets and a few bowls. She must be kept both warm and comfortable if she is to heal." Pocahontas nodded and Grandmother Willow continued. "I will then ask you to find certain herbs of healing. Some of which are those that Kekata uses in medicine, but there is one he does not know of that may help." Pocahontas nodded again and left with Meeko and Flit. Grandmother Willow surveyed her path for a moment before turning her attention back to the girl before her.
The girl's fever has fierce and her heart was racing. She had begun to mutter in her restless sleep. Two words, "So," and "Ra." Grandmother Willow watched and waited for Pocahontas' return.
Roxas ran forward with his two keyblades outstretched, his face grim as he charged at the Charr heartless. It snarled at him and raised its black sword and barreled down at Roxas in answer. The black longsword met the Sleeping Lion's silver steel with a sharp clang and the swords locked. The Charr tried to overpower the small boy in front of it using its sheer mass, but Roxas held his ground and did not shrink before his opponent. Roxas saw the black shield start to move out of the corner of his eye and swung the Fenrir at the shield before the heartless could do what its counterpart in the Pride Lands did. Its shield halted and was flung wide at the force of Roxas' blow, but the heartless maintained a grip on it and instead bashed Roxas' head with its helmet.
For the second time that day Roxas felt as if his head had been cloven in two. He staggered backwards and the heartless knocked the Sleeping Lion out of his right hand with its sword. The Fenrir vanished from his left as the Charr hit his left arm and knocked Roxas down with its recovered shield. Roxas screamed in pain as he felt his arm break with a heart-breaking crack. He instinctively raised a reflega shield around him and held it up, forcing the heartless to prowl around outside the dome.
Roxas cradled his left arm near his chest, shaking the tears and sweat of pain from his face and flecks of blood off of his forehead where they could not stain his blonde hair. He knew now that it was foolish for him to try and fight the Charr alone. Barely a minute in and his left arm was already broken and the Charr was still unwounded.
Meanwhile havoc was ensuing on the other side of the barrier as Axel and Max pounded fruitlessly on it. Yazoo had fired a round from his pistol in an attempt to shatter the barrier, but the bullet simply stopped on impact with the magic and clattered to the ground.
"Roxas!" Axel was yelling. "You said you were the best! Come on, beat this thing!"
"We need to help him," Max said, turning to look at the others. "Dad do something! You said you've seen things like this barrier before!"
"Yes we have," Goofy said worriedly. "But we can't do anything about 'em."
"There are certain magics in the universe that we have no control over," King Mickey explained worriedly. "This is one of them. The only thing that can bring down that wall is for the duel to end. And we can only hope that it will be Roxas who ends it. But with that broken arm…" He forsook his sentence and looked past Axel's shouting figure at Roxas, who was still kneeling on the ground inside his self-made prison.
It's all or nothing now, Roxas thought through gritted teeth, He stood up, cradling his left arm to his chest and wiped blood off his face with his right arm, the scarlet liquid glistening on his skin. The Charr growled at him from outside his shield and swung at it with its sword. The jet-black blade glanced off the dome just before it vanished. Pure blue magical energy appeared and exploded on the Charr's body. Wisps of smoke began trailing from its wounds as it retreated in pain. Roxas quickly took this moment to recall the Sleeping Lion to his right hand.
I'll only have one shot at this, he thought grimly. He raised his arm and pointed the keyblade behind the heartless.
"Magnega," he said. The swirling gravimetric vortex appeared behind the heartless. It dug its claws into the floor to keep it from moving, but this also prevented it from attacking Roxas again. Roxas then released the second part of his plan with a cry of "Thundaga!" A thick lightning bolt came down from behind the magnet spell and the Charr heartless raised its shield defensively over its head. But because of the magnet spell's gravity the bolt of lightning arched as it passed towards the ground and buried itself into the center of the heartless' black chest. Roxas ran forward before the heartless could react to the sudden pain as his magnet spell abated. With a quick stroke he severed the Charr's shield arm. The black metal fell to the ground with a clang amid the pained roars of the heartless. Roxas' follow up strike to the chest was cut short when the Charr turned around and matched his blade with its own. Roxas leapt backwards to dodge a horizontal slice made for his ribs and pointed the Sleeping Lion at the heartless.
"You took out my arm I took out yours," he challenged, a fireball forming on the end of the silver keyblade's tip. "Now let's end this." The fireball flew off and the heartless allowed the fire to strike it in the chest, for it was the lesser of two evils. Roxas' keyblade was more dangerous than the fireball that had preceded it. The heartless swung downwards with all its mass as Roxas cut upwards and again the blades locked. Roxas held his ground for a second as the sparks from the initial clash illuminated his face. He dropped his sword from the challenge and pointed its blade inwards just as the heartless impaled itself on his keyblade. The beast gave a dying moan and vanished as its heart faded away.
Roxas panted heavily and fell down on his knees as the pain in his arm returned in full. He heard footsteps and everyone who had been watching was suddenly on him. Jubilant cries greeted him from all around, and he could briefly discern that Axel was hugging him, until someone touched his arm and he let out an agonizing shriek. The celebrations stopped dead and Donald stepped forward.
"Let me fix you up Roxas," the court magician said, already working his healing magic. Donald directed the green light from the end of his staff around Roxas' arm and head. The boy winced in pain as he felt the bones shift around, but his expression softened when he felt them squish back in place with a sickening sound. Roxas raised his right hand to his face and quickly used a cleaning spell to cleanse him of his own blood. When his face was clear he passed his right hand over his entire left arm and where his fingers danced above the skin a white cast took shape. He finished it all up with a sling and turned to look at Max, a tired smile finally forming on his lips.
"One for me Max," he chuckled. The other boy laughed weakly and looked at the shield lying on the ground.
"Want a trophy to remember it?" he asked. Roxas walked over to it and looked at the shield before picking it up.
"I think I'll give it to Naminé," he said. "It isn't only Kairi's birthday today." Riku snapped his fingers at Roxas' proclamation.
"That's what I forgot," he said with a slight chuckle. "I still need to get her a present." Yuffie looked horrified at him.
"Riku!" she snapped. "How could you forget one of your best friends' birthday?" He raised his arms defencively as those around him began to laugh and the elevator started moving upwards.
"Hey a lot has been happening lately, especially since my birthday just happened a few days ago as well," he retaliated with a wry smile. "I just lost track of the days I've spent with you." Yuffie's complexion softened and she wrapped herself into his shoulder. Riku held her comfortably for a few moments before she spoke.
"That was a smooth line," she commented quietly with her eyes closed and a sweet smile plastered on her lips. Riku raised his eyebrows slightly and widened his smile, but his position did not change.
"Thank you," he said, looking down affectionately at the new fingerless gloves he now had on his hands. Seventeenth birthday presents from Yuffie, they were black and had small iron studs over the back of the hand. The elevator stopped and they all looked towards the exit's long hallway with either anxiety or impatience. Riku glanced at Roxas, who was just finishing his modifications of the shield with Axel's help.
Maleficent might be beyond that exit somewhere, Riku thought, and she's bound to have plenty of those Charr heartless with her if she is. And with Roxas out of action, he glanced again at Roxas before hardening his aqua eyes.
Roxas or no Roxas, we'll still fight her and win. Riku released Yuffie and took the first steps forward, drawing Way to the Dawn from nothingness as he did so. King Mickey fell in step behind him and the others followed according to their liking, Disney Castle's knights marching in step to the left. Roxas brought up the rear of the column on the right with Naminé's new shield slung across his back.
The met nothing further as they continued through the castle, not even the moogle that used to run a hologram shop in the staircases of Twilight's View, until they reached the lower section of the Hall of Empty Melodies. Riku grinned at the sight he beheld even as he remembered that it was in this room that Sora, Kairi, and himself had all been reunited at last while fighting heartless, even if it was on the balcony above and in front of their current position.
The lower hall didn't have just one heartless, there was an entire sea of them. And all were of the weakest varieties with a few Invisibles as leaders, floating above the small fry. An arrow whizzed past Riku's ear as Kia's bow gave a low thrum. The arrow was gilded in silver, and guided by the need of the girl who released it. It struck home in the neck of a blue guard dog, which promptly turned into a puff of smoke.
"One," Kia said as she nocked another arrow into her bow. Anar, Isil, and Hayner ran past Riku with their swords drawn. Yazoo jumped into the air and his pistol gave three bangs. Three bullets left and destroyed two soldiers and an armored knight. He landed back on the ground as Tidus and Selphie ran past Riku's shoulder.
"Three," he declared to Kia as she loosed her second arrow. A shout from Isil came from ahead of them.
"Kia you just took my kill!" She smirked and strung another arrow to her bowstring.
"Hayner on your left!" Tidus called as he reached the fray and drove his crystal sword through three heartless. Hayner turned and blocked an attack from an armored knight before running it through.
"Thanks Tidus," he called before giving a laugh as he destroyed a soldier. "Five now!" They began fanning out from the narrow entranceway into the mass of the rectangular hall, each holding their own section of the battle as the rangers and mages out back held onto the causeway. Riku, Yuffie, Axel, Mulan, Mushu, King Mickey, Donald and Goofy, and the knights of Disney Castle all hung back in reserve, with Roxas at the very back shouting encouragement for the untested fighters up front.
"Chalk another one up for me," Anar said as his sword swept through the Invisible that had come down to challenge him. But it didn't vanish as his sword left and instead attacked Anar with its own blue blade. The teen gave a yelp of surprise and ducked. A crackle of thunder sounded and the Invisible vanished just as the sword passed over his golden hair. Anar lifted his head as Olette called to him.
"You mean one for me Anar!" Anar turned to look at the girl.
"You just stole my lucky number seven Olette!" he hollered back at her with a smile as he passed his sword through two more heartless, bringing his count up to eight now. Olette sighed and placed her hands on her hips.
"Next time I won't save your neck then," she pouted. Isil drove his sword through another heartless and was about to attack another soldier when a silver arrow stuck into it and destroyed it before he could begin.
"Dam it Kia!" he yelled. "You stole my kill again!" He turned his sword to thrust it through an armored knight when a spiked black blitzball struck it first. "Wakka!" he cried in anger when the ball bounced back to its owner. Isil moved to kill a surveillance robot, but it too was destroyed by a bullet before his sword could connect with it. "Yazoo not you too!" he cried before attempting to fight again, but an arrow beat him to his quarry. "Bloody rangers," he muttered to himself in frustration. Selphie blocked an attack from an armored knight and countered with a horizontal slice of her own that rendered it and the heartless next to it defeated.
"Ten," she said as she pumped her fist. She recoiled as a soldier kicked her in the shoulder and gave a small cry of dismay. Her eyes sought it out and saw the enemy clacking away in its iron boots gleefully. A grim smile formed on her lips and she thrust her sword straight through its helmet. The heartless vanished and Selphie examined her shoulder. She could see where the attack had landed, a rip in her white shirt indicating the place, and Selphie touched it lightly with her finger to find that it stung as well as throbbed with a dull pain. That's going to be one hell of a bruise when I wake up in the morning. She looked up quickly and ducked the guard dog that was jumping at her head. A fireball smashed its way into the dog and Selphie felt her brown hair get singed slightly as the heartless vanished. A call from Mushu in the back clearly showed that he had now joined into the fight and was the cause for the heartless' demise.
Tidus swiped his sword through three more heartless in a broad arc and smirked as their remains floated in the air. He looked up and saw one of the remaining three Invisible leaders moving to face him. The boy readied himself in a fighting stance, remembering the honor guard he had fought once before on the Islands. He raised his sword to challenge the Invisible and the other heartless backed off in their leader's wake. The Invisible floated up to Tidus and swung its sword down, and Tidus matched it with the Brotherhood. They retreated their swords and the Invisible swung again, this time horizontally. Tidus remembered Axel and Mulan's words from back in Twilight Town and ducked. As the sword passed over him Tidus pressed forward and drove his crystal blade up through the heartless' body. It recoiled and leaked out its precious darkness before becoming an entire puff of it when Tidus slashed it once more.
"Fifteen," he declared before readying himself against the next wave of small fry. Ice shards flew into the paths of several of the heartless and Tidus nodded appreciatively behind his back at whichever mage had done that. Pence was waving his staff at him so Tidus figured it had to have been him.
"That's twelve for me now guys," Pence remarked tiredly. "I don't think I can do anymore. How about you Charlie?" The boy next to him shook his wavy blue hair out of his eyes.
"I've got fourteen, and I'm beat." Charlie looked around at Olette and Jeffery. The girl looked up at him with her green eyes from her hunched over position while Jeffery continued to fire spells into the mass.
"I don't think I can go another heartless past twelve," Olette said before looking inquiringly at Jeffery. "How can you still be going Jeff?" Jeffery looked as though he didn't hear the question.
"Fire!" he yelled as a fireball streamed from his small mage's staff. The fireball connected with one of the remaining Invisibles as it dueled with Isil. The heartless promptly vanished and Isil gave a cry of dismay at having his kill stolen yet again. "Ha, eighteen now. What did you say Olette?" He turned around and the other three mages could see he was still going strong, a fire burning in his eyes.
"I asked," Olette began again with a small smile on her face, "how you can still keep fighting while the rest of us are dead tired." Jeffery closed his blue eyes for a moment and opened them again.
"I practiced more than you guys at our new house," he said, the fire reappearing not only in his eyes but on the tip of the red wizard's hat that topped the staff as well. He turned around and surveyed the heartless with hate as another fireball from Mushu past him by. "These creatures destroyed my home and killed my friends," Jeff continued hotly. "It is for them that I continue to draw new strength and fight." He released another fireball and it smacked into a shadow that was about to attack a tiring Hayner. Pence, Olette, and Charlie looked at him in wonder before getting up and charging into the fray to fight in melee. Jeff smirked at them as they passed and shot a few bolts of lightning to clear their paths as another arrow joined in while Kia's bow sang. "Twenty-three," he said with a smirk.
Riku had heard all of this, along with the others that hung in the back, and looked over at the tiring teens in the front. They were fighting valiantly against the heartless, but Kia had loosed her last arrow and was now standing idly with Yazoo who had exhausted his clips a while ago. Wakka continued to throw in his blitzball with gusto and Mushu and Jeff continued their elemental barrage, but they were the only ones who appeared to have energy left apart from the idle ranger and gunman. Riku turned to look back at King Mickey and Goofy looked at him as well.
"Do we have permission to engage Your Majesty?" Goofy asked, signifying him and his knights. King Mickey looked warmly at him as Yuffie pumped her fist.
"Yeah, let's get in there," Yuffie said excitedly. "They've had enough fun."
"Yuffie?" The ninja turned around at Kia's voice and looked at the girl.
"Yes, what is it Kia?" Kia shuffled her feet slightly and looked back at the heartless as she slung her bow over her shoulder.
"Could I borrow your dagger?" she asked. Yuffie smiled and unsheathed it from her belt, looking over its slightly curved and shining white blade with its golden handle. Yuffie walked up to the girl and pointed its handle at Kia. Riku turned away and looked at King Mickey again. The King looked at him in understanding as keyblades appeared in both their hands.
"Let's go!" the King said, sprinting forward. Donald, Goofy, Axel, and Mulan seemed thrilled of the idea.
"Charge!" yelled Axel, his fiery spiked chakrams appearing in his hands as he ran forward, leading on Mulan and Donald while Goofy and his knights brought up the rear. Riku gave one look at Roxas and Max before turning around.
"You coming?" Riku asked over his shoulder.
"I just took out a Charr heartless," Roxas said. "That's worth more than all of these ones combined. That still wouldn't stop me apart from the fact that, I'm injured." Riku turned and smirked at Roxas, who was patting his cast with his remaining arm.
"And you'd still be able to fight off a thousand of them with only one arm," he challenged. Roxas smiled at his playful banter.
"Yes, but you see," Roxas yawned and pulled his right arm back to rest behind his head. "I do take after Sora in some aspects, number one, I'm lazy." Riku laughed and shook his head.
"We only need one 'lazy bum' in the group," he said. "And Kairi's the only one who calls him that." Roxas laughed back at him while Max chuckled along. Riku's eyes snapped towards the other boy.
"And why aren't you coming?" he asked Max. Max just waved off Riku and smiled.
"I'll switch off when one of you lot gets tired," he said before poking Roxas in the stomach. "And I'm sure lazy ass here will too, so get going." Riku turned around and started heading towards the fight while he heard Roxas.
"Lazy ass? You sure you don't want a repeat of Neverland right here, right now Max?" Riku laughed to himself as he sped by Jeffery, Mushu, Yazoo, and Wakka. He looked to his left as he entered the fray and saw a column of fire erupt from the ground as Axel got into his pyromaniac self. With two quick slashes from Way to the Dawn Riku destroyed six heartless that stood in his way. He jumped over their floating hearts and fired a volley of dark aura blasts into the remaining mass, taking out at least twelve more. King Mickey was bounding left and right, his golden keyblade a flash as heartless fell to his blade. Mulan was regrouping the teen warriors and helping them make a clean-up operation of the remaining heartless in the room. Yuffie's shuriken twirled in front of Riku, tearing up a path to the exit for him as she and Kia, who had picked up all of her fallen arrows and now had one nocked on the bowstring, arrived on his right. Goofy and his knights had formed up on his left and Donald was standing next to the captain.
"Let's go," Riku said, making his way for Naught's Skyway. Someone called for him to wait up and Roxas and Max came dashing up to them.
"I got bored of just watching you guys fight," Roxas explained as he called out the Sleeping Lion and swung it through the last heartless in the area. He looked at its rising heart in disinterest. "Hm, one and one hundredth." Roxas shouldered his keyblade and the party moved forward.
The Skyway was packed with heartless too, but the keyblade wielders weren't worried about them. They were more concerned about Tidus and the others who had fought in the front since the beginning. The warriors looked like they had just run a marathon through bushes and thorns, while the mages with the exception of Jeffery, just looked plain exhausted.
"You guys can hang back and rest," King Mickey said to Anar, who was leaning on his broadsword. "We'll handle the skyway." Anar and his brother gave their thanks to the King as Goofy's knights formed up into the formation known as the Flying Wedge with Goofy at the head brandishing his shield.
"CHARGE!" Goofy yelled and the wedge ran forward. Heartless vanished in their wake as it flew towards the first platform, and then rounded the bend and stared moving up the slope. Lightning bolts, courtesy of Donald, Jeffery and Roxas, fell about it, destroying heartless without mercy. Riku and Max leapt forward, wielding their weapons in a refined manner, any heartless that approached were instantly slaughtered. The bow of Kia, silver vines trailing around the wood, was singing as arrow after arrow was once again loosed from it. Kia pulled another arrow from her quiver and stabbed an armored knight through the head with it before nocking it to her bow and shooting it off. King Mickey was leaping and bounding about, hewing heartless down with his golden keyblade. The knights broke their wedge and formed a phalanx, slowly advancing against the mob in their unbreakable formation. Axel's fire was scorching.
They continued fighting through to the top of the skyway, and then beyond into the Hall of Empty Melodies again. A short reprieve awaited them in the Proof of Existence, where it showed the names of the lower twelve members of Organization XIII and silhouettes of their weapons in either red or blue. Nearly all were in red as they entered, but two were blue. Axel and Roxas walked around this place with reverence, treating it like a graveyard in all aspects. They stopped before one of the blue ones and looked down at the two black chakrams on it.
"Here's me," Axel said. "The Flurry of Dancing Flames. Only Xemnas could come up with a name as crazy as that." Roxas chuckled and indicated the red one to Axel's right.
"What about Demyx? He thought up his own name. The Melodious Nocturne?" Axel laughed as well and looked down to the far end across the path in the middle.
"And there's your marker," he said, talking about the blue one at the end with a silhouette of a crossed Oathkeeper and Oblivion. "Number Thirteen, the Key of Destiny." Roxas nodded and moved down near his marker while the others watched the two former members of Organization XIII stroll down memory lane.
"And then we have Larxene," Roxas said, stopping in front of another red one with many small knives on it. "The Savage Nymph." Axel nodded.
"The only chick in the former Organization," he said before smiling. "She was hot."
"Your words, not mine," Roxas laughed. Axel quickly leaned over and grabbed a fistful of Roxas' hair.
"Come on," Axel said as he yanked Roxas towards him. "You know she was sizzling." Roxas laughed at his friend and got himself out of the headlock he was now in.
"Alright you win!" he declared with a smile. "Larxene was hot, but I never tried to hit on her. Have you still got that burn and those scars by the way?" Axel's smile faltered and he quickly looked over his shoulder down at his rear end. Roxas laughed when he remembered the time Larxene had fried Axel's hinny with her lightning and then attacked his upper thighs with her knives the last time he had tried to hit on her.
"Hey, that was all because of that note," Axel grumbled. "When I found out who wrote it I swear I'm going to..." he left his comment hanging while his fist curled. They continued their reminiscing for a few more minutes before the King motioned that they should continue.
There were still some heartless on Naught's Approach and throughout Ruin and Creation's Passage as the party made their way up to the Altar of Naught, but still no sign of Maleficent or Nixion. They moved forward slowly up the curved staircase, looking uneasily at the size of the thorns that grew over the edge and the fact that there were no heartless there. A voice called out to them and Riku looked up at the first landing.
PJ was standing there, holding in his hands a ray gun that had formerly belonged to number II, Xigbar, The Freeshooter. Max gave a jubilant cry upon seeing his friend again and rushed up to give him a hug.
"I thought you might have been dead!" he said. "With all the heartless and no sign of anyone I thought they might have gotten you." PJ patted his friend's back.
"You don't need to worry about me Max," PJ said. "I can defend myself, especially with these lovely ladies at my side." PJ turned his head when Max looked inquiringly at him and began moving up the remaining stairs. The party followed him, and the group from the Islands all gasped at what they saw.
"This is the same platform Sora and Kairi were standing on in the simulator!" Selphie gasped as she looked around. Riku looked at her and shook his head.
"No, that was a simulation of the Altar of Naught," he explained. "This is the real one, and there are quite a few differences now. For instance," Riku turned around and lifted his arm and began speaking like a tour guide. "No door to Kingdom Hearts to battle Xemnas. There are these wonderful new thorns everywhere, and the heart-shaped moon here is now whole and appears to be only a quarter of its original size. Plus it also has this lovely keyhole shaped portal of darkness on it." Riku hardened his gaze on the keyhole as it spilled tendrils of darkness onto the Altar and down the sides of the castle, feeding the thorns and making them pulsate. The six princesses were gathered around the keyhole, a light coming from their hands that encircled the moon but could not stop the darkness. Jasmine turned around and looked worriedly at King Mickey.
"This keyhole is far stronger than the one that had been in Hollow Bastion," she said. "We can't stop the spread of darkness from it. All we've been able to do is contain a small percentage of the heartless that have been coming out to the upper levels of the castle." King Mickey nodded and PJ spoke up.
"Maleficent let slip once that the keyhole would only be able to be sealed by the combined powers of three keyblades," he said. Roxas, Riku, and Mickey nodded.
"Three keyblades," said Roxas as they came into a line to face the moon.
"Like the three keyblades it took to open the door to Kingdom Hearts the last time we were here," King Mickey mused as they pointed the tips towards the keyhole and a light began forming around them.
"And now we seal it," Riku said. "For good." The princesses dropped their barrier for a moment and a great wave of darkness erupted from the keyhole. Beams of light issued from the three keyblades and pierced the center of the darkness. The keyhole illuminated from the middle of the darkness and there was an audible click as it faded away. The darkness dissipated, and when it was gone, so was the moon. Axel looked in interest at where it had been.
"Okay," he said to Roxas. "Xemnas would not like the fact that we took away his moon." Roxas chuckled but was immediately silenced by King Mickey who was interrogating PJ on all he knew about what was going on concerning Maleficent.
"Okay," PJ said. "This is what the princesses and I know. The last we saw Maleficent, she had just attacked Kairi with a magical green fireball issuing with darkness. Sora and Kairi were escaping through a portal created by Cossex."
"Wait! Cossex!" Riku interrupted. "What was she doing helping them?"
"She had just defected because Maleficent failed her promise to Cossex," PJ explained. "Which appeared to be the only thing keeping her in Maleficent's service."
"What was that promise?" Yuffie asked.
"Her heart," PJ replied grimly. "So she could go back to her world and fight with her friends to defend their kingdom against the Charr." Max snapped his head up.
"The Charr?" Max asked. "You mean her world is plagued by the heartless?" PJ shook his head.
"No, I mean the Charr, which Maleficent is using to breed Charr heartless. The heartless version is apparently slightly bigger, but far nastier. Anyway, Cossex has defected, and Sora and Kairi both headed off to a different world, probably one that we know nothing about. But we can't defeat Maleficent now without defeating her allies or without cleansing them of darkness. That's what Cossex said anyway. Fortunately, I was able to get the names out of her allies before I found out that at least Cossex knew I was a spy for you the whole time." King Mickey started.
"She knew you were spying for me?" he asked. "How?" PJ shrugged.
"Beats me how she knew," he said. "But Maleficent has given a shred of her newfound powers to each of her allies to allow them to control the heartless. And as I said, she's invincible until the power she gave them is gone." Axel rubbed his palms together impatiently.
"Well tell us who they are so we can get started." PJ looked at him.
"Okay, since you're so eager, why don't you get out a pen and piece of paper to write this down?" Axel fumbled around in his cloak for a moment and successfully retrieved a pen and paper. He licked the pen and poised to start writing when Yuffie snatched them from him.
"You think you're going to write them down?" she asked incredulously. "I've seen your writing, it's a worse chicken scratch than any doctor I've seen." Axel huffed while a chuckle permeated the silence. Yuffie poised herself to start. "Okay, fire away PJ."
"Hm, fire away. Who does she think she is…?" Axel muttered under his breath.
"Okay," PJ said. "Number One, Nixion. I'm afraid he got the most power from her being her second in command. Number Two, my dad Pete. Three is a witch by the name of Jadis, who goes also by the White Witch or Queen of Narnia. Number Four is an old friend of yours, Hades, Lord of the Dead. Five is Dr. Hämsterviel. He's some kind of hamster bunny thing. And Six would be something called the Dark Lord Sauron, and his servant Saruman probably has been infused with Maleficent's power as well. I don't know about Saruman, but Sauron seems to be a disembodied spirit of some kind and he keeps going on about some One Ring or whatever." PJ then stopped and remembered something Sauron's voice had spoken while PJ had been eavesdropping at the door.
"Three rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them.
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie."
PJ stopped and looked up at the assembled group expectantly, as if hoping that they would understand the poem any better than he could.
"Okay," Anar began. "That guy's a kook, but he's probably going to be the hardest to beat apart from Maleficent herself and Nixion." PJ nodded.
"Yes, I'm afraid so," he said sadly. "Especially since Maleficent always admired his powers and was thrilled that he came to her meetings. I'm pretty sure that when she left and took her army with her that she relocated to his fortress of Bara-dûr." Silence fell for a moment and King Mickey sighed and shook his head.
"I guess we're at war with her then," he said. "I always dreaded this day would come when I remembered about her. Now it's the worlds against her, and we don't have an army to fight her with."
"Hey what about us?" Tidus asked. "We could be your army." King Mickey smiled at him.
"Its a good thing we still have hope left then," he muttered to himself. "If young people like you continue to fight Tidus," Mickey said, raising his voice so they could hear. "Then I'm sure she will be defeated by the hope you have. But the twelve of you alone won't be enough. The heartless we just faced were just a small fraction of those that were coming out of the keyhole for only a couple of hours. We haven't even won a skirmish yet." King Mickey looked over at Roxas, his plans beginning to formulate. "Roxas, take them back to the virtual Twilight Town with you and get them back to the real Twilight Town. They're about the only ones we have with any combat experience so I need them to train others as well as each other." Roxas nodded and began to walk away but Mickey stopped him. "And Roxas."
"I know you want to jump back in the fray," the King said, "but with your arm and without Sora we need you to be at full strength for our search for those allies. Take two weeks off with Naminé for that arm to heal and oversee the training in the real Twilight Town. I'm afraid I'll need to pull Axel, Mulan, and Mushu off of that." Roxas sighed, disappointed that he wouldn't be fighting again any time soon and led the way for the teen army to head back. King Mickey turned to the others.
"Donald," he ordered. "I want you, Goofy, PJ, and the knights to escort the princesses back to their worlds."
"But what about you, King Mickey?" Goofy asked. "How are you gonna get back to the castle?"
"You will drop myself, Axel, Mulan, and Mushu off at Disney Castle on your way. When you've finished, come straight back to the castle for your new assignments." The princesses nodded, understanding the importance, and dragged off those who were supposed to be escorting them before they could get a word in edgewise. King Mickey turned lastly to Riku, Yuffie, and Max and sighed. Riku held a hand up before he could speak.
"You don't need to tell us Mickey," he said. "You want us, tired and with heavy hearts though we are, to go out on the Highwind and begin the search." Mickey nodded and the three took off. He then sighed again and let Axel, Mulan, and Mushu lead him back to the Avenger.
I never wanted to have to be a King during a war, he thought. Hopefully we will have solved this before it goes too far.
Roxas was back in the virtual Twilight Town, the tired lot of teenagers behind him. They had just exited the portal and Roxas saw Pence sitting down cross-legged near the door with his eyes closed. Roxas ran forward as the real Pence looked between his virtual self and his own self in shock.
"Pence," Roxas said, rubbing the shoulder of the sleeping boy. The virtual Pence awoke and rubbed his eyes. He smiled upon seeing Roxas standing in front of him.
"Hey Roxas," he said cheerfully. "Hayner put me on watch duty until you got back while he and Olette got to sleep. Looks like I fell asleep waiting for you to come back." Roxas chuckled and Pence spotted his cast and sling. "Hey Roxas, what did you do to your arm?" Roxas looked at it and back at Pence.
"Broke it fighting a heartless," Roxas said, dragging Pence to his feet. Pence looked worriedly at it before spotting the crowd of people who had just come out of the portal.
"Hey Charlie," Pence called. "Hey Yazoo." The aforementioned teens started when they heard him call their names.
"Pence?" Hayner asked exchanging looks with his Pence and the virtual Pence. The virtual Pence looked at him in surprise and was about to call his name too when he spotted his real self and it dawned on him.
"Ah," he said. "So you guys are from the real Twilight Town." The group nodded and Pence continued. "What's it like?"
"Well, it should be just like this one," Olette said. "Except when the Islands were destroyed by Maleficent, a whole bunch of refugees moved over to the real Twilight Town. Including our friends Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, Anar, Isil, Kia, and Jeffery here. So we know everybody." Roxas and Pence nodded at her and noticed that half of them were nodding and yawning.
"Pence," Roxas said tiredly. "I need to get these guys home. Where's Naminé? I need to see her first before I head back." Pence nodded at him and smiled.
"Follow me," he said, opening the door. They walked past the broken computer, which Hayner, Pence, and Olette from the real Twilight Town looked at in wonder.
"Yeah, I kind of got angsty and angry at everything when I did that," Roxas said when he saw their looks. Pence led them out of the computer room and through the library, where they tread quietly because Hayner and Olette were sleeping soundly. They got out into the main hall and Pence took them to Naminé's room. It was all white, and drawings that Naminé had made concerning Sora and Roxas were plastered on the walls. A white couch had been added near the window, on which Naminé was sleeping soundly. Roxas smiled and he walked up to her, the others watching with smiles on their faces. Roxas knelt by her and shook her shoulder slightly.
"Naminé," he said softly, not really expecting her to answer, "wake up." To his surprise, Naminé squirmed a little and her eyes opened. She yawned and stretched as she closed her eyes again and they grew in surprise when they opened again. The shield Roxas had won from the heartless was being held in his right hand. It was still circular, but it was no longer black and did not have the heartless symbol on it anymore. The shield was now a steely-blue colour, and the shape of the pendant Roxas wore on his chest was embossed in silver.
"Happy sixteenth birthday Naminé," he said, handing her the shield. Naminé's eyes grew even wider when she took it and examined the shape in the center.
"Where did you get it?" she asked, not noticing the crowd near the door. Roxas laughed.
"I went back to Maleficent's castle and won it from a Charr heartless in a duel. It took out my arm so I claimed its shield arm and shield, which with Axel's help changed it into what it is now." Naminé looked at his arm for a second and quickly bashed the shield against his head. Roxas dropped to the ground unconscious as jaws dropped in shock from across the room.
"Idiot," Naminé said quietly, but sweetly. "I like the shield though, I think I'll keep it." She looked up and noticed the stunned crowd standing in the doorway and blushed. "You all saw that?" she asked. They nodded in amazement at her; slightly wary and afraid she might attack them next. Naminé waved her hand in Roxas' direction.
"Oh don't worry about him," she said. "Roxas will be alright. He's been through worse. Now then," she looked again at the group and saw the two Pences and understood in a heartbeat what was going on. "Those of you from the real Twilight Town can follow Hayner, Pence, and Olette, they should have seen the beam in the computer room and understood what it was. They'll get you guys back home." Hayner booked it out of the room, the others following in his wake. When they were gone Naminé looked down sweetly at Roxas, who was now simply asleep instead of unconscious. She got down and kissed him lightly on the cheek.
"Sometimes you are a real idiot Roxas," she chided quietly to his sleeping figure. "Fighting a Charr heartless alone." A tear grew in her eye and she looked out the window into the starry sky. "Kairi, I really hope you're okay. And that Sora will become your knight somehow. It would break both Roxas' heart and my own if you two weren't really meant to be."
Chapter XXV… done. Now I hope you all enjoyed it and check out the forum I made. BTW, there was (at least for me) huge foreshadowing that Middle-Earth would be involved in this, which I'll leave to you guys to figure out.
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May the Grace of the Valar Protect You
Shire Folk.