Disclaimer: I in no way own Kingdom Hearts or The Black Hole. Don't sue; I'm simply an E6 (frocked at that) in the USN, therefore I have no money. Ha.
A/N: Each chapter is written from a different POV. The identity of the 'speaker' is located with the chapter's name. Just trying to avoid confusion here. :) For review replies, please see the bottom of the chapter. And that, as they say, is that.
-BEGIN FIC-
Chapter
49
The
Keyblade Master – Plunge
I stood at the back of the bridge near the elevator, my hand still gripping Ultima Weapon tightly as I glowered at Dr. Reinhardt's back. Before us, a great ebon abyss in a sea of softly lit space, the black hole loomed menacingly. Light whirled carelessly along its edges, racing with certainty into its all-encompassing center.
As the ship rumbled, my view out of the front window of the vessel I was standing on becoming more and more focused on that deadly rift in space's black middle, I felt my legs shake violently. My hand tightened its grip on the Keyblade. I felt my knuckles go white.
Donald and Goofy would wait for me. I doubted highly that they'd believe Hans Reinhardt's proclamation that I'd chosen to remain aboard the Cygnus. If nothing else, Donald would be marching his fool way to the bridge to lecture me to death.
I sincerely hoped that he would remain seated onboard the gummi and grouse for at least a little while longer, though.
I had to escape before my comrades could reach me - if they entered the madhouse the bridge of the Cygnus had so suddenly become, they'd be trapped as firmly as myself, the lives of our newest friends used as our prison's secure bars to hold us in place.
Taking a deep breath, I took a step forward. The whirring of a sentry robot beside me put me at an instantaneous halt.
"Take no further steps, Sora. I wouldn't want to think you hold hostile intentions towards me," Dr. Reinhardt's chilling voice oozed to me.
"If I put down Ultima Weapon, can I approach?" I narrowed my eyes, hoping beyond hope that he'd agree to my terms.
I wanted to talk sense to the man - if nothing else, enough sense that he would release myself and Kate. As things were going, we were both going to be victims to his madness.
A sneer curled his lips as he turned to face me, his dark eyes glimmering in the flickering lights that glowed about the bridge from different instrumentation panels scattered about the enormous room. "Come now. That weapon appears in your hand when you call it - you so truly think I would put myself at risk by allowing you to approach?"
Damn it.
Gritting my teeth tightly, I glowered at the floor. The man was more intelligent than so many others I'd encountered in the past - he wasn't one to take any risks at all. No risks other than barreling into the center of a black hole, an adventure he'd calculated for years on end, at least.
"Fine. But why won't you have me escorted back? And Ms. Kate as well?" Lifting my gaze, I stared hopefully at him. Even if I couldn't speak sense into him at a reasonable distance, I was certain I had enough force in my lungs to project my objections to our eminent death all the way across the bridge. "What are you hoping to do by keeping us here?"
His sneering lips twisted, the expression on his face deepening and darkening considerably as he clenched his gnarled hands atop his control console that lay about his high-backed leather chair. "What do I hope? I hope to keep Ms. Kate from any efforts to ruin my journey. Her unfortunate discoveries and her quickly deduced hypotheses about my actions regarding my crew make her a danger not only to my person, but to everything aboard the Cygnus. I will not have her interfere with all I have dedicated my life towards. She will not ruin my life's work. She will not stop this most important of man's journeys."
"And me...?"
"You, dear boy, would assist her in stopping me," he reasonably decided with a chuckle.
Well, he was completely right. A scowl turned my lips and glistened in my eyes before I looked away from the wily doctor.
As the robots at my back and my sides whirred with artificial impatience while awaiting a simple movement from me to justify their lust for attack, I watched as that black hole loomed.
My teeth ground audibly as Dr. Reinhardt turned his head slowly even as his giant Maximilian descended from its place. As the bronzed horror approached, its red-stained blades held firmly at its side, its master lifted his glistening dark eyes to its red vision-permitting slit. "The time has come to liquidate our guests," he said softly.
"You bastard!" I snapped.
Leaping from my place by the door, Ultima Weapon leading the way, I crashed solidly into one of the sentry robots with its laser-toting arms that was beside me. It and I firmly collided with the ground.
It was then that I discovered that robots don't give nearly as easily as Heartless under the might of the Keyblade.
I vaguely heard Hans Reinhardt's voice order his humanoid crew to fire the Cygnus' thrusters as I finally managed to roll underneath the robot I'd attack and kick it away with every ounce of strength I'd built fighting Riku over the years.
By the time I stood back up, the robots were ready. One grabbed my right arm, another my left. The one I'd kicked off twitched uselessly, sparks flying from its helmet.
As I hung impotently between my captors, I growled low in my throat. "You-"
"Calm yourself, Sora," Dr. Reinhardt said softly, his eyes narrowed cooly, wintery frost all but washing over me in his gaze. "You dance along a dangerous apex, young man. A step to the left, a step to the right, a step forwards or back may have repercussions you are in no way capable of handling."
"What, your robots jumping me again? Dying? Big deal," I huffed haughtily. "I don't care about me! Just let everyone else go, you lying jerk! No one here means you any harm. Just because they don't want to see you drag yourself and everything onboard this ship into death's door doesn't make them something you can outright kill!"
He arched one fuzzy eyebrow at me, his wrinkled face twisting in disdain. "And so you still take those steps. You fling yourself from your summit and down through the point of no return. Sora, your rash actions will be your downfall."
Maxmilian's loud humming and turn towards a set of monitors on Dr. Reinhardt's control console cut off my snappy reply. The man turned his focus away from me and instead onto the focus of his demonic creation's attention.
As his brow furrowed harshly, he snorted. "Tell the sentry robots to fire on any humanoids between medical and the Palomino."
"What the heck!" I bit. "Now you're killing off the remains of your crew? What about all that kindness and compassion you tried to convince us you have? You're no better than the damned Heartless!"
Turning slowly towards me, his back facing the huge black hole beyond the front window of the Cygnus' bridge, he glowered at me. "Silence, child. This is no concern of yours."
The ship rumbled loudly.
I swallowed, my action harsh and painful as I still stood nearly suspended between my sentry robot guards.
We were heading into the black hole.
"You're mad," I softly whispered, terror turning my legs to jelly as I watched the long ship's progress towards our inevitable death.
Reinhardt ignored me. Instead he occupied his attention with what was occurring on his security screens.
Moments later he turned to Maximilian, his eyes verily on fire as he snapped, "Your crack unit, outwitted and outfought by some Earth robot and that antique from storage." Slapping his forehead solidly, he meandered away from his huge beast and approached instead one of his humanoids.
As I strained to listen, I almost squeaked when I heard what he'd relayed - "We cannot endanger the Cygnus by exploding them too soon."
He turned sharply, his eyes verily glowing in the array of lights that flooded the bridge, those pupils he sported as dark as the black hole we were flying towards. "Give them distance, then blow them out of the sky."
"No!" I screamed, my vigor returned and my fight renewed against my captors.
Flinging my right arm forward as sharply as I could, I lashed out with my foot at the same moment and managed to catch the robot that held the arm bearing Ultima Weapon off balance. As it clattered noisily away from me, I turned and walloped the other robot that clung to me solidly with my Keyblade.
"Blow it apart before it hits us! Fire!" I heard.
I turned on my heel, lunging for the humanoid that moved with unbreakable resolve for the controls before it.
I was far too late - the moment I grasped a stiff, chilly shoulder and wrenched the robed humanoid back and out of its chair, rockets were already colliding with the Palomino. Even as I turned towards the window, I felt tears stream out of my eyes; the small ship was blown to pieces, chunks of metal skipping along the Cygnus' twisted structure.
Even as the largest of the pieces remaining of the Palomino crashed solidly into the Cygnus, alarms blared to life and red lights flashed brilliantly across the bridge. I turned sharply on my toes. "Stop the ship! Now!" I cried at the top of my voice.
I felt my heels hit the ground even as I swiftly backpedaled away from Maximilian - the huge robot had decided to approach me, its bladed arms rising at its sides. I hefted Ultima Weapon before me, narrowing my eyes and grimacing hatefully. "Bring it on," I hissed.
The ship shook violently.
As I lost my footing and fell square on my butt, my head colliding sharply with the metal deck I was standing on, I watched stars dance over my eyeballs and huge red-hot asteroids race past the bridge.
What the...?
Maximilian steadily floated towards me even as I bolted to my feet and dashed away from it, leaving my Keyblade lying on the ground. Only a moment passed before I was turned to face the robot again, my left hand loosely set upon the back of an empty chair and my right recalling Ultima Weapon to me. The blade vanished from the floor and swiftly reformed in my hand where it belonged.
Another sharp quake rocked the Cygnus.
I turned, staring at the monitor beside me. "No way!" I cried.
A huge asteroid was rolling through whatever segment of the ship the monitor I was beside was monitoring. And before my eyes, three figures - Kate, Dan and Charlie judging by their builds - were bolting back to their feet and dashing across a suspended bridge that spanned that segment of decimated vessel.
They were alive! But it didn't look like Harry was with them...
Certainly did resolve the mystery of who had died in the Palomino.
I turned my head, swallowing as I noted Maximilian's proximity to myself. However, the robot's attention seemed to be focused on the monitor I'd been watching.
I lunged away from the robot even as the ship buckled, its twisting and harsh groaning marking the successful strike of yet another asteroid. I stared with horror flooding my body as a piece of the Cygnus drifted by outside of the bridge's massive windows.
Without another thought, I lunged towards the wily Doctor seated in his chair even as another asteroid hit the Cygnus and almost knocked me clean off my feet. "Holy crap! We're going to die if we keep this up. Dr. Reinhardt, this ship still has power, right? We've got to get away now! The Cygnus can't go through the black hole if it can't even survive the storm!"
Another crash, another bang. My knees struck the deck, my hand with Ultima Weapon smashed into Hans Reinhardt's control console and my knuckles bruised even as I cried out. One of the catwalks overhead buckled and warped, dumping its humanoid occupants over suddenly snapped railing and to their final deaths as their skulls struck the hard resistance of the ground.
His eyes were frozen as he glared at me. His next words were a barked order to his humanoids. "Increase power to maximum. We are going through."
As the reactors hummed and the reverberation of the engines powering fully up roared through the ship, I cried out and clung to that console I'd collapsed by for dear life.
Oh please, Donald. Goofy! Lift off now!
The ship rumbled violently as its engines pushed it with terrifying speed towards the giant black hole. Struggling to my feet, I lunged with my left hand for Dr. Reinhardt's sleeve.
I grabbed his arm, my eyes huge and my brows furrowed. "Come on! Turn us around! We can't survive this!"
"Unhand me," he hissed at me, prying my fingers from his arm. "You should be honored, boy of another world. You, as I, shall be the first representative from your planet to witness the mind of God! We shall be the first to attain eternity, the first to experience the perfection of that dimension awaiting discovery beyond the portal before us. And still, you hold such fear."
"Look, the Cygnus is damaged to the point of being destroyed. The Palomino's been shot down. There's no way we can make it through!"
He laughed at my proclamation.
I backed away, my feet barely maintaining their purchase on the hard metal deck as the ship shook direly.
The metal around me groaned.
A sudden calm washed over me as I stood upon that bridge, my eyes flooded with the sight of glass and twisted metal and light being sucked into the giant black hole before me. Ultima Weapon faded from my hand, the Keyblade returning to the depths of my heart from where it had originated.
I was going to die.
Closing my eyes, washing myself in the serenity of darkness, I let a sigh escape my lungs and leak from between my lips.
All I could hope was that, with the Cygnus falling into such disrepair, Donald and Goofy would take the opportunity to escape into hyperspace. After all, with the beating the Cygnus had taken from asteroids and from the volatile forces being put on its abused structure by the black hole itself, I doubted that Dr. Reinhardt's humanoid forces had the ability to blow the Excalibur out of the sky like they had the Palomino.
I couldn't bring myself to panic as the bridge surged violently around me, the deck underneath me warping and bulging. I staggered a few steps, catching myself with what little agility I had, letting my lashes part and my eyes take in my doom.
Monitors all about the bridge were flashing the same warning in huge red letters, spelling our fate out for us; 'STRUCTURAL DAMAGE OVERLOAD' blared around every inhabitant of the Cygnus' control room. I felt relief wash over me for the first time since my initial progression from the Excalibur's interior and my shoes' tamping onto the Cygnus' metal deck plates - at least the humanoids weren't in possession of their minds and hearts anymore. They couldn't know what was going to happen to them all.
Behind me, the reactor detrimentally failed. Hot flame raced through the bridge along with a deafening explosion. Humanoids were flung errantly about, toppling out of chairs and sent reeling across the room as control consoles blew themselves up and arching lightning bolts of electricity poured from computers around the room.
Even as beams of metal blasted loose by the asteroids' strikes, the explosion of the reactor or perhaps the volatile deaths of the computers around me swung down and crashed throughout the bridge, I stood and stared blankly at the black hole before us all. The window between me and space made a terrible crunching sound, spider webs of cracks bursting into being and racing faster than the eye could see across its huge span.
The largest monitor on the bridge swung freely overhead even as Dr. Reinhardt rose from his chair and began to slowly walk towards the elevator, his arm lightly brushing my shoulder as he progressed right past me.
Turning his head, he growled to his huge robot to draw its attention away from the monitors it was observing. "Maximilian! Prepare the probe ship."
I numbly stood in place as Maximilian floated to its creator then turned away and approached the elevator, making to leave and carry out Hans Reinhardt's order.
A crash echoed through the control room. I turned and stared at the source of the sound.
The huge monitor that had been swinging dangerously overhead had finally broken loose.
Hans Reinhardt screamed underneath it, his thin hands curled along its upper edge and trying desperately to push it away.
"Maximilian! Help me! Help me," he gasped desperately before his eyes roved to his humanoid crew as they worked their computer consoles.
The bronzed robot ignored him, leaving the bridge to carry out his order to ready the probe ship instead. The humanoids at their consoles continued their work, aimlessly touching buttons and typing commands into their computer stations.
"Fools! Listen to me! Listen to me! Help! Help. Listen, somebody. Help."
As he wheezed for aid, I took an unsteady step towards him.
"Dr. Reinhardt," I quietly breathed. A few moments later, I lay my hands near his.
There was no reason for him to die like this. Even though he had condemned us all to death, I couldn't bring myself to abandon him in his time of need. I wouldn't stoop to the same level of inhumanity that the mad Doctor had in his final moments.
"Come on. Push!" I ordered even as I strained against that huge monitor, pulling with every ounce of strength that I had and planting my sneakers solidly on the floor. "Come on!"
His eyes blinked slowly, his lips parting and blood bubbling between them. "The light..." he softly whispered.
"Come on!" I screamed, crying loudly in frustration as I yanked with all of my might.
"Sora!" a gravely voice yelled.
A huge white glove clamped over my shoulder. "C'mon, Sora! We gotta go now!"
"Guys!" I breathed, astonished.
Donald ran to my side, his webbed feet slapping loudly on the metal floor. Leaning over as he came to a halt, he slowly shook his head. His blue eyes were huge and sad when he lifted them to meet my gaze. "You don't need to do that anymore, Sora."
"No," I whispered.
"Gawrsh, you tried your best. Now let get outta here. Otherwise we're really gonna go through that black hole!" Goofy stated.
I felt a lump move down my throat as I pulled my hands away from the monitor I'd been trying to save Hans Reinhardt from. As his blood congealed at the corners of his mouth, I felt revulsion wash over me.
If only I'd been more forceful... if only I'd acted more quickly...
My inability to act had murdered him.
I stumbled as Goofy pulled me along, forcing me to abandon the failed and decrepit Cygnus.
Even as I was pushed into my seat and Donald's shaking hands swiftly buckled my belt, I numbly turned my gaze to the window.
Then I cried out, trying desperately to undo the restraints Donald had just fastened into place. "Guys! It's the Palomino's crew! We gotta help them!"
There they were, barely a launch pad away from us.
Apparently the damage to the Cygnus was so great that every ounce of oxygenated air that it contained was being stripped and sucked across its exterior. In that bubble of breathable space were Charlie Pizer, Dan Holland, Kate McCrae and V.I.N.CENT, struggling desperately to climb into the probe ship that Dr. Reinhardt had used to explore the event horizon of the massive rift in space the Cygnus was now doomed to drift into.
"They'll get in there, Sora," Goofy reassured me even as he forced me into the seat and buckled me back in. "That probe ship got away from the black hole before, remember? It can do it again!"
"Yeah! It's us we've got to be worried about," Donald bit sharply even as he let his white feathered fingers swiftly dance over the gummi's control.
I bit my lips as the gummi ship rumbled to life, its engines powering up as quickly as they were designed to. We lifted off from the crumbling Cygnus even as the probe ship's burner flashed to life and pushed that vessel from its place.
A sigh rattled my lungs as I dragged my hand across my brow. "Thank goodness," I quietly breathed.
Donald's loud quack of distress rattled me out of my moment of comfort.
"Oh no!" Goofy cried out even as I turned and stared.
"What the heck are they doing?" I cried out. "No! Guys, come back! This way!" I screamed, freeing myself from my chair and plastering my hands onto the gummi's windows. "COME BACK!"
Donald's voice was quiet and dismayed as he whispered, "That was Reinhardt's probe ship. It would've had his desired path programmed into it."
"You mean..." Goofy began, his eyes huge and watery.
"Yeah. They're going into the black hole."
I screamed as their ship plunged beyond the event horizon, vanishing into that whirling doorway to death.
-to be continued-
Hey, no complaining about the 'oxygenated space' thing. That's from the damned movie. And no griping about the end - 'The Black Hole' was not a friendly Disney film. I was a devastated little kid when I figured out what all those final scenes really meant.
Review replies:
Iaveina: Heh heh. Yeah, everyone could use a hug. I'm glad the last chapter provoked that kind of response. Thank you so much for reviewing! I did indeed have a nice Christmas and a great New Year - hope you did as well!
Raz: I hear you about being lazy about logging in. Me too. Heh. And yeah, I kind of had to force myself to come to the realization that he wouldn't be speaking anymore 'round chapter 43. I whined fitfully, but resigned myself to the inevitable - he'll get his break someday, but that day will likely be at the end of the story itself. I have to agree that he'd have made a grand Keyblade Master - even with the darkness-embracing, lust-for-power stuff that could happen to anyone... he could've been that kind of Keyblade Master to bring destruction rather than salvation. (cackles) And as for where they're headed next, no big worries... they only have a couple chapters in a world that was featured in both KH1 and KH2, then a swing through the remains of a FF world (broke convention, but it's the FF guys. 'least I'm not sending Sora's gang there), and finally a jump through a rather chipper Disney movie. Nah, it's the Sora group that's going to Hell in a handbasket. (cackle) And no Old Yeller, no matter how tempting it was. Sora's getting an animated classic and a partially animated masterpiece. (evil li'l grin) So no need to worry 'bout getting that inflatable raft! I'm so happy you're still liking this fic! And I certainly hope you liked this chapter. The end of 'Black Hole' always made me stare in disbelief - as a little girl, I cried fitfully. Sheesh, I was such a goober... (sheepish grin)
Hikari of the Moon: Yeah, I kind of noticed that the alerts are malfunctioning as well. (frowns) I was convinced no one reviewed for chapter 48 until I checked ff. net itself. Weird, huh? Anyway, our poor li'l Heartless being back to 'normal' does indeed open the path for more Cleon development now that they've got an opportunity to return to being in their right minds. We'll see how it goes between those two. (snicker) And Sora... I can't wait for what he's going to go through. I actually had to actively hunt for the movie he's going through next - kudos to my best buddy Ava for finding it on DVD after all these years! (parades around) Though it might be painful - the hero in that damned movie was a giant wanker. Rather like Sora, but worse. Thanks for submitting!
Kitty Kyinsky: Yep, sad fact of our resident Heartless' little pathetic life. Poor guy. I'm certain that if he had enough mental capacity to remember how to write he'd happily do so! We need Heartless school systems. Unless they're like the Southern California public education system - that place makes geniuses like myself, so he'd just end up worse than he already is there. (cackle) Thanks for the review... and stop poking the Heartless! Poke a plushie instead. (smirk)
terracannon876: Well, couldn't help the short length of the chapter - Heartless chapters actually do have an obnoxiously short page limit on them that was only broken thanks to Wonderland giving our resident Shadow a taste of his mind. Oh well. Yeah, you were right - that was indeed a Sora chapter! Don't worry, though - we're getting back to the others ASAP. Hope you liked this chapter, though!
scarlettHuntress: Heh heh heh. Sexy bishonen... (meanders off to drool in a corner) Ah hem. Anyway. Yeah, gotta pitty the Heartless. But there are plans in motion for him, oh yes! No worries. Thanks for reviewing!
Li the Twilight Knight: First off, I got slammed by both PM reviews on the same day. Eh heh. So to reply first to the Christmas one! Yeah, the wrap-up from Cid's POV was rather chaotic, wasn't it? But it was helluva lot of fun! Neh heh heh. WTF is pretty right, though. (giggles) And now for the New Years review! Lemme see... what was I doing at that time... oh! I was drinking in Southern California on vacation. Yee ha! Now stuck back in Virginia, back at work and everything. (sob) Oh well. Anyway, to reply to the review, yeah, it's mean for our Heartless buddy to lose the ability to speak. But hey! He's got more development to come, so no big worries. And thank you soooo much (deadpan). Now I've been singing the whole Mickey Mouse Club song while typing this reply. Sheesh! Yeah, it's old, but it's awesome and awesomely catchy! I heart it. Thanks so much for the PM review!
(dances around like an inebriated fool) Done with yet another Disney movie! And now on to the next one... (blows dust off the volume and cackles madly, accompanied by the Ansem plushie before yelling in unison with the demonic thing "SUBMIT!")
