Chapter Fifty-one Journey into Darkness
With that final remark the battle began. The Heartless launched themselves at the warriors but Sora and the others were well prepared. They held off the first wave of attack without injury, but it was clear the Heartless the group had fought before had come back much stronger. Next came the second wave. The group did their best to hold it off, but the simultaneous attacks was proving too much. Anima's attack shook the ground, causing the fighters difficulty in keeping their balance while the Stone Warriors threw them around and slammed them into the walls. The laser elephant's red beams burned their skins while Sin Scale Heartless overwhelmed the group. It was clear the battle would not turn in their favor with the way things were going. Vincent, the seasoned veteran who had been fighting longer than Sora, Riku or Kairi had been alive, took charge like a general in battle, "We're not going to survive if we keep playing defense. Riku, Sora, Goofy take out the Stone Warriors first, they seem mostly immune to magic. Kairi, you take care of the Sin Scales while Donald, it will be your job to keep everyone healed and protected. I'm going after Anima first,"
"Right!" the warriors followed the former Heartless' command. Riku and Sora combined the power of their weapons to hack and slash at the Stone Warriors. Their Keyblades only left small cracks and score lines in the stones but when Goofy threw his shield the cracks spread violently and pieces shattered off of the monsters. The two best friends repeated their attack and Goofy finished the job. Though the attacks were difficult and arduous, eventually the Stone Warriors crumbled into rubble as they did in Kuzcotopia. With the first set of Heartless gone, Riku, Sora and Goofy went to help Kairi fight the Sin Scales.
The young lady did her best to keep the attacks of the small vicious monsters back, and though she kept them from spreading, she could not reduce their numbers. Sora went on one side of her and Riku on the other with Goofy holding up the rear. Kairi was grateful for the support. With the four friends working together the Sin Scales' numbers slowly began to decline. As the warriors focused on their task and Donald did his best to keep the laser elephant's beams from hitting them, Vincent focused on destroying Anima.
Anima proved to be significantly stronger than before, and the gunner was having a hard time against it. He altered between ice and fire shots and when Anima looked weakest Vincent tried to use his exploding charges. The Heartless was getting weakened, but it was clear he wasn't getting weakened enough. The fighter misjudged one of the chained monster's attacks and got a full blow to his body. As he was sent flying backwards he felt someone catch him. Goofy and Riku had saved the man from flying into a wall. Vincent told his friends, "I thought I told you to take care of the Sin Scales and Stone Warriors,"
"The Warriors are gone and the Sin Scales aren't that important," Riku sneered, "We know you've been a fighter a while, Vincent. That still doesn't mean you know everything,"
"Besides, it'll be much easier to beat Anima if you've got more people to help you," Goofy added. Vincent grimaced, got back up and he, Goofy and Riku got back into the fight with Sora and Kairi. Anima's one weakness proved to be the same one as he had in Olympus Coliseum. When part of his body was ripped away, like the Hydra had done, Anima could not heal itself. Vincent's exploding charges helped blow away bit of its body, but his shots were not enough to completely destroy the zombie-like Heartless. Sora, Kairi and Riku's weapons sliced and tore away at the chained monster and soon its little pieces flittered back down into the black blood that coated the floor.
The group ran over to Donald who looked about to the point of exhaustion and as Goofy and Sora got near, the duck magician dropped to the floor, "What's taking you guys so long! I'm pooped!"
"Sorry Donald," Sora laughed as he gave his friend some potion and an ether to restore Donald's powers, "But look on the bright side, two down, two to go,"
The moment of rest ended and the six next targeted the laser elephant. Though Sin began attacking their flank with lasers of its own, the group knew they had to take the Heartless one at a time if they were going to be defeated. Riku, Kairi and Vincent took their turns protecting the others while Sora, Goofy and Donald focused on the elephant. Goofy threw his shield on the ground upside-down like a sled and grabbed Sora and Donald. The three jumped on the shield and slid beneath the elephant Heartless' body. The monster did its best to stomp on them but as Goofy navigated the shield Sora lifted up his Keyblade and sliced the underbelly. Donald finished off the attack with a thunder spell. The three kept repeating the action until the laser elephant trumpeted one last time and vanished.
Only Sin remained now and with their previous battle with the Heartless painfully fresh in their mind, they knew exactly how to destroy it quickly. Donald and Goofy concentrated on Sin's rear while Vincent jumped up and attacked its back. Every time the others knocked Sin down, Kairi, Riku and Sora used their Keyblades to do the most damage. Soon Sin collapsed back into the Heartless blood, sending waves of blackness like the water it had in the lake before.
The room suddenly became very quiet. The warriors were trying to catch their breath and gather what little strength they had left. All the Heartless were gone and M stayed suspended above the group with his strange tendrils, saying nothing, not moving, emotions unknown with his hidden face. Sora smiled, figuring the being realized his defeat, but the boy's grin soon faded when suddenly the entire room shook again. The Heartless blood bubbled and oozed and mounds of black liquid took shape: Anima, the Elephant, Sin, and the Stone Warriors reappeared, looking as just as dangerous and powerful as they had previously. Only this time the warriors didn't have the same energy as they had before. The four sets of giant monsters lunged at the fighters, and the group barely dodged a lethal attack. They knew if this battle would not end quickly, the six would be done for. Riku dragged Sora and Goofy out of the way of the elephant's lasers and called out to his friends, "Even if we destroy the Heartless again, M will just revive them, we need a way to stop him,"
Sora could feel his exhaustion taking a toll on him, but even as tired as he was he managed to observe something, it seemed as though every time one of the Heartless made a move, M seemed to be experiencing some type of pain. The Keyblade Master looked to the tendrils that connected the dark being to the wall and saw they pulsed and pumped sickly with every flinch the person made. Sora pulled away from his best friend's grip and snatched Kairi towards him to hand her to Riku, "The Heartless are being animated by M, if I cut those things coming from his body, that should stop him. Watch over the others, I'm going after him,"
Before Riku could argue Sora summoned the last of his energy and ran after M. Vincent and Donald seemed to realize the young man's plan and kept his route clear as he ran for the stone throne just ahead of him. Using the momentum of his Keyblade and a lingering bit of his magic power, Sora launched himself from the stone throne to the wall and sliced the first tendril. M suddenly realized what the Keyblade Master was doing, but was too late to do anything to stop him. One by one, Sora would push himself against the wall, jump, cut a tendril, land back on the wall and repeat the process. As the final tendril was severed, the monstrous Heartless that were threatening to gain the upper hand against Sora's five friends froze, melted into darkness and collapsed to the floor. For a moment M's body hovered as the final tendril connecting the being to the Heartless world fell away from his body, then the being seemed to go limp and began to hurdle towards the ground. Sora wasn't sure what made him do it, but a little instinct told the boy to go after the falling figure and catch it before it hit the floor below. The Keyblade Master leapt down to the ground and ran to catch M's falling body, as he caught the being, the hooded cloak that had been covering M's face fell off, revealing the face of a young girl about Sora's age. She had dark brown hair was sickly pale and breathing heavily. Slowly, the girl opened her watery eyes to reveal familiar brown eyes.
"Marlene," Sora said sadly. The spirit that had been using the girl had clearly drained her of much of her strength and will to live.
"Why couldn't you have picked me, Sora?" she said softly before passing out again. Though Marlene had not been a close friend of his, he could not help feeling angry and guilty that his involvement in her life somehow resulted in her getting so hurt. But with M seemingly defeated, the Keyblade master made a sigh of relief and looked to his haggard, but equally relieved friends.
"Well, well, well," a somewhat familiar male's voice boomed and filled the room, "You think that the hero won, Keyblade Master? That good triumphed over evil? M may be gone, but it is no longer needed. Even without that unfortunate girl's body, I am still here. Now that I am Kingdom Hearts, I can finally have a body of my own again,"
The six fighters looked up to see the long hard battle was no where close to over. The fallen purple and dark red tendrils that had formerly connected Marlene's body to the walls rose up and began to weave together and form a new body. The vessel like strings melted together and changed color until a human figure stood high above the fighters. A young man with long blond hair tied back in a ponytail and bright green eyes wore an ancient looking outfit with long black boots, vest and puffy shirt and slowly began to sink down to Sora and the others below him. It was the other half of the being that had made up M: Mercutio, the original Keyblade Master.
"Mercutio…" Sora said softly, not sure of what to make of the new challenge.
"Since you know so much about me Sora, why do you insist this futile battle?" Mercutio said bitterly, "You did not win over evil, oh protégé of mine, for evil does not exist here. For good to truly win I must see my dream come true. You are nothing more than a blind, stupid little boy playing 'adventure' with your friends. As long as you continue to interfere with my dream you are a danger to us all. You may have survived this long but I will destroy you. Darkness is just the way things are meant to be…"
For a third time the great hall began to buckle and shake and the black liquid covering the floor began to rise in level. It no longer covered just the floor, it began crawling up the walls and coating the ceiling, shrouding the gray stone in blackness
"Kairi, Donald, Goofy, take care of Marlene and get out of here!" The Keyblade Master ran over and handed the body of the injured girl to his friends as a wall of liquid separated Sora from the three.
"Sora!" Riku cried out as the black Heartless blood from the walls and ceiling above shuddered and crashed down like a tidal wave.
"Oh no, he's trapped, we have to do something!" Kairi cried out in fear.
"No," Vincent said calmly, "You need to keep that girl safe. She was just a pawn, she's innocent in all this. Get out of here, we'll help the Keyblade Master,"
Kairi paused, not wanting to leave the boy she cared so much about behind, but knowing better, Donald and Goofy grabbed the girl by the arms and ran out the great hall before the Darkness could spread further. Vincent and Riku looked at each other and nodded before charging towards the colossal blackness where their friend was trapped. With their weapons drawn they hacked and tore at the darkness until a small opening was formed. They forced their way in and ahead they could see Sora tangled in strands of gelatinous Heartless blood, including one wrapped dangerously around his neck. The two warriors ran to their friend and cut him free. Sora gasped for air and rubbed his throat, relieved he wasn't suffocated, "Boy, am I glad to see you two,"
The inside of chamber of Heartless blood mutated and widened so it became like a large cave and a figure materialized before the three. Mercutio came before them on their level, revealing that he and Sora were just about the same height. When he was only a few feet away, the ancient being summoned two Keyblades. One looked like an old rusted key, one used by gatekeepers in the Middle Ages, the other resembled the skeleton of a bird, with its skull as the blade of the key and the ribcage and wings as the handle. Mercutio took a battle stance, ready to fight.
Sora responded by gathering the small bit of energy that still remained in him, the small drive that told him to keep going, that the battle wasn't won yet, that the villain still stood standing and Matilda was still trapped. The brown haired boy's body glowed and a second Keyblade appeared in his hand, his clothing turned black and white and he was almost levitating. Sora was now in his most powerful form: Final Mode.
The boy charged Mercutio, but the older Keyblade Master countered the attack. Keyblades smashed against Keyblades, neither's attacks striking a blow. Sora tried a magic spell, but the ancient being dodged it and countered with his own spell, this one hitting its mark and sending the new Keyblade Master backwards. Riku and Vincent caught the boy and threw him back into the fight, charging after him to help with the battle. Sora let loose a flurry of attacks, but ones Mercurtio knew and could defend against. Sora kept the blond boy on defensive and Vincent and Riku joined in the attack. From behind Riku used his own set of Keyblade attacks, eventually joining in with Sora for a combination move. Vincent's riffle attacks battered the original Keyblade Master, clearly weakening him. Though weak, Mercutio also seemed greatly irritated, "This is getting quite tiresome,"
Without warning the black chamber changed again and two waves of darkness lunged out of the walls and grabbed Riku and Vincent. The men fought viciously against their confines but it proved useless as they vanished in the walls with fate unknown.
"Riku! Vincent!" Sora screamed. Forgetting the battle before him, the boy ran away from Mercutio and started using his weapons to hack and slice at the walls, trying to free his friends and hoping nothing bad had happened to them. As the Keyblade Master fought to cut through the walls, something hit him in the head and knocked him to the ground.
Mercutio had thrown one of his Keyblades like a boomerang and from the corner of his eye Sora could see the other boy smile as the weapon came back to his hands, "I'm afraid your friends can't help you with this Sora. It looks like you're going to have to face me on your own,"
