Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Disney.
A/N: Well that makes the whole gang now! The only problem is, there are still three other artifacts to find including this one, so there's still a tough road ahead. Will they beat Maleficent to the artifact? What if she's already gotten it and vanished? That'd suck wouldn't it? I hope you all like this one! Please review! Thanks!
Part XXV: Hands of Time
Light shoots out from every Keyhole that covers all the seats. Without thinking we all run from the theater as the light dissolves everything.
"I guess that's our way in?" Roxas spins his Keyblade as we step back into the theater with a gaping hole in it. Where the seats were is now a set of steps heading toward the inside.
"Looks like it," I look down into the chamber in front of us. It's mostly black, so seeing anything is pointless.
"Come on we've got stop Maleficent!" We rush in behind Sora. She's definitely here. All the torches are lit and there's our first batch of Heartless. Not much trouble though, especially with seven of us. Although I don't know how much help that will be when it comes to getting through this Temple. The torches illuminate a meandering pattern along the walls with some paintings every so often. The layers of dust have been building up, so Maleficent must not've disturbed much of this part. Plus, this hall has been mostly empty of Heartless and Nobodies. I think we've seen five.
"Hold up guys." There's always something.
"What is it Sora?" I step up behind him, " Oh...that..." Out in front of us is a huge chasm, probably twenty yards across and wide. The only way we have to get across is these stone pillars that are rising up from below.
"So what's the problem, just glide across," Terra's Keyblade is the first of three to appear.
"Whoa, careful...they may not be the best idea," I hold down Sora's Keyblade so he can't have it transform, "the jets from these things might damage the Temple. Remember how easy it was to break the ceiling of the Lighthouse? We don't want parts of this thing falling down on top of us." It looks like there are fifteen pillars around, "Okay we must be able to get across if we try using those pillars."
"Let me go first," Ven walks to the edge.
"Be careful Ven," it looks like he sighed at Aqua's comment. There he goes. He makes one leap after another pausing every once in a while to make sure he's on the right track. There! He made it!
"Okay guys follow the way I went. Be careful. In the middle there's this branch that'll lead you that way," he points over toward the wall.
"Here I go," Roxas mimics his look-alike's path. Sora and I follow one after the other. Vanitas jumps to the other side right after us, and Aqua's not far behind. That just leaves Terra. I was a little worried about him getting across since he's bigger than...crap!
"Terra!" Aqua's shout echoes. She jumps back to the pillars. I can see his fingertips. He slipped on one of them. Thankfully, he caught himself. Whew...he's pulling himself back up. "Are you okay, Terra?"
"Yeah...I'm okay." He stands on his pillar, "I...miscalculated my jump. I've got this." Like he said, he makes it to the side.
"Okay, we must be near the artifact chamber," Roxas and I stand at the doorway to the hall.
"And that means Maleficent must be close too," we start walking down this hall.
"Do you think she's figured out the puzzle?" Sora turns to me as if I have the answer.
"Figures that witch would be involved in all of this," Roxas growls.
"Yeah she is...I don't know. The last one took her a really long time, so she might or she might not."
"That's helpful," Vanitas scoffs.
"Sorry, but I don't have a crystal ball for all her doings," I flood my words with sarcasm. Vanitas gives me this angry stare to which I return a smug smile.
"Alright you two. We're not going to get anywhere like this." Aqua sounds just like my Mom. Speaking of, I wonder if they're having fun...or if my grandmother has noticed anything yet I haven't seen any calls on my phone, but she's probably tried calling the house a bunch. I wonder how she's doing, especially with Tommy. He's my little brother, I didn't get to say goodbye to him...they're supposed to stop by the house on Saturday before Mom and Dad get back on Monday. We were going to go buy them their anniversary present. I miss them so much. I wish...
"Logan? Is everything alright?"
"Yeah you kinda just stopped," I break my trance and look up at Sora.
"Huh? Oh yeah I'm okay...just thinking about something," I smile.
"You sure?" Ven tilts his head, but I still nod. "Okay..."
"I bet the artifact chamber is right after this hall," Sora points further down the hall. If the other places were any example, he's right.
"Okay, come on!" I start running toward where Sora was pointing. I can hear the others following. Sora's right or at least from what I can tell. There's a huge dome, I'm starting to think that's going to be a thing with all these Greek wonders. The statues in this one are huge, probably twenty feet tall. I guess the people here really liked their big statues.
"Found it," Vanitas looks up toward the top of the stone dome. I forgot he hadn't seen the last one of these, which also explains why Roxas isn't saying anything. Is he still here? Okay yep there he is...he's standing under one of the statues...it kinda looks like Zeus, actually that wouldn't surprise me at all. Anyway, there must be an artifact around here somewhere or at least the way into the chamber.
"So what do these artifacts look like?" Roxas breaks from his trance.
"The last one was this tiny statue about this big," I shape a foot long box with my hands, "I don't know what it was, but...I don't know." I scrunch up my face.
"How do we find it?" Terra's wandering around the dome. I don't have an answer for that, but there must be some way to get to the artifact chamber. These walls have a lot of indentures. What's that glinting? There's not a lot of light down here, so I don't know what's causing that. Maybe it's just something in the stone. What's that light? Roxas must have summoned his Keyblade because that's where this other light came from. I wonder what he's...whoa! A beam of light bursts from beside me, along with five others. They're...all meeting in the middle...and wow...they're shooting the top of the...this must be the way to the artifact. The entire dome is covered in light and this wind has started whipping around us. I barely see Roxas struggling to hold his Keyblade.
"Look another Keyhole!" Ven has to shout for us to even hear him. It's up above us now. The wind stops and everything goes totally black.
"What is this place?" I find myself saying that without thinking. It looks like something from space with Nebulas or at least those colorful clouds, plus a lot of "stars." I wonder where the others...nevermind, Sora's right across from me and everyone else is arrayed around like a clock. Except it looks like there are two Roxases, and not just Ven, but Roxas twice.
"Whoa, there are...two...of me?" Roxas, the real Roxas, moves his hands around and the copy does the same thing, "Cool!"
"Is this where the artifact is?" Aqua's opposite Terra, about thirty feet apart.
"It could be but this isn't much of a..." what just happened? Wait now I'm somewhere else? "Puzzle." We switch again...and again...every few seconds...we...get thrown...to a different part of the circle.
"Guys...what's...going...on!" Sora manages between transports.
"This must be the puzzle..." Ven blurts out before being moved.
"How do we solve it?" Vanitas forcibly shifts places.
"Wait...we're...always opposite the same person. Watch, I'm with Aqua... Logan's with Sora...Ven with Van...and Roxas with...Roxas," Terra gets out in four changes.
"Hey...Terra's right," I'm opposite Sora, every time.
"So that doesn't help us. How do we get through the puzzle," Sora folds his arms.
"There has to be..."
"Guys check this out!" Roxas isn't...moving anymore. He and his replica have stopped switching spots. Do we need to...
"Hey Sora, let's try something. On the count of three, take a step forward. Okay?" I hope that was a nod, "One...two...three..." Everything stopped. We should have switched by now too. That must be it. You have to move with your partner. "Terra, Aqua, Ven, Vanitas, you have to step out with the person opposite you. I think you might have to do it at the same time." I watch as the four of them appear and reappear every couple of seconds.
"Terra? Are you ready?"
"Yep...one..."
"Two..."
"Three!" They did it! Their standing still, so that has to be how we stop all of this.
"Ven, when I say..."
"Now." Wow that's the first time I've heard Ven assert himself like that, but hey it worked. So that makes everybody...maybe...or a giant clock face...I guess that works too. Each of us are standing on a number, but I'm not sure what we're supposed to do. We can't cover the clock because there are only seven...well eight of us, so we're short about a quarter of the clock, so what could it be? At least we can move so we don't have to yell to each other.
"Okay, so we've got eight-ish people and twelve numbers. There must be something to this." We huddle closer together, near the center of the clock.
"Is there anything special about the numbers?" Roxas, I think the real one, turns back to look at the almost crystalline numbers.
"Doesn't look like it. One through twelve, like it's supposed to be," Vanitas sound dissatisfied, but I'm starting to think that's just how he is.
"What about the hands? Maybe they do something?" Ven offers. I hadn't even noticed the hands at all, but they're moving in a strange way. Not like they're supposed to, but randomly, and they pause at a number every few seconds. Then it's back around in any which way they seem to choose.
"I don't know...let's give it a shot!" Sora walks back to the numbers. I'm not sure what it is we're supposed to be doing. He walks around the edge following the big hand. What is he thinking of? "Hey Ven, you're nearest the other hand, can you follow it?" He nods and...not much happens. They're on every number that the clock stops at, but nothing. There must be something else...what if...
"Hey Ven, let me take your spot."
"Uh...okay..."
"We were paired up when we got in here, so maybe..."
"That's how we get out of here!" I nod at Sora. Hopefully this'll work. "So, I'll take big hand, you take little?"
"Works for me," okay the numbers should be stopping...now. The whole clock shakes as chimes go off...and the numbers under Sora and my feet disappear. "That must have been it!"
"Look the number one is gone too." Roxas, both Roxases point at the now blank first spot.
"Who's next?" Vanitas looks around to everyone.
"Come on Van; you and I will go." Ven grabs Vanitas by the arm and drags him to the numbers.
"Little...big?" He points to Ven and then himself.
"Sure," he and Vanitas begin their walk around the circle, and all of ten seconds later they find a match. Two disappears along with them. Aqua and Terra go next. A few seconds pass and that just leaves Roxas and his copy.
"Piece of cake." He starts his cycles around, "Uh, guys...we might have a problem...he only moves opposite me, we can only do the ones furthest apart."
"But that only leaves twelve and six, and I haven't seen the clock hit that." The only other number there is four, so I'm not sure how well we're going to make this work. It stops at six and four several times, but never twelve and six. There must be someway...Roxas tries running from his clone to close the gap, but it doesn't do much.
"I have an idea!" We swing around to look at Ven. "Roxas and I look alike, so maybe we can fool the clock." He steps back onto the numbers.
"Let's give it a shot! I'll take four." Ven nods at Roxas' instruction. That puts his opposite at ten, not that it seems to matter. Okay here come the arms...nothing...crap...that was our best chance wasn't it?
"I really thought that was going to work," both Roxases hang their heads.
"Maybe it still can...what if you take six and I'll take four. That puts him at twelve, so maybe..." Ven looks back to us, but I have no clue, so...
"Okay," Roxas switches to the six and Ven the four. The hands stop a bunch of times, just not at six and four. Come on...there! The loud chime sounds out and all three numbers disappear. "It worked! Whoa..." Roxas turns his hands over and over I imagine looking at why he's glowing orange. I feel like that's not a good thing...never mind, it went away. "Aw man...I liked having him," Roxas' copy is gone. That must've been the glow.
"Hey, you've still got me!" Ven smiles a huge smile.
"Will you do whatever I do?" Roxas moves his hands around wildly, I think he's trying to see if it would work on Ven.
"No...but we still look like each other, so you get half the deal," our laughter bursts out throughout the...I don't know, whatever this is.
"So where's the artifact? Did Maleficent already get it?" I hope what Sora said isn't true. We go through all of this to have nothing. Huh? All the numbers have come back and now they're glowing...is this a good thing? Everything goes dark.
"Hey we're back in the dome," I hear Terra say before I open my eyes again.
"Fools! How dare you attempt to steal my artifact?!" Uh oh...I know that voice a little too well. So I guess she hadn't found it until now. Wait? Is that it, in the purple sphere? It has to be. I've got to grab it. I don't think she...ow! Nasty witch smacked me with that staff of hers.
"Sora grab it!" I slam into the opposite wall. I scramble to my feet. Oh please...yes he got it! Dang it...Heartless start dropping in on us. "Look out! She's behind you!" She strikes Sora and the piece again goes flying. "Get that Heartless!" I'm too far away to get the artifact from it. Roxas is right there. Hurry...yes he got it. Okay, time to deal with these other Heartless. Sora's holding off Maleficent for the moment. I've got about five Heartless around me. I've got to get to the others. There's my chance. I swipe at one of the Heartless, clearing a narrow path out. Is someone still holding on to it? Really?! More Heartless! Not okay! Argh...they're those ones from when she captured me. I hate those shields! I jump out of the way to avoid being bitten. Things are getting out of hand. I can't even keep track of whose attacks are whose! Ven must have it because Maleficent is right on him. Wow, I've never seen her kick before. Whoa, shadow on the Keyblade. I fling it backward into the wall. That was too close for me. Terra's managed to get to her. He hit her away!
"Ven take the artifact and run! We'll be right behind you!" She doesn't stay down for long. We have to get out of here!
We start running away, but I know she's not far behind. More Heartless?! Ugh…
"Just keep running! We've got what we came for!" Roxas shouts from beside me.
"Remember to watch for those pillars!" We have to be careful not to drop it or ourselves down there. Still, Ven hops across without issue. Terra takes it slower this time and makes it. The rest of us are right behind.
"Meteors of Heaven, unleash thy fury!" What does that…
"Get down!" My body reacts to Sora's command. A huge rock flies over our heads, followed by a few more. "We have to get out of here!" We get back up and run for the stairs. A little bit of the sun is leaking in. We're almost through. My hair stands on end for, ouch! Lightning?! Urgh…I hate that witch.
"We're out!" Ven raises the artifact in victory.
"But not through it yet, here they come!" Terra points back into the Temple. We can hear the Heartless climbing the stairs.
"Let's go, we'll figure things out later!" We hope on our gliders and zip out of Rhodes as fast as we can.
A/N (Part 2): Hey everyone! I hope you liked this part! I have an opinion question for you all. The next major plot point doesn't happen until Wonder six, so that means five won't have anything really big in it. I was wondering, would you like it better if I just summarized the general happenings in five rather than create a whole couple of chapters about it? Leave me a review or send me a PM about it! Thanks!