Chapter 24: The Death Blow

The two pushed against each others blades, trying to push the other back, to make them fall and give an opening. Jack was the one who proved most successful in this, he managed to push John back, but John kept his feet, only losing his ground. John stumbled a step back, his sword still in both hands and raised between him and Jack, but a mighty swing form Jack sent the blade from his hands and into the heartless surrounding the fight.

"Crap," John said watching the blade fly.

He managed to dodged the next swing and started for his but Jack stood in his way, "Not today John, not today," Jack said grinning and stepping towards the unarmed man.

Jack pulled back to take a swing at John when he reared up and roared in pain, Sora, in Master Form, was on his back both keyblades imbedded into his flesh, Blackhowl his second keyblade. John took this for what it was, his chance to get to Gutts' sword again, and started for the heartless that concealed it.

Jack reached back and grabbed Sora's shirt and ripped him off his back, throwing him towards the archway again and charging at him, John forgotten. Sora landed hard on his feet but maintained his balance, Blackhowl held in both hands, Rock Breaker still in Jack's back.

Jack swung at Sora who ducked under the attack and rolled to be at Jack's back. Sora jumped up, grabbed Rock Breaker and tore it from Jack's back, being sure to do as much damage as he could. Jack roared in pain again and spun fast, catching Sora still in mid air and sending him into a pit of heartless, which quickly cleared off of him, none wanting to disobey their kings command.

John wasn't so lucky in that regard, Jack hadn't claimed him, so the heartless were jumping at him, and John had no blade in his hands.

"God damnit! Fine, it'll all end now," John said after a NEOshadow cut three gouges in his arm.

John jumped back from the heartless and undid his belt, grabbing the sheath of his blade in his right hand, the handle in his left. John grinned slightly as he gave the slightest pull with his left hand pulling less than an inch of the blade form its scabbard. But that small amount was enough, as soon as the blade was reviled the entire area was encompassed by a white light, even those watching did not escape the light. When it was gone so was every heartless there. John's grin widened as he returned the blade fully to its sheath and put it back on, the sword positioned at his back again.

"John, how did you get it back?" Jack asked walking towards him, anger across his face.

"When it was given away, it was only for safe keeping," John said not looking at Jack and retreating Gutts' sword.

"And you rely on the blades of others, why?" Jack asked, he was in attack range now, and John still didn't see him.

"Easier I guess," John said taking Gutts' blade in both hands.

Jack took that chance to swing, but John was quick and spun, ducking under Jack's blade then with a quick and deliberate blow hitting it and sending it away from the two, far out of reach. Jack scowled but before he acted he screamed in pain again as a keyblade was cut across his back. Both Jack and John looked to see Sora in Final Form flying straight at them, Rock Breaker on his back, Belladonna's Kiss flying back to him, being the one that hit Jack.

Jack was quick to act grabbing Gutts' sword, which John held upwards, by the blade near the top and hitting John in the chest with a well placed kick. John went soaring in the opposite direction of Sora, hitting the ground hard, Gutts' sword still in Jack's hand. As soon as John was hit Jack turned to face Sora, Gutts' sword sliding through his hand for a better grip before he threw it at Sora like a dart.

Sora's eyes widened when he saw the blade heading for him but managed to dodge out of the way, Truth was in charge now. As soon as the blade was avoided Sora started for Jack again, and Jack just waited, his anger rising with each cut the keyblades delivered, they had left Sora again and were now attacking Jack.

John was not quite to his feet yet; he was on one foot and one knee, hunched forward and breathing heavily, his left hand over his chest. "Damn, that hurt… you're on your own for a sec there kid…" John said between breaths.

Jack was ready for Sora the instant he arrived, taking quick and powerful kicks at him, all dodged. The difference in fighting was easiest noted here, Sora kept at a distance in Final Form, Truth didn't, relying on his agility to get out of trouble. Sora dodged one fist to be hit by another that was waiting for him to dodge. The hit sent him in the air where Jack jumped up to meet him, planting a heel on Sora's back and aiding gravity in slamming Sora into the ground.

Jack and Sora both got to their feet together, Sora back to normal. Truth had kept control so he would receive damage, giving Sora the edge, though, taking himself out of the fight. Sora was a little wobbly on his feet, still trying to regain himself after using the forms. Jack grinned and took his chance, moving faster than Sora could dodge at the moment Jack hunched down and swung hard hitting Sora full blown in the chest and abdomen with his giant fist. Things seemed to go in slow motion at that point, Jack's arm and fist moving forward and pushing Sora's body with it. Sora's arms and legs jerking back towards Jack in the instant after impact from the magnitude of the blow, Rock Breaker still held tightly in Sora's right hand.

In the quick jerk it happened, the teeth of the keyblade found one of the four bands going form the glove on Jack's right hand to his elbow wraps, and the teeth cut the band. The same instant one was cut the other three snapped and the glove shredded into nothing. Then the unimaginable happened, four bone spikes shot out, one from each of the knuckles on Jack's right hand, the glove no longer holding them back. The spikes were out and fully extended moments after the glove was gone, each spike now sticking out of Sora's back. As soon as the spikes were fully extended time resumed its normal pace, Jack finishing his swing expecting to see Sora flying backwards, but the boy was stuck to his hand, that's when everyone realized what happened.

"Oh Shit," "God Damn," "Jesus H…" Spawn, Leroy, and Logan uttered at the same time respectively, but none heard them over the shout of "SORA!" that Kairi let out.

"Oh damn kid… I never even got that one…" John said as he finally got to his feet.

The shout got Jack's attention and he turned to look at his audience, perhaps seeing them for the first time. A grin crossed his face again and he took a step back and wound his right arm back as far as he could before throwing it forward and stepping with it to push more momentum into the swing. Sora's body was released from the spikes and soared through the air to land with as much a thud as a squish by the watchers, but at the same time, still far into the crater.

As soon as he had landed Riku and Kairi started for his body. Vaxer grabbing Riku around the waist with one arm and got his right arm in the other, preventing him form using his keyblade to get out. Bruxeus started after Kairi but Tim blocked his path with his staff. "Let her go…" he said.

"None can interfere," Bruxeus said pushing the staff out of the way.

"No cure spell can help him. Let her say goodbye," Xexox said dejectedly.

"What about me?" Riku demanded still trying to break out of Vaxer's grip.

"You'd attack the Black King, you're not going," Tim said.

Kairi reached Sora's body and knelt by his head, her keyblade at her side, his nowhere in sight. Tears were freely falling form Kairi's face as she put a hand over Sora's heart and felt a faint beating; he was still alive…for now. The tears kept falling as she lifted his head off the ground and held it in her lap. Though her body was trembling her hand was steady as she wiped the blood from the edge of Sora's mouth. It took a moment for Kairi to find her voice, but once she did, her words were soft, either in weakness or fear of disturbing the boy, she didn't know.

"Sora… please, don't go... y-you can't die, right? ...You're the keyblade master… you…you can't die, please don't die…" Kairi whispered, her hands at the sides of Sora's head, her own tilted down looking into his face.

---X---

As soon as Sora was thrown Jack stood up straight and started clenching and unclenching his right hand, his left hand rubbing his right wrist. "Damn spikes, hurt like a bastard every time," he said to himself as he tried to ease the pain in his hand.

John watched as Sora landed and Kairi started for him, but he turned back to Jack before she reached to boy. John reached back and pulled the sword form its scabbard again, this time his coat concealed the white light, and he pulled the blade completely free of its resting place. The sword was like a normal katana, only its blade was pure white, its crossbar was golden and it was a white wrapping over the handle. A white ribbon trained off the end of the handle hanging loosely, a light blue orb slightly larger than a marble at the end of the ribbon.

John held the blade in his left hand and looked down at it before sighing. His eyes looked back at Jack who was still trying to relieve his right hand, "you cut him once last time. Let's see if you can kill him now," John said before charging at Jack. Jack saw John at the last second and managed to dodge the first blow. The second was blocked by the four spikes, and the third cut clean through the two spikes over the pinky and ring finger.

After the spikes were cut Jack jumped back and started for his sword, John hot on his tail, but Jack proved to be the faster, making it to his blade and grabbing it in time to block John's next attack. From then on the two took many attacks, but none landed, Xexox called it looking into the past, it's how the two fought the first time they encountered each other.

---X---

Sora lay on his back in a familiar place. He knew instantly he was on the stain-glass of the young girl in the white dress, all his known others were looking down at him, even Anger, whom ran off earlier.

"Ahhh, what was that?" Sora asked.

"A death blow. No magic can heal your wounds," Knowledge said.

"The hit knocked you out, you're gunna spend the last of your time here," Truth said.

"So time here passes the same now?" Sora asked.

"No, it's still a little slower, but we don't know how much," Friendship said.

"Why can't I move?" Sora asked.

"Your body here will move as your real one does now. And you arrived hear once you landed flat on your back form the attack," Knowledge said.

"So if someone picks me up there?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, you'll lift off the ground," Honor said.

"Well then could you kneel down or something, it's kinda irritating with you standing over me like that," Sora said slightly agitated.

"Well, they you couldn't see us. Your head's flat on the ground," Friendship said.

Almost in response Sora's head lifted up, "Ah, what the?" Sora asked, his eyes darting around.

"Someone lifted your head up," Courage said as he and the others knelt down.

"What do I do while I wait?" Sora asked looking at the others.

"No idea," Truth said shrugging.

"Well… Knowledge, could you tell me what you wanted me to figure out, I don't think I got it," Sora said slowly.

"No, I can't tell you even now, it's something you'd have to figure out on your own," Knowledge said.

"Well, then what?" Sora asked.

Anger looked up at what would be the ceiling. "Huh? What is it?" Friendship asked.

"Listen… someone's saying something," Anger said still looking up, the others all silencing and doing the same.

It was Kairi's voice, Sora knew the instant he heard it; it was her, "-go... y-you can't die, right? ...You're the keyblade master… you…you can't die, please don't die…" then there a static silence for a moment.

"What is that weird sound?" Sora asked, his eyes on Knowledge who was at the left of his head.

"Crying," came the answer from Truth.

Sora was quiet after he got his answer, and soon, Kairi started talking again. "Why… why'd you haveta go Sora? …we coulda waited… gotten stronger… made sure you could win…" she started crying again. "I, I don't care if you can't win Sora… I never really cared if you could win… I only cared because you did. I just always hoped…I prayed that once you started you'd win… so that you'd be okay…so that you could come back to me…" there was more crying again, and all the others around Sora lowered their heads.

A twitch of pain shot through Sora and he voiced it, "Ah, what was what?" he demanded loudly in the silence.

"It's ending. You're time here's almost over… it's a shame we didn't get to know you sooner," Courage said.

"This sucks, I'm dying, Kairi's crying over me, and I don't even get to see her… to say goodbye," Sora said closing his eyes.

Then a voice spoke, a voice Sora heard before, it was strange but oddly familiar. It was as if it had helped him in hard times before, "why would you care to say goodbye to her so much?" the voice asked.

Sora opened his eye but whoever spoke wasn't in his line of sight, but he could hear the footsteps getting closer, and he could see all his others looking past Sora's head, in the direction of the newcomer. "Who are you?" Sora asked.

"I asked my question first," the voice called.

"What, why I want to say goodbye to Kairi? Because we grew up together, we were friends since I could remember," Sora said looking in the direction he knew the owner of the voice was, but still seeing nothing.

"Is that all? They why are you not wishing to say goodbye to Riku? Or any of your other childhood friends, many of which don't even know of your great weapon, of the troubles you've faces these past few years, why not wish to say goodbye to them? Why is Kairi so different?" the voice asked.

Sora was silent a moment, the only sound the odd static sound that was Kairi's crying. A second twinge of pain brought Sora back to the matter at hand, he was about to die… why did he want to see Kairi again so much, but not Riku or the others as much… Sora's eyes widened in what could only be called realization, "I… I love her," Sora said slowly.

"Bingo," the voice said before Sora's vision went black.

---X---

AN: Sora's got the best timing don't he? Anyway, stay tuned, the story ain't over yet, John's still fighting Jack remember? Plus an audience of warriors who might join in…