Dang it, I just keep writing longer and longer chapters for this story, don't I? Well, sorry that this one is such a monster, but a TON happens in it and honestly, for how long I've been looking forward to it and how much it shakes the entire story up, I'm VERY proud of how it turned out. Anyway I'll be brief here and won't keep you from it. Enjoy!
Chapter 21: The Depths of Despair
Everything is just fine
But if you're gonna think twice
I don't wanna know, baby
I don't wanna know
The Gummi Ship bolted through the Lanes Between at a frenetic pace, despite the fact that no clear destination had been set for it. If anything, the ship seemed to be blindly bounding around the endless sea of stars, swerving in countless different directions as two of its passengers grappled against each other for its controls, arguing all the while.
"W-we gotta check every world we can find!" Goofy exclaimed, pulling the ship hard to the left. "Maleficent could've taken him anywhere!"
"But that'll take way too long!" Donald fervently squawked, forcing the ship in the opposite direction. "We need to find Sora now! Who knows what she'll do to him if we don't?!"
That exact fear was exactly what had prompted the pair to make their hasty departure from San Fransokyo practically the very horrific moment Maleficent had made off with Sora right before their very eyes. Panic had pushed them in a scrambled retreat back to the Gummi Ship, and continued to press them onward as they took off, determined and desperate to find their now-captive companion no matter what. Even if they were still heavily reeling from the awful fact that they'd manage to lose him under such cruel conditions in the first place.
"But we'll never find him if we don't even know where to look!" Goofy protested sharply.
"No, we'll never find him if we keep wasting time!" Donald snapped impatiently. "Which is exactly what we're doing right now!"
"I know! And that's time we don't have, and neither does Sora!"
"You think I don't know that?! That's why we need to go! NOW!"
"Not without a plan we can't!"
The pair continued struggling for full reign of the vessel, bickering brashly all the while to the point that they didn't even notice the ship's only other-and smallest-passenger climb up onto the dashboard. That is, until he interrupted the ongoing squabble in the best way he possibly could.
"Fellas, wait!" Jiminy piped up, waving the quarreling pair to a much-needed silence. Even so, Donald and Goofy's expressions were equally matched in terms of distraught urgency, something the cricket could practically feel as he addressed them evenly. "I know we're all upset, but fightin' like this isn't gonna do anything to help Sora! We gotta get on the same page here, and fast! He's countin' on us!"
"...Jiminy's right," Goofy sighed, looking to Donald apologetically. "We gotta pull ourselves together. Why, what would Sora say if he were here, seein' us standing around here arguin' at a time like this?"
"Knowing him? Something schmaltzy and inspiring," Donald couldn't help but crack a small, bittersweet smirk at this. "Like, 'we can't give up before we've even started!' or 'we're a team! And teams work together!'"
"Yep, that sounds like Sora alright," Goofy chuckled warmly at the thought of their mutually treasured companion. "You've really got him pegged."
"How could I not after all this time?" Donald's grin quickly faded as he let out a fretful sigh in its place. "We have to get him back, Goofy…"
"And we will," the captain assured, still smiling, albeit sadder this time. "And I think I got an idea about how we can do it; if we can't figure out where Maleficent took Sora on our own, then let's get help from someone who can!"
"Riku and the king!" Donald cut in. "Of course! If there's anybody who'd be able to find Sora, it'd be them! We need to tell them what happened right away!"
"Uh, only a few problems with that, fellas…" Jiminy frowned. "We don't have any way to reach 'em without the Gummiphone… which Sora has, not us. And even if we could call them, for all we know, they could be way too deep in the Realm of Darkness by now to even answer!"
"Aw, shucks…" Goofy's shoulders drooped in disappointment. "But wait! If Sora still has the Gummiphone, then maybe he could just call Riku and the king for help instead!"
"If Maleficent lets him, which she won't," Donald grumbled, shaking his head. "And we can't afford to just wait around and see if he does! Let's go get Master Yen Sid instead! He'll know what to do!"
"But we're awfully far from his tower…" Jiminy noted as he glanced over the ship's star map. "And without Sora here to use his Keyblade to open up a gateway for us, it could take us days to get there, maybe more!"
"But Sora might not have that kind of time!" Donald fussed, frantic.
"W-what do we do?!" Goofy anxiously wondered. "How are we supposed to-"
The captain stopped short as a world started to come into view through the Gummi Ship's window, one that grew steadily larger and clearer the closer their vessel drifted toward it. And sure enough, a quick check on their map confirmed it: the world they were incidentally approaching just so happened to be none other than Radiant Garden.
"Merlin!" Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy all exclaimed on the same bout of realization.
"He's every bit as powerful of a wizard as Master Yen Sid is!" Jiminy exclaimed excitedly.
"Yeah! He'll be able to help us find Sora for sure!" Goofy agreed, immensely relieved.
"Then what are we waiting for?!" Donald pushed the ship's controls forward. "Let's go!"
And with that, they were off, rocketing through the stars, traveling as fast as the Gummi Ship could possibly go toward Radiant Garden, their shared, stalwart mission ever on their mind. To do everything in their power to save Sora, in the same spirit as he'd shown when he saved them through his own sacrifice. A sacrifice that, as far as Donald and Goofy were concerned, had been far too high of a price for him to pay.
"Don't worry, Sora," Goofy assured, hoping that wherever Sora actually was, he was somehow alright, even despite the daunting circumstances he was certainly under. A sentiment that Donald readily shared as they drifted ever closer to their destination.
"We're on our way!"
The very first thing Sora felt, before he even opened his eyes, was cold. The entire left side of his body was pressed against a surface so hard and frigid it might as well have been ice, disregarding how rough and coarse it was. But that bitter chill seemed to spike the most around his wrists as some sort of unknown weight rested on them, a weight he only really felt the same moment he became aware of the sharp, persistent pain pounding through his head.
That headache made even the simple process of opening his eyes arduous and difficult, but when he finally did so he was met with a sobering sight. Dull, sturdy, colorless stone walls surrounded him on all sides, including the floor, without a doubt the source of the empty chill he still couldn't shake, though not for a lack of trying.
Confusion, largely concerning where he was and how he'd gotten there, was the first thing that filled his thoughts as he made an attempt at sitting up. Though as soon as he did, that confusion was both answered and doubled at the same exact time. For latched tightly, securely around his wrists was a pair of thick, heavy metal shackles, ones that were anchored to the ground right behind him by a string of equally fortified chains. Given how short that string really was, Sora found himself unable to move much at all since his hands had been bound behind him, and though he had managed to properly sit up, he couldn't do much outside of that as restrained as he currently was.
As Sora gave an experimental tug on one of those chains, he quickly remembered exactly what had landed him in these mysterious, unsettling circumstances in the first place. The inescapable ultimatum Maleficent had presented him with, the harrowing choice he'd been forced into making, the acceptance of that choice for the sake of Donald and Goofy's safety. And the moment he'd stepped into that dark corridor, only for everything to instantly go black the instant some unforeseen blow landed heavily across the back of his head.
So now here he was, tightly locked away in some small, square stony room, one that had no apparent windows or doors and was only illuminated by some unknown light source that was so dim that it might as well not have even existed at all for how dark it was. Intentionally dark, Sora was sure, just as it was intentionally cold to the point that he was practically shivering, and just as it was likely intentional that the chains binding him kept him in a low, compromised position with little leeway allotted. It was about what he had expected out of Maleficent when it came to keeping him captive, though her reasoning behind doing so in the first place was still a complete and utter mystery, just as it had been from the moment this mess had all started.
Still, waking up chained and alone in a completely unknown, seemingly inescapable location was far from the worst situation Sora could claim to have ever been in, even if it wasn't exactly ideal. Clearly Maleficent had forgotten to take his Keyblade into account when putting this whole setup together for him. With its ability to open just about any lock, it was just about the best weapon anyone could ever ask for in a situation like this, and even if his current position wasn't the best for summoning it, Sora still made an attempt at doing so anyway. And yet… despite that attempt, nothing appeared in his hand as he held it open behind him. Confused, he waited a moment before trying again, and though his heart rang with the familiar warm spark that always showed up alongside his Keyblade, the weapon itself still didn't materialize.
"W-what…?" he muttered incredulously, glancing back at his shackled hand for any signs of his Keyblade appearing. But ultimately, bafflingly, he was still met with nothing.
"Ah, so you've finally awakened… I trust the accommodations are to your liking?"
On the far side of the chamber, a dark portal swiftly burst into existence and out of that portal stepped Maleficent herself. She came alone, without Pete accompanying her this time around, though her magical scepter was still on hand as she stared down at her new captive with a smug grin that was every bit as icy as the room they were both in.
When she oddly said nothing, Sora decided to venture a brazen response to her earlier question instead. "Eh, they could be better," he remarked quite dryly. "I grew up on an island, so I'm really not a big fan of the cold. Or the chains for that matter." He scowled back at said chains, lightly tugging on them once more only for their dull rattle to echo through the chamber, just as they'd been doing in time with each tiny movement he made since he woke up.
"Then don't consider them to be chains," Maleficent said, her easy, insincere smile still apparent. "Think of them as more of a… leash. That's how I see them at least." Her tone remained soft and cloying as she perched the far end of her staff under Sora's chin, forcing him to look up to make eye contact with her. "A fitting leash for my soon-to-be new pet."
Though Sora didn't entirely know what she meant by this, the implication still disgusted him all the same. "Yeah right," he scoffed, pulling his head away. "So now that you've got me here, are you actually gonna give me some answers about what all this is for? Or was your big plan just to chain me up in some freezing cell until I catch a cold or something? Because if it was, then I'm sorry to break it to you, but that plan's not going to work out very well for you."
"And why is that?" Maleficent asked, unconcerned. "Because you all it will take for you to escape from this predicament-that you, yourself agreed to be in, might I remind you-is a simple swing of your precious Keyblade? If that's what you think, then by all means, I implore you to try exactly that."
Though he kept his distrustful sights set on Maleficent all the while, Sora did try calling upon his Keyblade once again. Yet just as before, the weapon almost seemed to refuse to flash into his grip, even despite his best attempts at focusing incredibly hard at something that usually came so naturally to him. But no matter how hard he tried or how much he focused, his Keyblade was still absolutely nowhere to be found. "I-I don't understand…" he muttered to himself first before glaring back up at Maleficent. "Why can't I summon my Keyblade? What did you do to me?!"
"It's quite simple, really," Maleficent began almost triumphantly. "If those chains are like a leash, then consider those shackles around your wrists to be something of a collar, one that's specifically meant to keep you from acting out of line, Sora. It took quite a bit of time and effort to perfect the magic they're made of, but even upon its first test, I can see that it works exactly as I intended."
"But why?!" Sora demanded, aggressively pulling against the chains this time, though they still refused to give. "Why are you doing this? What do you even want with me in the first place?!"
Strangely, Maleficent seemed disinterested in giving a direct answer as she instead began walking around the perimeter of the cell at a slow, calculated pace. "As you know, some time ago, Pete and I traveled to Olympus in search of a certain black box. And while we didn't find what we had originally been looking for, we did happen across something that piqued my interest much more. It seemed to be a Heartless, though this one was quite unlike any I've ever seen before. It was far more powerful, ruthless and barbaric to the point that any other Heartless it came across cowered and caved under its unstoppable might. And the most fascinating part of all? It wielded a Keyblade."
The moment he heard this, Sora immediately knew exactly what "Heartless" she was talking about, even though he'd never actually gotten a chance to see it for himself. Largely because it was him. "Oh no…" he whispered, letting the chains fall slack behind him once more as he averted the dark fairy's almost greedy gaze entirely.
"Oh yes," Maleficent countered steadily. "You know, Sora, I have to say, I'm quite impressed. After all, I've never seen a Heartless that's capable of taking on the guise of a human before…"
"I am not a Heartless," Sora hissed, glaring up at her.
"Hm, perhaps right now you're not," Maleficent mused, stopping to stand right in front of him. "But when I'm through with you, I can guarantee there will be nothing left of you that isn't a Heartless… A Heartless that's completely, endlessly loyal to me."
Sora couldn't help but flinch at this chilling threat, one that seemed quite serious as Maleficent's near-constant grin finally turned into an authoritative scowl. Still, he forced himself to shake off the burst of fear that rushed through his heart, instead steeling himself to stand against his foe and whatever it was she had planned for him. "You wanna bet?" he asked, an air of bold challenge in his tone.
"That wouldn't be a very fair bet on your end," Maleficent laughed mockingly. "Consider the precarious position you're currently in for a moment. You're restrained, and the moment I take my leave, you'll be completely alone. You're entirely incapable of summoning your Keyblade, leaving you with no way of escaping whatsoever. And furthermore, no one knows where you are. No one will come to rescue you. Which means, that if you ever hope to see the light of day again, Sora, your one and only option is to submit to the darkness buried deep inside your heart… and use it to set yourself free."
And just like that, Maleficent's twisted plan finally became clear. The purpose behind the chains, the shackles, the cell, the very reason why she had forced him to bargain his freedom away in the first place. All for the sake of getting darkness to overwhelm him, to force the monstrous, shadowy creature that he shamefully knew dwelled deep inside of him to not only come out, but overtake him completely. And if her plan succeeded, if she truly did manage to force him to become the Heartless she clearly wanted on her side… then there was no telling what she'd have him do.
"No," Sora began rigidly, firmly resolved as he offered Maleficent a relentless glare. "I don't care how long you keep me locked up here or what you plan on doing to me, I will never, ever let you or the darkness control me!"
This courageous proclamation was met with a fierce answer in the form of a swift and heavy backhanded blow that knocked Sora back painfully, or at least as much as the short chains would allow. "You'd be wise not to test my patience, boy…" Maleficent coldly growled as she properly stood once more. "Your stubborn rebellion will earn you nothing here but pain and sorrow. Not that I'm opposed to that; after all, it's my understanding that your suffering will only help to speed this process along…" Her severe expression switched back into a sinister smirk as she called upon a dark corridor to make her momentary departure. "Still, I don't see this taking very long anyway. I've heard that free, bright spirits such as yours don't tend to last when locked away behind cold, dark, stone walls. I'll have that ultimate Heartless under my power soon enough. And once I do, I can only imagine what kind of magnificent chaos I'll have you create for me, Sora…"
Assured of her eventual victory, Maleficent finally let her sadistic glee out in the form of a loud, cackling laugh as she disappeared into her shadowy portal, leaving her unfortunate captive alone in the frigid dark once more.
By now, Sora had largely sat up once more, nursing a gentle hand against his face where Maleficent had struck him as he let out a heavy, disgruntled sigh. While the entire encounter, and the reveal of Maleficent's true intentions especially, had left him somewhat shaken, he refused to let his nerves get the better of him, especially now. If a Heartless was what his enemy wanted, then he was determined to do everything he possibly could to keep her from getting that. Or, more specifically, from getting control over him.
And yet as resolved as he was to resist whatever cruel tactics Maleficent threw his way, Sora still knew that the sooner he escaped, the better. Not only did his own safety depend on it, but so did that of so many others, especially given what horrific things Maleficent would likely force him to do if she had her way. But even beyond that, he couldn't afford to waste any time; the Organization had already gotten their hand on one Key and as long as he was stuck here, then they'd have free reign to obtain several more with virtually no opposition at all. He hoped that Donald and Goofy would merely go on looking for them without him, but a large part of him doubted they'd move on from his capture so easily. Briefly, Sora worried that they might be out there trying to find him, putting themselves right back into the same danger he had given himself up to save them from if they even got close to doing so. But that fear quickly dissipated when he remembered what Maleficent had said; nobody knew where he was, even he had no idea where she was keeping him imprisoned. Which meant that hopefully, no one would be able to put themselves in unnecessary danger trying to save him.
Not that he really thought he really needed saving to begin with. Even without his Keyblade, Sora was certain that he'd be able to figure out some way to escape. The hardest parts by far would be breaking out of the shackles and finding some way out of a seemingly sealed-off room. But once he managed to accomplish that, getting out of Maleficent's clutches would be easy. Even despite her wicked intent, compared to the Organization's twisted ambitions, he hardly considered her to be much of a threat, especially since the only backup she seemed to have on her side were Pete and a few simpleminded Heartless. True, that still meant he was outnumbered, but he hardly believed the odds to be stacked too high against him; at least, not yet.
"Come on..." Sora whispered to himself, taking in a deep, steadying breath as he focused on summoning his Keyblade once more. Whatever sort of block Maleficent's magic was putting on his ability to do so had to have some sort of work-around; he just had to find it first. And yet, his immense focus on doing nothing else but calling his Keyblade forth hardly seemed to matter; the weapon still wouldn't appear, no matter how hard he tried. "Ugh, fine…" he groaned, exasperated as he repositioned his wrists in the shackles keeping them tightly bound. Shackles that wouldn't even allow him to perform any sort of magic either, not even the kind of forbidden magic he still refused to use, even at a time like this.
So instead, he forced himself to try and stand as much as the chains would allow, leaning heavily into whatever physical strength he still might have had on his side to carry out the only plan he really had at the moment. "I guess we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way then…"
The teacup felt warm and smooth in Kairi's hands as she watched unsteady ripples ebb and flow through the hot liquid inside it as a result of the noisy conversation all around her. She hardly listened to that conversation, however, instead focusing on the stirrings of her tea, or more precisely something else entirely. The similar, uneven, unsteady stirrings starting to find purchase inside her own heart.
None of the others sitting around the table noticed her furrowed brow and her anxious frown as they continued enjoying their usual round of after-breakfast beverages. Axel in particular let out a contented sigh as he perched his feet onto the edge of the table, reclining in his chair as he took a long swig of his coffee. "Ah, now this is more like it!" he grinned broadly. "Not just one day, not just a week, but several weeks without the old man bossing us around? He should go off to visit his own world way more often; I've been waiting forever for a break like this!"
"Hey now!" Cid piped up from his spot at his computer. "Just 'cause Merlin took off, doesn't mean we're on vacation 'round here! We've all still got work to do, and that includes plenty of homework the geezer left behind for you 'n Kairi there, Lea."
"W-what?!" Axel exclaimed, aghast. "Homework?! What does Merlin think we are? A bunch of kids?"
"You might as well be based on how you act all the time," Yuffie teased, eliciting a small chuckle from Aerith and Leon.
"Hey!"
"Still, I didn't expect Merlin to take a trip like this while he's in the middle of training someone," Leon mused after the bout of levity had passed. "He must really trust you two to feel comfortable enough to turn you loose to learn on your own for so long."
"Hey, it's not that surprising," Axel remarked. "We are his star pupils after all; the old man said so himself, right Kairi?"
"H-huh?" Kairi blinked, finally glancing up from her tea. "Uh, y-yeah, sure…"
"Kairi, are you all right?" Aerith asked, stepping in to stand beside the younger girl, teapot in hand. "It looks like you haven't even touched your tea yet; it's starting to get cold."
"Yeah, you usually love "tea-time" or whatever Merlin calls this," Axel noted, looking over to his fellow pupil with newfound concern. "Is something wrong?"
"N-no, nothing's wrong," Kairi shook her head before letting out a small sigh. "I… It's just… Never mind; it's… it's nothing."
"Nothing?" Yuffie tilted her head, confused. "Aw, c'mon! You were staring into that tea like a whole 'nother world was in there! With that kind of focus, it can't just be 'nothing'."
Kairi hesitated, cupping her hands tighter around her teacup before meeting the mutually worried expressions of the group sitting around her. "To tell you the truth, I-I… don't actually know what's wrong," she admitted apprehensively. "It just… feels like something isn't right. Like… like something or someone is calling out to my heart… for help."
"Who do you think it could be?" Aerith asked, sharing the same sort of curiosity the others all had.
Kairi tightly pressed her lips together, focusing on the signs her heart was sending her and little else. The unspoken cry for help, soft to the point that it was practically silent altogether, ringing through it, hoping to be freed, begging for release. From what, she had no idea, but as to who it was coming from… the familiar spark of warmth that tugged at her heart along with it offered her a basic hunch. A hunch that she didn't dare say aloud, largely out of the growing fear that it could in fact, be true.
And yet, she realized, she still owed the others an answer all the same. "I… I think it could be-"
Before she could get another word out, a sudden, heavy knock on the front door rang throughout the wizard's house, catching just about everyone off guard. That knock persisted, practically frantic as another round of similar pounding quickly joined it, creating quite a clamor in the process. "Who could that be?" Yuffie asked, admittedly startled.
"Somebody who's way too gung-ho about knocking?" Axel guessed, raising an eyebrow as he turned to the door.
"Yeesh! Hold yer horses, will ya?!" Cid called as he made his way over to the door. "I'm comin'! I'm coming!" Annoyed, he threw the door open, not paying too much immediate mind to who was standing on the other side of it. "Now, how can we help-"
"Merlin!"
The engineer stumbled backward as the pair at the door pushed their way past him, finally coming into view of the group at the table as they all rose in surprise over their unexpected arrival. "D-Donald? Goofy?" Kairi exclaimed, baffled. "What are you two doing here?"
"Yeah, and what's with all the panic?" Axel asked, just as confused. "You guys look like you just saw a fire."
"We might as well have!" Donald snapped harshly.
"W-where's Merlin?!" Goofy asked, glancing around the house for any signs of the wizard. "We need to talk to him right away! It's really important!"
"He's not here," Yuffie shook her head. "He's off visiting the world he's from and he won't be back for a couple of weeks. But… maybe we can help?"
"What's the problem?" Leon asked, his tone quite serious as he looked to the hectic pair.
"Wait," Kairi interjected before they could explain. Up until now, her eyes had been trained on the still-open door, the already growing dread that had been slowly building up all morning seeming to rise to an unbearable degree. Especially as she realized who hadn't entered alongside his usual companions. "Donald, Goofy," she turned back to the fretful pair, her eyes wide as she posed a question that she wasn't sure she really wanted the answer to. "Where is Sora?"
For their part, the most Donald and Goofy could do at such a question was exchange a tight, pained glance, hesitating to recount a tale that had-and still was-causing them both so much worry and woe. "H-he… he was captured," Donald finally, shamefully admitted.
The ripple effect this news had on the others was stark and immediate. The members of the Restoration Committee were all stunned into silence, Axel along with them. Kairi on the other hand, let out a sharp gasp as she stumbled backward, hitting the table behind her in the process. The blow caused her teacup to topple over the edge and shatter on the ground at her feet, yet she hardly cared as the spilled tea began to pool around her shoes. In fact, the only thing she could possibly care about at the moment was Sora. Sora, who had been captured, two words that, as far as she was concerned, didn't even belong in the same sentence as each other. It was a thought so upsetting, so sickening that she could scarcely even stand it even as it repeated itself over and over again in her mind. And yet, in her heart, she heard that call again, obscured by a layer of distant shadow but still persistent all the same.
A cry for help, one that she knew, without a doubt now, had to be coming from none other than Sora himself.
"What do you mean he was captured?!" Axel demanded, being the first to voice one of the many questions they all had. "By who?! Was it the Organization again?"
"N-no, it was Maleficent!" Goofy anxiously informed "S-Sora, he… he just... M-Maleficent forced him to give himself up to save us!"
"And he did!" Donald lamented almost mournfully. "H-he just went with her-we don't even know where-and we couldn't stop him! This is all our fault!"
"I'm sure it wasn't," Leon assured, though his usually calm expression was still marred by signs of distress. "Still, if Maleficent has him, that can't be good."
"She's a real witch, that one!" Cid exclaimed with an angry shake of his fist. "We gotta figure out a way to get that poor kid out of her clutches, and fast."
"But how?" Aerith frowned worriedly. "We don't even know where she took him-"
"I do!" Kairi suddenly exclaimed, largely without thinking. Even so, she meant what she'd said; for as she felt Sora's heart desperately calling out to her's once more, she quickly realized that the distance between them wasn't really that far after all. "I… I think my heart is sensing Sora's," she explained the best she could. "That's what I've been feeling all morning. It knew that something is wrong, that he's in danger. And… I think it knows where he is too."
"Where?!" Donald and Goofy asked in frantic, hasty unison.
Kairi closed her eyes for a moment, allowing herself to focus on the connection between Sora's heart and her own before giving a resolved, certain answer. "He's here. In Radiant Garden. I can't tell exactly where he is here, but he's in this world. I know it."
"Are you sure?" Axel asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"...Yes," Kairi nodded, holding onto that spark of warmth Sora's heart always managed to carry with it, however fleeting it might have been this time. "I am."
"Well, if Maleficent really did bring him here, then she's probably keeping him at her old stomping grounds," Leon mused grimly.
"You don't mean…?"
"The old castle?" Yuffie finished where Aerith had left off.
"Thought that place was abandoned, fallin' apart at the seams!" Cid remarked, hands on his hips. "Then again, if Maleficent really is out and about again, I guess it'd only make sense for her to go crawling back there."
"Well, as of right now, it looks like the only lead we've really got," Axel noted.
"It's good enough for us!" Donald exclaimed, already turning to head for the door. "C'mon, Goofy! Sora needs our help!"
"Right," Goofy readily nodded before waving back to the others. "Thanks for the help, everybody! I'm sure Sora will really appreciate it too!"
"Wait!" Kairi interjected, wasting no time in hurrying after the pair, the call ringing, pleadingly, almost painfully within her heart, pushing her forward all the while. "If you're going to save Sora, then… then I'm coming too!"
"What?!" Donald and Goofy both shared a surprised glance at this.
Likewise, Axel seemed quite taken aback by Kairi's verve as he headed down to stand alongside her. "Whoa, hey there, Little Miss Hasty. If you're going, then there's no way I'm letting you go without me."
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Kairi said, grinning up at him gratefully.
"No," Leon interjected as he stepped forward. "Sorry, you two. I know you've been doing well with your training, but I'm sure even Merlin would agree with me when I say that neither of you are ready to face a threat like Maleficent yet."
"Yeah," Yuffie agreed before she broke into a spirited grin. "'At least not without us!"
"What?" Leon looked over to her incredulously. "No, Yuffie, that's not what I-"
"You all go," Aerith spoke up. "Cid and I will stay here and see if we can figure anything else out that might help."
"Aw, geez, the ol' geezer would kill me if he knew I was letting you kids just run head-first into danger like this... " Cid sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "But… I guess it is for a good cause so… go and give that wicked witch what for!"
"Don't worry!" Donald chimed as he led the way out of the house. "We will!"
"'Specially after everything she's done!" Goofy added, just as determined.
"Just make sure not to tattle on us to the old man, will ya?" Axel asked Cid and Aerith. "Don't want him finding out about her super secret forbidden rescue mission. Even if we are more than ready for it."
"I don't know about that…" Leon remarked, shaking his head disapprovingly as he followed Axel out.
"Don't worry," Aerith chuckled. "We won't say a word."
"Woo!" Yuffie cheered, pumping her fist excitedly for the daring adventure ahead of them. "Let's go save Sora!"
"Yeah…" Kairi quietly agreed, her hands held close to her heart as she trailed after the others. All the while letting her heart carry a comforting message she hoped he'd somehow hear. "Hold on, Sora… I'll be there for you soon."
While the room, or cell rather, had initially been cold and silent, it was anything but those things now. The walls still did put off an unnaturally frigid chill, though Sora hardly felt it as he'd instead worked up a steady sweat, his strained, sharp shouts filling in for what would have otherwise been complete and utter quiet. Still, for what seemed like the hundredth time now, he lunged forward, pulling as hard against the chains trying to hold him back as he could in the hopes that they'd somehow break, or at the very least waver. He'd been at it for hours now, or at least he assumed it had been hours since there was basically no way of telling how much time had passed in the completely enclosed cell he was trapped in. A cell that he had every intention of escaping, even if that was a feat that was quickly turning out to be more difficult than he had originally anticipated.
Despite his determined efforts, Sora had relatively little to show for his nearly nonstop resistance against his bonds. If anything, he'd only managed to approach growing exhaustion rather than escape, his breathing haggard and heavy as his bones and muscles alike ached from the immense strain he was putting them under. Yet even worse were his wrists, which, underneath both the shackles and his gloves, had been worn down by his incessant pulling to the point that they were raw, perhaps even to a dangerous degree if the sparse drops of blood that had startled trickling down his hands were any indication. Still, he didn't stop, he couldn't stop, not as long as there was the smallest chance that this plan, however ineffectual it was proving to be so far, could actually work, and in the process, grant him the freedom he knew he needed to reclaim before it was too late.
Yet even so, the chains still managed to pull him back once again, just as they always managed to do, sending him falling painfully back to the ground. Sora let out a tired sigh as he allowed himself a moment's rest to lie on the stone ground, allowing its chilled surface to cool him down. He'd been in plenty of tight spots before-something he'd always assumed came with the territory of being a Keyblade wielder-but scarcely could he recall being in a situation as frustratingly hard to get out of as this. Despite his doubts that Maleficent's plans for him would succeed, clearly she had still covered most, if not all of her bases with this scheme, or at the very least with how she was keeping him restrained. Without his Keyblade, he felt not just defenseless, but powerless, with no clear, guaranteed way of setting himself free. Unless…
Sora forced the thought out of his mind nearly the moment it entered it. Even if he did know how to intentionally tap into that immense, powerful pall of darkness buried deep inside his heart, he ultimately knew he couldn't. Because if he did, then he'd be giving Maleficent exactly what she wanted. Something that, for as much as he hated being bound and captive and trapped like this, he simply refused to do.
So instead, he picked himself up off the floor once again, tugging against the chains and ignoring the protest his agonized wrists gave him. He was more than prepared to keep this relentless struggle going, even if the chances of it working were turning out to be quite low. Yet he did put his attempt on pause as the stone wall in front of him suddenly began to rumble, and, even stranger, pull itself apart, revealing the cell wasn't as completely impenetrable as it seemed. The wall parted to create a sizable gap, and through that gap stepped in not Maleficent as Sora had initially suspected, but her head henchman instead.
"Ugh, Pete? Really?" Sora scoffed, annoyed as he scowled up at him. "As if this couldn't get any worse. What do you want?"
"Hey now! I'd watch all that sass if I were you, kid!" Pete warned as the wall closed itself back up behind him. "I'll have you know Maleficent herself asked me to come in here and stand guard over you, 'ta make sure ya ain't gettin' up to any sneak tricks that might end with you escapin'. Somebody's gotta make sure her super important plans don't fall through, and I'm the only one she trusts enough to do it!"
"Yeah, right," Sora dryly called his bluff. "More like she probably ordered you to do it."
"Wha-huh? How'd you know-oh, w-what do you know anyway?!" Pete huffed bitterly. "Point is, you'd better not try anything on my watch, kid. Or else!"
"Or else what?" Sora asked boredly. "You'll run off and tell Maleficent? Oh man, now you've really got me scared. Please, have 'mercy' on me. I'm begging you."
This sarcastic, insincere plea only served to set Pete off even more as he stomped a heavy foot down to silence the small, sardonic laugh Sora let out after it. "Can it, kid!" he yelled, shaking a threatening fist. "I don't think you know just how serious this whole thing really is, do ya?"
"I don't think you do either," Sora countered, a bit more serious this time. "Do you even know what she's planning on doing in the first place?"
"Course I do!" Pete proudly proclaimed. "She wants to take control of your Heartless. Er, uh… turn ya into a Heartless? ...Look, I don't know all of the fancy 'specifications, but what I do know is that we're goin' through a whole lotta trouble to make it happen, and we ain't about to let you ruin it for us!"
"It's not like I really can anyway…" Sora muttered to himself, throwing another frustrated glare back at the chains behind him. "But even if her plan does work, which it won't, what then?" he asked Pete, hoping to glean at least a bit more information about exactly what Maleficent's endgame was. "Does she think she'll 'win' if she forces me to be her obedient little Heartless and that'll just be the end of it?"
"Ha! Not even close," Pete shook his head obliviously. "Once we get you to join the winnin' team, Maleficent says you're gonna be our ticket to conquering a whole mess of worlds! Best part of it is, you've got friends in so many different places, and most of them friends would never even think about fighting back against ya if you came to their worlds causing all sorts of trouble. It's a pretty genius plan, iffin I do say so myself."
"More like a pretty rotten plan…" Sora retorted coldly. "So you and Maleficent are just gonna go to a bunch of different worlds, force me to do your dirty work for you, hurt a whole lot of innocent people, and you're just… ok with that?"
"Sure am!" Pete readily nodded. "'Specially if it means folks will finally start showin' me the respect I deserve!"
Upon hearing this, Sora found himself struck with a sudden idea, one that only seemed to solidify even more in his mind as he stole yet another glance down at the shackles on his wrist. True, it was a bit manipulative, but if he had more or less been manipulated into this terrible situation to begin with, then he saw no reason why he couldn't manipulate his way out of it as well. "...I think you mean people will show Maleficent respect instead," he began, coyly yet carefully. True, Pete wasn't that bright to begin with, but the last thing Sora wanted to do was ruin this ploy before it even had a chance to get off the ground.
"Wha-huh?" the henchman balked incredulously. "Uh, no, they'll be showin' me plenty of respect too! I am her right-hand-man after all."
"Yeah, but that's just it," Sora said with a knowing shrug. "You're just her right-hand. If she goes out and takes over a world, then she's the one that everyone in that world is going to listen to, not you. Face it, Pete; as long as you work for Maleficent, then you'll always be playing second-fiddle to her."
"S-second-fiddle!?" Pete gawked, genuinely offended by the thought. "I don't think so! You don't have any idea 'bout what you're talkin' about, kid, 'cause I can guarantee ya that I'm as big a deal as they come!"
"That's not what I've heard," Sora countered evenly, reclining back a bit on his spot on the floor. "You know, Donald and Goofy told me how you got banished from Disney Town all those years back. Sounds to me like you were just trying to get people to like you, but… you were just going about it the wrong way."
The mention of this bygone point of shame seemed to strike a chord with Pete as his steady bravado began to crumble somewhat. "O-oh yeah? Then what's the right way, Mr. 'I-Make-Friends-With-Everyone-Everywhere-I-Go'?"
"Well, not trying to take over entire worlds is a good place to start," Sora noted rather bluntly. "But if you really want more people to respect you, a great way to do that is by setting anything you've done wrong right. Like, oh, I dunno… maybe… setting someone you helped capture free?"
"Oh? Oh!" Pete scowled, catching on far faster than Sora had anticipated. "Nice try, kid! Ya nearly pulled the wool over my eyes there with all that gushy, feely talk but I'm not the kinda sucker who falls for that kinda mush! There ain't no way I'm lettin you off the hook that easily."
"Really?" Sora asked as calmly as he could. "Not even if I could make it worth your while?"
"Hm?" Pete crossed his arms, admittedly intrigued. "And how's that?"
"I'm close friends with the king, remember?" Sora pointed out. "And if you let me go, then I might be able to put in a good word for you with him. Who knows? Maybe he'll even lift your banishment! You could finally go back home!"
"...Home, huh?" Pete perked up, seeming to consider the idea for a moment before he stubbornly shook his head. "Tch, and what makes you think I even wanna go back to that backwoods berg of a world in the first place?"
"Well, it is where you're from, right? I can't imagine somebody not wanting to go back to where they came from at least once. Plus, it'd be a good way for you to start all over there, earn people's respect the right way by being a friend instead of a conqueror."
"Mm… well… maybe…" Pete mused, genuinely considering the idea, though it was clear he was still rather apprehensive about it. "B-but how do I know you're not just yankin' my chain so I'll let you outta yours?!"
"Because that's another thing friends do," Sora said with an assuring, honest smile. "They keep their promises. Which, by the way, is another sure-fire way to earn someone's respect, in case you were wondering."
For what seemed like ages, the henchman said nothing, pondering over his options with a clear, conflicted expression. Sora let him do so, hoping that, for his part, he'd done a well enough job of convincing Pete to, if nothing else, abandon Maleficent's malicious plan at the very least. And it seemed as though that was starting to become the case as Pete let out a small, wavering, but anxious sigh. "I-if Maleficent finds out, she's gonna-"
"Maleficent doesn't need to know," Sora interjected firmly. "All you need to do is let me out of these chains and open that wall back up for me, and then I can take care of the rest. And if she does find out, then just tell her I found a way to escape on my own. It's that easy."
"Easy? Easy for you to say," Pete scoffed. "You got no idea how much I'll be puttin' on the line here for you if I do this, kid."
"Believe me, I do," Sora said, his tone sincere and understanding. "But if you really do help me out of this, then I won't forget that you did. I promise."
By this point, Pete was somewhere between fuming and caving complete, especially as he stole an anxious glance back at the wall he'd entered the cell through. Almost as if he was afraid that Maleficent would also walk through it to hear this exchange and severely chew him out for even indulging the thought of letting their captive simply run free. Or rather, her captive, as Pete had never really been the biggest fan of Maleficent's bid to take Sora hostage in the first place. While frustrating and rife with countless dead ends, their search for the black box had, at the very least, been simple enough with a clear prize in mind, even if it was a prize neither of them really knew that much about. But ever since Maleficent had turned her sights away from the box and toward Sora instead, things had gotten so complicated, or at least they were in Pete's eyes. Because now here they were, actively attacking foes that they usually just taunted, capturing enemies they would have typically just threatened. It was all so strange, so unlike what they normally got up to, to the point that Pete wasn't entirely sure how he felt about any of it. And that general uneasiness, paired with the admittedly hopeful promises Sora was offering him for a chance at genuine respect he'd craved for so long now, finally proved to be enough to get the henchman to relent. Albeit quite begrudgingly all the same. "Augh! Fine!" he snapped, frustrated, even as he fished a key ring out of his pocket. "But just as long as you hightail it outta here as quick as you can without causing any sort of stir Maleficent might find out about. Got it?"
"Don't worry," Sora readily agreed, holding back a sigh of relief as Pete moved to unlock the base of the chains. "I don't have any plans on sticking around any longer than I need to."
"Yeah, yeah," the henchman sullenly grumbled as he unlatched the chains from the floor. "You'd better watch yourself once you get out of here though; Maleficent has this whole place crawlin' with Heartless."
"Well, they shouldn't be that much of a problem," Sora did end up letting that allayed sigh out as he finally, properly stood for the first time in what felt like ages, though all the while, his wrists were still weighed down by the heavy shackles and the disconnected chains still hanging from them. "Um… What about these?" he held his bound wrists up to Pete.
The henchman frowned as he checked over his key right-which only had one key on it to begin with-before looking down to the pair of shackles that, in turn, had no lock to speak of on either of them. "Er… I dunno nothin' about those. Maleficent must've magicked 'em up herself."
"Of course she did…" Sora groaned, exasperated. Especially since the shackles staying meant that his Keyblade was still off-limits, a handicap he hadn't anticipated but would clearly have to endure for just a bit longer. Even so, he was ready to make that handicap less of a hindrance all the same as he wrapped the chains around the shackles in the hopes of making them just a bit less cumbersome. "I guess I'll just have to make do then… Still, thank you, Pete."
"Hey, what'd I say about all that gushy talk!?" Pete huffed, feigning annoyance.
"I know, but I mean it," Sora said with an earnest smile. "And I meant what I said earlier too. I do appreciate this and I really owe you for it."
"Yeah, well you'll never get to make it up to me if ya don't shut your yap and get outta here already!" Pete fussed, pressing one of the stone bricks on the far wall to get it to slide open, revealing the only real way out. "What, do ya want Maleficent to catch us right here and now and throttle us both?!"
"Well, I don't know about you, but she'd have to catch me first," Sora let out a spirited chuckle as he hurried through the opening wall, though not before offering the henchman another genuinely cordial wave on the way out. "Thanks again!"
Pete only barely resisted the urge to return that wave as he watched Sora begin his escape, shaking his head as he spared a good bit of worry for the boy's fate as well as his own. "Darn kid…" he sighed apprehensively. Yet at the same time, he couldn't help but feel the strangest sense of satisfaction too; satisfaction over a wrong that was about to be set right. Or, at least he hoped it was. "He's gonna get himself killed out there."
"Now, now, Pete. I wouldn't be too terribly concerned with his well being if I were you. Especially since I still need him alive..."
Pete froze up the moment he heard Maleficent's voice chiming into the room, nearly falling flat on his face as he spun around to watch her step out of a dark corridor right behind him. "M-Maleficent!" he stammered, immediately panicking. "I-I wasn't-I didn't-ya see what happened was the kid, h-he just-"
"Still your tongue, you bumbling fool," Maleficent cut him off, her tone surprisingly calm and cool. For a moment, she said nothing as she stepped forward, regarding the spot where Sora had just been chained up moments ago with an unreadable gaze before she spoke just as aloofly. "Under normal circumstances, I would find myself being quite… outraged over the mere thought of you simply letting our special 'guest' run free. But these aren't normal circumstances, which is exactly why I tasked you with guarding the boy in particular, Pete."
"Wha… what are you talkin' about?" Pete dared to nervously ask.
There was a hint of a scowl on Maleficent's face this time around as she turned to face him. "Only you would be utterly dull enough to let yourself be so easily duped by a mere child. But fortunately for you, your bout of… feeble sympathy factors perfectly into my plans…"
"Wait, wait, wait," Pete shook his head, still not following. "Y-you're tellin' me you wanted me to let the kid go? After all the trouble it took to get him here in the first place?"
"Precisely," the dark fairy nodded, evenly.
"Uh… but why?"
Maleficent's lips finally curled into a sinister grin as she hovered her hand over her staff, conjuring up an image of Sora as he began rushing down the castle halls, looking for some way to truly escape. "It's as I said before: the way to getting the Heartless I desire is a simple one. All I need to do is engulf his heart in the deepest darkness and despair and the rest is sure to follow."
"And… lettin' him go is gonna do that… how?" Pete asked with growing worry as he looked not to Maleficent but to the show of constant surveillance she was keeping on Sora instead.
"By loosening the leash," Maleficent began to explain, using her magic to create another illusion of Sora entirely. One that steadily began to dim and darken as shadows began to flood out from his heart, even as he seemingly continued running away. "Giving him a sense of false hope. Allowing him the tiniest taste of the freedom he so desperately craves. And then…" The dark fairy suddenly snapped her open hand into a tight fist, and along with it, the fake Sora was abruptly consumed by darkness altogether, letting out a pained scream that Pete fretfully flinched along with the moment he heard it. And as that scream died out, all that remained was a sinister, shadowy creature, barely even human and ready to devastate and destroy on nothing more than an instinctual whim. "Then ripping that freedom and every single last ounce of hope he's ever had away from completely. Then, and only then," she smirked cruelty, waving her hand over the creature she'd conjured, watching with sadistic delight as his golden eyes turned green and he bowed low in unquestionable reverence to her and her alone. "Will I finally have the 'pet' that will be the key to helping us conquer this world… and so many more…"
Sora had never realized just how much he relied on his Keyblade until now.
Because here he was, running, or rather sneaking, through some unknown labyrinth, completely unarmed without his usual trusty weapon. To make matters worse, true to Pete's word, the place was crawling with Heartless at nearly every turn as they absently meandered about the winding corridors. Sora had nearly ran straight into one such group of creatures almost as soon as he was let out of the cell, the dull rattle of the chains wrapped around his wrists perking their attention but fortunately not giving him away entirely as he slipped out of their sight by way of an adjacent hallway. Still, the risky moment had offered him a valuable lesson: if he truly wanted to escape, then he'd have to rely on something other than his Keyblade to help him do it.
That something was namely stealth, a skill that Sora couldn't exactly claim to be great at, though he had dabbled in it from time to time in the past. And yet this time around, staying stealthy was already proving to be a much more difficult challenge. Without his Keyblade he had basically nothing to fall back on if he was caught, other than running as fast as he possibly could in the hopes that he could simply get away. But even aside from that was the mazelike series of passageways and corridors that seemed to lead absolutely nowhere in particular, a maze that he was all too quickly starting to get lost in the longer he wandered it dark, unchanging halls. And to top it all off were the shackles, still weighing heavily on his worn wrists, weighted down even more by the chains wrapped around them. The potential for those chains to make substantial, damming noise for the Heartless to hear had already forced Sora to slow his progress quite a bit, but even beyond that, they were bulky and burdensome, to the point that even lifting his arms at all was starting to become a tiring task. With all these factors combined, it was easy to see that the odds were stacked heavily against him in this escape attempt in just about every way. And yet, Sora was determined not to let those sour odds stop him, especially not when he was bounding closer and closer to freedom with every step he took.
He did stop short, however, upon passing by what had to be the first window he'd spotted thus far. The mere glimpse of the outside world alone was like a miracle in and of itself, much less a glimpse of bright, clear daylight. And though it was a bit of a risk, Sora still took the opportunity to take a glance out that window in the hopes of getting more context as to exactly where Maleficent had been holding him captive in the first place.
"Wait…" Sora said to himself, almost immediately recognizing the wide, desolate valley that lay far and wide below wherever he was currently looking upon it from. And even more than that, he recognized the towering city that lay on the distant end of that valley, one that he'd been to many times before. "Is that… Radiant Garden?!" He couldn't help but let out a small, incredulous laugh as he pulled away from the window, relief bubbling up inside his chest as it pushed him onward once more.
Really, he couldn't have asked for better luck when it came to the world Maleficent had secreted him away to. Because as soon as he got out of whatever unknown structure he was currently making his way through, Sora was confident that the rest would be ridiculously easy. All he'd have to do is make it to the city, show up at Merlin's house and, with some help from the wizard as well as the Restoration Committee, contacting Donald and Goofy to reunite with them would be a breeze. And from there, their search for the Keys could just as easily continue, as if it had never been interrupted in the first place. True, they'd still have both Maleficent and the Organization to contend with, but from now on, Sora was intent on making it his mission to be ready for them, to prevent anything like this from ever happening again.
As high as his spirits now were, however, his escape attempt was nearly halted entirely as he prepared to round the next corner into another long corridor. However, he skidded to a quick stop upon spotting a cluster of Heartless gathered at the far end of that hall, though Sora found exactly what they were all clustered before far more interesting. It was a door, the first he'd really seen thus far, large and important-looking enough that certainly it had to lead to some way out, and as far as he was concerned, it was a way he was going to take. He just had to figure out how to get past the multitude of Heartless guarding it.
Sora tucked away behind the corner once more, giving himself a moment to think. His lack of a Keyblade aside, he didn't have too much at his disposal to work with here, save for the chains and shackles around his wrists. Yet as he looked to those hard, durable, metal shackles, he finally did manage to come up with a way to turn them into some form of help rather than a hindrance for the first time since all of this had begun.
After loosening the chains so they hung free from the shackles once more, Sora boldly stepped out into the open, catching the Heartless' attention with a high, loud whistle. All of the creatures immediately whirled around to face him, and in a similar way, they wasted no time all rushing for him at once. On instinct, he tried summoning his Keyblade one final time, but upon getting no results, he decided to venture on with his original impromptu plan. The moment the first Heartless rushed into his range, he lashed out, widely swinging a fist toward it while intentionally keeping his aim a bit off in the process. Sure enough, his hand didn't connect with the winged creature, but shackle did, brutally beating into it to the point that it was easily knocked aside altogether. The sharp blow did strike a painful sting through his withered wrist, but Sora forced himself to ignore it as he pulled the chains back in toward him to make his next move.
While the string of chains wasn't very long, he still found a good use for them as he tossed them at the next Heartless in his path. The smaller monster easily wavered under their weight allowing him to sprint onward, even as more Heartless eagerly awaited to get the jump on him. He didn't give them much of a chance however, between his continued barrage of physical attacks. None of them actually took out any of the Heartless entirely-he could only effectively do that with his Keyblade on hand-but the unexpected blows did stun the dull creatures enough to push them out of his way as he bolted toward the door as fast as he could. The Heartless got in plenty of swipes and swings of their own , but none of them were severe enough to slow Sora down too much, especially as every step took him closer to the door, closer to escape, closer to freedom and closer to his friends.
Which was why, even as the Heartless continued to relentlessly pursue him, Sora didn't hesitate to throw that door wide open the instant he reached it. Likewise, he didn't think twice about rushing through it, throwing his weight against it to shove it shut behind him to keep the Heartless from pursuing him any further. In the brief moment of newfound peace that followed, he allowed himself a moment to catch his lost breath, though as soon as he glanced up to see what awaited him beyond the door, he instantly lost it again.
"Ah, so you've finally arrived," Maleficent held a steady, confident grin as she greeted Sora smoothly. "And here I was starting to wonder if perhaps you'd gotten lost. But here you are, just in time, right back where you first started."
Sora started the moment he realized she was right; because sitting right there in the center of the square stone corridor, one that was filled with an all-too-familiar kind of cold, was the base his chains had once been bound to. He had gone in a perfect circle, and in doing so, had fallen exactly into a trap he hadn't even seen coming. "N-no," he choked, his eyes wide with alarm as he quickly turned back toward the door. Yet the moment his hand so much as skimmed it, it completely disappeared, his only real chance at escaping, at freedom, disappearing right along with it.
"Yes," Maleficent countered, her staff appearing in her hands as she took a step forward. "I have to admit, I'm quite impressed with you, Sora. You've managed to make it make it quite far, all without your Keyblade and without relying on the darkness, even when it would have been far easier for you if you had. But despite your resourceful efforts, I'm afraid to say that your little escape attempt ends here."
"No, it doesn't," Sora said rigidly, holding his arms up defensively, his hands curled into tight, ready fists. "Let me out or else."
"Really?" Maleficent raised an eyebrow. "I would think you're in absolutely no position to make threats. You have no weapon, no magic, no friends to stand by your side. And without any of those, what really can you hope to accomplish on your own?"
"You're wrong. I may not be able to use my Keyblade or any magic," Sora admitted, his stern manner not diminishing, even though his back was quite literally up against the wall. "But my friends are always with me, inside my heart. And as long as they are, I don't care what you try to do to me, I will never, ever give up!"
Maleficent's otherwise calm expression turned cold and cross at this, her grip on her staff tightening ever so slightly. Even so, she held her temper, staying her course as she met her captive's courageous resolve just as evenly. "We'll just see about that…"
She swiftly raised her staff at this, magic pouring from it to conjure new chains entirely that bursted into existence from the chamber's high ceiling. They aggressively whipped their way toward Sora and before he even had a chance to try and evade them, they sharply connected with the chains already hanging from his wrists. As a result, he was harshly yanked forward and upward to the point that he was now dangling from the ceiling by his wrists, exacerbating the injuries already inflicted on them even more. Still, he bit back a sudden cry of pain, forcing himself to remain unshaken even as the tables were turned dramatically against him.
"What a pity," Maleficent mused as she stepped up to him. Even though they were now basically at eye-level with each other, she still perched a cold hand under his chin, forcing him to meet her icy gaze, despite his resilient attempt to resist her. "This could have gone so much easier if not for your impertinent stubbornness. I even gave you an opportunity, clear as day, to tap into that rich, powerful darkness locked deep within you. And yet, you took that opportunity… and turned it into a disappointment instead."
"Well, maybe I would be sorry about that," Sora deadpanned crossly as he offered her a relentless glare. "If I even knew how to do it in the first place. I've never done that on purpose before and believe me, it's not something I ever would do on purpose, especially not for you."
"Oh? Well, that's certainly some interesting news to hear…" Maleficent mused, fascinated. "But if you really are having trouble unleashing that power, then maybe all you need is a gentle… push in the right direction…"
She raised her staff once again, slowly this time as bright green magic bloomed around its orb. Her sadistic grin only deepened as she began to draw it in toward Sora, who, even from a distance, could feel the immense, raw, devastating power approaching him. And with no other way to really escape that power himself, he instead put forth the very last-ditch effort he could think of to try and keep it from reaching him. "W-wait," Sora spoke up and sure enough Maleficent stilled her hand, though her staff was still hovering dangerously close to him. "Maleficent, you don't have to do this. What you're after-conquering worlds or whatever else you want-it can't be worth all this, can it?"
His earnest appeal was merely met with a disgusted scoff. "Please, spare me your dull rhetoric," Maleficent rolled her eyes, bored. "Pete may have been painfully simple enough to fall for such a pathetic ploy, but such meager attempts at begging for mercy won't work on me. I know exactly what I want, and… I know exactly how I'm going to obtain it…"
Before Sora even had so much as a chance to get another word of protest out, the staff suddenly touched him, its blindingly emerald orb pressed surprisingly lightly against the center of his chest as Maleficent forced its unknown magic into him. The effect was immediate, as pain, stark and severe in every single sense, tightly clenched his heart in less than an instant, refusing to let its brutal grip go as it quickly began to spread out from there. White, hot agony washed over him like a massive wave as that mysterious, powerful magic flooded through every single part of his body, swelling in an even higher tide of unimaginable anguish. When Maleficent finally did pull her scepter away what felt like ages later, Sora involuntarily lurched forward in his chains, unable to do much else, including let out the heavy cry of pain that refused to let itself be heard just as his body refused to move on his own accord whatsoever. If anything, he seemed to be completely paralyzed, his head lolling forward as that horrific magic-propelled pain continued spiraling ever deeper, twisting its way into his very blood like the poison it so clearly was. That poison made itself known not just internally, but externally too as it illuminated his veins in a haunting green glow, that very same glow tainting even his eyes as it overtook nearly every trace of blue within them. With his voice being all but stolen from him, he practically had to force himself to breathe, though when he did, it came out in short, ragged gasps of air that were never enough as the poison seemed to strangle him on top of everything else. And all the while, that pain just kept coming, continually drowning him and dulling his senses to the point that he could think of nothing else, not even as Maleficent forcefully guided his exhausted, half-lidded gaze up toward her once more.
"Still not enough, I see…" she mused, more to herself than to Sora. She did crack something of a satisfied smile upon taking in her now helpless captive's listless, agonized expression, watching with cruel amusement as tears steadily started building up in his falsely green eyes. "Not enough…" she repeated. "But still, so very close all the same…"
Stop… Sora wanted to say, tried to say, but the desperate plea just wouldn't come out. Instead it remained trapped in his throat, much in the same way that he largely felt trapped inside his own body, completely incapable of so much as moving it even slightly as the poison had sapped any control he once had over it away from him. Though he could still see and hear everything going on around him, he could do nothing to stop Maleficent as she continued to will her malicious magic to painfully pulse through him, no matter how much he wished he could. And as a result, whatever hopes he'd had mere moments ago of an easy escape, or really an escape in general, were all too quickly starting to crumble to pieces all around him. He'd been so close, so close to putting a stop to this nightmare, but in the end, he had only fallen even deeper into it to the point that he wondered if there really was any way out of it at all.
"Don't fret, child," Maleficent eased, her tone falsely sweet and soothing as she patronizingly thumbed one of Sora's stray tears away. "Your suffering will be over soon. And once it is, just think of the incredible strength that you'll possess in its place. Strength that will be put to perfect use… in service to me."
She let out a small, sinister laugh at this, one that only grew louder and more twisted as she called upon her magic again, this time to repeat a similar tactic she'd used before. Thick, thorny vines burst out from the stone ground below Sora, quickly twisting and curling upward as they latched tightly onto his incapacitated body. Their thorns, imbued with pure darkness, tore into his skin, cutting deep as they ravaged his clothes in a similar careless manner. Their presence only amplified the pain caused by the poison to an overwhelming extent, especially as the vines worked their way upward, only stopping as they entwined themselves around his arms and skimmed his neck. Something about them rang familiar in a way Sora couldn't quite place at the moment, not that it really mattered to begin with. Because all the while, he still couldn't fight them, still couldn't resist as they began to submerge him in a haze of growing shadows pervading his mind, a haze that was urging him to let it overtake him entirely. And as it did, the only thing he could do was silently beg for a release he wouldn't see, for mercy he wouldn't receive, for freedom he wouldn't get.
And yet, for as hopeless as it all seemed, as high as the likelihood of losing himself to the pull the darkness was eagerly starting to take on him was, some small voice ringing out from deep inside him was saying something else entirely. A voice he knew, one that gave his hurting, weakening heart a much-needed sense of peace and comfort as it offered him a promise he desperately needed at a moment like this:
"Hold on, Sora. I'll be there for you soon…"
She'd be there soon, to bring her beautiful, healing light to pierce the wicked shadows starting to close in all around him. The mere thought was enough to encourage him to keep going, to put every last ounce of his waning strength toward simply surviving instead of falling back and allowing the darkness to do that for him. Even if only for the hope of getting to see her one last time before he lost himself altogether.
So if holding on was the only option he had now, then that was exactly what he was going to do. Because as far as he was concerned, if there was anything or anyone worth holding on through all of the pain, all of the torment, and all of the fear, then it would always be her.
The wide valley that lay just outside the outskirts of Radiant Garden had, not too long ago, been the battleground of a fierce conflict against the full force of a massive Heartless threat. Yet even now, over a year after that battle had passed, the dry canyon still echoed with an unsettling sort of silence. Silence that only seemed to grow more ominous as the small group pressed further away from the safety of the shining city and closer toward the unknown dangers of shadowy castle ahead.
Their journey had largely been a solemn one, rife with mutual concern for Sora's wellbeing all around. Donald and Goofy were by far the most vocal in their concern for their companion, largely since they were still quite shaken from watching his capture firsthand. Even so, they still did their best to answer the multitude of questions Leon, Yuffie, and Axel all had about what had happened in the first place, most of which were questions the pair had no real answers to.
For her part, Kairi had plenty of questions about this situation as a whole, but she largely kept them to herself. Instead, she kept her focus on the road ahead, her eyes rarely straying from the castle before them as she felt that familiar, yearning pang tugging at her heart all the while. The fact that it only grew stronger the closer they got to their destination was certainly a testament to the fact that Sora had to be there. But outside of that, that was all Kairi really knew. She couldn't tell exactly where in the castle he was, or what had befallen him, or if he was hurt-the outcome she feared perhaps more than anything else. She had no doubts that Sora could handle himself in a pinch just fine, she'd seen him do so plenty of times in the past. But this felt… different somehow, in a way she couldn't place but the mere feeling alone unnerved her. Something felt off, wrong even, to the point that Kairi wanted nothing more than to rush into that castle and get Sora out of it as soon as possible just to put an end to the anxious uneasiness she'd been feeling all day. Just to make sure that he was finally safe.
"So my question is," Axel began as casually as ever. "Now that Maleficent's got Sora, what does she even want with him in the first place?"
"We… have no idea," Donald admitted fretfully.
"Yeah, she didn't really explain much before she took off with him," Goofy sighed, just as worried for their young companion's fate.
"Maybe this is all just one big revenge scheme?" Yuffie suggested. "You guys have put her in her place more than a few times now, so what if she's doing all this to get back at the three of you?"
"But if that were the case, then she would have gone after all three of them," Leon pointed out. "Not just Sora. She must have singled him out for a reason. But that still begs the question of what that reason is in the first place."
"Well, Maleficent and Pete were lookin' for some sort of black box," Goofy noted. "But then she made it sound like she wasn't anymore when she captured Sora. And even if she was, it doesn't make a whole lotta sense for her to go after him since he doesn't know anything about it."
"Who knows?" Donald countered, a hint of bitter aggravation in his tone. "Maybe he does. It wouldn't be that surprising when you think about all the other secrets he's been keeping from us lately."
"Secrets?" Kairi tuned back into the conversation upon hearing this. "What kind of secrets?"
Donald and Goofy exchanged something of an apprehensive glance at this, both of them knowing that Sora likely wouldn't be too keen on them divulging such secrets to Kairi in particular. And yet, given the circumstances, they were hard pressed not to at this point. "Well, first there was that big scar Young Xehanort landed on his chest that just won't seem to heal for anything," Goofy began.
"Then there's the cracks that started showing up on his Keyblade," Donald added with a small, frustrated huff. "He says he doesn't know where they came from, but he still hid them and that scar from us when he knew about them all along!"
"B-but… why would he do that?" Kairi asked with a worried frown. After all, for as long as she'd known Sora, if there was one thing she knew he never did, it was keep secrets, especially not ones this significant and especially not from his friends.
"We… don't really know…" Goofy admitted as Donald let out an equally fretful sigh.
Kairi said nothing else in response to this as she instead turned her sights toward the castle before them. "Sora…" she whispered softly, worry starting to brim inside her heart just as much as confusion was. To her, it made no sense that he'd try to hide things that were as deeply troubling as an unhealable scar or a cracked Keyblade, even if she had no idea what either of those things really meant. But needless to say that the moment they found him, she'd have an abundance of questions for him, questions that she wouldn't let go unanswered as his companions might have before.
And yet, those questions all immediately fell to the wayside as a sudden, sharp burst of agony that spiked directly at her heart. She let out an equally pained cry to go along with it, one that echoed through the canyon and instantly caught the attention of the others as they all turned to see her grasping at her heart as she began to collapse to her knees. Before she could completely fall, however, Axel was quick to rush in to catch her, allowing her to lean against him as she tried to regather her bearings amidst the brutal pain still gnawing at her heart. "Kairi, what happened?" Axel asked her, his tone both intent and rife with concern. "What's wrong?"
"I-I… i-it's Sora," Kairi choked out, not even needing a moment to think twice. After all, the anguish gripping her heart had come with something else entirely: his already palpable cry for help turning into an immense, desperate plea. A plea for freedom that, for whatever reason, he was now powerless to try to reclaim on his own. "S-something's wrong, I don't know what, b-but… I…" she hesitated, shuddering at the thought the moment it came to her, even as the pain slowly started to die down on her end. Though she was still certain it was doing anything but on Sora's. "I think something h-horrible is happening to him…"
"W-what?!" Goofy gasped, alarmed.
"Sora!" Donald shouted, readily turning back toward the castle.
"If that's true, then we don't have any time to waste," Leon said sternly. "Lea, take Kairi back to town. We'll-"
"N-no!" Kairi protested, pushing herself out of Axel's arms as she forced herself to stand upright once more. "I'm not going back! Especially not when we're this close. Sora wouldn't turn back if I were in trouble which means I'm not turning back now that he's in trouble!"
"Are you sure?" Yuffie asked with a worried frown. "If you're not feeling up for it, then there's no shame in heading back. I'm sure Sora would understand."
"No, I'm positive," Kairi nodded, resolved. Briefly, she glanced back at Axel for support, which, even despite his clear concern for her, he ultimately provided all the same.
"Hey, I'm with her," Axel shrugged with an easy smile. "Plus, walking all the way back with nothing to show for it? Gotta say, I'm not a fan of that idea."
"We're wasting time!" Donald snapped impatiently. "Sora needs our help now!"
"Which means we gotta go!" Goofy added just as urgently as he followed the magician in running on ahead.
None of the others could really argue as they all quickly did the same, not taking any more time for further deliberations. Especially since there didn't seem to be much time to waste at all now. Even if Kairi didn't really know what was happening to Sora, there was no question that it was something awful if the brief but persistent waves of pain still striking at her heart seemingly every other minute were any indication. She could tell that it was probably only a fraction of what he was actually going through, and as a result, she couldn't help but wonder just how long he'd be able to last against it. True, she knew Sora was strong in more ways than one, but when submerged in a sea of such endless agony, how strong could anyone really hope to be?
Yet even despite that, the connection between their hearts still remained, still bound them together and told her that he was still there. He was still alive, still surviving through it all, even if that survival had to be an immense struggle in and of itself between whatever suffering he was currently enduring. Which was why Kairi was determined, intent on ending that suffering, to do whatever it took to save Sora, just as he'd saved her before.
It was a favor she'd been meaning to return for quite some time; and now, she would settle for nothing less than doing exactly that.
"Uh… Maleficent? Y-you sure this is such a good idea?" Pete asked nervously as he hung back near the edge of the chamber. Maleficent impatiently paced around before him, or rather, before Sora, who was still heavily bound by both chains and vines alike. Likewise, he was still completely subdued as the poison continued to take a heavy toll on him, his veins still unnaturally glowing green to match the mass of vines keeping him in thrall. Despite his resolve to resist and survive, there was still little he could do to stop the poison from pervading his senses, largely stealing his sight and his hearing in the same way it'd taken his voice. As barely conscious as he currently was, the most he was even aware of were the slightest of sensations, dull noises and blurry glimpses of what was really happening around him, none of which really registered given how exhausted he was. Despite that exhaustion, the amount of seemingly endless pain still constantly flowing through him was still crystal clear, driving him to the edge of relinquishing himself to it with each passing moment just to finally get it to end. And yet, no matter how close he came to doing just that, he still refused to all the same.
"Quiet, you imbecile," Maleficent finally snapped at her henchman. "I have no time for your simpleminded sympathy. May I remind you that had such idiotic notions not factored into my plans, your bumbling incompitence might have ruined them completely?"
"Er... y-yeah, but…" Pete hesitated, casting another admittedly worried glance over at Sora. "A-are ya sure the kid's even still alive back there? He's lookin' a little… well, dead to me."
"Of course he's not dead, fool," Maleficent scowled, even if her captive did certainly look like he was. Amidst the poison and the vines doing their wicked work, his skin had paled dramatically, taking on an ashy pallor that was tinged with a sickly shade of green thanks to the glow of his veins. But even more than that, his body was completely still, unable to move whatsoever as his once-heavy breathing had quieted to the point that it was barely even audible anymore. Even his eyes, still shining an unearthly kind of emerald, were only slightly open, though they really didn't see much of anything as the vines kept his head tilted slightly upward all the while. "You know just as well as I do that killing him was never my intention to begin with," Maleficent continued coldly. "After all, if he dies, then my carefully-laid plans die right along with him, which is something I simply refuse to allow."
"Then… do ya really think we need to do… all this?" Pete ventured carefully, knowing he was practically walking on eggshells with Maleficent as it was. "I mean, it's not like anybody knows he's even here. We got all the time in the world to kill! So… isn't just keepin' him locked up nice 'n tight enough to get the job done?"
"Clearly, it's not," Maleficent said flatly as she turned back to Sora, sending him hateful glare. "This method is bound to yield the results I want sooner or later. And if it doesn't… then I suppose we'll just have to resort to other methods instead…"
"Your method is hardly the problem. Your execution on the other hand, could use some work…"
Maleficent and Pete both started, genuinely surprised as a dark corridor suddenly opened up on the far side of the chamber. And out of that darkness stepped none other than Master Xehanort himself.
"You!" Maleficent exclaimed, immediately recognizing the elderly master from an encounter years ago. And given what she knew of him and his intent, she quickly raised her guard, eyeing him distrustfully as he slowly stepped forward. "What business have you here?"
"Worry not, my 'business' will be brief," Xehanort assured, casting only a cursory glance at Maleficent in favor of focusing more on Sora instead. "I've simply come to check on my newest vessel."
"You… your vessel?" Maleficent burst into a bout of incredulous laughter at this, clearly not taking his bold statement seriously. "You must be mistaken. You see, the boy is already well on his way to becoming mine."
Xehanort said nothing to this as he instead came to a stop right in front of Sora, who was more or less completely oblivious to his presence, even as he slid a careful finger under his chin to properly inspect him. And yet, the moment the elderly master so much as touched him, Sora managed to let out a small, weak whine of pain, pain that stabbed at his heart in particular like a sharp, deadly knife. "Perhaps he would be," Xehanort said to Maleficent, still keeping his sights set on Sora as a satisfied smirk crossed his face. "If I hadn't laid claim to his heart first."
"Oh really?" Maleficent scoffed. "I find that hard to believe, especially since he's still just as frustratingly rebellious as he's ever been, even now when he's this close to falling apart at the seams. He's hardly the epitome of subservient obedience to anyone, including you."
"Ah, that's because unlike you, I've chosen to take my time with the boy," Xehanort said, glancing back at her coolly. "I've always found that patience yields the best results, particularly when it comes to securing the necessary pawns in a well-crafted plan. But I can guarantee you that my plan has already been in motion for quite some time now, and when it does at last reach its completion…" He paused, turning back to Sora once again. "Then I'll have both the final vessel I require, and the key to open the door to so much more beyond that…"
"Not if my plan succeeds first, you won't!" Maleficent seethed bitterly. "I've put far too much time and effort into my ambitions to watch them all fall apart because of the likes of you. You may think you have him pegged as your 'vessel', but mark my words: before the sun sets on this very day, I will make sure that he will become my loyal Heartless instead!"
Surprisingly, the elderly master merely kept his calm grin as he nodded approvingly at this. "Yes, I would very much like to see you do exactly that," he mused almost knowingly, only briefly glancing away from Sora and back at Maleficent instead. "After all, we both want the boy for largely the same purpose: to use him as a weapon. The only difference lies in what kind of weapon each of us wishes to turn him into."
Maleficent narrowed her eyes suspiciously, still trying to figure out exactly what Xehanort's intentions here were to begin with. "What are you talking about? What kind of a weapon are you-"
"Now, now, it's nothing you need to concern yourself with," Xehanort interjected. "After all, you seem to be quite preoccupied with your own ambitions, which is why I won't trouble you any further. Though before I go… a word of advice. You may have already restrained his body and overwhelmed his mind, but if you really wish to force him out of the light, then you need to plunge his heart into darkness above all else."
"His heart…?" Maleficent questioned, admittedly curious.
"Allow me to demonstrate." With this, Xehanort lifted his hand, flexing his fingers as dark energy began to swirl around them. That very same darkness quickly enveloped Sora, surrounding him like a heavy shroud as it flooded out from his very own heart. It was enough to draw a heavy cry of anguish out of him, finally breaking his involuntary silence as his body jolted back against both the vines and the chains. His eyes shot wide open but still they saw nothing as the green that had taken over them was soon conquered by an equally bright shade of gold instead. Maleficent and Pete were both quite alarmed as they watched this startling display, unsure of what to do or say as Xehanort continued forcing his oppressive power onto Sora, ignoring his agonized screams all the while. Those screams finally did fall back into silence however, as the elderly master finally stilled his hand, though the haze of his dark power still remained around his proposed vessel all the same.
"W-what… what did you do?!" Maleficent demanded, taking a bold step forward as she sent a fierce glare Xehanort's way.
"I gave you exactly what was needed to help you get what you want," he said vaguely, ominously even as he called upon another dark corridor to take his leave. "You can thank me at your leisure. Oh, and do make sure to take good care of him. As I've said, I'll have need of him as my thirteenth vessel soon enough. But in the meantime, consider him to be all yours…" And with that, the elderly master left without another word, his unknown, sinister goal accomplished, whatever it might have been.
Yet even though Xehanort was gone, Maleficent was hardly satisfied by the encounter. "If that old fool thinks he can come here and take what's rightfully mine, then he-"
"Uh… M-Maleficent?" Pete dared to speak up, flinching in fear as she viciously spun around to face him.
"Whatis it, you idiot?!" she snapped, furious.
"L-look!" he pointed a trembling finger at Sora.
Maleficent swiftly did so, only to be met with a sight that completely caught her by surprise. Sure enough, shadows still hung heavily over Sora, brightened only by the glow poison still painting his veins. And yet something else was starting to obscure even that as a pitch black pall of darkness began crawling up his arms and legs, darkness that was clearly visible even despite the vines still clinging tightly to them. It was slow going, but that tide of shadows was steadily starting to swell over him, a sight that immediately replaced Maleficent's bitter scowl with a twistedly delighted smile the moment she noticed how familiar those shadows were.
"W-what did that ol' coot do to him…?" Pete wondered fretfully, watching with growing fear as the darkness only seemed to cover Sora more and more with each passing second.
"He did just as he said…" Maleficent's wicked smirk deepened as she realized just how incredibly close she was to obtaining the prize she was after. A prize that had all but been guaranteed to her now thanks to the elderly master's mysterious intervention. "He gave us exactly what we needed to get what I desire…"
For as immobile as the poison had forced his body to be, Sora had done his best to put all of his fastly fading energy into making sure his heart wouldn't fall victim to the same fate. After all, it was really the only thing currently keeping him in his right mind, even as it continually wavered on the edge of staying in the light and falling into the darkness beckoning to it. Yet as that darkness continued to wear every fiber of his being down to the point of overwhelming exhaustion, it was starting to become painfully clear that this was a battle he wouldn't be able to win. At least not on his own.
Which was why, as he steadily started to lose that battle, the other hearts deep within his own rose to the occasion to fight that battle in his stead.
Leading this valiant effort was Roxas, who, despite not being able to clearly tell who was accompanying him outside of their vague silhouettes, could still feel their presence alongside him as they joined him in the fight. Standing behind them upon the Station of Awakening was the very person they'd all gathered to protect. Though much like he was in the waking world, Sora was completely out of it thanks to the strain the poison was putting him under, his expression dull and lifeless as he remained still and silent, completely incognizant of the swell of shadows threatening to consume him. Even so, Roxas and his pair of companions were still able to stand strong against those shadows where Sora couldn't, which was exactly what all three of them were determined to do. To return the kindness he'd offered each of them by harboring their hearts inside his own.
"I-I've never seen so much darkness before…" the girl muttered anxiously, her voice always ringing familiar with Roxas in a way he could never quite place. Even so, she was right, as a seemingly endless barrage of shadows swarmed the edges of the Station of Awakening, starting to slowly inch closer to them with each passing second. "What do we do?"
"We'll figure something out," the other boy said, his voice catching Roxas off guard as he remembered just how much it sounded like his own. "We have to. For Sora."
"And for us," Roxas added, knowing that if Sora was dragged into the darkness, then they'd be pulled into that horrific mire right along with him. Into a prison that none of them would be able to escape.
Even so, Roxas was the first of the three to notice the darkness starting to make its first move. It did so from behind them, a sliver of shadows breaking off from the rest of the horde to try and make its way toward Sora, unseen. Roxas put a swift stop to its attempt however as both Oathkeeper and Oblivion flashed into his hands, both of them crashing into the rising shadow hard before it could even come close to touching Sora. The other two were soon met with similar attacks on their ends, and likewise they both used their own respective Keyblades to ward them off as best they could. Even so, the darkness was quick to surge into a full-on barrage, bombarding all three of them with vicious attacks as they all surrounded Sora to defend him against them evenly. For the most part, their line of defense seemed to be working as they blocked just about every strike that came their way. At least until the darkness decided to enact a new tactic altogether.
For suddenly, the shadows stopped, gathering themselves back into a monstrous mass, one that began to aim itself directly at Sora from high above. Still, the trio met that mass evenly, standing firm against it even as grinded aggressively against each of their Keyblades. The standoff soon broke however as the darkness quite literally shoved all three of them aside brutally, intent on getting to its true target above all else. Each of them landed a good distance away from Sora, largely unable to do anything but watch as the shadows geared up to pour down upon him in full force. That is, until one of them rushed in to save him.
"No!" the other boy shouted desperately, disregarding even his Keyblade as he ran toward Sora as fast as he possibly could.
"Wait!" Roxas called to him, knowing the brazen effort wouldn't do any of them any good. And sure enough, it didn't as the brunt of the darkness only managed to slam straight into the other boy instead. He fell back hard onto Sora, knocking him over before bouncing back away from him, landing hard and clearly harmed from taking on the full force of the attack. The girl gasped in alarm, rushing over to check on him just as the shadows began to rescind once again, though what exactly they had planned next was anyone's guess.
For as breathless as he was by the frantic scene, Roxas turned his sights back to Sora, who was now lying still and limp just a few feet away from him. Unsure of what the darkness might do, Roxas still hurried over to him, pulling him up by the shoulders as he lightly shook him in an anxious attempt at rousing him. "Sora! Listen to me!" he urged, trying to find any sign of alertness in his other's empty expression. "You need to wake up! We're doing our best to help you, b-but I don't think we can do it on our own. We need your help. Which is why you have to wake up, Sora. Please…"
Somehow, this earnest plea seemed to reach Sora as he lifted his head ever so slightly, his eyes still muted and unfocused as he still barely managed to look up. "R-Roxas…" he muttered tiredly, so quietly that he was barely even audible at all.
"Y-yes, it's me," Roxas nodded, unable to hold back a ghost of a relieved smile. "Now come on, I need you to-" He starkly stopped, his hands flying away from his other as he let out a sharp, startled gasp. Because suddenly, in the mere blink of an eye, Sora ceased to look like Sora completely… as he looked exactly like Roxas instead.
For his part, the real Roxas quickly stumbled to stand, his eyes wide as he stared down at "Sora", who barely managed to keep himself upright on all fours. Even so, he whispered another name, one that Roxas wasn't able to catch as his appearance shifted once more, still looking very much like his own, only his attire had changed from the Organization's black coat to another outfit entirely. The coat quickly returned however as "Sora" said a third name he still wasn't able to clearly hear, but all of the sudden there she was sitting in his place, the very sight of her pulling almost painfully at Roxas' heart. But all too quickly she was gone and Sora was properly back, though he was still largely lost inside his own head, or rather, his own heart, a troubling sign indeed, especially as the darkness violently roared behind them.
Roxas turned to face it as fearlessly as he could, though his nerve was quickly lost the moment he saw the form it had taken on. Because now the shadows hovered over them in a vaguely humanoid shape, the shape of the very man who had tried taking over Sora's heart before and was clearly here to make the same attempt again. The mass of darkness he was composed of was largely featureless, but its large eyes burned a bright, sinister yellow as its hands poised themselves over the Station of Awakening as sharp, threatening claws.
The sight was horrifying to say the least, but even so, Roxas stood his ground, his companions currently unable to do the same as he resolved himself to fight for them just as much as he was for Sora. And yet, this time around, the darkness seemed to have no interest in rushing right for him as it instead remained in place, only holding its clawed hand forward as it made something of an odd, beckoning gesture.
"W-what…?" Roxas wondered to himself, quite confused until he noticed Sora suddenly walk right past him. His pace was slow and stilted as he silently moved forward, his gaze captivated by the horde of shadows urging him to come to it. To let it take him far away from all of the pain and suffering and grief and let him rest in the sort of peace that only the comfort of darkness could provide. Roxas could practically hear every lie it was promising him, which was why he hurried forward to stop him before he could fall into the trap it was so clearly luring him into.
"Sora! W-wait!" he cried, grabbing his shoulder tightly as he tried to pull him back away from the darkness. Amazingly, Sora did stop, though only long enough to spare Roxas the briefest of glances over his shoulder. And when he did, he was completely caught off guard yet again to find that his other's eyes were nowhere close to the deep, yet warm blue they should have been; instead, they were bitter, cold, and unquestionably yellow.
Though Sora roughly pulled his shoulder out of his grip after this, Roxas still made an attempt at reaching him once more all the same. Yet before he even could, he was suddenly forced to stop completely as something suddenly latched tightly onto his legs and began to pull him down. That something was, of course, the darkness, which had finally started to pool onto the Station of Awakening itself. Likewise, it was already swallowing the other two up just as it was doing to him; and yet, as Roxas looked up to see Sora still walking away, walking toward the source of these shadows themselves, he refused to give up that easily.
"N-no!" he yelled, desperately trying to pull himself out of the shadows before he could fall too deeply into them. Even so, he was still sinking more and more with each passing second, just as Sora was inching ever closer to the darkness all the while. "Sora, stop!"
"Sora, come..." the darkness itself countered smoothly, its voice unintelligible yet audible all the same. "Your heart is on the verge of being torn apart by the untold suffering it's been forced to endure… But that suffering can come to an easy end. The power to put a stop to it all rests with you…"
Roxas panicked as he watched Sora continue toward the shadows as they whispered these false promises to him, luring him in even more with each deceptive word it spoke to him. Through the connection between their hearts, he could feel just how much pain, both physically and mentally, his other was feeling, and just how much he longed, yearned to escape from that pain, to finally be free. Which was exactly why the release the darkness was offering him sounded so very tempting, to the point that Roxas wasn't so sure he'd be able to resist that offer himself if he were in Sora's place.
Still, that didn't mean he wasn't going to let him fall victim to that offer so easily. "Sora, don't listen to it!" Roxas warned, ignoring the fact that he was waist-deep in darkness himself now. "It's lying to you!"
Yet even despite Roxas' persistent attempts at getting through to Sora, the voice of the darkness coaxing him toward it seemed to reach him before that of his distraught Nobody's. "You possess the power, not just to ease your suffering, but to return that suffering to those who brought it to you in full. Your heart has all the strength it needs to ensure that no one will ever cause you any sort of pain ever again…"
Vengeance. The darkness was offering him vengeance, a thought that Roxas himself was quite familiar with, but one that he knew Sora would never have, at least not on his own. And yet he seemed to crave that vengeance now, desired it and the power to enact it almost as much as he longed for freedom. And as he finally stopped at the very edge of the Station of Awakening, he was more than ready to claim that vengeance, just as much as the darkness was ready to claim him in turn.
"All you need to do is let the darkness in… and it will take care of the rest…"
"Sora!" Roxas pleaded, reaching a shaking hand out toward his other, even as the shadows began to swallow both of them up. "Please! Y-you can't just… you…" He trailed off as the shadows sapped his energy, finally pulling him down past the surface into the dark unknown below. The last thing he saw before they did, however, was the darkness slowly starting to drape over Sora, intent on turning him into nothing more than a literal shadow of his true self. And despite their best efforts, there was nothing any of the hearts within his own could do to stop it. "S-Sora…" Roxas whispered mournfully before everything fell into the depths of empty rage and despair. "I… I'm sorry…"
And so, in almost no time at all, darkness engulfed Sora completely from the inside out. Maleficent watched as it happened with sadistic glee, Pete much more fearfully so as he cowered back on the fringes of the cell, especially as their captive took on a much more monstrous form. Even despite the poison, he lurched back violently against the vines, letting out a piercing, anguished cry as his eyes flew open wide, completely empty as their bright golden glow seemed to illuminate the entire chamber. But all the while, the shadows continued sweeping over him until they ultimately snuffed out any trace of light that remained. And the moment did, the rest of his horrific transformation quickly followed.
His fingers sharpened into long, knifelike claws, far more deadly than they'd ever been before, their very tips tinged with a blood-like shade of crimson that clashed against the veil of shadows hanging heavily over the rest of his body. Through the immense strength this dangerous shift allotted him with, those clawed hands easily snapped out the shackles restraining them, his power now far surpassing the magic that had been used to create them in the first place. And as always, his eyes were nothing more than hollow orbs of ominous yellow light, his mouth splitting open into a sharp-fanged maw flooded with the exact same glowing shade as his pained screams turned into a fearsome, inhuman roar.
With his hands now free from their bondage, he wasted no time in tearing through the vines holding the rest of his darkened body back, his claws easily slicing through them until he landed clumsily to the ground on all fours. He quickly perked his head up, however, letting out a harsh, feral growl the moment he realized he wasn't alone. He hunkered down low as his bright eyes offered Maleficent in particular a furious glare, readying himself for a vicious attack as a Keyblade that was every bit as shadowy as he was flashed into his clawed grip. And yet, that attack never came.
For instead, Maleficent met it merely by aiming the tip of her staff directly at him. The scepter was illuminated in a bright green glow, a strange sort of magic that caught Sora's attention instantly, stilling any attempts he might have otherwise made at lashing out. He tilted his head at it, curious to the point of being captivated by it. And as that green glow intensified, soon enough, it managed to entrance him entirely as it overtook the gold of his soulless eyes with the exact same emerald shade.
"Yes…" Maleficent grinned wickedly, her own eyes alight with malicious intent as her twisted plan finally started to reach its completion. "That's right… Your allegiance, your obedience, whatever remains in that empty head and heart of yours… swear it all over to me!"
Her magic burst brightly at this, and as its glow slowly faded back into darkness, Maleficent was met with exactly the results she had been aiming for all along. Because there was Sora, by far her most irksome enemy, now reduced to nothing more than a mere shadow of himself, bowing low in nothing less than complete loyalty to her and her alone.
"Finally…" she said, letting out a small, devious chuckle as she guided his empty, green-eyed gaze up toward her. And all the while, he silently awaited her command, unable to do or think of anything else, his true heart and mind all but buried deep by the fathomless darkness that had consumed him. "At long last, my dear Heartless, you and your incredible power… belong to me…"
By the time the group made it to the base of the abandoned castle, night had fallen, casting the entire perimeter of the building in ominous shadow. That shadow was broken, however, courtesy of Axel using his fiery Keyblade as something of a torch to light the way for the others as they looked around for any sort of way they could slip in. Fortunately, the castle grounds seemed to be bereft of any sort of Heartless on patrol, though the stark silence settled over the area was hardly reassuring.
That silence was soon and sharply broken, however, as Kairi let out a sudden gasp, her eyes wide as her hands flew over her heart. Startled, the others all quickly turned to her, concerned on multiple levels when they all remembered where all of her strange bouts of unexpected shock had been coming from throughout the entire journey.
"Kairi?" Axel ventured first, reaching a tentative hand out toward her though she ignored his attempt at easing her as she shook her head, distraught.
"S-Sora…" she whispered, unable to stop the tears that were already starting to well up in her eyes as a sudden crushing sense of absence began to overwhelm her.
"What's wrong?!" Donald asked urgently.
"D-did something happen to him?" Goofy questioned, deeply concerned.
"I… I don't know…" Kairi answered truthfully, her shaken sights set on the dry ground at her feet. "His heart… I-I… I can't feel it anymore... "
"What?!" Donald and Goofy both exclaimed, rife with worry for their lost companion's unknown fate.
"What do you mean?" Yuffie asked with a confused, fretful frown. "You don't think…?"
"N-no," Kairi quickly said, even if she didn't really know that. Still, it was the most she could do to convince herself that it wasn't true, that he wasn't gone. Because the mere maddening thought alone was more than she could possibly take. "No, he's not… h-he can't be… I-I just… we need to-"
"We need to get in there before that's what ends up happening to him," Leon concluded, resolved as he kept the group as steady as he could, despite their frayed nerves all around. Understandably frayed nerves at that, given the grim circumstances they were facing.
"Well, I think I'm way ahead of the rest of you on that," Axel spoke up. He nodded toward a small opening, a sizable crack in one of the castle's crumbling stone base walls up ahead, one that was just large enough for all of them to fit through. The others all nodded in agreement over this entryway and took it, squeezing their way in one at a time to the castle's darkened basement floor. As pitch black as their enclosed surroundings were, the group had to rely on Axel's Keyblade to light the way for them yet again, as well as a small, yet bright flame spell from Donald, both of which gave them just enough to see the empty room around them.
"Sora!" Donald's sudden call echoed through the basement hall just as loudly as Goofy's did right after it.
"You in here?!"
"Shh!" Yuffie snapped at the pair. "What, you wanna tell everybody we're here?! You guys gotta learn to be more subtle than that!"
"Now that we're in," Leon said as he began to lead the way to a nearby set of stairs. "We just need to find Sora and get out. Nothing more, nothing less. And Yuffie's right; the last thing we want to do is tip off that we're here to Maleficent."
"Hmph, I'm pretty sure we could take the old crone if we had to," Axel remarked confidently as he lightly elbowed his fellow pupil in an attempt at cheering her up. "Right, Kairi?"
"Oh, I will," Kairi surprisingly agreed, her tone cold and tinged with anger as she set her sights straight ahead of her. "Especially if she's hurt him…"
Axel sent her something of a worried glance at this, though he couldn't say he didn't understand her righteous drive to set things right. Especially when it reminded him so much of his own similar drive when it came to a long-lost friend of his own.
Even so, the group continued on their way, emerging from the stairs onto the castle's still dully-lit main floor. Much like the outside of the structure, its interior was noticeably silent, to the point that their footsteps loudly echoed as they made their way down the lofty stone halls. Every one of them was on high alert for any sort of Heartless making an appearance, something that strangely hadn't happened yet, much to their shared confusion. The worrisome thought soon began to rise among them that perhaps they might have journeyed all this way just to end up in the wrong place entirely. A thought that was quickly, and fortunately proven wrong in the last way any of them could have expected.
For as they traversed the castle's winding halls, they weren't the only ones currently doing so. Pete also wandered down the corridors at an anxious, frenetic pace, more than happy to get some distance away from Maleficent, especially now that her new "pet" was secured. "Aw, what am I suppose'ta do now?" he wondered to himself. "It's not like I can just let the poor kid out all over again, 'specially not like he is now. Not to mention that Maleficent would have my head if I even tried to-"
The henchman was abruptly cut off as he rounded the corner, only to run right into a group he hadn't been expecting to see in the slightest. Donald and Goofy were the ones to actually bump into him, both of them falling back as Pete remained standing, as baffled as all of the others were as they all tried to gather their bearings from the sudden encounter.
"Pete!" Donald and Goofy shouted first, both of them quickly picking themselves up off the ground as they summoned their weapons. Likewise, Leon and Yuffie also took their own weapons out as Kairi and Axel summoned their Keyblades, each of them taking up an offensive pose, one that Pete countered with surprise more than anything else.
"Whazzit-you!?" he exclaimed brashly, glaring the group down. "What in the hey are you punks doin' here?!"
"You know exactly why we're here!" Donald snapped angrily.
"Where are you and Maleficent keeping Sora?!" Goofy demanded just as firmly.
"Wait… you're here for…" Pete trailed off, catching the entire group off guard as he let out what almost sounded like an incredulous, relieved laugh. "Oh this is perfect! Here I was, makin' my brain ache tryin' to think of a way to help that dumb kid, but now I don't even have to lift a finger. You all can just do it for me!"
"Help him?" Donald asked, narrowing his eyes at the henchman suspiciously. "What are you talking about?"
"Wha-uh, n-nothin'!" Pete crossed his arms with a feigned scowl. "You must be hearing things, 'cause didn't say nothin' about helping anyone! And if you think I am, then you got-"
"Enough," Leon cut in as he brandished his Gunblade assertively. "Tell us where Sora is. Now."
"Y-yes, sir!" Pete fearfully gulped, flinching as he stood on the wrong end of such a threatening weapon. "Last I saw him, Maleficent had him holed up in the tower, b-but that's all I know. I swear it!"
"That's good enough of a lead for us," Leon said, slinging his blade back over his shoulder as he continued leading the others forward.
"Thank you," Kairi muttered as she walked past Pete, genuinely glad for the tip, especially if it could in fact lead them to Sora.
"We gotta hurry," Yuffie said, running ahead of Leon as she encouraged the others to do the same. "C'mon!"
"Hey!" Pete snapped after the group, briefly stopping them as they began to part ways. "When ya see the kid, tell him…" The henchman trailed off, glancing down almost guiltily before he shook his head, disregarding the thought. "Aw, forget it! Just remember that if ya do find him, y-you might not like what ya see."
"Uh… what's that supposed to mean?" Axel asked, aptly confused as Pete ran off without offering any further explanation.
"Who cares?!" Donald exclaimed hotly, charging right on ahead. "We've gotta get to Sora!"
"And fast!" Goofy readily agreed, just a step behind him.
The others wasted no time in continuing on their way either, searching for, and fortunately quickly finding another staircase, one that seemed to lead directly to the tower Pete had pointed them toward. Strangely, they still weren't met with any sort of opposition on their way up, contributing to the uneasy feeling that they very well could be walking into a trap. Even so, it was a trap they were all steeling themselves to face, even as they finally emerged into the tower's large, darkened central chamber, one that seemed to be completely empty upon a first glance. Though they found that sure enough they had come to the right place when the low candlelight illuminating the room was all abruptly snuffed out completely, casting them all into complete and utter darkness.
"My, my… It appears as though I have a few unwanted guests…"
"Maleficent!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed in startled unison the moment they heard her voice ringing through the room. With said room being as dark as it was, no one was able to clearly see her, if she was even really there at all. But of course, they all still clung onto their weapons tightly, ready for any tricks she might have in store for them.
Kairi in particular took a bold step forward in the darkness, her heart desperately searching for any traces of Sora and still finding none, all because of whatever this wicked woman might have done to him. Unfair torture, unncessary pain, all things that Sora didn't deserve in the slightest, but all things that she'd clearly inflicted upon him all the same. And the mere thought of such a sickening injustice alone was enough to practically make Kairi's blood boil, filling her with a rare sense of fury that she couldn't help but boldly act upon.
"I'm only going to ask this once," she began, her voice rigid as her grip on her Keyblade tightened. "Where is Sora?!"
Despite her solid tone, it was merely met with a bout of cold, mocking laughter on Maleficent's end. "Oh, isn't this priceless," she remarked from her unknown spot, still chuckling in haughty amusement. "One of the Princesses of Heart, come to rescue her precious 'hero'... How the tables have turned from just a few short years ago, hm, my dear? But I'm sorry to say that you're simply too late, all of you. For you see… Sora is no more."
That mere statement alone rippled through the entire group like a heavy wave, one that carried both shock and despair along with it in equally momentous amounts. And while the others all immediately began denying such an audacious claim, Kairi merely froze up amidst it, her eyes growing wide as time seemed to slow to a complete crawl all around her. She felt numb, her heart echoing louder than ever before with that same immense loneliness she'd felt the moment her heart had suddenly lost track of his. It couldn't be true, couldn't be, and yet… try as she might to find so much as a single spark of his crisp, familiar light, she couldn't. Because there was nothing left to be found at all.
And perhaps the worst part of it all: she hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye to him. And now, she never would.
"Now, now," Maleficent quieted the round of distraught protests and threats the others were all fiercely firing off at her. "I do apologize for the… inconvenience. It must be terribly disappointing to have come all this way for nothing. Which is why it's only fair that I send you off with a consolation prize. Perhaps the honor of being the first to fall to the unstoppable power of my new 'pet' will suffice…"
She said nothing more from her unknown spot as a new sound began to echo through the darkened chamber: a low, animalistic growl. The source of which had to have been much too close to comfort based on how surprisingly loud it was.
"Everyone! Get ready!" Leon called as most of the others did as he said, readying their weapons for whatever they were about to face. No sooner than a second later, however, the unknown creature launched its first attack, lunging toward its nearest target, who just so happened to be Leon himself. Fortunately, its clawed swing caught onto the edge of his Gunblade, allowing him to retaliate with a wide swing to force the monster back away from him. In the process, however, the creature ended up landing close to Yuffie, and it didn't hesitate to lash out against her before she could even try to get the jump on her. She let out a harsh yelp as something strangely metallic connected painfully with her lower leg, knocking her to the ground completely. It nearly went in for another attack against her until a lucky shield toss from Goofy knocked it aside just in the nick of time.
"Ugh… what is this thing?" Yuffie wondered, nursing her injured leg until Donald offered her an assist in the form of a healing spell. "Some kind of Heartless?"
"I've never seen a Heartless that fights like this... " Leon said, on edge for whatever the mysterious creature might try next.
"Well, why don't we try shedding a little light on the subject?" Axel suggested as he ignited his Keyblade. Despite his bright fire, it still only provided sparse light to the large chamber they were in, and as the creature lurked low in the shadows of it, the only thing any of them were able to make out about it were its eyes, bright and round and green, almost like those of a Heartless, yet not quite the same. And yet… something about those eyes caught Kairi off guard the moment she met them, even from afar, to the point that it shook her out of her heartbroken reviere. It was something she couldn't quite place, yet as she stared directly into those seemingly empty glowing orbs, it was as if there was a tinge of something in them.
Something that almost felt oddly human.
The creature perked up at the sight of Axel's flaming Keyblade, seemingly intrigued and repulsed by the light it was putting off all at once. It let out a shrill hiss, rearing back before pouncing forward on all fours, its shadowy form still completely indistinguishable, even as it rushed right for Axel in particular. "Perfect…" he grinned daringly, gearing himself up for a brawl as he gripped his Keyblade readily. "Time to put that old crone's little 'pet' in its place."
Kairi sent a brief, nervous glance Axel's way before turning her attention back to the creature, whose form finally started to become a bit more clear the closer it came to the light. Indeed, it did appear to be strangely humanoid, even though its entire body was composed of sheer darkness. But what was most alarming and surprising of all was the weapon that it clutched tightly in its clawed grip: a Keyblade, and not just any mere Keyblade at that.
The Kingdom Key.
"Axel, stop!" Kairi shouted, largely without thinking as she pulled against her fellow student's arm just before he brought his own weapon down. "T-that's Sora!"
"What?!" Axel started, completely caught off guard just as much as the others were by this claim. They were so shocked by it, in fact, that they didn't even notice the creature, or Sora rather, leaping high to land a vicious attack against them. Yet that attack never ended up landing as Kairi swiftly rebuffed it instead.
"Light!" she cried, throwing her hand out to let her bright magic flow out of it. In an instant, the entire room was flooded by its nearly blinding glow, banishing the pall of darkness that had been cast upon it and allowing everyone to clearly see it for the first time. And with it, they were also able to clearly see exactly what horrific fate had befallen Sora.
The force of Kairi's light spell had thrown him back hard, its radiance stunning him to the point that he practically cowered away from it entirely. But sure enough, his entire body had been consumed by the darkest of shadows, not a single speck of light remaining other than in the haunting green glow of his eyes. He remained hunched low, letting out a bitter hiss that revealed his similarly-colored fanged maw as he gripped his darkened Keyblade like a vice while he fiercely glared at the shocked group gathered on the side of the room across from him.
"Whoa…" Axel muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Sora…" Donald frowned, deeply concerned by the upsetting familiarity of seeing him like this again.
"What in the world did Maleficent do to him to turn him into that…?" Yuffie wondered softly.
"A-Actually, this has happened to him before…" Goofy anxiously admitted. "But he's never been like… this..."
"Wait… this has happened before…?" Kairi asked, unable to tear her sights away from Sora. Or rather, what he'd become. "W-why didn't he… h-he never even mentioned this to…" She trailed off, lost in her own myriad of thoughts and fears and frustration over a secret that Sora had managed to keep far too well for far too long, from her and Riku alike. A secret that was now as far out in the open as it ever could have gotten.
"Look out!" Donald sharply warned as he noticed Sora suddenly shift back into attack mode.
He shook off the impact the light spell had on him, almost as if he had been forced to by some unseen force that also commanded him to dash for the group with a furious roar. Donald was the first to make an attempt at subduing him with an ice spell to at the very least stop him in his tracks, but Sora easily broke through it with a swift, wild swing of his Keyblade alone. Goofy managed to narrowly repel another uncalculated strike with his shield, but that didn't stop Sora from trying again as he mindlessly bashed his weapon against the shield over and over again until one of those brutal strikes finally ended up knocking the captain back. As Goofy fell, Leon and Yuffie were both quick to leap into action in his and Donald's place, their respective weapons both meeting Sora's squarely as yet another line of defense. But it was only as Leon was essentially forced to heavily kick Sora back to keep him from landing a clawed swipe on both him and Yuffie that Kairi fearfully spoke up amidst the chaos.
"Careful!" she cautioned urgently. "D-don't hurt him! I don't think he knows what he's doing!"
"Well, it's not like he's being that careful with us!" Axel countered as he joined the fray himself. He offered Leon some much-needed support as Sora harshly knocked Yuffie aside once more, but between the two of them, his surprising newfound strength was quickly proving to be too much to beat. Still, the pair continued exchanging blows with him, trying their best not to cause him any sort of harm, though even the attacks that did accidentally land on him didn't seem to be doing much damage. All the while, Kairi stood on the fringes of the battle, her Keyblade in hand though she didn't dare to use it, especially not against Sora. She certainly wanted to help protect her friends just as much as she wanted to subdue him and get him back to his true self. And yet the mere thought of fighting, of harming someone she cared so much about was more than she could really stand to bear.
And yet, she soon found that she'd have no real choice but to do just that as Sora lashed out with his most powerful swing by far, one that knocked Axel's Keyblade clean out of his hands. His next strike did the same to Axel himself, sending him flying back to where Donald, Goofy, and Yuffie were all trying their best to recover and re-enter the battle as soon as possible. Leon held his own for a moment longer, at least until Sora lashed out with his free hand, his sharp claws catching him across the arm in a long, ragged, painful cut. Leon stumbled back, clutching the wound to staunch the blood already starting to pour from it, though in the process, he missed Sora preparing for another attack until it landed, his Keyblade striking him hard in the side. And as Leon was quite literally shoved aside by such a brutal attack, Kairi soon found that there was no one left to stand between her and Sora himself.
Their eyes met in an instant, and in that instant, she found herself captivated by his, as inhuman as they currently seemed. Because she still sensed something in them, something in him, buried deep beneath the tide of oppressive darkness that had overtaken him. Yet she had no time to figure out exactly what that something was as he drew in low, growling coldly at her as he geared up to attack her just as mindlessly as he had all the others. "S-Sora, wait!" she exclaimed, one hand still tightly clinging onto her Keyblade as she held her other one up in an attempt to stop him. She backed up anxiously and he followed at a similar slow pace, glaring viciously up at her as she stared fearfully down at him. "I… I don't know if you can hear me, o-or even understand me, but… this has to stop."
He only answered her with a feral hiss, one that chilled her to the core as she tried her hardest to imagine how he should have been instead. Warm and kind and caring instead of cold and dark and cruel. "W-whatever she's done to make you like this… you're stronger than it, I-I know you are!" she encouraged desperately, even if her appeal showed no signs of working. "S-so please… you have to fight this! Not just for us, but for you. You need to remember who you really are!"
Despite her earnesty, Sora hardly heeded her as he eagerly attacked instead, propelled by mindless instinct-and perhaps by something else entirely. Kairi panicked the moment he did, raising her Keyblade in an effort to block him as fast as she could, yet his claws still managed to catch her across the shoulder, landing a deep, painful cut in the process. She let out a sharp cry as she found herself collapsing against the stone wall she'd backed into, though she wasted no time in trying to take care of the wound as she noticed Sora slowly, yet aggressively approaching her, intent on landing even more.
"Yes…" Maleficent grinned, watching the entire twisted scene unfold from her safe spot high above in the rafters of the lofty room. She kept a secure hold on her scepter, still glowing with the very same sort of magic she'd used to bind Sora to her will. Magic that, as far as she could tell, was still working exactly as intended as he obediently, thoughtlessly followed every last order she telepathically sent his way. "That's right, my Heartless. Destroy them, all of them! Just as you will any other pitiful fool that tries to get in my way…"
And that's exactly what it seemed like he was going to do as he continued to press in, ready to finish Kairi off first as a relatively easy kill. However, for as terrified as she was by his monstrous manner and as much as her heart was grieving that he'd been brought so low in the first place, she refused to give up on him that easily. Because she knew that somewhere, buried deep underneath the malice and darkness that had taken hold of him, his heart, his true heart was still there. She just had to find it for him.
"O-ok…" she whispered unsteadily, still pressed up against the wall as she addressed him calmly. "If you can't find yourself, then I'll help you look…"
In something of a risky move, Kairi let her Keyblade vanish, much to the alarm of the injured group on the far side of the room who were all still trying to pull themselves together again. "K-Kairi! Don't!" Axel warned, desperately attempting to pick himself up off the ground but ultimately failing. Kairi sent him a brief, reassuring look, one that offered the promise that she had a plan, even if it was a plan she wasn't even sure would work herself.
Sora seemed to notice her lack of a weapon as he eyed her suspiciously, still growling viciously as he went on the defensive for any surprise attacks she might send his way. And yet, strangely, Kairi did no such thing as she instead slowly, carefully knelt down to be on eye-level with him, their dangerously close proximity alone making her heart race as she began to reach a trembling hand out toward him. "Sora…" she began, softly, sadly. "I want to help you, b-but I don't know how… That's why… t-that's why I need you to let me in so I can try… please…"
Initially, he hissed hatefully at the hand she had extended out to him, though he seemed to oddly still as he happened to meet her wide-eyed gaze. That gaze was tender, mournful, yet kind, all things he couldn't currently feel on the surface, yet for some reason or another they managed to calm him. Or perhaps it wasn't any of those things; perhaps it was all her instead.
His growling soon began to silence itself as he started to lift a clawed hand up toward her slowly. She smiled as he did, yet that smile slipped into fear as he flinched, seeming to slip back into his former violent intent as he nearly struck her with those claws. Right before he could, however, he stopped, letting out an almost pained hiss as his Keyblade disappeared, his now free hand clenched tightly against his chest as he seemed to be fighting some sort of unknown war within, his eyes flashing back and forth between green and gold all the while. And yet, Kairi never once retracted her hand, still offering up her support to him for whenever he decided to take it. And as that internal struggle fiercely continued, that's exactly what Sora ended up doing as his clawed hand landed squarely in hers.
The very moment it did, however, her hand nearly flew out of his from sheer shock alone. Because all at once she could feel a torrent of rage, so immense and unbearable that she thought it was going to tear her apart entirely, surging through every fiber of his darkened being. Wrapped within that layered coat of untamed fury were equal parts grief, pain, and fear, all crushing weights that had clearly become far too much for him to bear given his current state. Yet, even in the midst of all that, she managed to catch the slightest glimpse of him, of how he really was, breaking through the darkness and hatred like a spot of sun beaming through stormy clouds. And though her own heart wavered with pity and dread, she still chased after that small sunspot in the hopes that it would finally lead her back to him.
"Oh, Sora…" Kairi whispered, a few of her pressing tears finally falling as she gripped his hand tighter. "What's happened to you…?"
Surprisingly, Sora answered, though he didn't do so verbally. Instead, his voice rang out within her heart, though it hardly sounded like him at all. This voice had only the sparsest hints of how he truly sounded as it was instead masked with something far darker and deeper as it spoke slowly and disjointedly. "Must… obey…"
"Obey who-" The question died on her lips the moment she remembered exactly who had likely forced him into such a monsterous state to begin with. "Oh… n-no. No, you don't have to obey her. You're not-"
"Must obey…" He audibly whimpered, his empty, baleful eyes flashing between yellow and green once again as he pressed a clawed hand against his head. "H-have to obey…" His pained whine soon turned into an all-out cry that echoed loudly through the entire chamber as it tore from his throat. "NEED TO OBEY!"
"And you will obey…" Maleficent hissed from her unseen spot, forcing her sinister magic upon him harder than ever, even as he tried to resist it. "I won't lose everything I've been working for to some foolish girl! Obliterate her! Now!"
On this severe order, Sora reeled back, finally tearing his hand away from Kairi's it joined his other hand in gripping his head tightly. Yet he still didn't act on Maleficent's cruel command, almost as if he was fighting against it with every shred of autonomy and free will he had left. A sight that gave Kairi just as much hope as it did heartache as she continued to feel every second of his endless struggle.
"Y-you don't need to obey her," she repeated once more, lowering herself back down to his level as she met his glowing eyes evenly. "You don't belong to her. Y-you're your own person! But… I know you do need something. You lost something. I can feel it. So please… tell me what you need…"
Sora shuddered, clearly agonized as he let out another tiny, tortured hiss. "H-heart…" he begged internally, reaching a shaking hand out toward Kairi. "Lost… heart… Need heart…"
"Your heart…" Kairi frowned, shaking her head dubiously at this. "N-no, you… your heart isn't lost. It's still there, buried under all that darkness. I know it is… because it's calling out to my heart right now."
Even so, he didn't seem to believe her as he sent her a bitter glare, still extending his claws out to her to the point that they nearly skimmed her chest as he tried to steal what he thought he'd lost from her. "No…" he growled, his eyes still constantly wavering back and forth between green and gold. "Need heart… C-can't… live without… heart…"
"Sora..." She remained steady, covering his outstretched hand with her own as a dawning realization fell upon her. "I-it's not your heart that you've lost… It's your light." She paused, staring down at the tendrils of shadow blanketing his hand, his arm, his entire form, dimming and diminishing almost everything about the Sora she knew so well. Her heart ached with the desperation and loneliness and despair that flowed through him, all things she never even knew he could feel so profoundly, yet he was all the same. She longed to see him beyond that darkened, distraught veil, to see his warmth, his smile, to hear his true voice, his bright, uplifting laughter. All things that had indeed been lost… but still weren't gone forever. "If a heart was what you really needed, then I would gladly give you mine…" she whispered, finally daring to place a gentle hand against the side of his face. He nearly flinched away from her touch before he ultimately fell into it, his eyes finally settling into a dull shade of yellow before he closed them entirely. "But… I think I can give you what you really need instead…"
Moving slowly, she placed her free hand against her chest, digging deep inside of her heart to call upon the powerful light, her very own light, resting within it. That light blossomed around her entire body, radiant and beautiful, and yet he recoiled harshly away from it the moment it appeared. His hand slid out of hers as he shied back, hissing fearfully as he covered his face, unwilling to so much as look at the purity of her light as it contrasted starkly against his own hideous shadows.
"S-stop…" his distorted voice cried weakly to her. "Light… hurts…"
"I know it does…" she said, tears streaking down her cheeks as she felt his pain vividly. "And I'm sorry… But sometimes… what hurts us the most, i-is exactly what we need to heal…"
A beat of silence passed between them, but eventually, slowly but surely, he dropped his defensive stance, his body growing still as he looked to her pleadingly, a semblance of anguish finally entering his otherwise empty eyes as he seemingly decided to trust her. "Please…" his voice sounded like his own this time, eliciting a small gasp out of Kairi as she clung onto his every fleeting word. "Heal me…"
"O-of course…" she choked out a small sob at this, but she let her light shine even brighter all the same as she drew in closer to him. "Whenever you need me… I'll always be there to heal you… I promise…"
And as she made that promise, her arms finally wrapped around him as she pulled him close to her, her light jarring harshly against his darkness. The piercing scream of untold pain that erupted from him the moment her light began to envelop him was horrible to listen to, but she still didn't let go of him, instead holding onto him even tighter in the hopes that her plan would somehow work.
And sure enough, it did, because in time, his screams died out into silence, the shadows starting to peel themselves away from both his heart and his body to the point that she could feel the light returning to them, her own light urging it onward out of the darkness. As that darkness ebbed away, so too did the rage that he'd been forced to feel, the oppressive control that he'd been forced to obey, yet the pain of it all still hung heavily on his heart, something Kairi could deeply feel as Sora finally ended up going completely limp in her arms.
Slowly, she pulled him out of her embrace, supporting him as best she could as she guided his head to rest in her lap. She was helpless to keep herself from breaking down into heavy sobs as she took in the sight of him, now finally back to his true self with the pall of shadows now lifted from him. Yet even so, all was not well with him, as his veins visibly glowed with some sort of unknown green energy, paling his usually warmly tanned skin completely amidst the multiple deep cuts that had been torn into both his body and his now largely-ruined clothes. She had no idea what he'd really been through during his surprisingly brief time as a captive, but based on just how damaged he appeared to be both inside and out, she wasn't sure if she really wanted to find out. "S-Sora…" she said softly, running one hand gently through his messy hair as she kept another positioned against the side of his face.
As sedated as he seemed to be, he apparently heard her as his eyes slowly fluttered partway open. Kairi held back a stunned gasp as she noticed they were a far cry from the familiar ocean blue she'd been expecting to see. While some of that blue still remained, it was almost as if they'd been stained by both green and gold, creating a mingled mess of colors that was both striking and unnerving all at once. "K-Kairi…?" he asked, his voice barely even audible as he tried to focus his bleary gaze on her.
"Shh," she smiled down at him, relief and joy finally finding a place in her heart as she tried to ease his. "It's ok… You're safe now. I'm here…"
As disoriented as he seemed to be, Sora managed to crack the tiniest of smiles at this, his eyes slipping closed as he let out a quiet, contented sigh. "You're here…" he happily, tiredly repeated just before unconsciousness overtook him. His head lolled to the side, pressing against her hand as she kept her caring hold on him, allowing him the comfort of rest he so clearly needed.
However, if there was anyone intent on refusing to let him get that rest, it was Maleficent as she suddenly materialized before the pair in an aggressive burst of green flame. "You wretched, pathetic little girl!" she snapped, glaring hatefully down at Kairi, who offered her just as harsh of a look right back as she held Sora protectively. "How dare you come here and take away what's rightfully mine!"
"Sora isn't yours, and he never will be," Kairi countered resiliently as she pulled his listless body closer to her.
"Silence!" Maleficent shouted, furious as she raised her staff. "His power is mine to command! And once I take it back, then I can promise you, child, that you'll endure far more suffering at his hands than he went through at mine!"
"Not on our watch, you're not!"
Maleficent only barely had time to move her scepter to block a swift blow from Axel's Keyblade, one that she repelled by surrounding the staff in a surge of powerful energy to knock him back. Alongside Axel, the others had all largely recovered from the earlier fray themselves and likewise, they all rushed forward to attack her. Donald and Goofy in particular were at the forefront of this barrage, intent on unleashing some righteous justice for what she'd put Sora through as they put their all into trying to land a hit on her. At the same time, Leon and Yuffie provided solid backup, ready to fend off whatever surprise attacks Maleficent might throw their way. And yet, surprisingly, as outnumbered as she was, she ended up cutting the battle off quite quickly by teleporting away back up to her former spot in the raised rafters of the room.
"Fools!" she viciously called down to the group below. "The whole lot of you! Go ahead and wallow in your momentary victory for now, but know that this is far from finished. I'll get that boy and the strength his Heartless holds back… And when I do, this world and every other, will belong to ME!"
On that note, Maleficent vanished in yet another momentous burst of flame, her wicked fury disappearing right along with her, at least for the time being. As soon as everyone was sure she was gone, they wasted no time in crowding around Kairi, all of them eager to see if both her and Sora were alright. For her part, Kairi hardly paid any of them any mind, her focus instead entirely devoted to Sora as he continued to rest, almost peacefully, in her arms, safe and sound at long last.
"Sora!" Donald exclaimed, alarmed by just how badly he seemed to be hurt.
"I-is he…?" Goofy trailed off, far too anxious to even finish the question.
"He'll be ok…" Kairi assured, gently pushing a few stray strands of hair away from his eyes. "I think he just needs time to rest…"
"I think he might be needing a bit more than that…" Yuffie frowned, noting the unnatural green streaks still marring his skin.
"We should get him back to Merlin's place," Leon said with a tired sigh. "It'll be easier-and safer-for us to figure out what to do for him there."
No one protested this course of action, not even Kairi as she let Axel carefully lift Sora out of her arms so him and Leon could take turns carrying him back to the city. Still, even as they all began to leave the castle, she lingered as close to him as she could, her eyes rarely straying from his sleeping form. Worry and dread filled her thoughts the entire trip back as she dared to wonder about what horrific torture he'd been put through in just the span of a few short hours. Torture that might not have happened at all if they'd been just a bit qucker, if they'd gotten there just a little sooner. But they hadn't, she hadn't, and because of that, he'd beaten, abused, broken to the point that his heart and mind alike had fallen into the deepest darkness and despair. Darkness she'd only barely managed to pull him out of by sheer luck alone, really.
And yet… she'd pulled him out of it all the same. Brought him back to the light and to himself. And now that she had, she couldn't help but allow herself a small smile as she settled her sights on him once again as they began to approach Radiant Garden. Because even through it all, now he was safe. Now, he was free.
Except he wasn't, not really. Because unbeknownst to her, his heart was still trapped in a different prison entirely. In a way that only the elderly master silently watching the group from afar knew about as he kept a careful eye on his thirteenth vessel, just as he had been and just as he'd continue to do until that vessel was finally his. An outcome that, as Xehanort was concerned, was now closer to becoming a reality than it had ever been before.
SO YEAH KIND OF A LOT HAPPENED HERE HUH? Either way this entire chapter was an EXPERIENCE for me to write (and that was sort of why it took so long, I wanted it to be just right.) So next time around we'll pick up right where this left off and have something of a more cool down chapter to show the aftermath of all this madness before getting back into some more Disney chapters. Either way, I really hope you all are staying safe out there with everything that's been going on with the Covid-19 outbreak (or hopefully, at home, rather, where most of you should be!). Remember to wash your hands and practice safe and healthy habits! 3 And also, don't forget to REVIEW to let me know what you thought of this chapter! Until next time! :)
