Lulala. Is. A. Failure! XD
Except this is a really really really long eventful chapter, WOOT! So I did not work for nothing! Very exciting business. I apologize as usual for my lengthy absence--just remember, I'll always come back, haha. Eventually. This time I come back with a bang. :D Thank you so much for reviewing, favoriting, and everything in my absence. Honestly, it means the world to me, as you all know, since I reply rather swiftly, haha.
HERIA.
Excellent question you have raised here. For those of you who do not poke through the reviews, haha, the question about which keyblades the gang are carrying. WELL, they DO have specific ones, of course. Would you expect any less of me? XD No, I won't tell you which they are, though--HOWEVER, I will add descriptions, and we'll see if you can deduce who is carrying what! :D Keep an eye out during the next few chapters. Their weapons will be revealed! Won't be too hard, either... you could probably guess now for some of them. XD
Anyway. REEEAD on.
It was dawn, and the residents of Port Pine were awakening. A disguised Riku and Hana slowly walked the streets, hoping for Riku to catch a glimmer of a clue through listening in on the thoughts of anyone who happened to be nearby.
"Anything?" Hana murmured expectantly.
"Of course not," Riku whispered. "We haven't been here long." He peered sideways at her, scrutinizing her face before she had a chance to notice. Relieved that she didn't appear particularly upset, he resigned himself to slowly following her lead. Turn after turn, they wove around the side streets, and Hana kept a close eye on Riku's facial expression, hoping it would reveal when he heard something.
Truthfully, his concentration was not nearly what it should have been. Yuri's face swam across his mind, relaxing what should have been alert. The face he imagined smiled at him, just the way she used to. Warmth and beauty Riku had admired so frequently radiated from that smile, his smile—she had never managed a smile like that for anyone else. She didn't smile anymore—at least, she wouldn't when she saw him again, or if she ever discovered what had occurred between he and Hana in the cavern. He didn't stop it, and she'd consider herself betrayed. She had always suspected, and Riku hated himself for proving her even slightly correct.
He wondered if he had made a mistake in telling her how he truly felt. Chances were, it would only hurt her more deeply. She had a window directly into his mind… even if he was careful, keeping the events between he and Hana secret would be nearly impossible. She was most attuned to Riku's voice, and he would relive the shameful moment many times—every time, she would hear it. What could he do to prevent it? He knew Naminé would sigh at the simplicity of the answer to his problem, and he knew it was the right thing to do. Telling the truth was the only way.
She'd run from him, and he'd have to live with it.
Hana wrinkled her nose. "Have you heard anything worth looking into yet?" she questioned of Riku impatiently.
He couldn't resist rolling his eyes, even though he could sympathize—she was probably ridiculously bored, waiting for him to uncover something enormous that he wasn't searching even a bit diligently for. "There might not be anything here, you know."
"No, there is," she insisted, avoiding his gaze as he eyed her disbelievingly. "I'm sure of it." Well, she seemed certain, but that didn't mean much. With each minute that passed, she forgot more and more of her time with the Adherence, making her assertions less and less reliable.
"How can you be sure?"
"How was I sure about the cavern?"
"You weren't."
She sighed heavily, staring into space as they slowly walked along. Without looking at him, she said, "Riku, I know you miss Yuri, I know you're worried. I would appreciate it if you'd stop cross-analyzing me, stop thinking about her, and focus. I know it's here." Her voice was somewhat empty, as though she fully did not expect him to comply with her requests, but she figured she'd say it just for the formality.
"You know?" Riku turned toward her and cocked an eyebrow challengingly.
Hana managed to break her incessant staring at nothing, but only for a moment in order to roll her eyes. "See? You missed the whole point of what I just said."
Riku smirked briefly, just long enough for Hana to see it, but didn't reply. Obviously, he ignored her on purpose, which annoyed her pretty severely. Riku was a huge pain, in her opinion, and she cursed Naminé silently for being placed with such an entirely useless partner. "I'll keep listening," Riku finally said, though his tone seemed to suggest that 'listening' was a rather loose and undeterminable action, and how much he ought to be doing it wasn't really certain.
"You do that," Hana replied tonelessly, rolling her eyes once more.
Roxas was paired up with the larger of the two Adherence members, and luckily, he was not quite as accomplished with magic as the one Naminé was tied up with. He wielded a large, rusty sword—Roxas briefly wondered if the purpose of the rust was to make death even more painful for his victims—and was surprisingly mobile with it, though Roxas largely attributed his enormous biceps to this. He supposed he should have been intimidated, but it was difficult to intimidate someone who had the power of the keyblade on their side and a witch as skilled as Naminé behind him.
Unfortunately, none of that made the fighting any easier. His muscles were still bulging, and he was still quicker than Roxas could fathom. Every time his enormous blade clanged against the keyblade, Roxas felt the jangle all the way through to his bones, the vibration discomforting as he tried to overpower his enemy. He and Naminé were sending quick messages back and forth to be sure that neither of them would become overpowered without the other knowing.
Be careful of that spell I just blocked from this guy, Naminé warned Roxas harshly. If it hits, it's fatal, and he doesn't seem to have any difficulty casting it.
Perfect, Roxas sighed internally. Nothing was better than risking your life daily! He kept a close eye on Naminé after that, ferociously blocking out images of what it might look like if she died.
After barely ducking a swing of the huge sword, Roxas decided it was time to bring a little magic into the mix. Granted, he wasn't especially gifted with magic, but he did know some basics, and at that point, he would have given nearly anything to be rid of the large, intimidating Adherence member. He was sweating all over, absolutely dripping with it, and his muscles were already groaning every time they were forced to move.
Much to the dismay of his very tired legs, he backed away quickly from the enemy, who luckily took the bait and lunged after him despite his keyblade still being poised to defend. The huge man swung his sword again at Roxas's head, attempting to answer his challenge, and Roxas heaved the keyblade upward with his right arm to stop the blow, while he shot a very simple spell from his left hand at the man's wide open gut.
"Nice try," he hissed as the spell glanced off a translucent magic shield that appeared out of nowhere.
His belt! Naminé immediately called out to Roxas. There is a permanent shield spell on his belt. As long as he is wearing it, you won't be able to use magic!
Um, Roxas began, bracing the keyblade with all his might for another painful blow from the sword, how do you propose I remove his belt? Cause if this battle is a physical one, I'm not sure I can win. The sword made contact, sending another uncomfortable ripple all the way to Roxas's toes.
Cut it off.
Roxas grinned slightly. It was a start—but obviously, a task like that was easier said than done. The precision it would take to cut it off seemed almost pointless, but Roxas was not sure he could win without magic. Even taking the direct route of injuring him with the keyblade seemed more out of reach than cutting off his belt, which left Roxas at a bit of an impasse. Both tasks loomed large and nearly impossible in front of him as his keyblade took more abuse from his adversary's massive, sharpened hunk of rust.
Roxas, Naminé called softly. He snuck a glance.
No! Her nose was clearly broken, mouth and chin covered in blood. Naminé was not accustomed to physical injury of any kind, and Roxas could feel her shock as she lamely continued to defend herself. Her eyes looked distant, as though she was slipping into a daydream. She didn't reach to wipe away any of the blood—it freely dribbled onto her clothing, leaving dark stains where it fell. Sluggish movement was all she could manage, and her eyes began to match the blood as she gave herself to the magic, unable to think.
A fist sunk into her gut, a spell blasted her sternum. No! Naminé!
An unfamiliar power ripped into Roxas's chest, corrupting his entire core. It took control, surging through his limbs and giving him strength he had never before possessed. He could feel it beating inside his head, knocking against his skull as it took over his brain. With enormous and uncharacteristic strength, he heaved his aggressor ten feet backward, his reason and logic slipping away. His eyes painfully transformed, pupils expanding enormously while his irises became the vivid, glowing crimson of Hollow Bastion's magic.
He placed both hands on the handle of his keyblade, and with a very sudden noise of grinding metal, ripped it in two. In one hand, one blade, silver with two thin spindles that came together at the tip into a star and wings that formed the handle; in the other, a black and sinister looking thing, with pointed, bat-like wings forming the handle and a black and gray pattern on the hilt. Breathing ragged, he hunched over, losing control of his limbs. He dashed forward, keyblades swinging. Forming them into an 'X', he easily blocked a blow from his opponent, eyes widening in a frightening way of their own accord. He saw the fear buried beneath the strong expression of the large Adherence member's face, and he fed on it.
With a forceful jerk, he sliced the rusty sword in half. With a flick of his wrist, the black keyblade removed his opponent's belt, and through the white keyblade, Roxas shot the largest spell he had ever done straight into the stomach of his opponent. Without stopping to see if he had survived the blow, he made for Naminé's aggressor, who had scarcely been able to move given Roxas's frightening and unexpected transformation. Naminé sat nearby on the ground, knees curled to her injured chest, eyes still red as a poorly cast shield hovered around her.
In another wild and uncontrollable burst of anger, Roxas cut down Naminé's opponent. Willing his limbs to stop, willing the fire in his veins to subside did no good. The magic raged with his anger, controlling him and possessing him. Strategy, forethought, planning… those were Roxas's strengths. In this state, he was a monster, no longer himself.
Both Adherence members were dead. Clearly, when Hollow Bastion wanted something done, it wasted no time choosing a vessel through which it would satisfy its demand. Hollow Bastion was protecting Naminé, and it chose Roxas as its ally, as its human form. This power had never come to him before because Naminé's life had never been threatened in that way before. Never had she been so threatened that she could not bring herself to act, that the magic had to act for her. The sight of her own blood had disturbed her so thoroughly that she probably went into some sort of shock.
Roxas desperately wished the magic would leave him. He was tired, and Naminé was injured… but he couldn't go near her while he was like this. He could hurt her worse than she was already hurt. Slowly, he felt himself coming back into his right mind. The strength he was so unaccustomed to was fading and his eyes returned to their normal blue. Anger was replaced by urgency.
He rushed forward just as Naminé's shield collapsed, catching her gently while she fell forward. She felt so small and broken. Blood coated her chin and cheeks, and her midsection felt a bit out of sorts—broken ribs were likely the cause. It seemed the casualties would never stop coming for them. Yuri had just been stabbed, and in one moment of weakness, Naminé had sustained a broken nose, broken ribs, and who knew what else.
"Are you okay?" Roxas asked softly, using his sleeve to brush the red from her face. "Say something, if you can…"
"It hurts," she whispered. The color in her eyes hadn't faded.
He put his arms around her, unable to quell his shaking. "I am so sorry."
"My fault," she sighed plainly, emotionlessly.
"We've got to get back to the castle, perhaps Kairi could—"
"The sphere," she reminded him softly. "We must get it."
Roxas carefully picked Naminé up, cradling her in his arms, and began down the long, dingy tunnel.
"Roxas."
"Naminé, don't…"
"Roxas, the man I fought has the sphere in his pocket. That's what distracted me… I saw it."
Turning around swiftly, he carried her toward where the Adherence members lie. "I'm going to set you down," he told her softly. She didn't seem to be aware of the world around her at all.
Pick-pocketing the dead Adherence member felt more wrong than almost anything Roxas had ever done. He located the sphere inside a large pocket in the man's jacket, and moved right along, unable to look back and think about what he had just done.
Roxas, bring her back, Kairi commanded. She's not right, we need to help her before you guys can continue. We'll send Akiko and Axel to continue from where you left off.
Roxas had absolutely no arguments on that matter. Slowly, carefully, as though one touch would break her, he picked her up again, chilled by her paling complexion. Something was definitely wrong. "We're going back to the castle now," he said for Naminé's benefit, though it didn't seem like she was listening. Staring at the ceiling, eyes at last blue again, she didn't move an inch when Roxas spoke.
He didn't even give a second thought to how the spell surrounding the bank might react to being teleported through, and he didn't much care. Summoning all of the magic he could muster, he felt the dingy passage melting away in favor of the Queen's chamber in the castle. There, Kairi and Yuri, who was shockingly up and moving, waited with bandages and magical knowledge to heal what they could.
"Axel and Akiko," Kairi said very clearly into a walkie-talkie. "Urgent reassignment, please respond."
"Where do you want us?" came Axel's crackly voice.
"Proceed immediately to the town of Westcastle and put up one of our shields to ensure that Adherence members cannot get in. Immediately!" she repeated for emphasis.
When they landed in the room, Roxas felt the ground shudder a bit underneath him—Naminé would give him hell later for such a 'rough' landing. Yuri and Kairi gasped at the sight of her. Roxas's heart broke a bit when she started to cry. She screwed up, and she knew it. Unfortunately, she wasn't going to forgive herself very easily.
"Put her over here," Yuri suggested shakily, leading Roxas toward the enormous bed. "Right here…"
Roxas laid her down as gently as he could. She still seemed extraordinarily upset as Kairi and Yuri tended to her that her tears only became more and more numerous. Roxas hoisted himself up onto the bed while Kairi and Yuri muttered about spells and remedies. He crawled behind Naminé and shifted her so that she was situated between his legs, back resting against his chest. He let his arms fall carefully across her shoulders in a very light and comforting embrace.
"What's wrong?" he whispered concernedly.
"It hurts," she said again. "Never this badly before."
"Listen to me," Roxas attempted to divert her attention while she watched Yuri casting spells on her ribs with widened eyes. "Listen. You will be just fine. We're all fine today. In a few minutes, it will be like this never happened." He kissed from her forehead into her hair. "Please, listen to me."
"I was so weak, Roxas," she sighed sadly. "If it weren't for you…"
"I live to protect you," he declared. "We all make mistakes, each and every day. They were so strong, Naminé, you have nothing to be ashamed of."
"But…"
Roxas shushed her softly. "Just be still. Let them fix you. I love you, and I couldn't bear losing you."
Thankfully, she did as she was told. Roxas had used one of the words that both frightened and thrilled her, so he assumed she was probably pondering over that while Kairi and Yuri continued to examine her, curing her nose injury with magic and carefully cleaning the blood from her skin. The rib injuries were easily mended by Yuri. Her sternum had taken an incredible hit without any damage at all, which was a miracle, and it didn't seem there was anything else wrong with her.
"Let me run down and see if there's any food I can bring." Yuri hastened from the room.
"I'll be right back—just going to quickly check on everyone and make sure Axel and Akiko secured the town," Kairi said, dashing out onto the balcony.
Roxas pulled the sphere from his pocket and set it next to them on the bed. "We got it," he reminded her. "We went in there and got what we went for."
"No thanks to me," she sighed. "I'm sorry for failing you, Roxas. I just saw the sphere and suddenly I was thinking about everything we said before climbing down the ladder, and what would happen if I died…"
"Don't apologize," he replied, "there's no need at all."
"And I don't think I have ever bled that much before," she said, sounding almost embarrassed. "I got scared, and I flipped. Though not nearly as much as you flipped…"
Roxas smiled a little, pleased that she was returning to her old self. "I think we found my helper power. It only comes out when you're bleeding copiously."
"Well, it proved itself useful," she smiled. "What happened, anyway? I just remember being scared…"
"I'm not sure," Roxas began. "I felt so angry that he hurt you, and a magic I have never felt before kind of possessed me, I suppose… that's the best way to say it… and let me tell you, it wasn't pain-free!"
Naminé leaned against him silently. Several minutes passed before she had anything to offer in response. "It seems that the land has a lot more to teach us than we thought. Perhaps we don't fully understand the functions and capabilities of what we're dealing with," she thought aloud. "What do you think?"
"Well, I never knew it could live vicariously through us," he shrugged. "But there's a lot I don't know about Hollow Bastion and the magic."
"Yuri probably has some more insight into this," Naminé guessed. "I feel foolish. We've been using this magic for so long without understanding it!"
Roxas shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe we'll never understand it."
Naminé closed her eyes, an almost pained expression on her face. "It's a bad idea to use it if it can act independently, if we lose control."
"I'm the only one who loses control," Roxas reminded her, an edge of bitterness in his voice. His outburst was still a mystery. Nobody besides Yuri, Naminé, and Akiko could access the magic that they knew of, so why suddenly could he?
"Maybe it only comes when you're angry," Naminé offered, softly stroking his arm in comfort. "Really angry."
"Or when you are injured," Roxas reminded her. "Maybe it's protecting you."
A long moment of silence. Naminé tilted her head up so she could see Roxas's face. "I never thought of it that way before."
"I'm scared," Roxas confessed quietly, staring into space. "I don't want it to happen again… I don't like being controlled."
"Maybe you can control it." Naminé sounded like she was already deep in thought, devising ways to teach Roxas to call the power to him when he needed it. "If you could control it…"
"We'd be unstoppable," Roxas finished for her. "This conflict would be over very quickly."
Naminé hesitated. "I don't think we can kill Ran without the spheres."
"Of course not."
Naminé lay against Roxas's chest, listening to his steady heartbeat while he twirled a lock of her hair around his finger. Thoughts of the unruly, mysterious magic left both of their minds, and for that moment, both simply mulled over being together, and being alive.
"I'm sorry I can't run as fast as you," Yuffie apologized for the third time.
"It's okay—I cheat," Sora replied, shouting over the noise of the wind whipping against them. After just moments of running away from the village they had erected the shield over, it became apparent that there was no way that Yuffie would be able to keep up with Sora. The only solution, it seemed, was for Sora to carry Yuffie on his back to the next town.
"I wish I could use magic like you!" she sighed longingly.
Sora laughed, but wasn't feeling cheerful at all. He was preoccupied thinking of a moment, hours ago, when Kairi had stopped watching him. Namely, how did he know that she had stopped?
A soft ping echoed in Sora's mind. Naminé had just cast a spell, and a violent one at that—she and Roxas were fighting. He shook his head, feeling crazy, delusional, out of his mind. What an active imagination, he scoffed to himself.
Roxas and Naminé's conversation popped into Sora's mind, and as she mentioned a fatal spell, he grew worried. Moments later, Roxas casted a spell. What? Roxas cast a spell? Inconceivable—he never did, unless he absolutely had to. Whatever kind of trouble they were in, Sora was positive it was serious. Wait—he just imagined that he knew Roxas casted a simple spell, when in reality, he could never know such a thing, as Roxas was miles away. What in the world was going on?
"You okay?" Yuffie poked his cheek curiously. "You're staring."
"I…" Sora sighed. He really was out of his mind. "I'm fine… I think."
Magic. Enormous magic, somewhere far away. Death. People dying. People he loved very much, being killed by magic. Korin's magic, Adherence magic. Earth. Korin, killing people, casting fatal spells on Earth. Was he crazy, or was he right?
"Yuffie, I just… take us back to the castle!" he shouted. "Something terrible has just happened."
Yuri had returned moments later with soup and bread for Naminé to eat, and had settled in a large armchair near the bed, where Roxas and Naminé were both still seated. Devouring her chicken noodle soup ravenously, Naminé didn't say much, but Roxas and Yuri discussed what had happened to him in the passageway.
"It took control," she repeated, after Roxas had finished his explanation. One of her eyebrows was raised in a manner that Roxas didn't at all appreciate, but he ignored it as best he could. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," he responded quietly, very much hating the feeling of being thought crazy. "It felt like fire under my skin… I had no idea what to do with it, I just wanted to get rid of it." He stared at his knees.
She tapped her chin in thought. "Definitely Hollow Bastion," Yuri conceded, squinting a bit as she tried to sort it out in her head. "You didn't do anything to bring the magic to you?"
"I was so angry," Roxas recounted. "Angrier than ever. I didn't want someone else to get hurt…"
"Well, I think your power has been here all along, Roxas," Yuri declared. "You just never were in the situation to summon it. I don't think it's meant to be used to save your own life, though… I think Hollow Bastion will only respond to you when you choose to be selfless with the magic."
Roxas had no clue how she had managed to squeeze such a complicated solution out so quickly. Oh, well—that's magical brilliance for you. "Does it work the same way for you?"
She chuckled a bit. "Oh, no. Not for me. Naminé would be a better person to ask. It does work differently for all of us… but as I'm the Queen, it really has to do my bidding whether it likes it or not. Sure, it could deny me if I were using it to evil ends, but I'm not."
Roxas turned to Naminé just as she slurped up the last noodle. Her eyes widened, like those of a child who just got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Cheeks reddening with embarrassment, she set her bowl aside. "Well… I suppose it does work much more willingly when I'm not using it to save myself," she mused. "For example, one of the best spells I've ever done was when I defended you from Korin."
"Guys!" a panicked Sora, toting an extremely confused Yuffie, popped into the room. "Something is happening…"
"Explain," Yuri demanded, rising sharply from her chair. Immediately, she assumed her queenly stance—rigid, perfect posture, chest puffed slightly outward, hands balled into fists at her side.
"Listen… this is going to sound crazy, but all day, I've been hearing things…"
"That does sound crazy," Naminé murmured to Roxas.
"Heard that," Sora snapped. "Hearing things as in… spells. I know when people cast spells."
"Sora, feeling flares of magic is perfectly normal—"
"No," he interrupted, immediately feeling sorry when Yuri looked angry. "It's not that. I know who… and where… and what spell."
Naminé and Yuri exchanged a glance. "Hollow Bastion has been extremely kind with its helper powers today," Yuri said with a small smile. "I believe you've found yours, Sora."
"Useful as heck," Roxas commented. "Seriously! You can track down anyone who is doing magic at a given time, and know who it is and exactly where they are! You're like a lethal assassin, Sora."
Yuffie stuck her tongue out at Sora, pleased by Roxas's choice of words. "Useful, yes," Sora continued. "I think someone needs to go to Earth."
"Why?" Yuri asked warily.
"I think… I felt Korin killing people."
Hmm. Well, it's been a busy day in Hollow Bastion! I'll update again very soon. I mean it. :D Review, please! You know I love hearing from you.
Love,
Lulala
