Strelitzia attacks. Sora meets it midair, locking his claws with her massive scythe. It sears his hands through the covering darkness.
She knocks him back, and he goes at her again. It happens a third time, a fourth, a fifth. Her hits are lightning-fast, and they hurt like hell. Distantly, his body registers the abuse. But he refuses to stop. He has found his rhythm, just as he did against Marluxia's Assassin-class Nobodies, and the adrenaline carries him through the pain of smashing into the ground again and again. His hits begin to connect, cracking her body like porcelain.
He carves deep grooves into her metal wings. Black fire explodes from his hands, tendrils growing from his sides. They whip her as she strikes at him. His second skin of darkness heals him, even if it's imperfect. But her form is brittle. Every time his claws connect, pieces of her chip away. She could give chase as he blitzes around their arena, but she chooses instead to anchor herself in place. Protecting Marluxia. Bloodied, half-shredded Marluxia. His lifeless expression has been replaced by unbridled panic.
Strelitzia's guard breaks against Sora's relentless attack. Sora rushes at her again, aiming right for her eye. Before his claws connect, a cloud of darkness bursts out of thin air. He flies through it. Marluxia appears on the other side and blocks the attack. They skirmish there, suspended in midair just shy of Strelitzia's face. But at close range, both know Sora has the advantage. He takes the first opening he sees and brutally tears Marluxia down from shoulder to hip. Marluxia grits his teeth. He grabs Sora by the front of his cloak, attempting what seems like a suicidal grapple.
But before Sora can plunge his claws into Marluxia's stomach, the assassin summons a Corridor of Darkness behind Sora and kicks out, throwing him down the long, dark hallway. It spits him out on the other side of the clearing. Sora's back meets a tree with enough force to uproot it. He crashes to the ground alongside it. It waylays him momentarily—he wheezes on his back in the grass, green chlorophyll staining his hair and skin. But the darkness takes care of the pain and blood within moments. Sora rises, brushing grass from his coat. Marluxia sinks to one knee in Strelitzia's hands. Each breath he takes visibly pains him.
"Strelitzia, stand down," he gasps out, desperate to call the Nobody protecting him back into his body. "Please, this cannot happen again!"
It shocks Sora, finally, back to his senses. This is wrong, a part of himself says.
Why should I care? The dominating part of him demands to know.
Because Marluxia cares, the first part whispers. Another glimpse into his mindscape—he senses the cocoon's walls tightening around him. He's paralyzed. The darkness leeches his strength and will with alarming efficiency.
Break free, he tells himself. He tries to recall the thing that always centers him in his mind—the memory of sitting with Kairi and Riku on their paopu tree. He tries to remember his will to keep them safe and bring them home. Instead, what fills his mind is the horrible image of Riku bleeding on the ground. Riku dead at his feet. He can't remember what it is to feel friendship or despair or hope. All he can think is that he doesn't want to hurt anyone anymore. He never wants to hurt anyone else ever again.
The darkness lodges in his throat, and he can't breathe.
Already he feels his body moving of its own accord to finish off Marluxia and Strelitzia.
Strelitzia, he thinks. Her name is Strelitzia. I won't hurt Strelitzia.
He cannot pull his body loose. But with a burst of willpower, one hand tears free of the closing cocoon. And another pair of hands—two pairs—three pairs are suddenly there, pulling him free.
He comes to just as he is flying towards Strelitzia's face, claws at the ready. The strike is aimed at a spiderweb-shaped crack stretched across her cheekbone, and he carries the force and deadly precision to shatter. Moments from impact, Sora regains an ounce of control. Barely enough—but just enough—to keep the strike from flying true.
Instead of her cheek, he flies past her and sends the charged-up attack slamming into her wing. The pent-up darkness in him breaks two wings clean off. Sora is thrown after them and lands in a heap. The metal wings slice vertically into the ground deeper in the forest.
It was a heavy hit, but not a lethal one.
He stands and winces. His joints are hot with the strain of the battle, and he wonders if he's expended too much darkness to heal himself. Behind him, Marluxia drops to the ground. Gritting his teeth with effort, he summons an enormous portal under Strelitzia. Slowly, she sinks down into the abyss. Her body creaks with the low crackle of stone grinding on bone. Her blank yellow eyes watch Marluxia as she dissipates into mist.
Then, slowly, Marluxia turns to him. He walks toward Sora, limping heavily. The look on his face is beyond hatred. It's murder.
Sora takes a step back. His leg collapses under him. His body, already suffering agony from the battle, seems to refuse his control. He hunches over the ground on his knees, helpless as Marluxia draws closer. He is nearly close enough to touch.
Marluxia raises his hand. Black fire gathers in his fist. "I hope you suffer just as much as I have under his thumb," Marluxia grinds out through gritted teeth. Darkness licks at the edges of his coat—he's dying, Sora realizes with a raw shock. Marluxia's form is so damaged it's giving out. He's fading into nothingness.
"I—" I'm sorry, I never wanted this, is what Sora tries to say, but he can only cough and choke. The darkness is still lodged in his throat.
"If you wish to embrace the darkness," Marluxia whispers, "then let yourself be bathed in it. Let it become inescapable."
He touches Sora's forehead. Sora flinches backward. The spell burns him. Then—nothing. No coup de grâce. He opens his eyes. Sees nothing.
He blinks. His lids sweep over his eyes as he tries to blink away the darkness. He can't see his hands in front of his face, he realizes, understanding dawning on him. Marluxia bound shadows to his eyes.
He is blinded.
Marluxia's death is silent. He simply releases a sigh and crackling flames eat his form away. Just like that, he ceases to exist once again.
And Sora is alone.
Perhaps this not the last we'll see of Marluxia and Strelitzia. c:
If you're enjoying this arc, don't forget to review! It saves lives!