Kingdom Hearts III: Eternal Light
Chapter 94: Living A Cursed Existence
Sora and friends continued on, looking down the barren fields at the city before them. As they looked around them, they saw the world around them was slowly dying, covered by the thick black clouds up above. Kairi could not believe that this world was so infested with dark energy.
"No way. I never imagined...this was what Kingdom Hearts actually looks like." Aqua muttered. Ventus nodded.
"What the heck happened? I thought Kingdom Hearts would be all...you know. Sunny and bright. But this...THIS is just wrong." Genis asked. Raine saw all the dying plants around them.
"To think...Kingdom Hearts really is darkness." Raine said. But Kairi turned to everyone, showing signs of crying.
"No! This can't be. Don't say stuff like that Raine! My home is NOT some barren dump that Heartless inhabit. It's just not!" Kairi called. Suddenly, Riku felt an eerie chill race down his spine.
"Uhhh...guys? Do you feel that?" Riku asked. Doofenshmirtz looked around, as did Hercules and the others.
"No. I feel just fi...i...INE! GHOSTS!" Doofenshmirtz screamed, leaping onto Hercules. Pete gasped and stepped back, standing behind Donald and Goofy.
"Ghost? Where?" Mickey asked. Everyone drew their weapons and glanced around. But they saw nothing.
"What? There's nothing there." Lloyd said. Everyone turned to Doofenshmirtz.
"What? Look. I know what I saw. And I felt it too!" Doof shouted. Everyone else groaned.
"Forget the psycho doctor and let's just keep going Sora." Richter said. Auron agreed, saying he didn't feel like hearing anymore stupid remarks.
"Oh. SURE. I make ONE little remark like that and you all label me. Hmph." Doofenshmirtz huffed. Sora shook his head and continued leading the others down the path. As they moved on, a glowing blue figure was seen observing them from behind a tree.
"She has returned...Princess Kairi..." a voice said. They continued on until they came to the town surrounding the castle. Just like the field before it, the town was mostly destroyed, ravenged by some unseen evil. All the buildings were abandoned, making it seem as if the entire world was a ghost town.
"This place...it feels so cold and lonely." Marta said. Emil nodded.
"Whoa. I never thought I'd see another sad sight like this." Decus thought "Me and Alice have already seen enough of that. But this...this is spooky." As everyone looked around the abandoned town, something whooshed nearby and caught Xion's attention.
"Hmm? Xion? What's the matter?" Roxas asked. Xion quickly hushed him.
"What? What is it?" Axel asked. Xion pointed towards a dark alleyway.
"I...I thought I just saw something zip down that alley. You think it could be an inhabitant of this world?" Xion whispered. Jack Skellington approached the pathway and peered down.
"I can't tell. It's too dark." Jack said. But suddenly, Jack Sparrow approached while carrying a flare gun.
"Well, of course it's DARK. Any half wit can see that savvy. Allow me to shed a little "light" on the subject." he said. He pointed the rifle down the hall and fired, sending the flare rocketing off and lighting up the alley. When it hit the back wall, the sudden burst of lumination showed a glowing blue figure. Doofenshmirtz shrieked again and jumped in the air, landing on Hercules' shoulders.
"Gah! See? I told you! GHOSTS!" he exclaimed. Emil and Marta gasped, soon seeing that other ghosts were approaching them. Everyone drew their weapons as Tenebrae and Aqua floated nearby Emil and Richter.
"Great. We come to this world looking for inhabitants...and all we get are ghosts?" Richter asked. Everyone gathered together.
"Naminé? Stay behind me. This could get ugly." Roxas said. Naminé nodded and backed behind Roxas. Raine looked on, seeing the ghosts were vaguely human shaped and gave off strange bluish glows.
"Gawrsh. Are these REALLY the people who live in Kingdom Hearts?" Goofy asked. Donald grew a firm stare as he eyed the ghosts.
"Come on Goofy! Let's get 'em!" Donald squawked. But as they were preparing to attack, one of the ghosts stopped and raised a hand.
"Wait! Don't attack!" a woman cried. Sora and others faced the crying out ghost and saw it was a middle age woman, dressed in a royal gown and bearing a crown on her head. Kairi gasped, recognizing her as the woman from the message she received at Pixie Hollow.
"M...Mom?" Kairi asked. Sora, Riku and Genis looked on with shock.
"Mom? THAT'S your mom?" they shouted. The woman gasped and floated over to Kairi.
"Kairi! Oh! It is you! Sweetheart!" she cried. Kairi didn't know whether to feel happy or feared, seeing as her mother was now a floating phantom.
"Leon. What do you think's going on?" Yuffie muttered. Leon shook his head, saying he didn't really know. Everyone lowered their guard as the ghosts soon were actually the souls of Kingdom Hearts' inhabitants.
"So all of you guys are from this world?" Axel asked. They nodded.
"Yes. It's been a while since we've seen the likes of the living." one said. Regal believed that would be very true considering the likes of their world now.
"Ah. Yes. It was our own faults. If we hadn't have gone and gotten so druken up on the warmth the light brought us, those monsters would never have come." another said. Sora figured by "monsters", this man was speaking of the Heartless.
"Tell us. What's happened here? Why is your world in such ruin?" Raine asked. The queen sighed, saying she would rather explain all at the castle. They looked up at the palace floating in the sky and soon followed the queen and the other phantoms inside.
"Well, this is a first. We're really inside a "haunted" house." Cloud said. While the castle itself floated and the ghosts could float up to the gates, Sora's group had to use warp panels to bring themselves up to the palace grounds. They followed the queen inside and saw the darkened halls of the castle. Along the walls were decorative colorful wallpaper as beautiful crystals lined the walls and ceilings. But without the light radiating in them, the castle was nothing.
"I bet this place would look a lot prettier lit up." Lilo said. Stitch agreed, as did Bolt and Seifer. The queen brought everyone into the meeting room where everyone saw many chairs lined up on a ruby red clothed table. Inside already was another phantom, an eldery man pacing back and forth across the halls. He saw the queen and gasped.
"Your Highness! Yo...You're back." he said. He then saw Sora's group and gasped.
"And...you have intruders?" he asked. Sora seemed surprised.
"Intruders? We're here to save your hides, not invade it." Seifer huffed. Kairi then looked on at the man.
"Wait. I...think I know you. Aren't you...the royal vizer?" she asked. Aladdin figured this man was similar to Jafar was back home. The man cleared his throat.
"Yes. That is right. I am Queen Solerra's official royal vizer who oversees this land's progress and balance. Now...who are you?" he asked. The queen sighed.
"Don't you recognize her? It's my daughter, Princess Kairi." she said. The vizer looked on and gasped.
"Oh. Wh...Why yes. It's her. Princess Kairi has returned!" he exclaimed. Everyone joined the queen in sitting down at the table. Kairi and Sora sat closest to the queen.
"Well, now that you're all here, I assume you are wondering about what is happening in our world." the queen said. Leon nodded.
"Please...your Majesty...we wish to know." Rinoa said.
"It all began centuries ago...when Kingdom Hearts was first formed. Our land was not so fruitful at first. We begged with the guardians of our world to bring their majestic light upon us and save our town. They graciously gave us that power." she explained. As the queen went on, everyone tried to imagine what the world looked like back then.
"As our land blossomed and our people bathed in the light, we were at peace for what felt like eons. However, our people began to grow greedy, wanting this feeling all for themselves. That feeling grew and grew until most of our world was consumed by it. Finally, that greed erupted into darkness...and the monsters, denizens of pure evil, were born." she said. Kairi figured that must've been the flashback she had early on.
"And by monsters of darkness...you mean the Heartless." Cloud asked. The queen nodded, saying if that is what they called them now.
"Yeah. Heartless are beings of darkness without any hearts. They ravenge other worlds...looking for hearts to devour." Leon said. The vizer gasped.
"Other worlds? How would YOU know about the other worlds? We made it so that you COULDN'T know about the other worlds." the vizer exclaimed.
"The Heartless created dark pathways for them to cross between worlds and...we use our own paths to break through the world's boundaries to help and protect them." Aqua explained. The vizer merely groaned.
"How insulting. To think that all of you lolly gagging folk got here because you broke OUR rules." the vizer said. Seifer growled, quickly calmed down by Richter.
"Well, if we didn't break the rules, how else would we have gotten here?" Lloyd asked. The vizer huffed.
"Maybe you shouldn't have. I mean, I'm already offended enough that you all could just cross over between worlds and break the world order by interferring. Why I never." he said. The queen sighed, apologizing for his grumpy behavior. But suddenly, the vizer turned to Aqua and Ventus.
"And as for you, bearers of the Keyblade...that's right. I KNOW you two are Keyblade wielders. I'm offended that you all would break the rules as well. Since we brought the Keyblades INTO this world, we only gave them to those who would enforce the world order! But you all...oh ho. You all go and ruin it." he said. Ventus growled.
"Look here you old coot! Don't talk to us that way! If it wasn't for us, the worlds would be engulfed by darkness right now!" Ventus exclaimed. The vizer eyed Ventus with an angry scowl.
"You want to start something child? Huh?" he asked. Ventus growled again, ignoring Aqua trying to calm him down.
"I think we SHOULD thank you all for bringing Princess Kairi back. But now...you must all leave this world at once and never come back. Let US handle this mess." the vizer said. But the queen utterly rejected his proposal, saying they're the only ones who can help now.
"But...But your Majesty..." he said. The queen's word was final, enforcing it with her strong glare.
"My friends...I apologize for his behavior. My royal vizer was not one for letting rules be broken when they are for the good of our people. But...we must ask you for your aide." she said. Everyone nodded.
"That's why we came here. So...how can we help?" Quasimodo asked. Sora paid close attention to the queen's next words.
"After the Heartless appeared, a creature so fowl appeared and nestled itself deep within the bowels of this world. The creature is so pure evil, so heartless, so emotionless that we dubbed him "Darkness". It's no doubt that HE is the center point of all Heartless. If you can destroy him, the darkness over us will be broken." she said. Axel seemed a bit surprised.
"Wow. So...one GIANT Heartless is what is making all these little ones that are infesting other worlds. Sheesh. If Xemnas knew that when he was collecting hearts." Axel thought. Sora nodded.
"We will your Highness. The Heartless have plagued the worlds for too long. They have to be stopped here and now." Riku said.
"Yeah! And we'll kill them right at their source too!" Genis added. Presea said she would assist also, as did Zelos, Regal, Sheena and everyone else on Sora's team.
"Well Sora? You still want to go through with this? It means we'll be fighting the most vile Heartless of them all." Mulan asked. Sora nodded.
"Of course. No way am I backing down now. We came here to obliterate the Heartless...and that's what we're gonna do. If we don't, everyone the Heartless have attacked will continue suffering." Sora said. Michael gave a quiet smirk, pleased to see Sora so strong to his beliefs.
"And when we're done...we're going to bring Kingdom Hearts back into the light. And as for the worlds themselves...we'll replace the ties of darkness with ties of light." Sora said. The vizer gasped.
"What? Da...Dagh! You will do NO such thing! If you did that, then all worlds would acknowledge the other's existence! You'll be throwing world order out of whack! Are you THAT insane boy?" the vizer asked. Ventus nodded.
"Yeah. He sure is." Ventus said. Sora smirked and told everyone to get prepared.
"Thank you. Here. Let me give you one final bit of advice. The pit in which Darkness hides in is atop the horrendous black volcano that sits on the outskirts of our town. You'll see it when you exit the castle." the queen said. Sora thanked the queen and everyone prepared to move out.
"Finally. I've been waiting to take a few Heartless out by now." Sheena said. As everyone exited the meeting hall and strolled down the hallway, Ventus stopped and turned to Aqua.
"Hey...Aqua?" he asked. Aqua asked what was up.
"This is going to be it. Our final battle. We'll finally avenge Terra and Master Eraqus. But...when we do..." Ven said. Aqua nodded, saying that there would be no real way for them to ever come back.
"So...what's your point Ven?" Aqua asked. Ventus suddenly took Aqua's hand.
"Aqua...I know I may not be much...but...I promise I'll protect YOU this time. You protected me after I lost my heart, now I'll return the favor." Ven said. Aqua looked on, blushing bright red. But where as Ventus stood and glared in her eyes, Aqua quietly hugged him.
"Thank you Ven. It's...It's just pleasing enough to me that you're alive." Aqua whispered. Sora and Kairi looked back, happy to see Ven and Aqua together. Even Roxas and Naminé felt the same way.
"All right guys. To Darkness' lair and the end of all Heartless. Let's do this for everyone we left behind at Radiant Gardens. For Ansem..." Sora said. His team nodded and followed Sora outside. When they stepped out, they saw the volcano that the queen spoke of. Surrounding its pitch black form appeared to be a circling staircase, broken apart by several large platforms.
"That must be it. Let's go Sora." Riku said. Sora nodded and everyone warped down to the town below. The group made their charge towards the volcano as, high in the sky, Aqua and Ventus used their Keyblades and transformed into vehicles to fly in the sky.
"Keep on your toes everyone. I'm guessing this is going to be our biggest battle yet." Regal said. Michael stayed close to the front with Sora. Everyone held onto their weapons as they left the town behind them and approached the volcano's base. However, waiting there was an unfriendly sight. It was the Dark Knight.
"You again?" Sora groaned. Everyone stopped and prepared to fight. But suddenly, the Dark Knight rose into the air.
"Foolish child. You may have reached Kingdom Hearts and found the lair of the King of all Heartless...but can you survive...my FINAL test?" he asked. Sora looked up.
"And what does that mean?" Sora asked. Donald and Goofy huffed.
"Whatever it is, Sora can handle it!" Donald squawked. Mickey, Goofy and Pete nodded as well.
"Yeah. So come on and bring it helmet head." Max cried. The knight chuckled and summoned his blade.
"Very well then. Try...and survive THIS!" he yelled. He suddenly came crashing down and drove his blade into the ground. Darkness started to radiate across the dead field as strange black veins were seen pulsing.
"Whoa! Sora! What's...What's happening?" Lloyd asked.
"Depths of the great abyss, ruler of eternal despair...hear my cry now and open your powers to me so I may resurrect from the great beyond...souls come forth from the gates of HELL!" the knight roared. After the knight made his chant, the others saw arms starting to raise up from the ground. And behind them, sinister figures started to sprout.
"Sora! LOOK!" Donald squawked. Sora couldn't believe his eyes. Almost as if they were re-animated from the dead, Sora was seeing every villain, every Heartless or Nobody he's ever defeated. The likes of the fallen Unversed also rose from the ground.
"No. This...This isn't possible. He summoned back THAT many souls from the dark?" Aqua asked. The villanous group consisted of Jafar, Ursula, Sa'luk, Maleficent, the fallen Legion of Chaos, Scar, Clayton and his Heartless, Mad Treant, Symphony Master, Cursed Coach, Trinity Armor, Guard Armor, the remains of Organization XIII and just about every other villain Sora has fought and defeated came rising up.
"Now my army of the dark...KILL HIM!" the knight bellowed. All those the knight summoned gave out maniacal laughs as their eyes glowed yellow and prepared to attack. But nearby, watching on a cliffside of the volcano, was the likes of the Lingering Sentiment.
TO BE CONTINUED...