Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is the property of the Walt Disney Company and Square Enix Holdings, Co. Ltd.
A/N: Alright, so as many of you figured out, this story went on an unplanned hiatus. You knew as much about it as I did, though, so I guess all I can really offer is...sorry. I just couldn't get into the right mood for whatever reason. Plus through in the fact that I've moved to Australia for a bit, and you get that my life has been really screwy recently. But anyway, no one cares about that. What I'm sure you all care about is this story! So. This is the real ending starting here. Everything up until now has led up to this. But there's not a whole lot I can tell you without ruining the plot, so jump on in, and I hope to see you on the other side! Although, one thing I want to add was that I've been working on this chapter in fits and starts for five or so months, so it may seem a bit disjointed. I will fix that later. XD Good luck!
Part XXXVI: The Battle Begins
My eyes start to adjust to the change in light. None of the lights in this room are still on, but there is a bright opening right in front of us. The light is a sort of gray but it almost doesn't seem like there's anything out there. It's just empty.
"Ready for this?" Sora steps up beside me, but doesn't turn to me. I focus on the opening in front of us.
"Let's do this." I take the first step forward and into the gray.
Instead of just walking into a new room, we get transported to this huge space. It's all gray around us, with these big swirls of black around the outsides. Everything in here is moving in this…chaotic pattern…the only thing even a little orderly is the path in front of us. It goes on and on. It's almost perfectly straight except for the small bends toward the end. I try to find something anywhere around us, but there really isn't anything. I turn to the others. We all look at each other and nod before turning forward. This is it, we're here, after everything we've been through. It's going to be over soon. I follow right behind Sora as he starts down the path.
Every so often there are these black wisps that almost jump out at us before blending back into the background. We don't even see any Heartless or Nobodies, which is different, even in the Gardens we saw a few. All of us keep looking around as we walk, just in case.
After about five minutes of walking in this nothingness, the path widens a lot. It spans as far as I can see in either direction. We stop for a second before looking to each other and giving a nod. We keep going, but a little further, there's something strange that starts to happen. There are these buildings and stones rising up out of the path, but they're all falling apart. They look like Greek ruins. The columns and white stone, the triangular roofs, and the carvings. They must have looked spectacular, but now they're crumbling. Some stones have fallen off, there are huge cracks in each of them. What look like brown, dead vines snake across the surfaces. Little flecks of black are floating off of each one, almost like ashes. Wow...look at it all...it's all breaking down...falling into chaos. It's almost like everything here is dying, having the life drained from it.
We keep going. The ruins are getting more dense, and bigger. The further we go, the worse they look too. It used to be columns were just missing pieces or had cracks. Now, there are those circular pieces used to make columns and they're all cracked too. The further we go, the more dead everything looks. Vines that are wrapped around pieces of stone are brown and falling apart. The little black flecks are coming off everything now, even the pathway. I look deeper into the gray, but there's nothing, so I keep walking along with the others.
Only a few more seconds pass before things start to change. The path widens, but has started to crumble. There are cracks in it and chunks missing. A few more steps and the path gets even wider, and it points us to something different. It's a whole building...there are cracks and vines, but it looks like it's almost all there. We all look to each other before continuing inside. We pass under the large overhang and into the building.
It's enormous, bigger than all of the other artifact chambers. It's almost perfectly intact…everything about it looks new. There's not a single crack or misplaced stone. We spread out and start searching this enormous space. In the center there is this little altar with two candlesticks and an empty pedestal sitting between. The candlesticks are gold and each has a white candle with a flickering flame. What's weird is that the candles don't even look burned. There's no wax along the sides and the flames sit perfectly on top. Sora walks up the steps and toward the candlesticks. He takes his hand and runs it along the pedestal between. He tilts his head before looking over at me.
"Hey Tobi, I think you should come look at this…" I go up to the altar next to him. He points to a small plaque that looks like it's made from gold. In it are carved small little letters that look very Greek, but not the kind that I know. They look even older, like there are some things that seem the same, but I can tell they aren't.
"Sora, I can't read this. It's not something I know." I shake my head, but he doesn't seem disappointed.
"Watch," he slides his hand just above the plate and…all of the carvings begin to flip as if he just turned a page. Each one of them becomes a letter, like a letter that I can read, and then the words start appearing…in English. "See?"
In Light, All Was Born
In Darkness, All Has Fallen
In Chaos, All Will Rise Again
I mumble the words as I read. Is this what Maleficent was talking about? The world being "reborn" through the chaos…
"What does that mean?" Ven comes up behind us.
"It means, Ventus, that once the Chaos on the other side is released, the Worlds, this and all others, will be recreated anew." I spin around at the sound of that voice, Xehanort's voice. Terra and Aqua already have their Keyblades out. He's standing in the doorway. "Everything you have thus far accomplished has worked toward this; the bringing about of the end of the world. The people of this world have long known of its coming."
"Ragnarok…" The name slips from my mouth as I stare at the ground.
"Yes…ragnarok, the day of destruction from which the world will rise again. But not just this world, but all worlds. The day when all shall die."
"Why would you do that? All of these people will die!" Aqua raises her Keyblade closer to her face.
"To bring Darkness and Light into balance." He starts walking nearer her. His hands clasped behind his back. "You see, after my other attempts to do so ended in failure, often at your hands, I looked elsewhere to achieve this true and noble goal. I sought Chaos, and her life-giving power." She steps back every time he steps.
"You mean the destructive power! You would kill all of those innocent people, destroy all of those worlds, just to have balance?!" I look up from the ground and nearly spit at the man who himself should have been dead. My Key appears in my hand. "People are not yours to use!" He starts to snicker.
"You know so little about how the world works. You believe that the world exists to serve humanity, and that its movements are for your benefit. The world does not serve you," His snickering ends, "You serve the world. Ever since your birth, you were meant to see that the world survived, flourished. You were designed for the world, not the world for you."
"No, you're the one who's wrong, old man. We are part of the worlds, we live together. Without one the other dies. And when will you learn that you can't ruin other lives just for what you want?!" Van is the only one of us walking toward him. Xehanort sighs.
"I see there is no point in appealing to reason." He slams his elbow out toward Van, but Van slides out the way. The rest of the Keyblades appear, including Xehanort's. Aqua, Terra and Van are the first one in at him, which keeps the rest of us much further away. Sora and I watch helplessly from the altar. I search for any way to help. Xehanort's surrounded, but still keeping them off. I have to do something. That's it. I throw my Key into the air and jump on as it comes back.
"Sora! Hop on!" As soon as he does, I kick the glider into a rise so that we can get above him.
"What are we going to do?" I look back at Sora. I slow us down nearby them.
"There!" Sora gets the idea and lobs balls of fire down at the man. With a flash of black, he's gone. The fire vanishes.
"Tobi! Look out!" I turn to see what Roxas is talking about.
"Whoa!" I skirt the glider's tail out of the way. A huge ball of energy flies past Sora and me. "Are you okay?" The ceiling rumbles as the energy ball crashes into it.
"Good." Sora stays behind me. Every time I see Xehanort, he's in a different place. He's almost everywhere at once. We have to stop him!
"Hold on." I sweep the glider closer to the altar. I'm hoping to predict… "Wagh," Suddenly the world tips on its side. My body hits the stone before I know what happens. I try to lift myself up, but I can't. There's the clang as my Key lands on the ground again. I feel a pair of arms under mine.
"Tobi, get up." I look to see my brother. I blink a lot. Then I try standing. I make it back up. "You alright?" I nod. We grab our Keys and head back into the battle. The others are keeping him pinned. He can't seem to move too much. We surround him with the others. Really quickly I feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up. My eyes widen.
"Look out!" A burst of lightning shoots out from Xehanort's Keyblade. I hear Van cry out. I can't help him now. He's still on the ground.
"Van!" I hear Ven's voice, but I don't look. Instead I rush in toward Xehanort and try to slash through him. The middle of his Keyblade smashes me back away. My head hits the wall. Between blinks I see Ven charge at Xehanort. It caught the old man by surprise! He makes this grunting sound as Ven's Keyblade hits. His body tumbles away to the side, and then doesn't move.
Was that it? After all that, does it end with just a sentence? Ooh, that'd be mean of me as a writer, wouldn't it? Well, please review it and let me know what you thought! Thanks!