Ok so before we begin with this one IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT TIME! I'm going to be changing the tense in which Keys is written from past to present tense, mostly because I've recently fallen in love with that style of writing and I think it'll suit Keys way more. So this chapter is the first one to be intentionally written that way, and I'll be going back and editing previous chapters into present tense as well from here on out (hopefully that won't take long to do with the entire fic) as well as potentially changing some minor things in early chapters, though not too much to the point that you might need to reread them entirely (well most of them anyway). Anyway, as for this chapter I LOVE how it turned out. Its basically nonstop drama and a LOT happens in it, so enjoy!
Chapter 33: Song as Old as Rhyme
Certain as the sun
Rising in the east
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast
"Kill the Beast!"
"Kill the Beast!"
The castle doors burst open violently, rammed apart by the full force of the mob that's come to storm it. They're met with a surprisingly calm foyer, quiet to the point of practically deafening silence that easily makes every last one of the men uneasy. Still, the only thing that seems to be strange here is the peculiar amount of furniture stacked on either side of the room without much rhyme or reason at all. That hardly matters to Gaston though, as he begins to lead the way inside, his bow already in hand as the villagers follow him much more anxiously. They step forward into the main hall, anticipating an appearance from the dreaded Beast they've all come there to vanquish. Only to be met with an unexpected resistance from his loyal servants instead.
"Now!" Lumiere's shout echoes through the foyer and the rest of the staff wastes no time in acting upon it.
The mob finds themselves beset on all sides, not by the Beast, but by his possessions. The suddenly animated inanimate objects pounce upon them in a sudden, all-out attack. Books leap off their cases, pots and pans go flying, dressers and drawers push out to pummel anyone unfortunate enough to get caught between them. The mob reacts in turn, fighting back against the enchanted servants despite the fact that they don't understand how they're alive at all. There's no time to question it amidst the bizarre chaos as they find themselves in, so they lash out with their various weapons to beat this surprisingly strong force back. Only for that force to strike back every bit as swiftly against them.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy make it to the foyer only moments after this baffling brawl begins. And for a second or two, the most they can do is stand by and stare, dumbfounded, as it unfolds before them. The castle servants hold their own against the rather dim-witted mob quite well, knocking out or running off several of its members right off the bat. Even so, another threat soon makes itself apparent as the trio just so happens to spot a handful of familiar creatures slithering their way into the hall between the battle.
"Nobodies!" they exclaim, their weapons already called upon. They rush forward to deal with the creatures, largely since the castle servants are hard pressed to as they continue pushing back the invading townsfolk. Several of whom go running at the mere sight of the Nobodies, believing them to be allied with the crazed, cursed objects beating so many of them senseless.
The trio largely goes unnoticed in the middle of the hectic scuffle as they take on the Nobodies before they can harm either the surrounding humans or enchanted objects alike. While they spot Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts in the fray alongside their fellow servants, the Beast himself has still yet to make an appearance to defend his own castle. A fact that becomes even more distressing as Sora happens to notice one member of the mob, a particularly burly man armed with a dangerous bow and gun, sneak away from the rest of the fighting to slip upstairs. Or more specifically, slip toward the West Wing.
"Hey!" he calls over his shoulder to Donald and Goofy in the din of the skirmish. "I think that guy's going after the Beast! We've gotta stop him!"
"T-that'd be a lot easier without all these Nobodies around!" Goofy protests, narrowly managing to shove one such creature away with his shield.
"We've gotta take care of them first!" Donald insists as he shoots off a water spell.
Sure enough, the trio is surrounded on all sides by the wriggling creatures, with more appearing constantly to take the place of whichever ones they've downed. But by now, the muscular man is already making his way further down the hall. And Sora isn't about to let him reach the Beast so easily. "Then you guys stay here and fight them off," he ventures confidently upon taking another Nobody out. "I'll go help the Beast."
Donald and Goofy exchange something of a wary glance upon hearing this plan. After all, they're far from keen on letting Sora head off on his own for a number of reasons, pretty much all of which have to do with the Organization's schemes for him. Yet even so, they know just how frustrated he's been with their overprotectiveness before, and just how much he values his freedom to fight on his own. And besides, the Beast's quarters are only a short distance down the hall; how much trouble could he possibly get into on the way there?
"A-are you sure you'll be alright on your own?" Goofy asks, aptly nervous.
"I'll be fine," Sora assures with a daring grin. "You guys can meet me up there when you're done handling these guys, ok?"
"Mm… ok," Donald begrudgingly relents. "But be careful! No reckless stunts!"
"No promises," Sora jokes. He flashes his companions a playful grin, one that does set them both to ease somewhat as he runs off. Running headfirst into danger there's no way he could possibly see coming.
Belle and Maurice race back to the castle on horseback, and even though they're traveling on foot, Riku, Kairi, and Axel aren't far behind. The trio of Keyblade wielders fend off some of Heartless or Nobodies that show up to impede their path, but for the most part, the creatures are ignored. After all, there are much more prominent threats at the castle that need to be dealt with.
By the time they all make it to the castle, the mob has been all but forced out completely. The townsfolk stumble onto the steps into the pouring rain in terrified upheaval of the surprisingly fierce objects they had fought and lost against. Their terror is only made more palpable under the other threat besieging the castle's exterior now: a sizable swarm of Nobodies of all types and sizes. As frenzied as they are, the mob doesn't even try to confront them, instead fleeing for their lives in the hopes of making it back to the village in one piece. Belle brings her horse to a sharp stop on the bridge, a safe distance away from this unfolding chaos, but the trio charges forward, knowing they're much better equipped to handle such a daunting threat.
"Wait here!" Riku calls to Belle as he leads Kairi and Axel into the fray. "We'll take care of the Nobodies and when the way is clear, you can head in to help the Beast."
Belle nods, exchanging a nervous glance with her father as they watch the trio rush ahead toward the Nobodies. Riku takes out a handful of the smaller creatures on his first solid swing and Axel isn't far behind with a steady flame spell to roast the wave that comes right after them. Kairi narrowly blocks the brunt of a blow from a larger Nobody before banishing it with some timely ice magic, though even with this first horde beaten, there's still plenty more to go. A force of monsters that's essentially creating a wall between them and the castle's main entrance.
"Tch, bunch of little pests," Axel sneers as he strikes down another Dusk. "We'll never get in there at this rate."
"We need to," Kairi insists sternly. "Sora's in there, and for all we know, Saïx could be too!"
"You don't need to worry," Riku assures. He glances over his shoulder at her upon beating back a larger Nobody. "Sora can handle himself, we both know that by now."
Kairi hesitates upon hearing this, unable to release her lingering sense of rising dread. Riku is right; she does know that Sora can fight, that he can hold his own in a battle just fine. But she also knows what Riku doesn't. For a month, she watched him struggle, watched him toil and strain and suffer to get back to even a fraction of the strength he'd had before Maleficent had so cruelly captured and poisoned him. She knows he's been to a handful of worlds since then, knows that in that time he's likely had to contend with Heartless, Nobodies, and even the Organization themselves. But even despite the strength that she knows he'd worked so hard to get back, Kairi can't shake the unnerving feeling that something bad is about to befall him all the same.
"W-well," she rebuffs tightly. Her voice is far more forced than she would have liked to be as she sends Riku a rather sharp stare. "I-I'd feel a lot better if we can catch up with him all the same."
Riku can easily sense the palpable concern in her tone, concern that he understands well. After all, he can't deny that he spends a fair bit of his time worrying about Sora too. Especially in light of some of his more recent peculiar behavior. "In that case, there's only really one option we have left," he says, resolved as he turns back to the massive horde of Nobodies standing between them and the castle. Standing between them and keeping Sora safe. "We'll just have to fight our way through."
Sora knows his way through the Beast's Castle quite well, both from his first visit there and this one. The way to the West Wing is a rather straightforward one that should only take a few minutes at the steady pace he's going. Or at least it would be if not for the myriad of monsters trying to trip him up along the way.
The Heartless' sudden appearance stands as a stark contrast to the Nobodies they've been dealing with in this world thus far, but even so, Sora is ready for them. His Keyblade cuts through whichever creatures are brazen enough to get in his way while the rest are easily avoidable. At least until he turns a corner to find a much larger, all but impassible Heartless blocking his path.
Despite the towering size of what he's up against, Sora doesn't waver, instead buckling down with his Keyblade at the ready as the large Heartless rears up with a fearsome roar. Before he can even retaliate with a single swing though, he pauses as a new strategy comes to mind. One that could make this encounter much more swift and satisfying.
Even so, he stops short before enacting that strategy, knowing that he made a promise. A promise that neither of his companions are present to see him break, nobody is for that matter. Donald and Goofy are still distracted with the fight in the foyer; as far as he knows, Riku, Kairi, and Axel aren't even at the castle at all. Which means there's essentially no one is around to stop him from allowing his Keyblade to disappear from his hand-and bursts of mingled darkness and light to take its place instead.
His powers pulsate eagerly, as if they're rewarding him for choosing to use them. Sora thrives on the burst of palpable power and energy surging through him as he throws his hands out, letting that familiar glowing darkness pour out of them freely. He grins, emboldened as his first attack hits hard enough to knock the large Heartless back across the hall. It's allowed no time to recover as Sora rushes for it, calling upon several sharp, rocklike spires that burst out from the floor underneath the creature, impaling it instantly. Even as it disappears, however, Sora doesn't stop; after all, there are plenty of Heartless still left in its wake.
So he rushes down the hall, both of his arms held out as he allows his magic to flow completely unrestrained. Each Heartless he defeats through them brings an invigorating, downright intoxicating feeling, one that, just as it always does, makes him feel far more confident and capable than fighting with his Keyblade alone ever could. He knows Donald and Goofy don't approve of him using this kind of magic, he knows they think it's "dangerous", and he knows Riku and Kairi likely wouldn't like him using it if they knew about it too, but he still fails to understand why. As long as he can control it, as long as it can be used to help them fight the Heartless, Nobodies, perhaps even the Organization itself, then how bad can it really be?
He finishes another set of Heartless off as he reaches the end of the corridor, more than prepared to brazenly take on the next. Yet just as he raises his hand, darkness and light both swirling steadily around it, he's starkly stopped as a sudden voice reaches him from the opposite end of the hall.
"Well, well... it seems you're finally settling into your proper place within the shadows after all, my precious Heartless…"
In an instant, all traces of magic fizzle away from his hands, the adrenaline and bravado that had prompted them on completely gone along with them. Before he can even turn to face her, panic overtakes him, seizing his body, his mind, his heart, all in deafening, powerful waves. He isn't sure how he's even capable of glancing over his shoulder at her, but he does, his already incredible fear spikes to unimaginable levels upon seeing her again. And in response to that fear, his former captor simply smiles.
Maleficent takes a step forward to him, and in response, Sora stumbles back. His heart is pounding so hard he swears it's about to burst right out of his chest, his head swimming in dread and terror he knows he's bound to drown in. He can't call upon his magic or even his Keyblade, he can't speak a word, he can barely breathe at all. The only thing he can do is vividly, painfully remember the tight metal shackles she'd latched around his wrists, the frigid, empty, lonely room she'd kept him trapped him in, the devastating, paralyzing poison she'd sent surging through his every vien. And from the eager, downright evil smirk spread across her lips as she continues to approach him, he can tell she's set to do all that to him all over again.
"Speechless, I see," Maleficent muses calmly. Her scepter is already in hand, already brimming with bright green malicious magic. Magic that he already knows she has every intention of using to subdue him, to tear him down from the inside out, just as she had before. "Good. I much prefer for my pets to be seen and not heard…"
Sora shakes his head, his mouth hanging open but words refusing to come out of it between his harsh, heavy breathing. He can feel hot, agonized tears building up behind his eyes just as much as he can feel the rest of his body trembling and his ears ringing to the point that he can barely even hear what Maleficent says to him next.
"You must have thought yourself quite fortunate when you slipped away from me last time, boy," she maintains her haughty smile, her heels clicking on the castle's marble floor as she continues walking toward him. By now, the remaining Heartless in the hall have rallied behind her, a sure sign that she was the one to send them in the first place. "But you won't be so lucky this time. Your dear princess isn't here to bring you back into the light; and even if she tries, she won't be able to. Not after what I have planned for you…"
Sora doesn't want to know, doesn't even want to think about what kind of twisted scheme she has in mind for him this time. He wants to run, to get as far away from her as possible, to never, ever be subjected to her tortuous treachery again. But his body, as frozen in fear as it currently is, refuses his mind's desperate pleas to even make an attempt at getting away. His back hits the wall and he finally releases a small, shaky sob as he realizes that she's got him cornered. Trapped. Captured. Just as she'd so easily captured him before. And true to her word, this time, it seems as though she has no intentions of letting him escape her so easily.
And yet, unbeknownst to Sora and even to Maleficent herself, someone else is watching this entire twisted scene play out. Someone who, despite his allegiance to his longtime partner in crime, doesn't want this particular plot of hers to play out as she intends it to.
Which is why Pete half-runs, half-trips his way back toward the castle foyer, hoping that he can somehow stop this madness before it's too late. Fortunately, his path isn't impeded by any Heartless as they've all congregated by Maleficent's side to further keep her helpless captive from escaping her again. Nobodies are still more than abundant, however, even if most of them have started making their way outside the castle as Pete finds his way back to the main hall. And there, sure enough, he spots Donald and Goofy in the midst of finishing off the last few remnant creatures.
"Hey!" he shouts down to the pair, leaning over the mezzanine railing. "Dunder-Duck! Goof Doof!"
Donald and Goofy immediately stall their next attacks at this, caught completely off guard as they glance up toward him in baffled surprise. "Pete?!" Goofy exclaims.
"What are you doing here?!" Donald demands, already aiming his staff the henchman's way.
"What do you two nitwits think I'm doin' here!?" Pete huffs, annoyed. "Maleficent's here too and she's-"
"M-Maleficent's here?!" Goofy gasps, aptly startled by such news.
"Sora!" Donald cries, equally alarmed. Especially since Sora is currently wandering the castle, completely alone, with Maleficent, of all people, wandering about, likely on the verge of apprehending him all over again even as they speak. "Where is he?!" he shouts up at Pete, infuriated to the point that he's ready to cast a spell right there on the spot to get the truth out of him.
"That's what I was tryin' to tell you chumps!" Pete fusses right back. "He's right up thataway," he points toward the West Wing. "And you two better hurry up and help him, or else Maleficent's gonna-"
"Wait…" Goofy pauses, just for the briefest of moments. By now, he and Donald are already halfway up the stairs, knowing there's no time to lose when it comes to race to Sora's side before it's too late. "Why would you want us to go help Sora, Pete?"
"Especially since you're working with Maleficent!" Donald snaps in rising suspicion. "I swear, if this is some kind of trap, for us or for Sora, I'm gonna-"
"It ain't a trap!" Pete retorts crossly, impatiently. Even if his tone does back down into something that almost sounds like genuine concern as he glances away from the pair. "Look, the kid is-h-he doesn't deserve what she's gonna-" He stops short, unsure of how to even address the offer for a second chance in a home he'd long since left behind, as well as the general kindness, that Sora had offered him before. Kindness that even now is enough to push Pete into going against Maleficent's wishes, for better or worse. But all the same, he's far too stubborn and proud to even try to admit any of that, so instead, he simply shouts, shooting another irritated glance Donald and Goofy's way. "Aw, forget it! Do you two dolts wanna help him or not?!"
"Of course, we do!" the pair exclaims, desperate to keep Sora out of harm's way. Just as they always are anymore, it seems.
"Then quit askin' me so many dumb questions and go ahead and do it already!" Pete yells, insistently pointing in the direction they need to go.
They don't spare a moment to question his motives again, largely since it's clear they can't afford to, not if Sora really is in danger as Pete claims. Still, as they rush down the hall past him, Goofy does briefly glance back, offering the henchman a genuinely grateful smile. "Thank you, Pete."
"D-didn't ya hear what I just said!?" Pete rebuffs, angry and flustered. "Don't waste time!" He shakes a fist at the pair as they run off, rounding the corner to hurry to Sora's aid. Though he still makes sure to spare his own plentiful concern once they're well out of earshot. After all, he knows perhaps better than anyone exactly what might happen if Maleficent's sadistic plans actually come to fruition. "Hopefully the poor kid still has time left to lose…"
"You know, you really ought to be grateful that I let you wander free for as long as I have after you were taken away from me before," Maleficent says, her tone cool and her expression calm. For his part, Sora is still an absolute mess, his tears flowing freely now as he presses against the wall, wishing he could just phase right through it completely to escape her. He's far too panic-stricken to run, and clearly, Maleficent knows that. That's why she's drawing this out, relishing his agonized terror as she continues strolling toward him slowly, predatorily. All in the hopes that his fear will make his inevitable plunge back into darkness, back into her control, all the more easier. "But I doubt that will pose a problem this time," she goes on with a cruel, cunning smirk. "Especially considering my plans to tighten the leash when it comes to dealing with you from here on, my troublesome little pet."
He flinches at that word, "pet", and everything it means; at how she's so intent on claiming him, on owning him, as if he were a mere piece of property instead of a living, breathing person. It reminds him so much of what Xehanort intends on doing to him that it practically makes him sick, but in many ways, Maleficent's plans for him are even worse. Her aim is to turn him into a monster, a mere shadow of himself, a ruthless, violent, hideous creature driven only by a lust for destruction and death. She wants to turn him into a being with no free will, thoughts, or feelings of its own, a savage beast that she intends on using as a harbinger of darkness and devastation. Xehanort wants him as a vessel, a member of his Organization, a forced extension of himself and his twisted, terrible ambitions. Maleficent wants exactly as she's said out of him: she wants a monster, a slave, a mere mindless pet, plain and simple.
And by all accounts, it seems as though she's poised to turn him into exactly that. A thought that Sora can't bear, he can't stand as he imagines what she'll have him do, who she'll have him hurt. Who's now in very real danger by simply being in the very same world as him if she gets her way. "N-no…" he finally manages to speak. His voice is so soft and unstable that it's barely audible at all between his tears. But the thought of those sinister claws, his claws, tearing into Riku and Kairi is so awful, so unthinkable that he has to do something to keep it from becoming a reality. Even if he knows his pathetic pleas likely won't work at all. "P-please… stop…"
"Oh, so you've finally learned how to beg, have you?" Maleficent smirks, raising an eyebrow. Not a single shred of pity or mercy rings in her cloying tone as she instead brings her scepter up. It's glowing tip is only a few feet away from Sora, to the point that he can nearly feel that horrendously painful poison coursing through his body all over again. "How very fitting," Maleficent pauses only a few paces away from him, soaking in his obvious anguish for all that it's worth. As far as she's concerned, at least, it's the last time her 'pet' will be able to feel any emotions at all outside of the unquenchable fury that drives his darkness to the surface. "After all, when you get right down to it, you're really nothing more than a darkness-entrenched dog disguised as something you're so clearly not. But don't fret, my Heartless-" She reaches forward and as her long nails gently skim his cheek, he lets out a small, miserable whimper, remembering all too well the sting that the spiteful blow she'd landed across his face when she'd imprisoned him before had left behind. " I have every intention of ripping off that pitiful human veil of yours, once and for all. And once I do, you'll finally be free from the shackles limiting your true potential. Free to rain havoc upon the worlds, to terrorize and tear apart all who stand in your way. And best of all, my dear Heartless, you'll be doing it all entirely for me."
An entirely new wave of unbridled fear washes over Sora upon hearing this, especially as Maleficent's newest scheme finally becomes clear. She doesn't just want to force him to become her own personally-enslaved monster once more; she wants to keep him that way, permanently. To never allow him to so much as even be human, be himself again. It's as if she means to kill him, to destroy his mind and heart and leave only his body behind as a hollow husk existing solely for the sake of following her treacherous, murderous commands. There will be nothing, nothing left of him if she succeeds, if her powerful poison so much as touches him, which it's very close to doing, inches away from his chest even. But for as much as he wants to run, as much as he desperately wishes he could fight back, he can't. He can't stop this, he can't save himself, he can't do anything but wait for his internal demise, which will undoubtedly bring about so many more in its wake.
And yet… even if he can't do something to stop this, that doesn't mean someone else can't.
Maleficent's scepter has nearly skimmed his chest when she suddenly cries out in pained surprise from the lightning spell that strikes her squarely. A familiar shield flies in seconds after, striking her arm hard enough to knock her staff clean out of her grip. Miraculously, it doesn't touch Sora as it instead crashes into the wall right next to him, the near proximity of it alone finally proving enough to break him out of his frozen, frightened revere.
He still doesn't move too much though, aside from glancing past Maleficent as she recovers from the unexpected pair of attacks. She does so quickly, angrily spinning around to see what Sora already has: Donald and Goofy both rushing to his rescue.
Sora sobs, so overwhelmed with relief that he doesn't know what to do at first upon seeing the pair coming to save him from his horrid fate. His companions are quick to fill in the silence, however, both of them immediately furious at Maleficent's wicked attempts at apprehending Sora once more. "Leave him alone!" Donald yells heatedly. He casts a powerful ice spell at the floor, one that effectively freezes Maleficent's feet in place as she spins around to face the pair.
"Fools!" she shouts viciously, summoning her scepter back into her grip. "Imbeciles! You'll pay for this audacious interruption with your lives!" She sends a powerful burst of destructive magic their way, one that Goofy blocks the brunt of with his shield before briefly glancing over the edge of it.
"Sora, run!" he urges worriedly. Yet even so, Sora's still too shocked to move, even now that Maleficent's ire has been detracted away from him and toward his companions instead.
"What are you just standing there for?!" Donald snaps at Sora incredulously. He counteracts the next spell Maleficent sends their way with a timely bit of water magic. "Get out of here! Now!"
Somehow, this is enough to finally prompt Sora into action. He turns, briefly tripping over his own feet as he begins to run out of Maleficent's immediate range. He's quick to recover though, acting solely on a newfound desperate flight instinct as he rushes down the opposite corridor, his heart pounding with still very palpable fear all the way.
"No!" Maleficent practically screams after him, absolutely livid. He doesn't know how he manages to duck out of the way of the deadly blast she fires off in his direction as soon as he starts to flee from her, but somehow, he does. "Get back here this instant, you despicable, disobedient little-"
She's cut off as Donald's staff suddenly rams into hers, the edge of Goofy's shield following soon after. They do their best to keep their weapons held steady, knowing that doing so will go a long way toward helping Sora escape. Which he fortunately manages to do as he rounds the nearby corner, intent on getting as far away from Maleficent and her unthinkable plans for him as possible.
"Infernal interlopers…" Maleficent scowls as she pushes the pair back harshly. "I won't be kept from taking control of a Heartless that's rightfully mine by the likes of you!"
"Sora isn't a Heartless and he's definitely not yours!" Goofy counters firmly, raising his shield to fend off her next attack.
"And we're not about to let you hurt him ever again!" Donald proclaims, his staff already ready to unleash a powerful wind spell to further fend her off. And that's exactly what the duo does as Maleficent unleashes her full, unbridled fury upon them for helping her coveted Heartless slip away again.
It's a battle that Sora doesn't see the outcome to, is barely even aware of as he sprints away from it, shame filling in for fear with each hurried, panicked step he takes down the castle's darkened halls. Donald and Goofy shouldn't be fighting that battle for him, they should have never needed to come to his rescue at all. He knows that, but he also knows just how crippling, just how blinding, just how suffocating simply being in the same room as his malicious, merciless former captor really was.
So he continues to run from her, barely even trying to make it to his original destination anymore in favor of simply putting some much-needed distance between himself and Maleficent. His chest is heaving for air he feels he's getting nowhere near enough of, his eyes stinging with tears he can't stem the tide of. Even now that he's escaped, he's still distraught, still unable to shake the remnant terror, no matter how hard he tries, of what happened to him before, of what could very well happen to him again in so many worse ways that he can't even try to keep track of them all.
Sora only comes to a stop as he notices a dark corridor forming in the hallway ahead of him, though even still he nearly manages to run right into it before he skids to a clumsy halt. Panic grips him again as his immediate thoughts suspect Maleficent to step out of it, determined as ever to make him into her perfect little "pet". Though the sight who does actually emerge from the shadowy portal instead frightens him nearly as much as she would have.
"You don't need to worry or fear any further, Number Thirteen," Saïx says, his expression calm and collected as his dark corridor disappears behind him. Sora instantly recognizes the member all too well from past unpleasant encounters and is far from relieved to see him now, despite the obviously false comforting message he brings. "Your Organization will protect you from anyone who seeks to bring you harm."
Sora backpedals, sharp, succinct dread surging through his chest all over again as he realizes Saïx's intent before he can even say so much as a word about it. After all, it would only make sense that another member would make an attempt at "inviting" him to join their ranks after Marluxia only narrowly failed to do so before. "L-leave me alone," he begs weakly, foolishly as he knows that begging never works against any of his foes. "Please… I-I can't-"
"You can't what?" Saïx interrupts, still sauntering forward slowly. "Collect yourself long enough to locate this world's Key? If that's the case, then you're a failure, both to the Organization you'll soon belong to and the lights you're still so desperately pretending to be a part of."
Sora says nothing, still far too shaken to show even a trace of the usual bold resistance he would to any Organization member's claims. His hand continues clenching and unclenching constantly, begging for a Keyblade that still won't come to a wielder that's far too frightened to use it properly. He continues backing away from Saïx, preparing to take off and run in the opposite direction, but he knows exactly who he'll likely encounter if he does. And if he has to choose between facing Maleficent and Saïx, then Saïx is easily the lesser of two evils as far as he's concerned.
"Then again," Saïx muses, his tone as even as ever. "From what I understand, these Keys respond to particularly strong emotions. And by all accounts, your emotions seem to be running absolutely wild at the moment." He's far from wrong; Sora is sure that his persistent panic is clear to see just from the look on his face alone. "Which has me wondering… if fear isn't enough to draw this world's Key out, then what emotion is?"
A large, deadly claymore flashes into Saïx's hand, one that he easily raises high above his head. Sora only has time to let out a terrified gasp before he brings it down, losing his footing as it crashes into the ground mere inches beside him. Saïx draws it back, preparing for just as deadly as a successive strike.
"I-I don't understand!" Sora exclaims, the words coming out far more quicker than he can think them into existence. He stays on the ground, his eyes wide alarm as he tries and fails to summon his Keyblade to use to defend himself against the next heavy blow Saïx clearly intends to send his way. "I-if you guys want me on your side so badly, then why do you keep trying to kill me?!"
"We're not," Saïx takes another swing, one that Sora only narrowly manages to roll out of the path of. "Our main goal right now is to obtain the Keys, just as it is yours. And if we need to provoke the emotions that call them into the open, within our thirteenth member in particular, then that's more than within our means to do. And as of late, Sora, it seems as though danger is something you react excruciatingly strongly to."
Sora barely manages to stifle a frightened cry as Saïx's claymore comes within mere inches of his face the next time he lashes out with it. He finally forces himself to his feet, shoving the massive weapon aside as hard as he can to throw Saïx's rhythm off. He runs past him, not sparing the Organization member a word in edgewise as he strives to get himself out of the danger Saïx seems so intent on keeping him in. The danger that the Organization as a whole seems to want to keep him in.
"Feel free to run as much as you'd like." He can hear Saïx call after him as he flees. He glances over his shoulder to see if he's being followed, but surprisingly, Saïx makes no move to do so. Instead, he simply offers a relaxed, almost easy smile as he seemingly lets Sora slip away. "But even you can't hide from the truth forever."
The truth, of what the Organization wants him to become, of what Maleficent wants him to become. Of what he already is entirely on his own without influence from either of them. It's a truth that Sora doesn't want to face, a truth he can't face because it's too much, too awful, too unbearable to even try to deal with.
So, much like he's doing from everything else, he runs from the truth too. Even though he knows all too well that Saïx is right; he can't run from it forever.
Sora's all but lost track of where he is in the castle when he finally comes to another stop sometime later, this time entirely on his own accord. He collapses against a wall, unable to take another step forward as he slides to the ground, pulling his knees to his chest as he lets out the agonized sob he's been holding in ever since Saïx showed up. He knows that stopping now is dangerous, that either Saïx or Maleficent could catch up with him at any moment, but he doesn't care. Because now, all he can do is sit there, his face buried into his knees and tears soft and silent as he lets his fear and despair pour out of him freely. He shouldn't be doing this, knows he's selfishly wasting time that could be spent on saving or helping the others. But by now he's more than reached his limit; which means the most he can really do is fall apart, whether he wants to or not.
He finds himself craving comfort, some form of companionship to pull him out of this mire of misery he's found himself in. His first thought turns to Kairi, to her warm smile, her gentle touch, the way her loving light, so glowing and vibrant, always manages to bring out the sun even in the worst of storms. She's here too, maybe not at the castle, but in this world, within reach. All he'd need to do is find her, fall into her embrace and let his pain, his grief, his fear all float away like a ship on the sea. And with her, he'd find Riku too. Riku, who would steady him, who would reassure him, who would-
Who would condemn him for putting their mission in jeopardy, who would scoff at his show of pitiful fragility, who would tell him he needs to be stronger than this, better than this, who would insist that he's the weakest link of the team, a link none of them need to keep around. Riku, who, as one of his closest friends, might have shown him some kind of sympathy and support before at a moment like this. But now, as the leader of the lights, the most Sora knows he can expect from Riku, for his complete failure to stand strong in the face of even the slightest adversity, is nothing more than scorn and indifference.
On that thought, his tears turn a bit more bitter, the first hints of anger edging into his sobs as he continues to let them out quietly. His fingers absently start digging into his skin as he continues to loosely hold his arms, his posture growing rigid as his back remains pressed against the wall. Briefly, he catches onto the soft sound of emerging footsteps from somewhere down the hall and he couldn't possibly care who they belong to at a moment like this. Let it be Riku or Kairi, Donald or Goofy. Let it be even Saïx or Maleficent, he doesn't care. Whatever's about to happen, be it good or bad, he's ready to let it happen; just as long as all of this, this dread, this anger, this fear finally finds a way to come to an end.
So he simply waits, doesn't even bother to glance up and see what awaits him as those unknown footsteps draw ever close to him, until-
"Sora?"
He glances up to find Belle standing over him, her expression awash with concern that only deepens as she realizes his eyes are wet with lingering tears. How she managed to make it here without running into Maleficent or Saïx along the way, Sora has no idea. He only wishes he could have been that lucky. "A-are you alright?" she asks, kneeling down to his level. "Did something happen? Are you hurt?"
Sora takes in a shaky, uneven breath, managing to make the effort as he starts wiping some of his tears away. He knows he can't tell her the truth of the two nightmarish encounters he's just been through, and even if he could, he wouldn't want to. After all, this unending turmoil is his burden to bear, not hers or anybody else's. "N-no, nothing happened. I'm… I'm fine. I'm… o-ok," he lies, throwing on a fake, wavering smile. One that doesn't Belle doesn't buy in the slightest.
"I'm not so sure that you are…" she says. Her tone is firm, yet earnest, caring, kind. A far cry from the greedy malice he'd just faced when pitted against his foes. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but… if you do, I'd be more than willing to listen."
Sora nearly caves at this, nearly falls forward in the hopes of receiving a comforting embrace to nearly unload every ounce of terror and turmoil still striking solidly at his heart. He nearly seeks whatever solace she might be able to give him, even if that solace can only come in the form of merely listening to his troubles alone. He nearly does… until he realizes that those troubles, for as pitiful and pathetic as they are, aren't really worth being listened to by anyone at all.
"N-no, really, like I said, I'm fine," he says, relieved that his tears have finally stopped falling. He does accept the hand she offers to help him back up, but not much more outside of that. "I was looking for the Beast, actually. I think he might be in trouble."
"Oh, believe me, I know," Belle frowns, her tone and expression both grave. "Gaston-he's a hunter from my village and a cruel, careless one at that-led that horrible mob here so they can try to kill the Beast! They all think he's a monster; I tried convincing them that he's not, but they wouldn't listen!"
"Then it looks like it's up to help him," Sora says, some of his former resolve returning.
"That's exactly why I came back," Belle nods, just as determined. "But it wasn't easy. The castle's surrounded by those strange white creatures. Your friends are out there fighting them right now; I only barely managed to slip in between some of them when they weren't looking."
"What?" Sora gapes, alarmed. "Belle, you shouldn't have done that. Nobodies can be really dangerous-"
"Well, I couldn't just stand there and do nothing!" Belle counters intently. "The villagers only found out about the Beast because of me; that's why I have to do anything I can to help him. I-I… I can't just let them..." She trails off, unable to even bear the thought of losing a friend she cherishes so deeply. A friend who, she's slowly starting to realize, might be just a bit more to her than that.
"And we won't," Sora assures, turning to face the latter half of the hall. One that just so happens to lead directly to the West Wing, proof that despite just how far he'd fled from his foes, he really hadn't gotten that far away from either of them. Something that always seems to be the case anymore. "We'll stop them and we'll save the Beast."
"Right," Belle brazenly agrees, ready to do whatever she can to help. "Let's go."
So Sora begins to lead the way down the now-quiet hall, still holding in his own fading fear all the while. It's all he can really do to hold himself together, to face a threat that's far less daunting and dreadful than what he's just had to endure. And to put his thoughts away from what Riku would say if he could see just how weak he really is.
Despite Riku, Kairi, and Axel's best efforts to stem the constant tide of Nobodies swarming the castle's exterior, the creatures keep on coming. There's no question that Saïx is the one who sent them, most likely in an attempt to slow them down, to keep them from rushing to Sora's aid when he might really need them. It's a thought that unnerves Kairi in particular, especially as she takes two Nobodies down simultaneously, only for four more to take their place before she can slip through their horde.
"This isn't working!" she shouts to Riku and Axel. She doesn't know why, but she's becoming more distraught, more desperate to get in, to get to Sora, by the minute. Almost as if she can sense that something is going horribly wrong. "We need to find another way in!"
Riku pauses for a moment at this, scanning the surrounding area of the castle grounds. By now, the mob has completely cleared out, leaving only the various marauding Nobodies to rampage freely in their wake. A threat that's bound to be besieging the castle both inside and out. "Let's go around to the side and see if there's another entrance," he says, putting a stop to their ongoing brawl against the Nobodies for now. "And if we still can't get in, we'll figure something else out from there."
Kairi and Axel nod in agreement with this plan, and the three are off, rushing along the wall of Nobodies barring their path as they try to forge a proper path into the palace. They evade the creatures' attacks along the way, hoping to find some sort of side door on the far side of the structure, though if there are any, they don't make themselves very apparent. However, as the trio continues charging ahead, Axel happens to be the first to spot a familiar figure standing atop one of the castle's lower spires as they pass it by.
"Saïx!" he shouts, gripping his Keyblade tightly as he glares up at him. Saïx says nothing as he stands high above the group, his sights set more on Axel than Riku or Kairi. From their lower vantage point, his expression is largely unreadable, but Axel can already imagine the usual dour, yet somehow smug scowl Saïx tends to wear. He only briefly regards the group staring up at him below before he begins to walk off, all without saying a single word. The very act carries an air of sinister mystery that Axel knows all too well, one that he refuses to simply let stand considering the hectic, divisive circumstances they're all currently under.
"I'll catch up with you guys later," he says, one of his flaming chakrams appearing in his empty hand. "I'm gonna go after him."
"What?" Kairi asks, glancing back at him in sudden alarm.
"Lea, wait," Riku cautions firmly, authoritatively. But it still isn't enough to stop Axel from creating a powerful, yet concentrated fiery explosion behind him, one that he uses the force of to propel himself upward. It's a fairly dangerous move, one that he's put off using until absolutely necessary, and as far as Axel is concerned, now is as good a time as any. The blast launches him over the horde of Nobodies and up onto a relatively lower perch, one that he leaps off of to work his way up to Saïx's level, both of his flaming weapons still in hand.
Yet even as he continues his swift, upward momentum, Riku tries calling to him once again. "We need to stay… together…" His command fizzles out into a defeated sigh as Axel disappears from sight, still chasing after Saïx to the castle's higher precipices.
Kairi is quick to catch onto his immediate disappointment, his downcast expression relatively easy to read. She knows Riku's been struggling with his new role as leader, with asserting his authority and taking charge of the team when he's never really had to do so before. His only barely restrained frustration with Sora's continuous pushback against his leadership before was telling enough of that, but now he's facing something similar with Axel essentially ignoring his orders in favor of more personal pursuits instead. Kairi realizes that she's also somewhat guilty of this, namely from having questioned his plans back at the cottage earlier. Which is why she hopes she can make up for it in some small way as she places a reassuring hand upon his shoulder. "Hey," she smiles sincerely, catching his attention. "I'm with you."
It's a simple statement, but it's one that speaks volumes to Riku as soon as he hears it. Because it shows that even if Axel, even if Sora isn't willing to follow his lead, at the very least there's still someone who is. And that someone is Kairi.
So he warmly accepts the assistance she's offering him, valuing her willingness to give it so freely. On that acceptance, Riku leads the way ahead, Kairi diligently following after him and both of them hoping they make it into that castle, make progress in finding the Key, and most importantly, make it Sora before it's too late.
Gaston had successfully snuck into the West Wing, and had immediately gotten the upper hand against the Beast, who, still awash in grief over letting Belle go, made no effort to fight back against his attacker. Even as Gaston landed a clean arrow to his shoulder, the Beast had only reeled in pain, allowing the hunter to easily shove him through the nearest window out into the pouring rain. He continued shoving his helpless "prey" down, off the balcony and out onto the narrow ledge he lies in anguish upon now, all while Gaston stands over him, maliciously laughing and mocking him all the while.
"What's the matter, Beast?" he sneers as he lands another brutal kick to the Beast's side. "Too 'kind and gentle' to fight back?"
Gaston prepares to deliver the final blow by pulling off a heavy stone spike connected to the ledge, one that proves to be an effective club to unleash a deadly bludgeoning with. The Beast says nothing, does nothing to defend himself. Instead, he only lets out a low, mournful groan as he closes his eyes to accept his fate. After all, without Belle by his side, without her warm, kind presence to fill his dark existence with the light he hasn't even known he had been longing for before she entered it, then, as far as he's concerned, that existence really has no point in continuing at all.
And yet…
"No!" A stark, frightened cry cuts through the storm from somewhere above them. The Beast hears it, summoning just enough effort to glance up, past Gaston to the balcony above them. Or more specifically, to who's standing upon it.
"B-Belle…" the Beast is awestruck as he sees her, practically leaning over the edge of the balcony to catch a glimpse of him. She's horrified by the violent scene taking place below her, and so is Sora as he stands alongside her, his Keyblade already in hand. "Gaston, please, don't!" Belle yells, but Gaston ignores her. He's far too crazed, far too driven by jealousy and blood-lust to stop now.
Which is why the Beast stops his first potentially brutal blow himself. His hand catches the club Gaston swings down at him evenly, his claws tightening around it as he rises to stand. Belle's return has reinvigorated him, given him a reason to fight, to survive, if only so he can see her beautiful smile again once this nightmare is over with. If only so they can finally be together again, even after he thought they never would.
From their spot high above, Belle and Sora watch the Beast begin to grapple with Gaston in a fight that quickly starts shifting around the roof of one of the nearby towers. Conditions are slippery, potentially deadly as a torrential thunderstorm continues washing over the castle, yet that fact hardly registers with either the Beast or Gaston as they push back against each other, continuously taking heavy swings in an attempt to gain an edge in this intense encounter. One that will clearly only have one winner alone once it's all said and done.
"I'm gonna go help the Beast," Sora says, briefly glancing over at Belle. "You stay up here where it's safe, ok?"
Belle nods, her expression tight and fretful as she pulls her cloak tighter around her shoulders. "Please, be careful," she urges as Sora begins to climb out onto the nearby roof.
"Right," he briefly sends her a reassuring smile, though it quickly fades as he turns to focus on keeping his balance atop the narrow platform he's stepped out onto. The Beast and Gaston are still brawling it out just a few feet below, though the rapid pace of their battle has them constantly shifting to different layers and ledges of the castle's exterior. Sora does his best to try and keep the pair in his sights so he can hopefully catch up with them, a task not made any easier by the chilling rain still coming down in heavy sheets cast against a practically pitch black sky.
For his part, the Beast has taken up a different tactic when it comes to dealing with Gaston. He puts some much needed space between himself and the hunter, hiding among the multiple stone gargoyles lining the long perch they'd recently fallen onto. Gaston mistakes his newfound plan as cowardice, smirking as he pulls out his musket to finish the fight off. But even so, the Beast is prepared, even as his attacker slowly continues stepping through the shadows toward him.
"Were you in love with her, Beast?" Gaston calls, his tone haughty and taunting and cruel. "Did you honestly think she'd want you when she had someone like me?!"
Incensed by such coldhearted comments, the Beast finally emerges, taking a swing at Gaston that he only narrowly dodges as he takes aim with his gun. Its tip is pointed directly at the Beast, who's back is turned to Sora as he finally lands on the platform the two foes are sharing. And what happens next unfolds far too fast for anyone to see coming.
Gaston's musket has already been well-loaded before this fight even began. He cocks it eagerly as he takes only a mere step back from the Beast towering over him, his claws ready to lash out in a vicious blow. That blow becomes something else, however, when he notices Gaston tightening his aim, and in the last few seconds before he fires, the Beast shoves the hunter's arms upward hard, bringing his own body low in the process
It's a subtle movement, one that throws Gaston's aim off entirely as he fires. The bullet that follows misses the Beast…
Only to end up striking Sora instead.
It almost, almost misses him, but of course, it doesn't. The projectile pierces his right shoulder squarely, ripping through his jacket before doing the same to his flesh. It's so sudden, so shocking, so unspeakably painful that he doesn't cry out, doesn't make a sound, doesn't do anything. Instead, his Keyblade simply slips out of his hand, disappearing as it strikes the ground before he follows soon after, albeit a bit too far to the left. As a result, he slips over the edge of the narrow ledge, plummeting in a rapid freefall before landing hard against another small platform several feet below.
By now, the pain brought on by this newfound injury has all but blinded and deafened him. He can only barely make out the blurry image of the Beast peering over the edge of the walkway he'd just fallen from. Can only barely hear Belle's horrified call for his name, or Gaston's pitiless sneer, or the Beast's furious, fearsome roar. Instead, all Sora can do is simply lie there, pain lancing through his entire arm in violent waves, each more awful than the last. Blood, far too much blood, is pouring from both sides of the gaping wound, blood that's mingling with the nearly frigid raindrops still beating down upon him. Whatever's going on now on the ledge above him is all but lost on him, completely inconsequential in light of what's surging through both his body and mind now.
Pain is first, obviously; it courses through every fiber of his being freely, its sole source the agonizing wound in his shoulder that started it all. It overtakes him greedily, pushing any thought of even trying to escape it away. Not that he could anyway; with his arm as horrifically damaged as it currently is, trying to summon his Keyblade to cast even a quick healing spell upon it is impossible. With the pain comes cold, an icy, chilling sensation flowing over his languished, soaking body, freezing it in place, forcing him to stay still, silencing him completely. And on top of that pain and on top of that cold, something else soon begins to emerge.
Fear follows, burrowing deep within his aching chest every bit as much as it had before between his encounters with Maleficent and Saïx. Only now, somehow that fear is even more overwhelming in ways he hadn't even thought possible. Because now, instead of being merely taken captive or corrupted into something he never wants to be, his fate is far more dire. Now, as he lies up there alone on that roof, far away from anyone who might even be able to remotely help him, he knows what's about to happen to him.
He's going to die.
And on that realization, grief quickly pours into him, a saddened sob wracking his body as tears begin to add to the mix of blood and rain that's covering him. The possibility of death has always been a rather constant one looming over his head ever since the Kingdom Key first flashed into his hand on that fateful night years ago. He's been on the verge of it so many times he can't even keep count of them all, but he always thought that when it finally did reach him, he'd be able to face it bravely, unflinchingly, fearlessly. Not lying helplessly in a pool of his own tears and blood, drowning in the depths of his own misery and dread.
In what he assumes are his final, fading, fleeting moments, he thinks of the Keys, the ones he's lost, the one he's still failed to claim from this world, just as Saïx had said. He thinks of Donald and Goofy, who had so bravely rushed in to rescue him from Maleficent, only to lose him now. He thinks of Roxas, Xion, and Ventus, how all of his hopes and plans and promises to set them free will now amount to nothing, how each of their hearts may very well die with his, despite how undeserving their deaths will be when compared to his own. He thinks of Kairi, how he'll never get to give her a proper goodbye, how he never got the chance to tell her the truth, how she'll never really know just how much he truly cares for her. And he thinks of Riku-
He thinks of Riku and what he'd certainly say if he were here to see him like this. "Really, Sora?" he can practically hear him say, shaking his head in stern, soulless disapproval. "This is all it takes to bring you down? You should be stronger than this, but you aren't. No wonder I was chosen to be in charge instead of you; everything you do just keeps dragging the entire team down over and over again. Do you really think you'd ever stand a chance against Xehanort, against Maleficent, against anyone? No, you wouldn't, not like this. If only you weren't so weak…"
If only… Sora thinks, letting out a bitter, joyless laugh between his tears. If only he hadn't gotten shot, if only he hadn't come across Saïx or Maleficent. If only he'd already found the Key, if only they'd left this world behind before any of this could even happen. If only the others hadn't been assigned to travel with them, if only Riku hadn't been named leader in his stead. If only he'd hadn't failed to find a way to set Roxas, Xion, and Ventus free. If only he hadn't been chained up and poisoned. If only a piece of Xehanort's darkness hadn't been forced into his heart, if only that darkness wasn't spreading, wasn't growing, wasn't turning him more and more into someone he's not with each passing day. If only everything hadn't gone horribly wrong from the very beginning, if only they would go right just for once, for one single, solitary moment of his life. If only all of the pain and fear and grief would finally just stop-
If only he weren't such a disappointment, such a failure, so worthless. If only he weren't so weak. If only he were stronger, if only-
"You can be stronger…" A sudden voice rings out from the very depths of his heart. It scares him, how it sounds so much like Xehanort, like Maleficent, like himself all at the exact same time. "Your own heart holds all the strength it could ever need…"
The icy chill in his chest feels different now, his racing thoughts slowing to a crawl as he lets these simple, almost comforting words wash over him. More follow it, and amidst the slow, empty numbness creeping through his bones, he closes his eyes to listen.
"Your heart is strong enough, you're strong enough, to bring down anyone who tries to do the same to you," those voices, still a mingled, mangled mix that doesn't belong together in the slightest, says to him softly. "You can make them bleed, make them hurt, make them suffer just as much as they've brought all those things upon you. After everything you've been through, every moment of pain and hardship you've been forced to go through, it's only fair you return the favor, right?"
It is fair. He can't deny that, even if he wants to, which he doesn't. "Look and see just how strong you can really be…" the voices urge gently, encouragingly, now all but indistinguishable from one another now. Somehow, he finds the strength to slowly sit up. He can't feel so much as single a trace of pain in his shoulder anymore, can't feel much of anything at all. Because when he catches sight of his arms, they're engulfed in shadows, his hands tearing out of his blackened gloves, now far too large to be held by them, his crimson-tinged fingers far too sharp and spindly to be considered anything other than claws now. Such a sickening sight would have normally horrified him, but he finds a strange sense of relief in it now. Especially as that same darkness slips over his injured shoulder, covering it and concealing it from sight and dulling the agony it brought upon him completely.
"Show them just how powerful you are…" the voices press on eagerly as something else starts to weave its way into his heart along with them. It starts out small, like a spark of a tiny flame. But with each passing second it continues to grow, just as the shadows slowly spreading over his body are. It swirls and swells within him, bright and burning and beautiful, like an unquenchable flame, a blinding inferno that fuels his every thought, his every breath, every last beat of his once-anguished heart.
An inferno that's made up of nothing less than the deepest, darkest of anger.
"Show them just how WRONG they all are about you…" the voices whisper and he heeds them. He wants to show them, he's going to show them all the incredible error of their ways. He'll show Maleficent that he isn't afraid of her, that he isn't her mindless pet to manipulate and chain and torture and control. He'll show Xehanort and the Organization that his heart is far stronger, far more powerful, much more free than they think it is. And most of all, he'll show Riku that he isn't weak, that he's strong, far stronger that he is even, far more worthy of honor and power and success than he could ever be.
And maybe, in doing so, he might just find a way to show himself that he isn't so worthless after all.
"Show them your strength!" By now, his teeth have started sharpening into fangs, the shadows consuming him quickening their pace as he lets them do so completely on his own accord. "Show them your rage!" His eyes are burning yellow, a bright contrast amidst the dark, raining night around him and the darkness covering his form. From some other, less furious part of his heart, he nearly hears a soft, sad trio of voices calling out to him, begging him to stop this, to let this dangerous, disastrous anger go before it's too late. But he can't stop now, he won't stop now. He needs this power, needs this strength, needs this rage to not just survive but thrive more than he could ever try to do on his own. And all the while, that other set of sinister voices rings out just a bit louder than those of the hearts within his own. "Show them your DARKNESS!"
He's nearly there, nearly to the point where he's all but ready to do exactly that when the world around him takes a stark, sudden shift. A golden glow envelops his surroundings, strangely causing him no harm despite the stark shadows still clinging to nearly every part of his body now. His mind is fading, sheer instincts and anger coming in to take the place of any sort of thoughts or logic. But he still manages to hear a new, unseen voice speaking to him, asking him a simple question with an easy answer.
"Is there rage in your heart?"
"Yes…" he responds immediately. It comes out in a low, vicious growl, one that barely even sounds human, barely even sounds like his own voice as he closes his eyes. When he opens them again a moment later, they're nothing more than empty golden orbs as his final conscious words slip out in a bitter, hateful snarl. "There is…"
The light fades as darkness overtakes it. He doesn't notice a glimmering Key flash into his hand as his shadow-steeped form solidifies itself, as he willingly, readily lets that terrifying transformation turn him into something much more monstrous.
As he lets the darkness fill him with all of the strength he knows he desperately lacks.
The moment that transformation is complete, the newly-claimed Key falls out of Sora's clawed hand. Its pure, brimming, sacred light is far too much for his darkness-entrenched form to take, and its importance is completely lost on him in the frenzied, almost animalistic state he's in now. So he hastily tosses it away from him with a harsh, pained hiss, not even caring at all as it flies off of the ledge he's on to somewhere further down the castle below him. Where another battle entirely has been taking place.
Axel isn't at all surprised to find Saïx waiting for him on the castle's lower crossways, his arms crossed as he stares up somewhere high above them both. Before he reaches him, Axel only briefly spares a glance in that direction to find what seems to be the Beast and Gaston duking it out upon some of the castle's highest spires. From the looks of it, the Beast has that battle largely under control as he easily beats back Gaston's attempts at taking him down. Which frees Axel up to face the fight that's clearly about to transpire ahead of him.
"Hey!" he shouts at Saïx, who's still watching what's happening overhead even as he continues to approach him. "Eyes down here maybe?"
Saïx finally shifts his gaze to meet him, his expression bored and stoic in a contrast to Axel's much sharper one. "Took you long enough," he says coolly. "I thought you'd never show up."
"Yeah, well, I'm here now," Axel scowls, both his Keyblade and chakram still in hand as he takes up a battle stance. "And if it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you're gonna get."
"Good," Saïx replies as his claymore appears within his grip. "At least I'll get to see some kind of a fight in this world. I can't tell you how disappointed I was when Sora refused to put one up just awhile ago."
Axel flinches at this, a newfound spark of anger quenching the already steady fire within him. "Here's a word of advice for you and the rest of your pals back in the Organization," he points his Keyblade at his former friend. "Leave Sora alone if you know what's good for you."
Saïx finally smirks at this; the almost twisted amusement it carries practically makes Axel's skin crawl. "When did you become so suddenly protective of the boy you once planned on turning into a Heartless, Axel?" It's clear he can tell the old accusation cuts deep. "Could it be that he reminds you of someone? Roxas, perhaps?"
Red hot flames burst around both of Axel's weapons, his fierce glare every bit as burning to match as he charges forward on impulse and fury alone. "Shut up!" he snaps, taking the first swift swing. "You don't get to talk about him to me anymore, not after-"
"Not after what?" Saïx easily dodges the attack by leaping out of its path. He doesn't make much of an effort to retaliate as he leaps over Axel, landing on a ledge not far behind him. "After how you let him leave?"
"I didn't let him leave!" Axel lies and the words come out far less firm than they mean to as a result. "A-at least I tried getting him back!"
"And by then, it was far too late," Saïx notes unsympathetically as he gently descends back down to the same level as Axel. "It seems it's still too late because now it seems you've managed to grow a conscience when you didn't have much of one before." He finally makes his first move, rushing forward in mere seconds to land a powerful blow with his massive sword. Axel barely has enough time to block it and only barely manages to fend it off with both of his weapons in hand. "Tell me, Axel," Saïx lingers close by, within range for Axel to take another swing at him, which he readily does, even if that swing fails to land. "What did Kairi have to say when she found out that she'd be training alongside you, her former kidnapper?"
"Doesn't matter what she said," Axel narrowly defends against another one of Saïx's brutal blows. "What matters is that she's moved on. We both have. You oughta try it sometime, Isa."
"I have moved on," Saïx counters, his tone surprisingly rigid as his glare sharpens somewhat. "From that name, from the past it carries, even from you, Lea."
"Oh yeah?" Axel challenges. He smirks, realizing he might finally be getting the upper hand, both in this battle and in another way entirely. "Then prove it."
The pair charge at each other, claymore and Keyblade clashing as the endless rain continues pouring down upon them both. Between their brawl, both of them barely register the stark, sudden sound of a gunshot as it rings out through the air somewhere higher on the castle above them. Whatever's happening up there hardly matters to either of them as much as what's happening between them right here below.
"Why do you insist on kidding yourself with that Keyblade of yours?" Saïx asks condescendingly as he leaps out of Axel's immediate range once more. "You barely even know how to use it, much less use it effectively. Did you really learn nothing during all that time you spent training?"
Axel's immediate retort to this is a well aimed flame-spell, one that flies fast enough to avoid being doused out by the pouring rain. It almost hits Saïx square in the chest, but he blocks it off with the edge of his claymore just in time. "I learned enough to deal with you, that's for sure," Axel grins, twirling his Keyblade in his grip.
Saïx's expression is icy as he retaliates, taking a broad swing that Axel swiftly jumps out of the path of. "Are you sure you even have a place among the guardians of light?" he asks when their weapons clash a moment later. This time they keep them pressed tight against each other, exchanging a set of scornful glares from either side of them. "I can't help but think that you're merely deluding yourself into thinking that you do."
"If you're trying to convince me to come crawling back to the Organization with you, then you can just forget it," Axel scoffs indignantly. "That's not gonna work."
"I wouldn't dream of inviting you back, Axel," Saïx hisses. Both his expression and his tone are harsh, bitter as he says it. "After all, the Master doesn't take too kindly to traitors."
The insult hardly even lands a dent; after all, it's one Axel's heard plenty of times by now. "Yeah well maybe the old man wouldn't have to worry about traitors so much if he didn't run such a sleazy, shady order."
Saïx rolls his eyes as he finally manages to shove Axel back hard across the ledge they're on. "Shows how little you know of the new Organization XIII. At least we're honest with each other, unlike you guardians of light."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Axel pauses before coming in for his next strike, raising a suspicious eyebrow as he stares at Saïx warily.
"I'd be on my guard if I were you, Axel," he says simply. Carefully, almost. If Axel didn't know any better, he might have confused this "warning" for a genuine one. "There's one among your number that's not to be trusted."
Even so, Axel can't help but be taken aback by such a startling implication. One that he quickly deflects upon remembering who he's hearing it from. "Y-yeah?" he counters as steadily as he can. "And what makes you think I'd trust you over any of them?"
"Because I know you, Axel," Saïx replies. He lowers his claymore and for the briefest of moments, and Axel almost finds his manner earnest, as if he's truly concerned. As if they're still the closest of companions, just like they were when they were kids. "And you know me, much better than you do any of your new friends."
But that final, cutting remark is what makes the illusion fall apart completely. Axel rushes forward, not sparing a single word to even speculate on what Saïx just said as his Keyblade collides with his former friend's claymore squarely. The two exchange several blows in rapid succession in the moments that follow, both of them evenly matched for the most part, though Saïx does manage to get an edge as he lands a low strike to his side, one that painfully throws Axel back to the point he nearly slips off the roof entirely. Saïx approaches him slowly, the tip of his claymore dragging across the ledge as he prepares to land the final blow, but right before he can, something interrupts the flow of the fight completely.
A bright, golden Keyblade clatters to the ground between the pair, having fallen from somewhere far above them. It lands flatly onto the rain-drenched ground, glistening radiantly against the dark stony ledge it rests on. And for the first moment or two after it appears, the most either Axel or Saïx can do is stare at it incredulously, their previous battle all but forgotten.
"W-what the…?" Axel speaks first, glancing up to the high precipice the Keyblade had fallen from. At least until he reaches a startling realization upon taking another look at the glowing weapon itself. "Wait… is that-?"
"The Key," Saïx grins as he reaches down to take it. Axel gasps and lunges forward at the same time, but his hand misses the Key by just seconds as Saïx snatches it away from him instead. "I had anticipated that this would be an easy task, but even I couldn't have guessed it would be this easy," his smirk deepens as he looks the Key over.
Axel stumbles to his feet, his side still aching terribly from where Saïx's claymore had struck him just moments ago. But he can't, won't let this Key slip away that easily. He won't let Saïx slip away from him again that easily either. "Saïx, wait-"
"I suppose this is where we part ways for now, Axel," Saïx muses, barely glancing back at him as he calls upon a dark corridor. "Have fun telling your fellow lights about your failure to so much as secure a simple Key."
"Saïx!" Axel shouts as he takes a staggered step forward, clutching his injured side all the while. There's too much distance between them now for him to catch up to Saïx at this rate, but he tries all the same, desperation hitching into his tone as he reaches a trembling hand out to him. "Don't walk away from me!"
Saïx pauses, only for a moment at this. His back is turned away from Axel, the Key still held tight in his grip as he prepares to take it far away from this world, far away from the lights striving to claim it instead. But he still spares a glance over his shoulder, years-old spite spiking in his tone as he does. "If that's what you want," he says. His voice is so quiet that it's barely audible over the torrential rain and banging thunder, but Axel hears it all the same. "Then you should have never walked away from me, Lea."
"Isa!" Axel yells after him, but by then it's too late. Saïx steps through his shadowy portal, the Key still in his possession and all Axel can do is fall to his knees in the icy rain and watch. Watch as they both disappear into the darkness, far out of his reach, just like Saïx, like Isa, always seems to be anymore.
Any upper hand that Gaston may have had in this battle completely disappears in the moments that follow his stray bullet striking that boy that had randomly appeared in the middle of the fray. The Beast turns on him with a furious, vengeful roar, the very thought of this despicable stranger coming to his castle, attacking his staff, shooting one of his friends prompting his already intense rage to burn ever hotter. He lunges at the hunter, knocking the musket clear out of his hands as he shoves him hard against the side of the roof. Gaston has no time to recover as the Beast grips him by the throat, his claws almost digging into his skin as he hoists him up over the edge of the platform they're on. What awaits below is a deadly fall into the vast, seemingly endless chasm below.
"W-wait!" Gaston cries as he struggles against the Beast's hold. His former cruel bravado is gone in the face of his newfound cowardly fear. "L-let me go! Please, d-don't hurt me!"
"Why shouldn't I?" the Beast snarls, glaring viciously at him as his grip on the hunter's neck tightens. The horrific image of that bullet piercing Sora's shoulder is still fresh and vivid in his mind. "It's what you deserve after how you hurt him…"
"I-I'm sorry! I'll do anything!" Gaston pleas desperately. "Anything!"
Though the Beast is more than ready to let Gaston fall to his doom, he does stop upon hearing his terrified begging. It only takes a moment for him to realize that if he goes through with this violent act, he'll be no better than the vile hunter himself.
So instead, he slowly pulls him back in, Gaston weakly whimpering all the while, even as the Beast brings him down to his knees, maintaining his firm grip on his throat all the while. "Get out…" he hisses before shoving him away to the ground.
No sooner than a second later, however, a shadow-entrenched figure suddenly leaps onto the far end of the ledge they're on. Startled, both the Beast and Gaston turn to face it, the former balking in alarm as he realizes this creature that he initially assumes to be a Heartless, is far too familiar for comfort. "S-Sora…?" he asks in apt disbelief, but sure enough it seems to be so. In all but the incredible darkness wreathing his hunched-over body, the malice tinging his red-stained claws and and the fury laced into his feral, inhuman growl, the twisted creature creeping towards them is Sora. Though exactly how that's even possible, the Beast has no idea.
"No wonder you're so attached to that boy," Gaston sneers, his former ire returning as he picks himself up off the ground. "He's a monster, just like you are!"
The Beast only offers him a bitter growl, a stern reminder of his prior order to leave. At the same time, he turns his focus back toward Sora, confusion and concern filling him as he tries to understand exactly what's going on here. "Sora," he begins as calmly as he can. All the while, Sora continues stepping closer, walking on all fours as his bright golden empty eyes beam up at him distrustfully. "W-what happened to-"
Before he can even finish, Sora lashes out, taking a wide, uncalculated swing with his claws that the Beast only narrowly manages to avoid. The Beast is stunned as Sora tries again, letting out a hateful hiss as he attacks without restraint, essentially throwing his claws around at nothing but the air around him in a wild, frenzied, vicious outburst. If his mere sinister appearance alone wasn't enough of a tell that something is terribly wrong here, his absolutely savage, manic behavior is.
"Beast!" Belle's call from above catches him off guard. "What's going on?!"
"I don't know!" the Beast answers. He begins to climb up the rafters toward the hand he's extending out to him, and while his heart would have normally felt bright and warm to see her again, in light of the strange, unsettling circumstances they're now facing, he's anything but. Still, it's all he can really do to get himself out of Sora's immediate range, hoping that between himself and Belle, they can find some way to help him. "S-something's happened to Sora. He isn't-"
The Beast's hand is nearly in Belle's when a long, sharp knife swiftly slides squarely into the center of his back. Gaston clings onto the Beast and his prized hunting knife as he grins sadistically, especially as he hears his victim let out a heavy, agonized roar. He rips his knife out of the bleeding wound and prepares to land another to finish the job, when suddenly a set of piercing claws dig into his own back, his shoulder punctured by razor-sharp fangs mere seconds later. Gaston shouts in pain and terror, his knife falling out of his hand and his grip on the Beast slipping in turn. But Sora's piercing, predatory hold on him remains, his hunger for a heart, any heart all but insatiable.
Belle barely manages to latch onto the Beast before he can fall backward but Gaston isn't so lucky. He releases the Beast, unable to hold on any longer as agony pounds through his new gaping injuries. Belle screams as she notices Sora still clinging onto the hunter, starting to fall along with him, but she's struggling to maintain her hold on the Beast as it is. In the horrifying seconds that follow, she realizes she's painfully powerless to save them both.
As Gaston rapidly begins to plummet toward the vast chasm surrounding the castle, Sora leaps onto his front side, one set of claws still tearing into his shoulder and the others poised high to dig into his chest. The hunter's desperate, distraught pleas for mercy go unheard; the only thing Sora can hear, the only thing he can even remotely understand in the mindless state that he's in, is his own ravenous desire for a heart. A heart to fill in for the one he's been forced to believe he lacks.
Just before his claws can reach into retrieve that heart, Gaston brutally kicks him away in a hectic panic. The hunter continues to fall alone, toward the shadow gorge below and the sharp, deadly rocks that fill it, and inevitably, toward his own, well-deserved doom.
Somewhere high above, Belle slowly pulls the Beast to safety. Somewhere far below, Sora crashes back into the castle, his claws desperately digging into the rafters as he continues slipping down the side of them, madly hissing and snarling all the while. And somewhere even further below that, Riku and Kairi watch as the last few lingering Nobodies begin to disappear from this world entirely on their own accord.
"They're going away!" Kairi exclaims, relieved as she glances around. The pair circled the castle entirely trying to find a way in, and now they've reached the front doors once more just as the Nobodies at last begin to peter out. "We can finally go in and find Sora!"
"Wait," Riku stops her. His expression is serious as they both pause just short of the steps leading to the door. "Something's wrong," he says, and he means it. Even with the Nobodies gone, he can sense a powerful darkness looming in the air. It's very presence unnerves him as he tries to glean more from it. "I don't know what, but we should-"
A loud, sudden crash on the bridge behind them startles them both. Something has fallen from one of the castle's upper levels, and it hits the bridge hard, cracking the stones upon which it lands. From the first glimpse they get of its shadowy form alone, both Riku and Kairi are already on guard, their Keyblades still in hand as they prepare to face this new threat, whatever it might be.
The apparent Heartless begins to slowly pick itself up off the ground, somehow largely unscathed from the deadly fall it just took. But as Kairi gets a clearer view of exactly what this "monster" looks like, her heart practically freezes as an all too familiar kind of terror surges through it.
"S-Sora…" she whispers, drawing in a tight gasp. His eerie, soulless golden eyes bear into hers, his body low and his claws scratching at the stones at his feet as he lets loose a soft, feral growl. She can barely feel his heart crying out to hers in this form, but of what she can sense of it, there's nothing but the sheerest, purest of rage beating through it. Rage that she can't believe belongs to him, just as she can't believe she's seeing him like this, so shadowy, so monstrous, so wrong, even when she already has seen him this way before.
Riku also nearly starts at the alarming sight of this creature. Of its crimson talons, of the glowing golden X carved across its chest, of its entire shadowy-steeped silhouette. He nearly falls for the deception, nearly lets his pathetic ruse of a monster fool him just as it's already seemed to fool Kairi. But he's not falling for it; not when he's seen this trick, not when he used this trick himself once before.
"Stay back," he sternly commands Kairi. He steadies his grip on his Keyblade as he takes a step forward, refusing to let this mere distraction keep them from the real Sora any longer than necessary. "I'll take care of this."
"W-what?" Kairi glances over at him, watches as he walks towards Sora with clear purpose in his step. At first she wonders how he knows, how he found out when both her and Sora had been so digillent in keeping this hidden from him. It's only as he raises his Keyblade high above the fiercely snarling "Heartless" before him that Kairi realizes he still doesn't know the truth at all.
"Wait!" she screams, rushing forward. Her Keyblade disappears as she runs to stand between Riku and Sora, fear filling every fiber of her being as she holds her hand up just in time. Riku stills his Keyblade, but only to look down at her in baffled disbelief.
"Kairi, what are you doing?" he demands incredulously. He briefly glances past her at the "Heartless", still reared low for an attack that could come at any minute. An attack that Kairi will be in the direct path of if she doesn't move aside.
"Riku, y-you can't hurt him!" she protests tightly, anxiously. "It's Sora-"
"No, it's not. That's just a Heartless-"
"He's not just a Heartless and I can prove it!" she insists, tears in her eyes. She knows what she has to admit, even though she desperately doesn't want to betray Sora's trust like this. But she also knows it's either her honesty, or standing by to watch as Riku takes a deadly aim at him. It's not a very hard decision to make. "I-I… I've seen this happen to him before…"
"You… what?" Riku asks, his eyes wide as he takes another look at the "Heartless" behind her.
"Please, Riku, j-just… trust me on this," Kairi pleads pressingly. She says nothing else to him as she turns, taking a small, unsteady step toward Sora, who hisses hatefully at her as she continues to approach him.
"Kairi, don't-" Riku reaches a hand out to stop her. She counters by ignoring him, slowly lowering herself down to her knees as she finally reaches Sora. "Kairi," Riku calls out to her again, watching nervously as the "Heartless" raises a clawed hand up in preparation to attack. She still refuses to listen as she lays a gentle hand upon the monster's shoulder. "Kairi," Riku hisses between gritted teeth, gripping his Keyblade so tightly his knuckles have turned white. The "Heartless" still hasn't attacked her, he doesn't know why; but the moment it so much as touches her, he's prepared to kill the miserable creature where it stands.
"S-Sora…" Kairi begins, pressing ever closer to him. Her voice is a fearful, yearning whisper that even Riku can barely hear as he stands just a few short feet behind her. "I-I… need you to come back to me, b-back to us, ok?"
He simply growls coldly in response, his glowing eyes narrowing at her as he keeps his claws ready to strike. His heart doesn't say a word to her and she doesn't know why. The entire aura around him feels so very… different than it had the last time she'd seen him like this. Then, his darkness had been permeated by the deepest of despair and fear and pain. Now, the only thing she can sense from him is fury, so raw and blinding that she worries it might tear him apart entirely if she doesn't hurry and return his lost light.
"W-what I'm about to do might hurt you a little…" she cautions, even though she knows he can't understand a word she's saying. "But you need this… I-I'm sorry…"
She closes her eyes, reaching inward to the light her own heart is constantly brimming with. It emerges to envelop her, gentle and radiant and warm as it stands out all the brighter against the cold, sinister shadows currently blanketing Sora's form. He lets out a pained, panicked screech as he tries pulling away, but Kairi doesn't let him go. She pulls him into a tight, secure embrace, trying her best to ignore his agonized, inhuman screams as she slowly begins to feel the veil of oppressive darkness lift itself away from his body. As she slowly begins to coax his damaged, angry, agonized heart out of that darkness, and back into the light where he belongs.
Somewhere high above, Belle whispers tearful words of heartbroken love into the Beast's lifeless chest as the rose's last petal finally falls. Somewhere far below, Kairi whispers words of the very same sort to a beast of an entirely different kind.
Somewhere high above, that love begets magic, strong enough to break a spell, powerful enough to turn a Beast back into a prince. Somewhere far below, another love does the exact same as the shadows finally fall, and as a Heartless returns to being human.
And somewhere in the shadows, a sinister presence watches with a hateful scowl on her face, as her precious pet Heartless manages to slip away from her once more.
The torrential rain finally fades as dawn begins to break over the castle, the spell that had cast it into hideous darkness doing the same. With the Beast now human again, his staff also return to their former selves, the castle itself turning bright and beautiful as a result of the longstanding enchantment being undone. A jubilant air of celebration fills one of the castle's upper balconies as a result, as Belle and the Beast-or the prince rather, lovingly reunite in a deep, passionate kiss. But despite the happiness being brightly spread throughout the castle halls, on the bridge just outside of it, the mood is anything but joyous.
Riku can only watch, his jaw dropped and his eyes wide as the last flecks of darkness fade away from Sora's body. He collapses weakly against Kairi, the pain stabbing away at his shoulder returning in full force without the shadows to keep it at bay. She gasps, horrified, when she feels his warm, wet blood against her skin, and nearly gags upon catching sight of the wide, gaping wound that's the source of that blood. She's already used up quite a bit of magic to merely bring him back, but she wastes no time in calling upon the rest of it as she holds her hand just above that injury, holding Sora steady with her other hand so that he doesn't fall forward. He's mostly out of it, but he does let out a low, pained moan as a healing glow soon begins to surround both her hand and his shoulder.
"Shh, it's alright," she calms him with a soothing, gentle whisper. "You'll feel better soon, I promise…"
He's yet to open his eyes, his head hanging low and the rest of his body limp and cold to the point that it makes her realize just how close to death's door this injury has brought him. It makes her hate whatever or whoever managed to land it upon him with a fiery, vicious passion. Even so, she can't help but realize that if he hadn't slipped into the pall of shadows when he had, he might not even be sitting before her at all right now. Like it or not, his own darkness somehow managed to save his life.
Riku continues to stand by, unsure of where to even begin as he watches Kairi work her healing magic on Sora. She casts a powerful curaga spell, one that drains her both of her remaining magic and a good bit of energy as she nearly blacks out, but she manages to keep herself steady for Sora all the same. Her magic patches his blown-through muscle and tissue, restores quite a bit of the blood that he'd lost, does just about everything shy of repairing the hole the bullet had ripped through both sides of his jacket. When the magic fades away moments later, Kairi feels weak, but she smiles all the same when Sora sits up with nothing more than a somewhat sore shoulder to show for it. He skims the repaired skin gently before looking at her in awe, realizing just how potent her healing powers, her powers of light really are.
"K-Kairi…" he says softly, his voice rough and feeble from what he'd just been through. He vaguely remembers some of what happened: being shot up on the roof, the pain and fear and rage that had followed. And through that rage, he had… he'd turned into… he'd let himself become…
His gaze drifts upward to find Riku, still standing only a few feet away. The shock, mingled with rising anger in his expression is a clear tell of what he's just seen. Especially as his appalled gaze lands squarely on Sora alone. "Oh no…" he whispers as he grips Kairi's arm for support that he needs in more ways than one. "H-how much… did he see?"
Kairi takes in a diffident breath to answer, but before she can even get a word out, Riku's voice rises sharply over hers. "What was that?" he asks, his already icy teal gaze turning even colder as it comes to focus on both of them now.
Neither of them answer right away. Instead, Kairi stands, extending a hand out to Sora to help him do the same. Riku continues staring them both down all the while, his Keyblade gone now, though both of his fists still clenched as if he's still holding it, still ready for the inevitable fight that's about to ensue.
"R-Riku, please," Kairi begins, holding her hands up as she tries to ease him. "Just listen. We-"
"I don't want to hear it from you," Riku cuts her off. His tone is still rigid, stern to the point that both Sora and Kairi barely recognize it as his own. "I want to hear it from him." He sharpens his steady glare at Sora specifically. "You're going to explain to me exactly what just happened to you, and you're going to tell me the truth.Do you understand, Sora?"
Panic pierces Sora just as powerfully as that bullet had through his shoulder before upon hearing this. His breathing picks up ever so slightly, his eyes quickly dart over to Kairi, but the most she can offer him is a helpless shrug. He's facing one of his worst nightmares here (one of many he's had to face in the past few hours alone) and he has no idea what to do to deal with it.
So instead, he simply shrugs. "Or else what, Mr. Leader?" he challenges nonchilantly, even though he knows he shouldn't. Even though he knows Riku is already infuriated enough with him as it is, pushing back like this is the only thing he can do to try and even the playing field. Even if it doesn't work in the slightest.
"No," Riku scowls as he takes another step closer. His voice is dangerously quiet, dangerously low, dangerous in almost every way really, at least as far as Sora is concerned. "I'm done playing whatever game you think this is with you, Sora. I want answers, and I want them now."
Sora's brief flash of fake confidence falters, whatever momentum he thought he had falling to pieces in an instant. He doesn't know what to say, has no clue how to diffuse this situation he's foolishly found his way into. He can't undo what Riku's already seen, what he already knows. Which is why he decides to bar him from finding out anything further. "Y-you saw it for yourself, didn't you?" he lets out a forced, indignant huff as he begins to walk past Riku to head toward the castle. "Besides, it's all over now, everything's ok. We don't need to talk about it anymore-"
"Don't walk away from me, Sora!" Riku suddenly shouts. It's more than fierce and commanding enough to stop Sora dead in his tracks and even Kairi flinches in fear upon hearing it.
Sora gasps when Riku suddenly reaches a hand out, gripping his shoulder tightly to turn him around to face him. "Get off me!" he yells, sudden terror surging through him as he rips Riku's hand off of his arm. For a moment, the most Riku and do is stare at him, surprised by such a stark reaction to something so small, especially as he meets Sora's now genuinely fearful gaze. His anger starts to ebb away at the sight of it, though only slightly.
"Sora… what's going on with you lately?" he asks, his voice softer, genuinely concerned. Kairi approaches the pair, her hands pressed against her heart as she listens in on the conversation they so desperately need to have. One that she can only hope will begin to repair what's been broken between them. "Why have you been acting like this? Why… why have you been lying to me?"
"I-I didn't lie!" Sora protests anxiously. "I-I just-"
"You just didn't tell me the truth," Riku counters, the softness in his tone starting to fade into something much more disapproving. "You promised me that if something were to go wrong, I'd be the first to know. And clearly, something's gone very wrong and I'm only finding out about it now. Why is that?"
"W-what does it matter?" Sora mutters crossly. He grips his arms tightly as he glances away at the ground. "You don't even care now that you're the 'leader'."
"I do care!" Riku argues flippantly. "I care that I almost mistook you for a Heartless a minute ago! I care that you nearly attacked Kairi while you were like that! I especially care that you kept this incredibly dangerous secret for who knows how long when it could have been putting the entire team in danger this whole time! Seriously, Sora, what were you thinking?!" Sora tries to answer, though Riku cuts him off before he can even get so much as a single word out, far too incensed to slow down now. "Oh, that's right, you weren't thinking. Because if you had been, then you would have told me about this… darkness that's inside of you from the very start!"
"Oh yeah? And what would you have even done about it if I had?!" Sora shouts back fiercely. He briefly hopes that the "darkness" Riku is referring to is only one half of it. That he still has no idea of what Xehanort's been doing to his heart. And by all accounts, that seems to be the case, not that it's much of a relief at a moment like this. "It's not like you can just fix it and make it all better!"
"Maybe not, but at least I could have done something to help you!"
"Yeah, great, come rushing to my rescue again, just like you always do, right?!"
"Someone needs to seeing as how you obviously don't care about keeping yourself safe in the slightest!"
"Well, I'm bound to care more than you do, you-"
"Enough!" Kairi suddenly shouts, pushing herself between the pair in the hopes of breaking the spiking tension among them. "Quit fighting, both of you! Shouting at each other like this isn't going to solve anything!"
For his part, Sora does back down slightly upon hearing this, if only to placate Kairi if no one else. Riku, on the other hand, isn't about to let the matter go so easily. "You knew about this…" he narrows his eyes at her. As far as he's concerned, she's every bit as guilty as Sora is for being complicit in keeping this horrific secret hidden for so long. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Kairi winces, exchanging an uneasy glance with Sora at this as both of them realize they're in the exact same sort of trouble here. Trouble that neither of them know how to get their way out of. "R-Riku, I-I-"
"How'd you even find out this was happening to him in the first place?" Riku asks her another question, one that matters to him far more than his previous one. "You said you saw him like that before. When? Where?"
Kairi shakes her head, her heart sinking as dread rises to take its place. The guilt eating away at her is terrible, and she feels its sting all the more under Riku's scrutinizing stare. She's so captivated by it that she doesn't even notice Sora's rising frustration behind her. "I-I just… i-it was…" she stammers lamely, unsure of what to say, how to even begin to explain that awful moment back at Hollow Bastion. The moment she'd thought she'd nearly lost Sora forever. "R-Riku, please, I-"
"Answer the question, Kairi," Riku presses sternly. He stands over her authoritatively, his scowl serving a reminder of her promise to follow his lead. A promise she's all but breaking now. "At this point, I don't really even expect Sora to be honest with me anymore, but I hope I can at least still get some kind of honesty from you."
She takes in a shuddering breath, her face warm as tears begin to well up in her eyes. She wants to tell him, she does, but she knows she made a promise to Sora too. One that she still feels honor-bound to keep even now that some of the truth has already been unintentionally turned loose. "I-I-"
"Don't be mad at Kairi!" Sora suddenly speaks up. He steps in front of her, his arm swept out as if he means to protect her. From what, she has no idea. His manner is harsh and hostile all the same as he glares up at Riku resistantly. "This isn't her fault. I was the one who told her not to tell you. She only knows about this because she had to save me from it after… a-after…" His confidence falters, fear slipping into his tone as he looks down, unnerved.
"After what?" Riku asks. His tone isn't cross or bitter, it isn't really readable at all. His expression is merely curious, nothing less, nothing more.
It's a painful truth, one that Sora doesn't want to admit. But for Kairi's sake, he's willing to shoulder that awful burden instead. "A-after… M-Maleficent captured me a-and… poisoned me and… f-forced me to turn into… t-that…" He fights back tears as he admits this grave series of events, events that he'd hoped Riku would never find out about. And now that he knows, he reacts almost exactly as Sora had expected him to.
The first thing that flashes across his face is anger, sharp and burning and vivid. Whether that anger is aimed toward Maleficent for her actions or toward Sora for keeping them hidden is unclear. At least until he speaks with a sense of dawning realization in his voice. "That's why you were in Radiant Garden…" he begins quietly, shaking his head. "That's why you wouldn't answer my calls… You were down and out for a whole month because of this… weren't you?"
Sora simply nods, unable to say anything else in his defense. Riku responds with a harsh, incredulous scoff as he runs his hand through his hair. The hurt etching its way into his tone is palpable enough that both Sora and Kairi catch onto it. "Maleficent captured you," he says to Sora before glancing over at Kairi. "And you went to save him. A-and I… I was just left out of all of it. Did either of you even once think that I would have wanted to know that something like this had happened? Did you think I wouldn't have wanted to help?!"
"Y-you were busy looking for Aqua!" Sora shoots back. It's a poor excuse and he knows it, especially as Riku calls it out immediately.
"I'm never too busy for either of you! You both know that!" His voice softens into what almost seems like sadness as he turns away from the pair completely. "But you two just… decided to shut me out anyway, didn't you? Why am I even surprised? You guys have always found a way to do that, ever since we were kids."
"Riku…" Kairi says earnestly, remorsefully. She reaches a hand up to touch his shoulder, but retracts it when he doesn't turn to face her. "We… we would never shut you out, right, Sora?"
Sora says nothing. Instead, he simply crosses his arms and glances away scornfully. His silence speaks volumes to Riku; it's the final factor in helping him decide that it's time for him to act less like a friend he's tried being to them before… and more like the leader he's supposed to be to them instead. "Right," he says, resigned. He stiffens his posture, pulling himself up to his full height as he puts on a mask of unshakable indifference while he keeps his back turned to the pair. "Here's how things are going to go from now on. After this mission is over, you two won't be traveling to worlds together anymore."
"W-what?" Kairi asks, alarmed. For Sora, this news is nearly a relief, a way to reduce the possibility of Kairi finding out the truth that he still wants to stash away from her. But the distraught expression on her face makes him realize that this punishment is indeed more meant for her than it is for him. "R-Riku, you can't just-"
"I can," Riku asserts, his expression still icy as he turns to face them. "I'm the leader, remember?"
Kairi backs down at this, but Sora doesn't. Instead, he lets out a harsh scoff as he rolls his eyes at this haughty reminder. "So what?"
"So," Riku continues, addressing him alone now. "It means that what I say goes. It also means that from here on out, Sora, you won't be going to any worlds at all unless I go with you."
"What?!" Sora exclaims, immediately stunned and distressed by such an order. "Why?!"
"Because obviously you can't be trusted out there on your own anymore, not when you keep turning into what's basically a rampaging, mindless Heartless!" Riku snaps hotly, his cool-headed manner dissipating briefly. "We either need to find a way to help you control this or stop it from happening altogether; and until we do, I'm personally going to make sure that you don't hurt yourself or anyone else through it."
"Oh yeah?!" Sora asks, fury and fear flowing through him equally. Especially as he realizes just how easy it might be for Riku to find out the other kind of darkness that's worked its way into his heart. A much more dangerous, much more despicable darkness by far, one that, in light of how he's reacted to finding out about this much, he knows he can't tell him about now. Possibly ever, for that matter. "So you're just gonna babysit me all the time now!? Is that it?!"
"It's not babysitting," Riku counters simply. He knows this conversation needs to come to an end soon, especially since, as far as he knows, there's still a Key to be found. "It's for your own good."
"No, it's not!" Sora shouts as Riku begins to walk away. "It's just a chance for you to boss me around because you think you're in charge!"
"I am in charge, Sora," Riku asserts with a tired sigh. "It's time you finally learn to accept that. I've made my decision and I'm sticking by it, whether you like it or not. When we get back to the tower, you're going to stay there, and you'll only be allowed to leave if I leave with you. Now come on, both of you. We need to move on."
Despite her disappointment with the verdict Riku has given, Kairi hesitantly agrees and begins to follow. Sora, on the other hand, reacts to his punishment far less gracefully. His hands are tight, shaking fists at his sides, his teeth tightly gritted, his breathing intensifying as anger pours into every part of his body. He swears that if he were injured, shadows would easily be swirling over him all over again. Yet now, his rage is even more sharp, more severe than it ever had been before and he makes sure to let Riku hear every bit of it. Every bit of how much he hates the idea of being trapped, restricted, caged by someone who he thought was his best friend.
"You can't do this to me!" he yells, his outrage ringing out heavily through the clear morning air. He's still resisting tears as best as he can, but a few manage to slip out all the same, his face red and hot as his anger swells viciously, violently almost. "You can't treat me like I'm just some dumb little kid!"
Riku stops, only for a moment. He only casts a small, calm glance over his shoulder at him before he speaks much more quietly and coolly. His words are pointed, precise, and piercing all the same. "Then maybe you should stop acting like one and learn to grow up for a change, Sora."
And just like that, it's over. Riku walks away, Kairi trailing after him as they begin to head back toward the castle. She briefly looks back at Sora as he swiftly turns away, his mere manner alone still conveying just how furious he clearly is. She sighs sadly as she realizes that what should have fixed the bending bonds between them only managed to break them apart even more. "R-Riku…" she mutters, averting his gaze as he glances over at her. "I-I… I'm sorry…"
"I know you are," Riku turns his gaze back ahead at this, his expression all but exhausted. He still accepts her apology all the same, sensing the earnesty in it. The genuine guilt that comes alone with what she knows she's done wrong, remorse that someone else still refuses to show in the slightest. "If only he was too…"
It isn't long after that Donald and Goofy emerge from the castle, both of them rushing to Sora as soon as they see him. They'd managed to fend Maleficent off in a lengthy, arduous battle, but eventually, she slipped away from them, still intent on getting her "Heartless" back. As a result, the pair scoured the entire castle from top to bottom, desperately searching in the hopes that they'd find Sora before she could come across him. They'd nearly given up hope and accepted a brutal, heartbreaking defeat, until now, when they see that he's safe and sound but far from satisfied. He says nothing to either of them as they come to check on him, instead simply wiping his tears away as he lets out a harsh, heavy sigh. He still remains silent as his companions ask him what's wrong, mostly because there's far too many things that have gone wrong in the past few hours alone to even try to list them all.
Axel shows up not too much later, having taken the time to properly heal the blow Saïx had landed to his side. He solemnly reports the unfortunate news to Riku and Kairi, that the Key is gone, now in the hands of the Organization, bringing their total up to three. Sora doesn't speak to the fact that they lost the Key when he happens to overhear; he barely even remembers it ever being in his grasp at all and he certainly doesn't remember what happened to it after his darkness overtook him. But it's a distressing reality, one that Riku in particular has no choice but to accept. Just as he has to accept that his very first mission as leader of the lights has ended in absolute failure, in more ways than one.
The only upside, it seems, is that the curse has at last been lifted from the castle. But even that's something that the group can find little solace now, even as Belle and the prince and a handful of now-human servants come out to meet them. The couple expresses immense relief upon seeing that Sora is somehow unharmed and back to his usual self, though even still the smile he returns to them is a weak, fake one only barely masking the anger still hidden behind it. The prince and his staff warmly offer their thanks to the group as they see them off, not sensing the despondency and the tension still lingering between them as they leave.
As they do begin to leave this world behind, silence stays between the lights, their manner mutually downcast in light of their defeat. As a result, none of them notice they're being watched from afar as they head into the woods to return to the ship. By two very contrasting groups with two very contrasting views on what just transpired.
"Impossible!" Maleficent sneers from the top of one of the cliffsides surrounding the castle as the lights leave it behind. "Nonsensical!" Pete stands a safe distance away from her as she paces hotly, still infuriated by the loss she managed to sustain during their time in this world as well. "It's absolutely ridiculous! That wretched boy should be mine by now; by all accounts, he should have been mine quite some time ago! But every time I come close to obtaining the ultimate prize of his power, some foolish weaklings always manage to interfere and help him slip away!"
"Yeah, it's, uh, pretty weird how that keeps happening, huh?" Pete lets out a nervous chuckle as he averts her vicious gaze.
"How does this keep happening is the question," Maleficent scowls as she glances down at her glowing scepter. "His idiotic companions should have been well distracted with the Heartless I put in their path. They should have never known what was happening or where to find him in the first place. Pete!"
Pete flinches, terrified as he hesitantly meets her scornful glower. "Uh, y-yeah?"
"I believe I sent you to make sure that those bumbling oafs remained properly distracted while I worked on taming my pet," she says crossly, coldly. "Why didn't you?"
The henchman swallows nervously, realizing that she's onto him, wondering if she already knows how he's managed to put a wrench into her plans thus far. He wants to tell her, wants to beg her to leave that poor, largely innocent kid alone and pursue other, far less cruel plans instead. But in the end, he simply lies to cover himself instead. "Uh, w-well, it's not like it was easy to even find those two nimbwits what with all them Nobodies that were roamin' the place!"
"Nobodies…" Maleficent hisses, her already hateful expression turning even moresoe. "Sent by that miserable Organization XIII, no doubt. That old fool must still think my pet belongs to him; the audacity. Still, it seems the competition for control over that pathetic boy has become quite palpable as of late." She calls upon a dark corridor to leave, urging Pete through it first so she can begin plotting her next scheme to take what she knows rightfully belongs to her. "No matter," she says just short of stepping through the darkness herself. "I'll have that Heartless as my own. No matter what I have to do to get it…"
On the far side of the castle's chasm, another meeting takes place atop another cliff entirely. Saïx steps out of a dark corridor, immediately inclining his head in respect as he approaches the superior already standing by waiting for him. "Master," he says, holding out the Key in offering. "Another Key, claimed for your cause. Just as you requested me to retrieve."
Young Xehanort takes the Key in question, holding it up and looking it over. His expression is stoic, unreadable, even as he lets his new prize disappear after barely regarding it at all. "And what of our thirteenth?" he asks, not turning to face Saïx as he faces the castle far below instead. "How is he progressing?"
Saïx takes pause at this, knowing the question is pointless. The young master is easily able to sense how each of his vessels are faring; including his most recently ranking one. Even so, he answers all the same. "The boy is still in denial, it seems. Even as the darkness within him, your darkness and his own, only stands to grow more and more within his heart each passing day. His stubborn rejection of our call is futile, a waste of his time and ours."
Young Xehanort says nothing in response to this and in the silence that follows, Saïx finds himself curious. It's a daring question, but one that he manages to ask anyway. "Along those lines… wouldn't it be… much easier to just bring him into our number now? It would be a crippling blow to the lights, to lose one of their own, and he-"
"No," the young master cuts him off. His tone is sharp, his back still turned all the while. "He's not ready yet. Not even close. And until the day he is ready to join us, he can stay where he is, a dimming shadow among the guardians of light. That is, if he even wants to after what his dear leader just did."
"Master?" Saïx asks, confused.
"It seems as though the bitter knife of betrayal has pierced my thirteenth vessel's heart. It's a vicious, painful blow, one made all the more painful in being dealt by the hand of his very best friend," Young Xehanort smiles as he finally turns to take his leave. Saïx trails after him, still not fully following his motives or his methods. Both of which seem to be a complete and utter mystery to almost all of the members of Organization XIII when it comes to their final, all-important member. "All we need to do now is twist that knife ever deeper, to make him feel that pain so powerfully, so deeply and so undeniably, to the point that, soon enough, Sora will want nothing to do with his so-called 'friends' ever again…"
Hahaha oh man this chapter sure was a LOT huh? But it really does set us up for where Keys is going from here on out, which, I have to say, are some pretty exciting places, especially since we're kind of putting a pause on the Disney worlds for the next several chapters in favor of some pretty important plot progression that I'm really looking forward to. For next time, maybe expect a fun little trip to the Realm of Darkness again? Hmhmhm but until then I'd love to know what you thought about this chapter so PLEASE REVIEW! Until next time :)
