Chapter 24
The Two Pained Tears
Only when one has been hurt can they recognize the hurt of others
The rain was pouring down.
It had been at least ten minutes.
Lying face down in the grass, the Keyblade Wielder Sora was quiet as he slowly began to lose consciousness. Thoughts barely ran through his mind, he stopped thinking all-together. What would be the point after all? He was dying…did it really matter?
So many regrets the boy had.
Never once did he think he'd perish like this, he believed he'd at least defeat Xehanort first. But he was wrong; Xehanort was way out of his league. Sora wouldn't be able to win, not even with the powers of darkness.
Was this really how it was going to end?
Normally Sora would fight; he'd keep struggling until the very end.
But this time…
"Sora."
Sora moved his pupils up to see a figure sitting in front of him. An ethereal projection of Roxas. Was he hallucinating? He wouldn't be surprised if he was at this point, it's not like he could do anything about it.
"Roxas…" Sora said weakly.
"What are you doing Sora?" Roxas asked. "Why are you just lying there?"
Sora managed a weak grin. "Can't you guess? I'm taking a nap."
Roxas chuckled, and then he frowned. "A nap that you won't wake up from."
"…."
"You can't give up like this Sora. It's not over."
"Why isn't it over?" Sora spoke. "Why can't it be over? Why can't all this fighting and killing stop?"
"Because you have a job to do. You're a Keyblade Wielder." Roxas explained. "You have many responsibilities and many people that rely on you, you can't give up. Not now."
"…I don't care Roxas." Sora said sadly. "I just…I just wanna go…can't I have that? Why do I have to keep fighting? I'm tired of fighting…I never wanted to fight in the first place…"
Roxas's gaze lowered. "Sora…"
"All this time…All I did was fight monster after monster, thwarting every villain I came across. Fulfilling the role of a Keyblade Wielder." Sora coughed. "I never told anyone this before…but I…I…
"You hate the Keyblade." Roxas finished, already knowing the answer.
"Why did it have to happen to me Roxas? To all of us?" Sora continued. "People always say the Keyblade is a great weapon that spreads peace. That may be true somewhat, but no one notices he pain the Keyblade brings."
Roxas looked at the boy sadly. "King Triton was right back then wasn't he?"
Sora chuckled, remembering when King Triton destroyed the crystal trident pendant they found during his first trip to Atlantica.
"The Keyblade shatters peace and brings ruin."
Now he got it.
He had thought he was talking just about the worlds back then, but he now realized he was wrong. It wasn't the worlds that suffered because of the Keyblade, it was the wielders themselves. They Keyblade only brought those horrors and misery beyond any reasoning. All because of stupid destiny cursing people with the responsibility to engage in life and death battles to satisfy the happiness of the universe.
"But Sora…" Roxas continued." What about the ones you love? What about Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy…Ruby?"
A pang of sadness hit Sora as he thought of his friends. If he did die, they'd all be sad wouldn't they? They'd be in danger. The organization was still there on Remnant, planning something to do with Ruby and her friends. Could he really lie there and pretend he didn't want to do anything about it?
"Roxas…I'm afraid…" Sora admitted.
"I know." Roxas said, pitying the broken-hearted boy lying before him. "It's not fair that someone like you has to go through this…all this fighting only breeds more fighting. But we can't give up, we can't. Our friends need us, just like we need them. If you die, the hope of the universe is lost.
"Why me?" Sora's vision began to blur again. "They've still got Riku…King Mickey…Master Yen Sid…"
Roxas shook his head. "No Sora, without you, all of them will lose hope. Everything you've done has inspired them to try and make a difference. Even before you had this power, many people placed their trust in you, knowing you would save them."
"…but…can I do it? Can I…save everyone?" Sora questioned, wishing he could believe in himself.
Roxas smiled, he reached out his hand. "Yes Sora…you can. I know you can, I believe in me. So you should believe in me as well."
Sora stared at Roxas. He didn't know why, but he felt his hand reach for his other's hand. Maybe he did want to believe he'd make a difference. That if he grabbed Roxas's hand, he'd have to strength to not give up and survive. So with all his strength, he out his hand…
And it fell to the ground, motionless.
Roxas was visibly horrified. "Sor—
Roxas vanished before he could finish, once again leaving Sora all alone. Sora's breath was gone and his body was unmoving, the rain continued on as it wet Sora's hair, slicking it to the downed warrior's face. The rain drops would run down his face, imitating the tear tracks that had previous painted Sora's expression. His eyes were only slightly open, showing the eyes that lost their light. His mouth was only slightly open as well, small droplets off blood laying on his lower lip.
And in that moment, the Keyblade Wielder Sora was truly dea—
"Sora! Penny over here quick!"
Jiminy Cricket was running as fast as he could, he felt himself scooped up by the orange haired Penny and she looked at him with concern. "Jiminy, what is the crisis!?"
Jiminy pointed to Sora, who lied on the ground. "That boy! He's a friend of mine named Sora! Penny we have to help him, he looks badly injured!"
Penny gasped. "A friend of my friend is in trouble! Don't you worry Jiminy!"
Penny ran up to Sora's body and scooped him up into her arms bridal style. "Jiminy, your book."
"I already have it Penny, now let's head to a hospital quickly!" Jiminy said with concern as he looked at Sora's face. What could the boy have gone through to be injured so badly? No, it doesn't matter, now they needed to get him some help before it was too late!
And with that, Penny, with Sora and Jiminy in tow dashed off to the nearest hospital.
KHXRWBY
Yang grumbled as Professor Port droned on.
It had been about two days since the last mission and Yang was already bored. She was not a girl of placidity, she was of action. The most intense and blood boiling kind of action! She should be out there kicking some major Grimm or Heartless butt!
But alas…
Yang and her teammates were simply sitting in class and Professor Port talked on more about himself. Weiss was filing her nails, Blake was strangely enough, asleep. And Ruby was flipping a pencil. Sighing, the girl retreated back into her thoughts. One particular thought happened to come up…
The fight with Junior.
She lost.
How in Monty Oum did THAT happen?
Yang was frustrated and angry that someone like Junior basically kicked her butt. Junior had gotten stronger, but it wasn't a big deal to Yang. Even with heightened strength, defense capabilities and new dark magic, Yang figured she could still win. She'd trained very hard since team RWBY's fight against the Dark Thorn. In the beginning of her battle with Junior, she was easily beating him.
Then what happened?
At certain points during the battle, Yang noticed she was a lot slower than normal. OR at certain points she wasn't able to move. She wondered what it could've been…she knew she wasn't afraid or out of shape. So what could've been the reason as to why she wasn't performing her best during that battle.
That's right, if she had been at one hundred percent, Junior would've been Cinders by now.
Haha.
Yang suddenly grew depressed. She had to get stronger, she knew that much. But how? She is quite literally one of the strongest first years, completely matching even Pyrrha and sometimes beating her! What more was there to learn at the moment?
Yang thought back to the many times she's seen Sora fight, he always seemed tough. She didn't doubt that he was very strong. Maybe she could ask him to help her train? Maybe teach her a couple of things? Of course, she'd have to see him fight at his strongest in order to good a good judgment on how much help she needs.
All she knew was that she needed to get better fast, if Junior was that strong. No doubt the new enemies to come will be complete beasts.
"And so I swung my pelvis straight at its—
RIIIIIIINNGG
"Ah well, there will be time for that later." Professor Port said with jolly. "Study extra hard students you have a test at the end of the week. You're dismissed."
Yang shook Blake awake and signaled her friends that it was time to go. They exited the classroom and began walking to lunch.
"Oh boy! I thought class would never end!" Yang stretched out her arms.
"Its Professor Ports class." Weiss said. "What do you expect?"
"Good point."
"Well the day is half over. Just tough it out and you'll be relaxing back in the dorm soon enough." Blake responded with a smile of amusement.
"Eh I guess." Yang nodded. "Ruby what are you doing?"
Yang's adorable little sister was now messing with her scroll. "Playing Tetris."
"Really? Since when did you like Tetris?"
CRASH!
A loud impact rattled the hallway, knocking the girls over. Students in the halls began panicking, some running from the direction of the cafeteria. A loud roar was heard that shattered the glass of the windows. Yang was instantly on her feet, Ember Celica in combat mode.
"What the hell is going on!?"
"The cafeteria!" Blake said. "Something must be going on there."
The four girls made haste as they ran to the cafeteria, upon arriving their jaws dropped with utter astonishment. For lying halfway in the cafeteria…
Was as Nevermore.
"A GRIMM?" Weiss was surprised. "How did it even get here!?"
"No time for that now." Ruby spoke, getting Crescent Rose ready. "We gotta get rid of it before it injures anyone!"
Her teammates nodded at her before readying their weapons, ready to take down this beast. Just then another large monster burst through the opposing wall and tackled the Nevermore out of the large hall. The impact was great, causing the girls to shield themselves from the flying debris.
"What now!?" Weiss shrieked.
From the large hole, the girls saw the Nevermore and the other monster flying through the air…
And fighting.
The Nevermore was fighting against a dragon looking monster with horns, it only took the girls a second to realize it was a Heartless.
A Storm Rider Heartless at that.
"They're fighting!? What in the world is going on…?" continued Weiss with further exasperation.
"Yeah, why would a Grimm and a Heartless be fighting all of a sudden? It wasn't like this before." Agreed Blake.
"Guys!"
The team looked to the side to see Team JNPR running up to them. From the looks on their faces, it seemed they knew what was going on.
"We just heard what happened." Pyrrha said. "Are you all alright?"
"Totally." Ruby nodded.
"So what's going on?" Ren asked.
The four girls pointed up at the sky, Team JNPR dropped their jaws when they saw the Nevermore and the Storm Rider trying their hardest to destroy each other. The Nevermore shot its feathers at the Storm Rider, but the Heartless deflected them all with it electrical barrier. Then they began ramming against each other, roaring as they did so.
"What the…" Jaune was visibly appalled.
Nora seemed morbidly surprised. "Why would a Heartless be fighting a Grimm…?"
"Should we just let them fight?" Yang looked at Ruby.
The Never used its claw to slash the Storm Rider's eye. The Heartless yellowed in pain before falling down to the ground, crashing in the courtyard.
"Guess not." Yang shrugged. And with that, the eight warriors ran off into battle.
"Nora launch me!" Ren said to his dear friend.
"Alright…" Nora said solemnly as she raised her hammer. Ren frowned at his friend's lack of joy, but he push his thoughts back and focused on the battle. Nora swung her hammer, launching Ren straight at the Storm Rider.
"Jaune you ready?" Pyrrha said as she stood on her shield, Jaune stood on his shield next to her.
"I'm ready!" Jaune said as he readied his sword.
Pyrrha activated her semblances and levitated the two shields off the ground, levitating them in the air. She pushed them forward, flying toward the Storm Rider at great speeds.
"Guess we get to fight another one of these things huh?" Yang sneered at her teammates, loading her gauntlets.
"Yeah, kind of ironic isn't it?" Blake said back.
"Weiss, Air Hopper!" Ruby commanded.
"When are we gonna change the name of that? Air Hopper sound so stupid!" Weiss said with irritation as she created several hand signals.
Instantly more than two dozen Air Step glyphs appeared in the air around the flying monsters. Weiss seemed to have a hard time conjuring them all but she made it work anyway. "I'll have to stay here to maintain the glyphs. But I'll try to help out with my long range attacks if I can."
Her teammates nodded at her and jumped into the air, they began bouncing off of the glyphs as they headed straight for the Nevermore.
"Jaune duck!" Pyrrha shouted.
"Where!?" Jaune responded with a goofy grin. "Is it Donal—? AAAAHHH!"
Jaune was set hurtling through the air after the Storm Rider smacked him with its wing. Pyrrha sighed but pressed on the attack. She rode the shield like it was a surfboard in the air, dodging and weaving any attacks that came her way. She came upon the Storm Rider and readied her sword.
Ren was already on top of it tying to destroy the spikes on its shoulders. Nora was able to strike it right in the belly, but the beast shrugged it off and knocked her away. Pyrrha caught Nora quickly and then charged after their enemy, she jumped at it and slashed its face. However when the monster roared, the bellowing air shot her backward.
Pyrrha noticed Weiss's glyphs and bounced off of one to continue the attack.
Blake was slashing away at the face of the Nevermore, substituting with a Shadow to keep from getting eaten. Yang went next with a barrage of missiles aimed at its belly, the impact knocked the wind out of it and it began falling. Ruby was about to finish it with her scythe but gasped when the bird regained its balance and shot its feathers at her.
Ruby nimbly dodged the attacks and bounced off another glyph to press on. Weiss was shooting several arrows of icy dust at the bird, but just like last time, they didn't do much. At the most it distracted it from her allies.
Nora was slamming her hammer away at the back of the Storm Rider as Ren finally succeeded to destroying a spike. The beast roared in pain before turning over in the air to let loose its attackers. Quickly Ren grabbed hold of another spike and grabbed Nora's hand with the other. But the Storm Rider wasn't fooled; it flew up into the air at high speeds, forcing Ren and Nora off of it. Weiss noticed them falling and conjured two more glyphs to catch them before they hit the ground. Weiss began to feel the strain on her Aura. Hurry up, kill the things already, I can't hold these up much longer.
The Nevermore flew higher into the air, sending a hailstorm of feathers down on its foes, including the Storm Rider. The students gasped, not knowing how to evade this onslaught, luckily they didn't have to.
The Storm Rider began spinning rapidly as it flew towards the Nevermore, deflecting the feathers. It rammed right into the Nevermore and sent it hurtling to the ground. It then rained down its storm of explosive bombs on its opponent. Ruby and Friends were forced to shield themselves with their Aura to protect themselves, since it was pretty much impossible to dodge bombs in midair.
The Nevermore was helpless, taking the bombing punishment of its rival. It crashed onto the ground in a heap, only just barely alive. Weiss could no longer support her glyphs, falling to her knees as they vanished.
Luckily the others were closer to the ground and landed without injury. Ruby ran up to her partner with concern. "Weiss you okay?"
"I'm fine Ruby." Weiss answered with annoyance.
"Hey at least the Heartless killed the Nevermore for us." Ren shrugged.
"But now we've still got the Heartless." Pyrrha added.
Jaune came running up to them. "Guys! Hey! What'd I miss?"
Everyone smacked their foreheads.
Instantly their attention was drawn to the Storm Rider, which landed right before the Grimm. It stared at the Grimm for a few moments, as though contemplating.
"What's it doing?" Blake wondered.
In an instant, the Storm Rider opened its mouth and grabbed the Nevermore's head into it. Then, dark energy began swirling around the Nevermore and its body was quickly being absorbed into the Storm Rider's features.
"Its…it's…" Ruby was shocked.
"Absorbing the Grimm…" Yang finished.
"Everyone we have to stop it!" Ren shouted at everyone. But it was too late; in a burst of dark energy the Storm Rider had a new form. The Nevermore's mask was now over its eyes, black feathers were now featured on the wings, glowing with purple energy. The tail was much longer, with a blade at the end. The spikes and horns of the Storm Rider were longer and sharper, giving this beast a new level of power.
It was now the Neverstorm.
"GUYS MOVE!"
In an instant a blast of pure electrical energy burst from the Neverstorm's mouth, aimed right at the students of Beacon. They were able to dodge it thankfully, but they all knew this battle was just beginning.
The Neverstorm flew into the air and began raining down feathers and bombs at its opponents. The Beacon warriors began running to avoid being blown to bits. The explosions shot up rock and shrapnel all over the place. Any stray students around were screaming for their lives and running away.
After that attack ended, the Neverstorm flew right at its foes intending to ram them. Surprisingly, the monster was fast, only Ren, Ruby and Weiss were quick enough to dodge. The others were knocked into the air, forced to grab onto the monsters feathers to hang on. The beast roared louder this time, as if announcing itself to the heavens.
"Darnnit!" Ruby stomped her feet. "What are we gonna do!?"
Ren stared at the monster, another Grimm/Heartless fusion, just like that Grimmvisible that hurt Nora. The boy didn't dare want to see that happen to anyone else…but what could he do? If Sora were here, perhaps their limit attack could do something…
He saw the Neverstorm flying about as their teammates struggled to fight it. Nora was smacking its hide with her hammer; Pyrrha was attacking its face. Jaune was screaming while hanging onto a feather while Blake and Yang hammered at its wings.
Then the Neverstorm turned over again, intending to knock them off. When it saw they were loose it fired beam of energy at them, they we're able to dodge their near death but the Neverstorm wasn't done. It proceeded to use its feather bomb attack.
The feather bomb attack…and before that it used its energy beam…so what's next should be…
"Everybody move to the side, I know what to do…" Ren said to everyone as the regrouped.
"What's the plan Ren?" Pyrrha asked.
"You guys don't need to do anything, not yet. Wait behind the rubble until I give the signal." Ren answered, readying the StormFlowers.
"What are you talking about? Do you plan to take that thing on alone!? Don't be foolish!" Weiss snapped.
"If you guys want to defeat it, then do what I say! Move now!"
Ren was normally not so outspoken, or so determined. Everyone was genuinely surprised at this new Ren, they did as he asked and hid behind the rubble. It was a good thing too; The Neverstorm was finished with its bomb attack and was now facing the long path leading to Ren. Ren shot off a few aura bullets to catch its attention and succeeded, the Neverstorm flew straight toward him.
Ren readied himself, his weapons slipping back into his sleeves. Right when it tries to ram me…
The Neverstorm got closer, proceeding with its ram attack…
I'll slide under it…
It was getting closer.
And pummel it with my Aura strikes…if I do it just right…
Just a few seconds away…
I should inflict enough damage to knock it onto the ground.
Ren ran forward as fast as he could, the members of Team RWBY and Ren's team looking at him with worry. What was he gonna do, what in the world could he possibly be planning?
Heavy amounts of Aura were concentrated in Ren's legs and arms, he would need it. After all, this would be no easy feat. He slid right under the beat and proceeded to barrage it with at least four Aura palm strikes! Then with both palms and his jumping force increased from his Aura, he jumped and struck the beast's belly so powerfully that it sounded like a Thunderclap!
The monster couldn't handle it.
It was sent hurling higher in the air, screaming in agony. Ren made a beautiful three point landing and the Neverstorm crash landed behind him a second later, dazed.
"WHOA!" His peers awed with beyond shocked expressions.
"Go!" Ren said to his teammates. "While it's down!"
The warriors were just about to attack when…
SMASH!
Someone dropped down from above and crushed the head of the Neverstorm with an amazingly powerful blow. Everyone else was shocked, what the heck? What was going on? Who attacked the Neverstorm?
Standing atop the beasts back, looking ominous as the beast began to fade away…
Was Nora.
Ren's eyes widened to the greatest extent. No not because he was amazed at his friend's display of power. Not even the fact that she was wearing a brown cloak over her clothes.
Nope.
It was because he could have sworn…that he saw Nora hiding with the others. The boy made a quick glance toward his teammates. Sure enough, the Nora that he woke up seeing this morning was right there, looking as shocked as he was.
Then…the one standing on top of the Heartless…
Ren immediately ran after her, jumping upon the rubble and dashing toward her. The Nora on the monster watched him come after her with no emotion on her face, and just before he could reach her…
"Sorry Ren."
She vanished.
But not before leaving a tear falling to the ground.
YEAH guys, that actually happened.
Had a tough time naming this Chapter but I think I did well, so is Sora dead? Or did Penny and Jiminy reach the hospital in time.
Then we had a two day timeskip, at this point we don't know what happened to Sora. I promised a Grimm vs. Heartless battle and here it is! Yes guys, now you know how these Heartless/Grimm Hybrids come to be! But there still much more to explain on it!
About Yang's battle, well the description of it gives a small hint as to why Yang lost. It wasn't because she was weaker than Junior, no way. Something was going on in that battle…
This is a shining moment of awesome for since I love Ren! If you played KH2, you'll notice I made him use Vertigo Toss just like Sora did on the Storm Dragon. If Ren seems OOC, then I don't care. Ren isn't all that quiet really, he'll yell if he has to. If you watched the RWBY episodes then you know what I'm talking about. And what about the Nora that appeared? O.O
I hope I'm not pushing it with this conflict about Nora, and Ren's behavior. Let me know your opinions.
Same thing for Sora's defeat moment, Sora was never the type of kid who enjoys constant violence. So I guess I see that's why he might wish he were normal, just like Roxas wanted to be normal in KH2. As far as him hating the Keyblade, okay that might be a bit of a stretch but think about it!
You get a Keyblade, now you can use magic and all other sorts of cool powers.
But the keyblades acts as a homing beacon to all the world consuming monsters of the universe, letting them know exactly where you are so they can kill you. And if they don't kill you, they will most certainly get away with killing your loved ones. You will have undoubtedly bad luck and suffer some kind of horrible fate at some point.
Examples: Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Eraqus, Riku, and maybe Sora.
Keyblades kinda ruin your life people.
With that said, see you next time!
-IMSOAWESOME