Ven quickly ushered Torak, Cassandra, and Enoch into the passageway and said, "We'll take it from here."
The three of them tried to protest, but Ven used Aero to firmly blow them back into the cavern. Curiously enough, the sound of the wind chimed through the carefully molded caves, sounding like an unseen chorus that sang songs of defeat and loss. Sorrowful and bitter, but they sounds sang of a strength and hope. Maybe it was this, more than anything, that convinced the patriotic summoners to run. They took it as a sign from the Feymarch, and perhaps it was, that they had lost, and they turned bitterly and ran.
Unbidden, Ven thought of his Station of Awakening, where all noise was muted and even Ven's breath couldn't be heard. Even in his fight against Vanitas, the clash of metal against metal, Vanitas' insane chuckle, the hissing of fire that came from Vanitas' incomplete X-blade (heart), all of it was deadened and sounded far away. An illusion that was quickly shattered by Vanitas charging at him.
The soft moan of the Feymarch reminded Ven of that silence. It was quiet, yet entrancing its surroundings into silence. That, along with the myriad of twinkling crystals led to a hypnotic effect that distracted Ven for a few seconds as he stared at the backs of the Mistborn.
Meanwhile, Sora, Ven and Aqua were staring at the newcomer. Alethia dashed over at him, but he suddenly appeared behind him and lashed out with his foot. Like his arm, it grew into a black claw that Avomis barely dodged.
"Who are you?" Arcostan yelled as he rushed towards the man in the cloak. The maniac met every thrust and swipe dealt by the quarterstaff, ghostly limbs shooting out from all four of his real limbs. He flipped around, and his hood was let down to reveal silver-grey hair, brown skin, and maniacal eyes that outshone every single one of his physical features. "Who am I!? Explaining myself to you monomials would take time on the exponential scale! An NP problem! Intractable! Unverifiable! Unsolvable! Contradiction!"
The four Remnants quickly ran to his side to back him up. He might be strong, but the four Remnants had defeated Mr. H. With Corruption on the Grandmasters' side, anything was possible.
"And what do you remainders think you're doing!?" He asked, glaring at the Remnants with a glance that sent them flinching backwards a step, "Remainders become insignificant as x approaches infinity, and I'll transcend every superreal number, so just go back into your safe and orderly field of natural numbers!"
Ignoring his gibberish, Terra said, "With all due respect, we defeated the Producer, and-"
He was interrupted by the maniac again. "Ha! You remainders still don't get it! Beating the producer would be like memorizing pi to the thousandth digit! It's only possible for something like me! The idiot went easy on you, because he was scared of getting noticed by the big bad Divine Beings!" He snorted as the Remnants looked at him in shock.
"You are but a being on the Feymarch!" Avomis yelled, "Why do you not bend to our will?"
"HA!" the maniac yelled, "Why does does an Abelian Group fulfill the properties of associativity, commutativity, neutrality and invertibility!? Why does Peano's fifth axiom of succession hold!? You might as well ask why two points define a line! I AM SHO MINAMOTO!"
He flickered and waved his hand. Suddenly black animals were swarming all around the Grandmasters. Kangaroos jumped from the air, almost crushing Alethia, while huge rhinos made Arcostan step back, his quarterstaff beating their horns away. Agatha dashed between a horde of frogs trying to jump onto her, running to meet the maniac.
Minamoto's grin grew even wider, if that was possible, and jumped up to meet Agatha. Corruption chuckled, and Agatha suddenly dashed to Minamoto's side, clearing the way for Alethia to come charging in with her whole body flowing with Corruption. If any of them had any doubts of breaking free of Corruption's grasp, they didn't show it. They were slaves to Corruption's whim, and they showed no remorse of that fact.
Minamoto's black claw still shot out, but Arcostan had shaken off the rhinos and intercepted his strike. Terra quickly ran at Alethia, yelling, "Sols Arcanum", while Ven ran to meet Agatha's strikes. He glowed golden while Aqua cast Haste on him, and his arms were a blur as Wayward Wind whirled back at Agatha's lance. Ven was faster by far, but Agatha had a longer reach, and Ven even lost the advantage of speed when Agatha growled, "Spellblade: Haste."
Terra hacked at Alethia, and he drew on the power of the crystals and stones around him to strengthen his Keyblade. That was stone for you, strong and steady, and always there to lend strength. That was what he wanted to be to Aqua. He just wanted to be there for the rest of their lives. He wanted to be with her and lend her strength when she needed it, and draw strength from her when the same applied to him.
The cave rumbled, and at first they thought it was just from Terra and Alethia, but the rumbling quickly continued. The two of them stayed locked together as they fell to the ground, but even after they pulled apart, the rumbling continued.
Suddenly, the four Grandmasters jumped back, and let his Keyblade rest to one side, asking "Did Corruption get scared off?"
Sho jumped down and half-shoved the Remnants down the other exit of the cave with his black claw. "You idiotic picometers! Can't you sense the Light coming down on us as quick as exponential functions with a base greater than 1 grows? Let's get out of here before that function reaches infinity!"
Sho tried to herd the Remnants down an exit, but it was too late, and a shower of Light burst from the openings of the caves that the Mistborn had closed. Rock rained down as templars, dragoons and Lightsworn rained down from the openings, all of them glowing with Light that reflected off the crystals and flinging a glowing halo over the whole cave. Remnants and Grandmasters alike twisted in confusion as they dodged blasts of Light from the templars and the dragoons plunging downwards, creating huge craters in the rocks where they fell.
Most of them headed for Minamoto, who cackled wildly and erupted into a huge lion and started flinging his four limbs in all directions, summoning black creatures and yelling out mathematical gibberish as he did so. He soon got enveloped in a web of Light as templars and dragoons worked together to try and take him down. The Remnants were astounded at the sheer number the templars. More and more seemed to be streaming out, and they worked in perfect tandem. Even though they streamed out quickly, they flowed in a certain order. Even while he was slaughtering, Light still stuck true to his ways.
Ven leapt and stayed airborn, flying out of the way of oncoming attacks. Terra stood near Aqua, sheltering behind a reflega spell she cast. Sora ducked and weaved beneath the blasts, but one nicked him in the leg, causing him to falter, and left him open for a Lightsworn to come plunging down on his unprotected torso.
Ven desperately threw his Keyblade, to try and ward off the blow, but a templar blocked it with his sword and charged towards Ven. As they rushed forward, Ven saw their eyes glow with Light, and knew that they had been possessed, or at least heavily influenced, by Light, which already had a strong hold on their thoughts to begin with. No wonder they could work in such perfect unison.
In the moment it took for Ven to take all that in, the Lightsworn above Sora had almost descended, and would have stabbed holes in Sora had he not been blown back by a tongue of grey fire.
Terra and Aqua gaped as Astelik and Aelothum waded through the sea of Light that was strung out like a spiderweb between each templar and dragoon, Astelik's white fire being carried in waves and pulses by Aelothum's wind magic. The templars and dragoons were temporarily pushed back as anything in a small radius was incinerated. By now, the smell of melting metal had pervaded and defiled the previously tranquil cavern, and solidified silver now made new stalagmites that joined the ones the summoners had made.
"Why-" Sora started to shout, but he had to jump out of the way of another Lightsworn that had jumped down to engage him. He looked and saw Astelik's longsword trailing blazing fire, cutting down anything that got in his way.
"Corruption!" he yelled, "Relinquish control of Alethia and Agatha and have your vessels listen to me. If we are to emerge out of Light's trap alive, we must work to the best of all our abilities, something I can do far better than you can."
There was a slight pause, but then it was suddenly broken by Minamoto materializing out of nowhere and lashing out a hand at Sora, pulling him against a wall. His voice was deeper and harsher, and Sora saw cracks in his black skeleton that flickered and shivered like a frozen image on a screen.
"What's happening?" Terra asked, his arms and legs showing small cracks, making his way to Sho and Sora.
"Can't you tell, constant remainders?" Sho barked, "Corruption tried to control the templars and dragoons, but it was like trying to find the inverse of a non-injective function. The Light in all their Hearts made them turn on that idiot, Corruption."
They looked behind and saw Astelik coordinating the other Grandmasters present. When Corruption controlled them they moved in perfect unison, but when Astelik controlled them they moved fluidly but always with a purpose, and always with a reason. Under their former leader's command they looked like a living body instead of a stiff rock, and made the templars and dragoons look crude and bulky. Ven saw the six Grandmasters quickly fight their way to an exit and disappear around a corner, but didn't see anything else as he felt Minamoto claw shove him and the others down a passage.
Terra and Sora stumbled from the force of Sho's shove, and would have fallen if Aqua and Ven hadn't quickly dragged them to their feet. Sho kept on shoving them through the caverns, and there were a few times when Aqua had to cast a quick Reflega so that the other Remnants who weren't as fast on their feet, Terra and Sora, didn't crash into the crystals that had been carefully shaped by the earth and by the power of the Feymarch for centuries. Ven used wind magic to buffet himself away from the walls, never straying too far from Sho's forceful claw.
They were all nearly pushed into the cave walls at blinding speed on multiple occasions, but if Sho hadn't been there to push them through, they would have gotten lost among the myriad crystals and wandered around until the Lightsworn found them. None of them stopped to wonder how Sho knew his ways around the caverns, they were too busy avoiding getting their armour brutally scraped off by Sho's arm that was forcing them through the tunnels at speeds normally only attainable through their Riders.
After a short time, they all stumbled out hectically into the bright light and looked around. That was a mistake, and all four of them fell to the ground and rolled another few metres. They felt themselves being picked up again and heard Sho yell, "What do you one-dimensional rays think you're doing? Why haven't you disappeared and travelled an infinite distance?"
"We could hardly flee without knowing those blessed by the Producer had made it to safety." Enoch said, standing in the shadow of a rocky ridgeline, flanked by Torak and Cassandra.
"You one-dimensional beings can't even comprehend the complexity of the third dimension!" Sho yelled, "Euler's polyhedron formula includes lines as a part of itself! You insignificant units should just lie down and let us multi-dimensional objects take the lead!"
As he finished another one of his rants, he jumped up and started flying over the range of mountains. The Remnants quickly summoned their Riders to follow, but held out a hand to help the three Mistborn.
Enoch smiled and said, "We may not match the speed of a being from the Feymarch, but we can still soar like the beings we summon." As he spoke, the three of them rose into the air, carried by the wind and soared away.
The four Remnants followed, and they soon proceeded to fly over the mountains, and then onto another desert. They bowed their heads with regret and sorrow as they saw the ruins of what had been Damcyan. Flying for some more minutes, they reached the sea and flew on even further.
Sora looked back and saw, or sensed, Light in the distance, and the few dots of Corruption in between that were the Grandmasters. Light flowed through the caverns, purging out everything in those intricately shaped passageways. Soon Lightsworn started trailing out of the cavern, and sped towards the group.
Torak clenched his fist, and Cassandra looked as if she would fly back with him. Aqua was prepared to restrain them, but just then the whole sea below them seemed to shift.
"What's going on?" Ven asked Sho, who was standing there with his hands in his pockets
"Time to open your eyes, monomials." He grinned, using his pet name for them. "Time to expand your world and come into my dimension."
The rumbling grew, and suddenly huge geysers of water soared out of the air, causing brilliant rainbows to materialize from the sea. Eight columns of water rose in a huge circle around the group, and gathered hundreds of metre above the group, where it flowed down again, forming a sphere around the group. Small droplets of water splashed against their armour and ran off the smooth surface, falling in a light sprinkle into the sphere that encased them.
The rumbling continued and grew in volume, more and more water being drained out of the sea. When the sphere flowed thickly and quickly with blinding water, the four Remnants and the three Mistborn felt themselves being pushed down. It was gradual at first, but soon they felt as if they were under a waterfall, and they quickly fell into the sea.
They fell deeper and deeper, quickly losing light, and before long, none of them could see anything. They felt as if they were floating, and maybe they were, but the Mistborn seemed able to breath. There was a rushing kind of sound that they detected, even surrounded by all the water, but the pressure grew even greater until even the Mistborn were struggling. It grew worse and worse until the Mistborn passed out, and amazingly, the Remnants started to follow. Despite having hard steel bodies that apparently couldn't feel, couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't taste, couldn't smell, their vision started to blur until they all blacked out.
Sora sometimes really hated the voices in his head. He hadn't before he'd spent a millenium in the Keyblade Graveyard, but being plagued by all his regrets and doubts tended to result in antipathy to voices. Roxas was an exception, because he knew who Roxas was, but when a huge stern voice boomed through his head, it was understandable that Sora get a little antsy.
"Are you worthy of my aid, Remnant?"
Sora opened his eyes, and floated to his feet, as was the norm in the Station of Awakening. It was the first time he had been here since their dramatic exit from the Keyblade Graveyard, and it was different. Or rather, it was the same as it had been a millenium ago. When he had fought, it was scratched and worn, with dimmed and vague images. Now it was clear and luminescent, exactly as it had been the night he and Roxas had fought.
It would have been nostalgic to look at Riku and Kairi's faces shining up at him, had a huge dragon not been blocking his view. It was silvery and huge, it's body encircling the podium of Sora's Station of Awakening twice.
"Or perhaps it will be your companions who shall prove themselves worthy."
He really hated this voice in his head. The huge dragon curled its way to the other podiums where Terra, Aqua and Ven were waking up. They quickly drew their Keyblades and readied themselves. Out from the void that was lit with the eerie glow that perpetuated their Station of Awakening, water started to rise and swirl in a vortex around all four of their podiums.
"Who shall prove themselves to me? Show me your strength."
Sora gritted his teeth and prepared to jump across to help the others when a hand restrained him. "Don't. This isn't the Keyblade Graveyard. We can't jump from one Heart to another like we used to, unless we initiate a dive."
Sora started and whirled around to face Roxas, whose face was grim and serious. His blue eyes were darkening, like the sky did at the coming of a storm, and he continued, "We'll have to fight him." It was when Sora saw Roxas as a human that he realized that he had a body as well, or at least the apparition of a body. He remained as young as he had when he had been defeating Organization XIII, still ignorant of Terra, Aqua, and Ven, and the sacrifices that had been made more than a decade ago.
"What?" Sora asked incredulously, "We should all be able to fight him, if we're all seeking his aid."
"Leviathan makes his own rules, and we follow them. It doesn't look like he's in a negotiable mood." Roxas said, "Two people are better than one, and he won't be expecting me. Challenge him."
Roxas finished talking, then faded away. Or rather, he sank into Sora's Heart, waiting for his chance to emerge. Sora whirled around, and looked at the mass of water swirling chaotically, encroaching on their glass podiums like the waves slowly grinding away at a cliff. He really didn't like doing things without his friends, it made him feel naked and incomplete.
Still, it didn't seem like he had much choice. Gritting his teeth, Sora yelled, "Leviathan! I accept your challenge!"
The water stilled, and Leviathan broke through the water, rushing towards Sora. He quickly jumped out of the way, quickly shielding himself from the torrent of water that surrounded him. It was frustrating, not being able to fight alongside his friends. Why was Leviathan singling them out. Did he want them to lose? Was he going to ignore the Divine Beings as they wreaked havoc upon the worlds?
Sora yelled and flew towards Leviathan's huge form, whose head was hovering above the edge of Sora's Station of Awakening. Water started shooting towards him, but Sora yelled, "Sonic Blade!", and dashed underneath or around all of them. He jumped up and his Keyblade met Leviathan's tail that had risen to block Sora's strike. Instead of falling back down, Sora used Flowmotion and spun around Leviathan's tail, scraping off scales as he went along. The scales gave with a satisfying scrape, and Sora felt like he was relieving himself of the stress of what was happening to Kairi, to Riku despite being in Raphael, to the rest of his friends and comrades.
He hated not knowing what was happening to them, he hated that they were forced to separate, he hated that he didn't know what to do, that he was letting down his comrades by his ignorance. He opened his mouth and yelled out in defiance as he travelled along Leviathan's huge body, trailing purple streams of Light as he did so. His mouth was wide open, and he felt his skin straining against teeth he hadn't had for centuries. What better use for a mouth than screaming and yelling?
Leviathan roared in fury and shrank his body until it was seven metres long. It was less impressive, but Sora didn't think about appearances as Leviathan, now far faster than before, rushed towards him with a jaw wide open. Sora jumped up and tried slashing at Leviathan as he passed, but the Eidolon wriggled out of the way and blasted Sora back with jets of water that came in all directions. In as many directions as Sora's companions had separated into. He shook himself out of his bitter reverie and muttered, "Roxas, where are you?"
Speaking into his mind, Roxas said, "I only have one chance for a surprise attack. I have to make it count. Get Leviathan off balance."
Sora grunted as one hand was almost taken off by Leviathan's teeth. He jumped, and fired off a Ragnarok, but Leviathan easily dodged between the bolts of energy. Leviathan was always moving, never staying still in one place for Sora to strike at. Just like their problems. They were never constant, never still. Their source always moved, and there was no defined way to defeat them. And it seemed Sora would have as much luck striking Leviathan as he would defeating the Divine Beings single-handedly.
Sora shook himself slightly. Why was he feeling so negative, he was supposed to be the positive one, the one who made everyone feel better. He jumped to the side to avoid the waterfall that would have crushed his pristine suit of armour beneath water that shone as it twirled chaotically. Angrily, he swung out at Leviathan's head that trailed dangerously on the ground, yelling, "Ars Arcanum!"
He knew the moment he swung that he had made a mistake. As he swung, he couldn't switch directions as quickly as Leviathan could. The Eidolon simply dashed to the side, and darted to strike at Sora's exposed back. Sora twisted, but was suddenly sent flying by Roxas being flung into him.
"Trickery, I see." Leviathan said, "Small wonder you wished to take up my challenge."
Leviathan rumbled, and doubled in length and thickness, swimming faster and faster, and conjuring up a whirlwind of water like he had done before. All of a sudden, he materialized behind them and almost impaled both of them before retreating back to the vortex of water that surrounded him. Sora and Roxas stood back to back as jets of water started flying at them from all directions. Roxas and Sora both parried the streams of water, ducking and weaving, but always moving back next to each other to cover each others' blind spots. They couldn't communicate telepathically without distracting each other, but they somehow knew what each the other would do. Nothing their partner did was a surprise.
Suddenly, Sora tensed his legs, and they both jumped up. Sora nodded and gave his power to Roxas, who surged with Light and sent thirteen ghostly pillars soaring out to dispel the water that was rushing towards them. The two of them earned a short respite as Leviathan reared his head angrily, only to roar in pain as a third figure descended from above and cut through Leviathan's head.
Despite their bewilderment, Sora and Roxas didn't waste any time, and they both dashed towards Leviathan. The huge Eidolon reared up and grew to its initial gigantic size, trying to shake off the third attacker. This only gave Roxas and Sora a bigger target, and they didn't hesitate to take advantage. Sora fired off a barrage of lasers while Roxas fired off a barrage of Holy spells. The projectiles soared towards Leviathan's huge eye, and even though only a few of them hit the mark, all of them made Leviathan rear up and lash around, thumping the glass podium with such a resounding crash Sora was amazed the glass podium didn't shake.
Quickly following up, Sora and Roxas went up close, slashing and striking out with their Keyblades, trailing Light as their Keyblades glowed iridescently with power. Leviathan used water to blast them all away with a literal wave of sheer force, but their third accomplice used a Reflect spell to shield them and they continued to attack.
Leviathan quickly shrunk his body down and tried to swim downwards, but their third accomplice casted Slow on him, and it allowed Roxas and Sora to cut him as they flew down. Leviathan's tail thumped down, trying to attack Roxas, but he was slow and wounded, and Roxas dodged it while Sora used flowmotion again to speed up Leviathan's body, dragging his Keyblade that now dug into flesh and trailed Light speckled with blood.
The three of them worked together flawlessly, attacking from all sides, Sora dealing physical blows, Roxas striking from afar, and their third teammate switching out between physical attacks and magic. There wasn't a single miscommunication between them, and there wasn't a single thing Leviathan could do when it was confused, off-balanced, and it fell. Nothing spectacular, no big and final coordinated attack, just an aerial strike from Sora, and Leviathan retreated into the sky.
"Very well, Remnants. You have earned my aid, though you used trickery to obtain it. The Eidolons stand behind you."
It was only when Sora and Roxas breathed a sigh of relief and dismissed their Keyblade that they saw Xion smiling at them, wearing her usual Organization XIII cloak. Roxas and Sora both stared at her, not knowing what to say. Sora started forward, but then stopped. He looked over at where Roxas was, only to find that he had vanished.
"He's just confused." Xion said smiling lightly, "Don't mind him."
Sora still stared at Xion, then asked, "How are you here? Shouldn't you be-" He broke off, not wanting to be insensitive.
"Shouldn't Roxas be dead if I am?" Xion asked, "Roxas used to be inside you, but he got his own body a long time ago. So why did you think he should have been inside your Heart?"
Sora frowned, and said, "Okay, why?"
"I can't say for certain. I only became aware of myself recently. Like I was dormant inside you and it took Leviathan to shake me awake. I was conscious, but it's like I was dreaming, I'm forgetting some of the things you and Roxas have done."
"So why do you think you're here?" Sora asked. Xion shrugged. "Why I'm here isn't important. What's important is your Heart." She placed a hand on Sora's chest and continued, "You're not alright, no matter what you hide behind that golden helmet of yours. You can't hide it from Kairi, and you can't hide it from me either. What's wrong?"
Sora shrugged. "I just feel down not being next to, next to everyone else." He looked away from Xion's wide eyes, that twinkled with sad amusement.
"When you said everyone else, was that a euphemism for a certain K-word?" Xion's eyes glinted mischievously as Sora felt himself blush. He hadn't felt himself blush in ages.
"Well, I guess." He said, "But it's nothing serious. I mean, this is war, right? We can't expect to have everything be perfect. We'll get back together once this is all over."
Xion nodded. "Okay, then. Just remember what you told to Roxas. There are always people willing to listen to you." She opened her mouth, seemed to hesitate, then continued. "You also seem confused. Has anything else happened?"
"It's just so confusing." Sora said, "Before, then it was clear who was bad and who was good, Light against Darkness. But now, even the Grandmasters are human, and one even saved me. It's just not as clear as it was."
Xion nodded. "I remember that. It happened recently, didn't it. Don't take it personally. The man was sending fire everywhere, it was just luck that he saved you."
Sora nodded slowly. "I guess. It's just a lot harder to fight enemies who saved your life, even if they didn't mean it. And I heard them talking earlier, and it was like they were human. They had lives and feelings and I'd be ending them."
Xion sighed, "I know what you're feeling. You're learning that the world isn't in black and white and that's hard. Just know that you have to be strong and stay true to who you are, no matter what you're going through."
Sora nodded and smiled wanly. "It's just confusing, that's all. Sorry if I made you feel down or something."
Xion tilted her head and smiled in return. It's understandable to be confused, but don't let your confusion turn to anger. Anger's dangerous if it's not let out. If you hold it in, it'll just fester and eat you out. Don't let the Darkness take you."
Sora shrugged again, then threw on his signature cheesy grin that was impossible to normally put on due to the absence of a face. "Don't worry about me. Who do you think you're talking to?"
The smile felt as fake as his words, and Xion seemed to know it. But she didn't comment on that, instead saying, "You should wake up now. Terra and the rest have, and they'll be wondering what's happening to you."
Sora nodded slowly. "Will you and Roxas talk?"
"Of course we will," Xion said, "As I said, "He's confused, and doesn't deal with emotions that well."
Sora nodded and said, "Thanks. I-" He wanted to say that he was glad to see her and that he was sorry he didn't know everything. Maybe add in the fact that he didn't know what to do. And what? Maybe she'd automatically have a solution and help him solve everything. He knew better than that. He didn't need to burden anyone with his doubts, despite what she just said.
With that thought in mind, he let his consciousness fly to the surface, where the rest were waiting for him. Could they be considered friends if he didn't tell them he was feeling down? If he didn't open up to them? Sora shook his head. It was only with friends that he could do this, only with friends that he felt the need to be strong. Friends made him stronger, they did, but that could relax and not bear the burden.
Friends made him stronger, and gave him the need to be strong as well. That was just what friends were.
A/N: So, that's that. Hope you enjoyed it. There is an explanation for Xion's return, it will be explained later. But Xion doesn't know everything, and neither does Sora. Plus, they had more important things to talk about.
It was fun and difficult to write Minamoto's lines. I don't know if it seemed forced or what, but, oh well. It was just a little gimmick in the whole story.
'till next time.