sorry. it's taking me a long time to update but... you all still love me! ...right? i hope so! :D
SAD! only 1 or 2 chapters after this! but i really like this chapter and it is one of my longer chapters.
Jo: this is the other half of your present! i hope you enjoy! (and sorry it's a little late) haha.
anyway... read and review. :D
The time has come,
Separation lost the war to love,
Take my hand,
Grace is found where your words begin,
you're alive! you're alive!
in the waking of new life,
take my hand,
in the end there's only love
song: Freedom by Run Kid Run
Chapter 26
It Sounds... Perfect
Deym was the first to strike. He pulled his keyblade back, noticed the weight of Marik's heavy keyblade, and ran to attack Marik from the left. Marik pulled his long, thin keyblade into a swing aimed at Deym's waist. Deym swiftly ducked under the blade and bolted right. Marik struggled to bring his sword back the other way, the weight of it causing him to lose his balance. Deym took his keyblade back and heaved it into the opening.
As the keyblade made contact, Marik staggered to the side, grunting in pain. He quickly muttered something under his breath. A magic spell. A strange static of darkness wrapped around Marik. Deym's hands froze, the keyblade in mid swing. The darkness that was covering Marik grew, covering Deym's keyblade and soon spread over Deym.
Deym jerked his keyblade, struggling to get out. Sweat beaded on his brow as the darkness slowly paralyzed him. He could no longer move from the neck down.
Marik smirked and simply poked Deym's chest. He helplessly fell to the ground. Marik stared down at him. Deym noticed the blood trickling down from Marik's side, where Deym had landed his short blow. Marik pulled back his sword and swiped it short and quick against Deym's face.
A streak of blood signaled a diagonal wound from cheek to cheek. The fresh wound stung and Marik scraped his sword on the ground, as if trying to clean it.
"I always knew, no matter how strong you got, that the darkness in me would prevail."
"You're not that strong Marik," Deym spat, "Your heart is weak!"
"Oh?" Marik dragged his sword on the pavement, circling Deym's head. He dragged it up so it rested on Deym's chest, over his heart, "And how strong is your heart? Is it made of steel?" Marik mocked, "Will it stop my sword from wiping away your existence?"
Marik put a little more force on his blade, the tip slowly digging into Deym's chest. The fresh blood stained Deym's chest and leaked onto the ground, "Are you going to tell me that you can still beat me?"
Deym smirked, "Yes."
Marik's eyebrows pulled down and a fast voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Dace Water, Dance!"
"It's this way!"
"We already tried to go that way, stupid."
"No we haven't…. have we?"
"Yes."
"No."
"Where is Pleo when you need her?"
All the voices spoke at once.
"I have an idea," Zexion interrupted.
"What?" the rest of the Organization urged.
"It's not like my usual plans… But, since we can't figure out anything better, might as well give it a try." He shrugged.
"Spit it out, Zexy," Bruixe smirked.
"The walls keep you out from the side, not the bottom." Zexion explained.
"…And?"
"And so, to get to where we want to go, we come from underneath," Zexion pointed at the ceiling.
The members looks up, "Ooh."
Marik smirked, "Hello Demyx."
"I don't want to talk," Demyx glared, switching from eighth notes to sixteenths.
Demyx looked at Deym. He laid there, only his eyes shifting from person to person. He wasn't hurt too badly, but he wasn't going to be much help while that magic still had a hold on him.
Marik frowned, "Haven't you ever heard? Violence isn't the answer."
"Funny. Coming from someone like you," Demyx snapped.
"You don't even know me. Not like Deym does, at least," He shrugged.
Demyx's eyes flickered over to Pleo. He realized she was unconscious.
"You hurt Pleo," Demyx glared, "That's all I need to know."
Demyx flipped his sitar and quickly strummed down on a note. The note turned into a quick run of sixteenth notes and didn't stop. The violent music filled the air, soldiers surrounded Marik. The soldiers sloshed around Marik and followed Demyx's command. Marik watched Demyx's hands moving across the strings, searching for a change in melody or rhythm.
Marik dodged the attacks easily. Demyx had only sent a few soldiers and some waves of water to attack. Marik moved his sword easily now, able to find the beat of the music and block the attacks.
Marik spun, holding his sword out in front of him. His blade cut through a wave and sliced into Demyx's side. Demyx stumbled away from the blow and looked up at him.
"Good. You passed my warm up," Demyx smirked wide, "But can you keep to the beat?" Demyx switched around the rhythms, hitting notes only on the off beats, the e's and the a's of the sixteenth notes.
Demyx flipped the sitar so the base rested on his knee. He strummed hard and even as he walked with his sitar, coming closer to Marik. Reckless waves burst out from around Demyx, matching the strange hits of the music. Marik tried to time the attacks, but couldn't find the down beat. Marik sprang one count too early. He landed on the ground just as the next wave was striking. The water burst over Marik, smacking him down into the ground. Marik lost his balance, his heavy sword falling from his weak hands. The water stung as it punched him down into the ground.
Marik shook the water off himself and got to his feet, "I see you've grown in your power," he picked up his sword, "But I've got a new power, too."
Marik gave him a dark smile and the lights flickered as darkness surrounded Marik's body. The darkness was like electricity, surrounding Marik's body in a shockwave of armor. Demyx took a few steps back and strummed down on a chord. The bits of water that appeared from the note were like daggers. They sailed through the air with tremendous force. If they made contact, nothing would stop them from slicing through his thin flesh.
The Daggers made contact with Marik around his throat. The daggers were about to pierce his skin when the darkness around Marik silenced the water and they fell like sprinkles of rain to the ground. Marik smirked and Demyx backed away.
"What's wrong? Afraid of the dark?" Marik mocked and the dark static on his hands whipped out, slashing Demyx. The whip cut through the stomach of Demyx's cloak to his tender skin on the other side. Demyx dropped his sitar from the pain, his hands flew to his stomach in attempt to keep the blood inside him. He quickly became dizzy from the constant blood loss. He slipped to his knees, keeping his hands on his deep wound.
He cried out in pain when another shockwave beat across his face. The impact of the blow sent him into the wall, the cement cracking from the force. He fell limp to the ground, his blood laid in a pool around him. He pulled himself up slowly. He braced himself against the wall and struggled to his feet.
He lazily turned his head to Marik.
"I-Is that all you've got?"
Marik's eyes widened in frustration. He yelled and punched into the air, sending the darkness that surrounded him into Demyx. The whips of darkness tied onto each limb and forced Demyx onto the wall. Demyx coughed hard, but ignored the pain.
"You're not even worth the Organization's time," Demyx mocked, "Learn to fight."
Marik let out a battle cry and a wide shockwave flew into his chest. The attack hit him like electricity. It tore at his chest, the blow spreading through his whole body. Demyx jolted in a spasm of pain. The whips holding him up took him up higher, sending him through the ceiling and then threw him down onto the ground.
Demyx's head beat against the ground, his breath knocked out of him. He could no longer feel his limps and the constant ringing in his ears seemed to get worse. His breathing came shorter and further apart, even though he felt as if he wasn't breathing at all. He tuned his head to the side and spit, trying to get out the taste of blood that seemed like it would be permanent.
Demyx rolled to his side, crying out from the throbbing pains, and rolled onto all fours. He braced himself of the wall and pulled himself to his feet. He stumbled back, but caught his balance before his knees collapsed. His breathing came sharper now, his lungs pressing hard against his aching ribs. He guessed a few were broken.
"You," Demyx breathed out, his voice hoarse, "Are weak."
Marik exploded, his face turning furious, the darkness exploding with his frustration.
Demyx saw the attack that was sure to kill him. He breathed in one more deep breath, closed his eyes, and waited.
"NO!"
Demyx's eyes snapped open at the sudden protest. He squinted, trying to make out what was in front of him.
Pleo.
Pleo stood in front of Demyx, her arms spread out wide, as if she was blocking him. Bright shards of light came from around her as she stood her ground between Marik and Demyx. Demyx looked to Marik. The darkness surrounding him was gone. He was on his knees, shielding his eyes. He fell back, positioning himself face down on the pavement. He was afraid.
Tears fell down her face, but her voice was strong, "You will not hurt my family. You will never hurt anyone again."
Pleo put her arms down once Marik was totally broken down. The light around her slowly faded away and she turned back to Demyx. She sprinted to his side.
The darkness that surrounded Deym had melted away and he pulled himself to his feet. He jogged over to Demyx's side, kneeling beside Pleo.
"Die!" Marik screamed and, sword in hand, launched at Pleo.
Demyx and Deym froze, eyes widening on what was going to happen.
"No way, buddy."
Marik stopped, hands holding him back. Deym and Demyx exchanged glances. Neither of them had moved. Demyx looked further behind Marik.
Axel had a tight grip on Marik's shoulder, Bruixe had the other shoulder, Roxas was on the ground and pinning Marik's leg down, and Xaldin sent a lance through the cloth of Marik's pants, pinning the other leg to the floor.
Axel nodded, "Hey Waterboy."
"Lux!" Bruixe ordered and Luxord took over Bruixe's place, holding Marik's shoulder.
Bruixe got to her knees by Demyx's side. She reached over to Axel and tore one long piece of cloth off his cloak and one short one.
"Hey," he protested. But Bruixe threw a hand up, ordering silence, and he obeyed.
"Care to summon some water for me?" she asked Demyx.
He lazily lifted up an arm, but it flopped back down and an expression of pain covered Demyx's face, "I can't," he croaked.
"I can," Pleo informed and lifted up her staff. She moved the staff slowly, humming a sweet song to herself. She directed the water into Bruixe's cupped hands.
Bruixe dabbed the short cloth into the water and brushed over the gash on Demyx's stomach and face. Demyx clamped his eyes but let her wash out the tender wound. She took the long piece of cloth and wrapped it tightly around his stomach as an improved bandage.
"There," she wiped her hands on her jeans, "That should hold until we get you home."
"We aren't done yet," Demyx mumbled, "Xigbar and Saïx. And the princesses of heart. And where is everyone?" Bruixe helped Demyx to his feet. He used her as a crutch.
"I know Leon and the others are searching the castle then on their was back to Hollow Bastion. They have that Restoration Committee thing, you know. Duty calls, I guess. And I think Sora, Riku, and his friends have the princesses of heart covered. Sora was all for going to find Kairi ASAP. And as for Xiggy and Saïx… we'll cross that bridge when we get there."
When Demyx got to his feet, Axel was on his other side as support and Roxas walking behind in case he started to fall. Deym walked with the rest of the organization beside Pleo who chatted with her 'new friends'.
"What'd you do with Marik?" Deym asked.
"Xemnas took him back to Castle Oblivion. I think he's going to be kept in our dungeon there," Xaldin answered, jogging up to walk on the other side of Axel.
"Yeah," Demyx coughed up a laugh, and spoke with a sarcastic tone, "Cause we all know that it's impossible to escape from there."
Bruixe and Axel glanced at each other then smirked at Demyx.
Roxas put a comforting hand on Demyx's back, "You're back." He sounded as if he was trying to convince himself of the truth.
"We missed you, buddy." Luxord spoke up.
"We all did," Larxene admitted.
Axel pulled more of Demyx's weight up and smiled, "Let's go home."
"Home," Demyx repeated the word slowly, tearsswelling up in his eyes and slowly spilling over,"That sounds… perfect."
it could just be me, but i thought that was really cute. :D
anyway... review please! :D
